Contemplating starting a business in Carthage, Missouri? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Carthage.
Do You Have Entrepreneurial Drive and Passion?
Being an entrepreneur is demanding, much harder than working as an employee. Are you positive you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?
Before you move forward with starting a business, be sure to do these three things:
- Speak with other entrepreneurs in Carthage. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
- You should read The Entrepreneurial Personality. It's a good read for those who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur.
- Reach out to a trusted acquaintance. A support network of family and friends can be a great sounding board for good advice before you decide for sure to go into business.
Carthage, Missouri Demographic Information
Carthage has an active business community that includes small businesses,
mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Carthage demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Carthage.
| Business Size | # of
Businesses |
| 1-4 Employees |
9370 |
| 5-9 Employees |
3000 |
| 10-19 Employees |
2250 |
| 20-49 Employees |
1500 |
| 50-99 Employees |
510 |
| 100-249 Employees |
270 |
| 250-499 Employees |
90 |
| 500-999 Employees |
120 |
| 1000+ Employees |
0 |
| All Carthage Businesses |
17110 |
As a new Carthage entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Carthage for each business category. By looking at this chart, you can get
a general sense for how much competition there is in the business niche that
you are pursuing.
| Business Type |
# of
Businesses |
| Appliance Repair and Maintenance |
1 |
| Architectural Services |
1 |
| Automotive Exhaust System Repair |
1 |
| Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores |
4 |
| Baked Goods Stores |
1 |
| Beauty Salons |
6 |
|
Bed-and-Breakfast Inns |
1 |
| Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores |
3 |
| Bowling Centers |
1 |
| Cable and Other Program Distribution |
1 |
| Canvas and Related Product Mills |
1 |
| Caterers |
1 |
| Cemeteries and Crematories |
2 |
| Cheese Manufacturing |
1 |
|
Child and Youth Services |
2 |
| Child Day Care Services |
3 |
| Civic and Social Organizations |
3 |
| Claims Adjusting |
1 |
| Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners |
1 |
| Commercial Bakeries |
1 |
| Consumer Lending |
4 |
| Convenience Stores |
1 |
|
Convention and Visitors Bureaus |
1 |
| Court Reporting and Stenotype Services |
1 |
| Credit Bureaus |
1 |
| Direct Title Insurance Carriers |
1 |
| Document Preparation Services |
1 |
| Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) |
2 |
| Electrical Contractors |
4 |
| Electronic Shopping |
2 |
|
Elementary and Secondary Schools |
1 |
| Engineering Services |
2 |
| Exam Preparation and Tutoring |
1 |
| Explosives Manufacturing |
1 |
| Facilities Support Services |
1 |
| Family Clothing Stores |
2 |
| Fats and Oils Refining and Blending |
1 |
| Finish Carpentry Contractors |
1 |
|
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers |
3 |
| Floor Covering Stores |
2 |
| Florists |
3 |
| Flour Milling |
1 |
| Food (Health) Supplement Stores |
1 |
| Food Product Machinery Manufacturing |
1 |
| Framing Contractors |
1 |
| Freight Transportation Arrangement |
1 |
|
Full-Service Restaurants |
11 |
| Funeral Homes and Funeral Services |
2 |
| General Automotive Repair |
11 |
| General Freight Trucking, Local |
1 |
| General Medical and Surgical Hospitals |
1 |
| Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores |
7 |
| Hardware Stores |
1 |
| Historical Sites |
1 |
|
Hobby, Toy, and Game Stores |
1 |
| Home Health Care Services |
1 |
| Homes for the Elderly |
2 |
| Industrial Building Construction |
1 |
| Industrial Launderers |
1 |
| Insurance Agencies and Brokerages |
13 |
| Investment Advice |
1 |
| Janitorial Services |
1 |
|
Jewelry Stores |
1 |
| Land Subdivision |
1 |
| Landscaping Services |
6 |
| Limited-Service Restaurants |
20 |
| Logging |
1 |
| Machine Shops |
1 |
| Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers |
1 |
| Masonry Contractors |
4 |
|
Meat Markets |
1 |
| Medical Laboratories |
2 |
| Metal Tank (Heavy Gauge) Manufacturing |
1 |
| Motor Vehicle Towing |
1 |
| Museums |
1 |
| Nail Salons |
1 |
| New Car Dealers |
4 |
| New Housing Operative Builders |
2 |
|
Newspaper Publishers |
2 |
| Nonresidential Property Managers |
1 |
| Nursing Care Facilities |
3 |
| Office Administrative Services |
1 |
| Office Supplies and Stationery Stores |
1 |
| Offices of Bank Holding Companies |
1 |
| Offices of Certified Public Accountants |
3 |
| Offices of Chiropractors |
7 |
|
Offices of Dentists |
7 |
| Offices of Lawyers |
8 |
| Offices of Optometrists |
2 |
| Offices of Other Holding Companies |
2 |
| Offices of Podiatrists |
1 |
| Offices of Real Estate Appraisers |
1 |
| Outdoor Power Equipment Stores |
1 |
| Packaging and Labeling Services |
1 |
|
Paint and Wallpaper Stores |
1 |
| Painting and Wall Covering Contractors |
1 |
| Parking Lots and Garages |
1 |
| Payroll Services |
1 |
| Pharmacies and Drug Stores |
3 |
| Photography Studios, Portrait |
1 |
| Poultry Processing |
3 |
| Radio Stations |
1 |
|
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing |
1 |
| Real Estate Credit |
2 |
| Recreational Goods Rental |
1 |
| Recreational Vehicle Dealers |
3 |
| Refrigerated Warehousing and Storage |
2 |
| Remediation Services |
1 |
| Residential Property Managers |
1 |
| Residential Remodelers |
4 |
|
Sales Financing |
1 |
| Securities Brokerage |
4 |
| Site Preparation Contractors |
6 |
| Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars |
3 |
| Solid Waste Collection |
1 |
| Spice and Extract Manufacturing |
1 |
| Sporting Goods Stores |
1 |
| Spring (Light Gauge) Manufacturing |
2 |
|
Steel Wire Drawing |
1 |
| Tax Preparation Services |
1 |
| Temporary Help Services |
2 |
| Temporary Shelters |
1 |
| Testing Laboratories |
1 |
| Tire Dealers |
2 |
| Title Abstract and Settlement Offices |
2 |
| Tobacco Stores |
1 |
|
Used Car Dealers |
4 |
| Used Merchandise Stores |
3 |
| Vending Machine Operators |
2 |
| Veterinary Services |
3 |
| Video Tape and Disc Rental |
6 |
| Vocational Rehabilitation Services |
1 |
| Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters |
1 |
| Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers |
1 |
|
Wired Telecommunications Carriers |
2 |
| Women's Clothing Stores |
1 |
| Wood Container and Pallet Manufacturing |
3 |
| Wood Office Furniture Manufacturing |
1 |
Choosing a Company Name
A big decision when starting a company is choosing a company name. Believe it or not, choosing a good company name can be a big contributor to your business success.
We strongly advocate that you make sure the ".com" domain name is available for your company name. Every business needs a strong Web presence these days, and having a non ".com" domain means somebody else may outrank you in the search results for your own company name.
For other considerations regarding naming a company, we recommend this article: Branding Advice.
On a final note, given that you are opening a business in Carthage, it's critical that you ensure that no other Missouri company is using the business name you want to use.
Getting Money to Start a Business
Getting your Carthage business the capital it needs to succeed requires strong organization skills and perseverance. If you don't have a rich uncle to fund you, you'll need to be creative in how you approach your fundraising efforts.
To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as 504 Loans.
For Carthage entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, check out our List of Missouri Angel Investors and our List of Missouri Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Venture
To grow your Carthage business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your successs.
You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Pros and Cons of Advertising is an article that will stimulate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. That's just one of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Building Up Your Sales
Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Carthage business, you need to focus on sales.
So what does it take to bring in more prospects and close more business? The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.
Cold Call Selling is worth reading, as it may give you some good ideas on how to sell your products or services. We have many more good articles on selling that you may enjoy reading.
Now It's Up To You
As an entrepreneur in Carthage, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Carthage and elsewhere to achieve real success. We have a wealth of experience in business start-ups, financing, marketing, sales and more...and we've made all of our knowledge available to you.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Carthage, Missouri
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Carthage.
- Resources for Carthage, Missouri Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Carthage entrepreneurs.
- Missouri Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Missouri.
- Missouri Small Business Development Center - Missouri Small Business Development Center business specialists are uniquely qualified to help small businesses get started, develop and thrive.
- Carthage, Missouri Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Carthage, Missouri newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Carthage area.
- Carthage, Missouri Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Carthage, Missouri area radio stations.
- Carthage, Missouri Payroll Services - This list includes Carthage, Missouri payroll services, national payroll services for Carthage, and helpful information on choosing a Carthage payroll service.
- Carthage, Missouri Businesses for Sale - This list includes resources for buying a business in Carthage, Missouri, such as business brokers in Carthage and other helpful information on how to buy a Carthage business.
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