Thinking about starting a business in Cloverdale, California? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Cloverdale.
Will You Be a Good Entrepreneur?
Being an entrepreneur is hard work, much harder than working as an employee. Are you positive you want to go into business for yourself?
Because entrepreneurship is not for everyone, we recommend you do the following to help you assess whether you should move forward with starting a business:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Cloverdale. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
- We recommend reading Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
What Business Are You Starting?
Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. We recommend that you read Good Business Ideas.
For in-depth how-to guides on how to start specific businesses, browse our Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Opening a Naturotherapists Business guide or our How to Start an Industrial Hygiene Consultants Business guide.
Don't forget that starting a business in Cloverdale has some implications. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in Cloverdale. Study Cloverdale demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.
Cloverdale, California Demographic Information
Cloverdale has an active business community that includes small businesses,
mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Cloverdale demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Cloverdale.
| Business Size | # of
Businesses |
| 1-4 Employees |
1980 |
| 5-9 Employees |
660 |
| 10-19 Employees |
210 |
| 20-49 Employees |
165 |
| 50-99 Employees |
105 |
| 100-249 Employees |
30 |
| 250-499 Employees |
0 |
| 500-999 Employees |
0 |
| 1000+ Employees |
0 |
| All Cloverdale Businesses |
3150 |
As a new Cloverdale entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Cloverdale 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 |
| Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores |
2 |
| Beauty Salons |
1 |
| Bed-and-Breakfast Inns |
2 |
| Business Associations |
1 |
| Charter Bus Industry |
1 |
| Child Day Care Services |
4 |
| Civic and Social Organizations |
2 |
| Continuing Care Retirement Communities |
1 |
| Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) |
1 |
| Electrical Contractors |
4 |
| Employment Placement Agencies |
1 |
| Farm Labor Contractors and Crew Leaders |
1 |
| Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers |
2 |
| Flooring Contractors |
2 |
| Florists |
2 |
| Freight Transportation Arrangement |
1 |
| Full-Service Restaurants |
11 |
| Funeral Homes and Funeral Services |
1 |
| General Automotive Repair |
3 |
| General Freight Trucking, Local |
1 |
| Hand and Edge Tool Manufacturing |
1 |
| Hardware Stores |
1 |
| Home Health Care Services |
1 |
| Insurance Agencies and Brokerages |
7 |
| Internet Publishing and Broadcasting |
1 |
| Investment Advice |
1 |
| Landscaping Services |
4 |
| Lessors of Other Real Estate Property |
1 |
| Limited-Service Restaurants |
6 |
| Limousine Service |
1 |
| Masonry Contractors |
1 |
| New Car Dealers |
1 |
| Newspaper Publishers |
1 |
| Offices of Certified Public Accountants |
1 |
| Offices of Chiropractors |
1 |
| Offices of Dentists |
3 |
| Offices of Lawyers |
3 |
| Offices of Optometrists |
1 |
| Offices of Real Estate Appraisers |
1 |
| Painting and Wall Covering Contractors |
2 |
| Pet and Pet Supplies Stores |
1 |
| Pharmacies and Drug Stores |
2 |
| Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing |
1 |
| Residential Property Managers |
2 |
| Residential Remodelers |
6 |
| Roofing Contractors |
2 |
| Savings Institutions |
1 |
| Sawmills |
2 |
| Securities Brokerage |
1 |
| Site Preparation Contractors |
1 |
| Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars |
3 |
| Temporary Help Services |
1 |
| Tire Dealers |
1 |
| Tradebinding and Related Work |
1 |
| Travel Agencies |
1 |
| Truss Manufacturing |
1 |
| Veterinary Services |
1 |
| Video Tape and Disc Rental |
1 |
| Wineries |
6 |
| Wired Telecommunications Carriers |
1 |
Have You Considered Buying an Existing Cloverdale Business?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in California. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Cloverdale.
For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: How to Buy a Business.
Naming the Business
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.
Pick a company name that isn't too generic. If you do a search engine search for your proposed name and a billion results come up, you may want to reconsider the name. It's much easier to come up in the search engines when your name is fairly unique.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Branding Advice.
On a final note, given that you are opening a business in Cloverdale, it's critical that you ensure that no other California company is using the business name you want to use.
Marketing Your New Venture
Whether your goal is to attract Cloverdale customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Internet 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.
What's Next?
As an entrepreneur in Cloverdale, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.
We are here to help Cloverdale businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Cloverdale, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Cloverdale, California
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Cloverdale.
- Resources for Cloverdale, California Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Cloverdale entrepreneurs.
- California Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in California.
- Fresno, California Small Business Development Center - The UC Merced SBDC Regional Network assists Central California entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling, training and business information.
- Los Angeles, California Small Business Development Center - The Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Network (LA SBDC Network) is part of the national, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) effort to provide free one-on-one customized consulting services and low-cost training workshops to growing businesses and start-up businesses.
- Sacramento, California Small Business Development Center - As Northern California continues to grow demographically and economically, the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center (NECSBDC) at CSU, Chico is committed to helping communities prepare and plan for future growth.
- San Diego, California Small Business Development Center - The Small Business Development & International Trade Center (SBDITC) at Southwestern College is part of the California SBDC San Diego and Imperial Regional Network. The SBDITC provides no-cost business assistance to start-up & existing businesses.
- San Francisco, California Small Business Development Center - The Northern California Network of Small Business Development Centers helps individuals start, manage and grow their businesses.
- Santa Ana, California Small Business Development Center - The Tri-County Lead Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in the Santa Ana District provides oversight and support for SBDCs located in the Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. The Santa Ana SBDC Network is a leader in providing consulting, training, and technical assistance to the small business community.
- Cloverdale, California Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Cloverdale, California newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Cloverdale area.
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