Starting a Business in Cortland, New York

Thinking about starting a business in Cortland, New York? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Cortland.

Cortland, New York Demographic Information

Cortland has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.

To give you a better feel for Cortland demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Cortland.

As a new Cortland entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Cortland 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.

Should You Buy an Existing Cortland Business?

An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in New York. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Cortland.

For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.

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.

Even if the name doesn't do it by itself, many naming experts believe there should be a story behind the name that ties into your company mission.

To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Company.

On a final note, given that you are planning on starting a business in Cortland, it's very important that you make sure no other New York company is using the business name you want to use.

Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan

A business plan is critical to the health of your new business. Simply put, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Starting a business without a business plan is a recipe for disaster.

If writing a business plan is on your to-do list, be sure to read Business Plan Contests. You can also get face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in New York.

Startup Financing Basics

Getting your Cortland business the capital it needs to succeed is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. If you don't have a rich uncle to fund you, you'll need to be creative in how you approach your fundraising efforts.

Take advantage of our many articles on raising capital, such as Getting a Small Business Loan.

For Cortland entrepreneurs who need startup capital, check out our List of New York Angel Investors and our List of New York Venture Capital Firms.

Marketing Your New Venture

Whether your goal is to attract Cortland 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. Marketing Basics is a good read to get your marketing juices flowing. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.

Building Up Your Sales

Being able to sell is critical to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Cortland or are selling to customers throughout New York, the United States or even the world, you have to be able to sell.

Why should customers buy from you instead of buying from competitors? Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.

The Art of Customer Referrals is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.

Now It's Up To You

You have a dream -- starting a business in Cortland. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.

Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.

Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Cortland and throughout the United States . 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 Cortland, New York

Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Cortland.

• Resources for Cortland, New York Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Cortland entrepreneurs.
• New York Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in New York.
• New York Small Business Development Center - The New York State Small Business Development Center delivers high quality business counseling and training to New Yorkers who want to start a business or improve the performance of an existing business.
• Cortland, New York Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Cortland, New York newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Cortland area.
• Cortland, New York Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Cortland, New York area radio stations.