Are you starting a business in Danville, Kentucky? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Danville.
Are You Sure You Want to Do This?
Most new companies do not succeed, in part because the business owner did not have the entrepreneurial skills and traits needed to succeed. So, before you start your business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
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 Danville. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a business.
- We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. The people who know you best are often in the best position to tell you bluntly whether you will be a good entrepreneur.
Danville, Kentucky Demographic Information
Danville has an active business community that includes small businesses,
mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Danville demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Danville.
| Business Size | # of
Businesses |
| 1-4 Employees |
12804 |
| 5-9 Employees |
5652 |
| 10-19 Employees |
3780 |
| 20-49 Employees |
2628 |
| 50-99 Employees |
792 |
| 100-249 Employees |
504 |
| 250-499 Employees |
144 |
| 500-999 Employees |
108 |
| 1000+ Employees |
36 |
| All Danville Businesses |
26448 |
As a new Danville entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Danville 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 |
| Advertising Agencies |
1 |
| Appliance Repair and Maintenance |
1 |
| Automotive Exhaust System Repair |
1 |
| Automotive Glass Replacement Shops |
3 |
| Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores |
8 |
| Baked Goods Stores |
1 |
| Beauty Salons |
6 |
| Bituminous Coal Underground Mining |
1 |
| Book Stores |
3 |
| Bowling Centers |
1 |
| Business Associations |
3 |
| Cable and Other Program Distribution |
1 |
| Cafeterias |
1 |
| Car Washes |
1 |
| Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Services |
1 |
| Caterers |
1 |
| Cemeteries and Crematories |
1 |
| Child and Youth Services |
2 |
| Child Day Care Services |
7 |
| Civic and Social Organizations |
4 |
| Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners |
2 |
| Collection Agencies |
1 |
| Commercial Lithographic Printing |
1 |
| Commercial Screen Printing |
1 |
| Concrete Block and Brick Manufacturing |
1 |
| Consumer Lending |
5 |
| Convention and Visitors Bureaus |
1 |
| Cosmetology and Barber Schools |
1 |
| Couriers |
1 |
| Court Reporting and Stenotype Services |
1 |
| Credit Bureaus |
1 |
| Credit Unions |
1 |
| Diagnostic Imaging Centers |
2 |
| Direct Life Insurance Carriers |
2 |
| Discount Department Stores |
1 |
| Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) |
1 |
| Drywall and Insulation Contractors |
1 |
| Electric Power Distribution |
4 |
| Electrical Contractors |
9 |
| Electronic Shopping |
1 |
| Elementary and Secondary Schools |
1 |
| Emergency and Other Relief Services |
1 |
| Employment Placement Agencies |
1 |
| Engineering Services |
6 |
| Environmental Consulting Services |
1 |
| Exam Preparation and Tutoring |
2 |
| Family Clothing Stores |
3 |
| Fine Arts Schools |
2 |
| Finish Carpentry Contractors |
3 |
| Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers |
5 |
| Floor Covering Stores |
3 |
| Flooring Contractors |
2 |
| Florists |
4 |
| Food (Health) Supplement Stores |
2 |
| Food Service Contractors |
5 |
| Framing Contractors |
2 |
| Freight Transportation Arrangement |
1 |
| Full-Service Restaurants |
20 |
| Funeral Homes and Funeral Services |
3 |
| Furniture Stores |
4 |
| General Automotive Repair |
6 |
| General Freight Trucking, Local |
1 |
| General Medical and Surgical Hospitals |
1 |
| General Rental Centers |
3 |
| General Warehousing and Storage |
3 |
| Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores |
1 |
| Golf Courses and Country Clubs |
2 |
| Grantmaking Foundations |
1 |
| Greeting Card Publishers |
1 |
| Hardware Merchant Wholesalers |
1 |
| Hardware Stores |
1 |
| Hobby, Toy, and Game Stores |
2 |
| Home Centers |
1 |
| Home Health Care Services |
3 |
| Home Health Equipment Rental |
1 |
| Household Appliance Stores |
1 |
| Industrial Building Construction |
1 |
| Insurance Agencies and Brokerages |
17 |
| Interior Design Services |
2 |
| Janitorial Services |
5 |
| Jewelry Stores |
3 |
| Junior Colleges |
1 |
| Kidney Dialysis Centers |
1 |
| Landscape Architectural Services |
1 |
| Landscaping Services |
1 |
| Lessors of Other Real Estate Property |
2 |
| Libraries and Archives |
1 |
| Limited-Service Restaurants |
21 |
| Livestock Merchant Wholesalers |
1 |
| Machine Shops |
1 |
| Marketing Consulting Services |
2 |
| Masonry Contractors |
3 |
| Motor and Generator Manufacturing |
1 |
| Motor Vehicle Towing |
1 |
| Motorcycle Dealers |
1 |
| Museums |
2 |
| Natural Gas Distribution |
1 |
| New Car Dealers |
5 |
| Newspaper Publishers |
1 |
| Nonresidential Property Managers |
1 |
| Nursing Care Facilities |
2 |
| Office Administrative Services |
4 |
| Office Equipment Merchant Wholesalers |
1 |
| Office Supplies and Stationery Stores |
1 |
| Offices of Certified Public Accountants |
6 |
| Offices of Chiropractors |
7 |
| Offices of Dentists |
16 |
| Offices of Lawyers |
19 |
| Offices of Optometrists |
3 |
| Offices of Other Holding Companies |
1 |
| Offices of Podiatrists |
1 |
| Offices of Real Estate Appraisers |
2 |
| Optical Goods Stores |
1 |
| Outdoor Power Equipment Stores |
2 |
| Paint and Wallpaper Stores |
2 |
| Painting and Wall Covering Contractors |
3 |
| Passenger Car Leasing |
1 |
| Pet and Pet Supplies Stores |
1 |
| Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals |
2 |
| Pharmacies and Drug Stores |
6 |
| Photography Studios, Portrait |
1 |
| Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas |
1 |
| Plastics Bag Manufacturing |
1 |
| Professional Organizations |
2 |
| Quick Printing |
1 |
| Radio Stations |
3 |
| Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing |
1 |
| Real Estate Credit |
6 |
| Recreational Vehicle Dealers |
1 |
| Remediation Services |
1 |
| Residential Property Managers |
1 |
| Residential Remodelers |
3 |
| Retail Bakeries |
1 |
| Reupholstery and Furniture Repair |
2 |
| Roofing Contractors |
1 |
| Savings Institutions |
1 |
| Securities Brokerage |
4 |
| Security Guards and Patrol Services |
1 |
| Sheet Metal Work Manufacturing |
1 |
| Shoe Stores |
2 |
| Siding Contractors |
1 |
| Sign Manufacturing |
2 |
| Site Preparation Contractors |
3 |
| Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars |
3 |
| Solid Waste Collection |
1 |
| Sporting Goods Stores |
1 |
| Sports and Recreation Instruction |
1 |
| Sports Teams and Clubs |
1 |
| Tax Preparation Services |
4 |
| Temporary Help Services |
4 |
| Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters |
1 |
| Tile and Terrazzo Contractors |
2 |
| Tire Dealers |
4 |
| Tobacco Stores |
2 |
| Tour Operators |
1 |
| Travel Agencies |
3 |
| Used Car Dealers |
1 |
| Used Merchandise Stores |
3 |
| Vending Machine Operators |
2 |
| Veterinary Services |
5 |
| Video Tape and Disc Rental |
3 |
| Vocational Rehabilitation Services |
2 |
| Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters |
1 |
| Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers |
5 |
| Wineries |
1 |
| Wired Telecommunications Carriers |
2 |
| Women's Clothing Stores |
3 |
Have You Considered Buying an Existing Danville Business?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Kentucky. Follow that link and you can assess several good businesses for sale in Danville.
If you are headed down the path of buying a business, you may want to read this article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.
Make Sure You Have a Business Plan
Writing a business plan is essential to the health of your new business. In effect, 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 will greatly reduce your chances of business success.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Kentucky.
Getting the Word Out About Your New Company
Whether your goal is to attract Danville customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your succeeding.
We have some excellent resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Avoiding Bad Product Launches discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.
How to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Abilities
Successful entrepreneurs recognize that what they know now may not be enough to ensure their future success.
As an entrepreneur who lives in Danville, Kentucky, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Kentucky educational institutions. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any networking organizations for Danville entrepreneurs.
Next Steps
Most new Danville businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Danville 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 Danville, Kentucky
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Danville.
- Resources for Danville, Kentucky Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Danville entrepreneurs.
- Kentucky Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Kentucky.
- Kentucky Small Business Development Center - The Kentucky Small Business Development Center (KSBDC) has been assisting Kentucky small business community for more than 25 years. KSBDC is co-sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration and is administered by the University of Kentucky in partnership with regional universities, community and private colleges, and the private sector.
- Danville, Kentucky Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Danville, Kentucky newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Danville area.
- Danville, Kentucky Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Danville, Kentucky area radio stations.
- Danville, Kentucky Payroll Services - This list includes Danville, Kentucky payroll services, national payroll services for Danville, and helpful information on choosing a Danville payroll service.
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