Starting a Business in Fort Benning, Georgia

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

Are You Ready for Life as an Owner?

Before announcing to the world that you are going to start your own business, take inventory of your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.

To determine whether you have what it takes to run a business, we recommend these three steps to help you decide:

• Speak with other entrepreneurs in Fort Benning. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
• You should read Business Failure. It's a good read for those who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur.
• Involve a spouse, family member or trusted friend in the decision. Ask them directly: Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Listen carefully to their answer, as they presumably know your strengths and weaknesses.

What Business to Start

There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? To help you decide on a business type, we encourage you to read Business Ideas That Don't Make Sense.

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 Starting a Dance Club guide or our Starting a Tatoo Parlor guide.

Always keep in mind that starting a business in Fort Benning has some implications. Some businesses will do better in Fort Benning than others. Make sure you fully understand Fort Benning demographics before you lock in on your business idea.

Fort Benning, Georgia Demographic Information

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

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

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

Is Franchising a Better Option?

As you drive around Fort Benning, you'll notice that many local entrepreneurs have gone the franchising route. Is there a franchise opportunity out there that makes sense for you?

We advise the entrepreneurs we work with to consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Before Buying a Franchise. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.

To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.

Sample franchise opportunities include Subway Franchises and Starbucks Franchises. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Accounting Franchises and Moving Franchises.

Note on Fort Benning Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Fort Benning.

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Fort Benning Business?

If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Georgia. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Fort Benning.

For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Buying a Business.

Selecting a Name For Your Venture

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.

Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Naming a Company.

On a final note, given that you are starting a business in Fort Benning, it's very important that you make sure no other Georgia company is using the business name you want to use.

Company Formation in Fort Benning, Georgia

A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.

The entity you form can be a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.

Incorporation is a very popular way to form a business. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. Just because you are starting a business in Georgia, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Georgia. In fact, you can incorporate in the state of your choosing. For example, it's very popular to incorporate in Delaware, and incorporating in Nevada has become very trendy as well. Don't forget, though, that you will have to register as a foreign entity in all states that you do business in.

There's a lot to know about forming a company. To learn the basics of company formation, browse articles on our site, such as Incorporation Advice. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Fort Benning, Georgia, our information on Incorporating in Georgia may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Georgia.

Make Sure You Have a Business Plan

A business plan is vital 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. Not having a business plan is a recipe for disaster.

To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. You can also get free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in Georgia.

Startup Financing Basics

Getting your Fort Benning business the capital it needs to succeed is not an easy task. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.

To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as 504 Loans.

For Fort Benning entrepreneurs on the hunt for startup funding, browse our List of Georgia Angel Investors and our List of Georgia Venture Capital Firms.

Letting the World Know You Exist

To grow your Fort Benning business, you need a solid marketing plan.

You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Billboard Advertising Best Practices 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.

How to Sell

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

Clever sales techniques can transform any business from good to great. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.

Compensating Sales People offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.

Increase Your Entrepreneurial Knowledge

Successful entrepreneurs know that they don't know everything.

As an entrepreneur who lives in Fort Benning, Georgia, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Georgia universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also wise to see if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Fort Benning entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.

Never Give Up

You have a dream -- starting a business in Fort Benning. 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.

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Fort Benning and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Fort Benning, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Fort Benning, Georgia

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

• Resources for Fort Benning, Georgia Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Fort Benning entrepreneurs.
• Georgia Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Georgia.
• Georgia Small Business Development Center - The Georgia SBDC program helps Georgia entrepreneurs with developing business plans, providing financial analysis, identifying sources of capital, and assessing marketing strategies.
• Fort Benning, Georgia Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Fort Benning, Georgia newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Fort Benning area.