Starting a Business in Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts

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

Will You Be a Successful Entrepreneur?

Most new ventures do not succeed, in part because the business owner did not have the entrepreneurial skills and traits needed to succeed. So, before jumping into the world of entrepreneurship, 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:

• Grab a meal or cofee with other entrepreneurs in Hanscom AFB. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
• Take a look at Business Failure. It's a short article but it's a good reality check for those are about to jump into the world of entrepreneurship.
• Involve a spouse, family member or trusted friend in the decision. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.

Which Business to Choose?

Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. To help you decide on a business type, we encourage you to read Finding Your Niche in Life.

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.

Don't forget that Hanscom AFB is the place where you are starting a business. If Hanscom AFB already has plenty of the kind of business you want to start, you might want to change your plans. Don't forget to review Hanscom AFB demographics to see if there's a market for what you want to sell.

Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts Demographic Information

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

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

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

Have You Considered Franchising?

As you drive around Hanscom AFB, it becomes clear that purchasing a franchise is a common way to get started as an entrepreneur. Evidently, there must be some significant advantages to purchasing a franchise.

We highly recommend you look into purchasing a franchise. We have many articles on franchises, such as How to Get More Franchisees. Become a franchising expert of sorts by reading more of our Articles on Franchising.

You can find franchise opportunities by browsing our Franchise Opportunities Directory.

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

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

Should You Buy an Existing Hanscom AFB Business?

An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Massachusetts. Follow that link and you can assess several good businesses for sale in Hanscom AFB.

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

Picking a Business 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.

Companies like Starbucks, Apple, Target, Microsoft and Intuit all have strong company names that are easy to remember and have become well-loved brands. Wouldn't it be nice if your new company name got on a similar track?

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 Hanscom AFB, it's imperative that you check now that you will be the only Massachusetts company using the business name you have chosen.

Forming a Company in Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts

A critical step is ensuring that you are forming a legal entity that operates independently from you. The principal advantage of forming your new business as a legal entity is that it separates your business liabilities from your personal liabilities.

The entity you form can be a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.

Incorporating is a very popular way to form a business. A key decision is whether to form and S-Corp or a C-Corp, and you also must decide in which state you will incorporate. If you are starting a business in Massachusetts, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Massachusetts. As it turns out, you can incorporate wherever you want. However, if you do incorporate in another state, you'll have to register as a foreign corporation in your home state.

There are many nuances to forming a company. To learn the fundamentals of company formation, browse articles on our site, such as Corporate Formalities. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, our information on Incorporating in Massachusetts may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Massachusetts.

Do You Need a Business Plan?

A business plan is critical to the health of your new business. Indeed, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Failure to write a business plan is a recipe for disaster.

Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim Find Sample Business Plans Online. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Massachusetts.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Finding the funds to fuel the growth of your Hanscom AFB business is a difficult chore. The reality is that there is very little funding available for new small businesses, and you have to explore every possible alternative.

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

For Hanscom AFB entrepreneurs on the hunt for startup funding, we have assembled a List of Massachusetts Angel Investors and our List of Massachusetts Venture Capital Firms.

Promoting Your New Company

To grow your Hanscom AFB business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your business achieving its goals.

We have some helpful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Effective Direct Mail Campaigns 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.

Building Up Your Sales

Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Hanscom AFB business to do well.

Why should customers buy from you instead of buying from competitors? The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.

Anticipating Prospect Responses 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.

Advancing Your Entrepreneurial Skills

The best entrepreneurs recognize that they need to continually improve.

With your business being located in Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Massachusetts educational institutions. We also suggest you look into networking organizations for Hanscom AFB entrepreneurs.

What's Next?

Most new Hanscom AFB businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.

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

We are here to help Hanscom AFB businesses to be successful. 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 Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts

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

• Resources for Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Hanscom AFB entrepreneurs.
• Massachusetts Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Massachusetts.
• Massachusetts Small Business Development Center - The Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (MSBDC) Network provides one-to-one free comprehensive and confidential services focusing on, business growth and strategies, financing and loan assistance as well as strategic, marketing and operational analysis.
• Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Hanscom AFB area.