Starting a Business in Hiawassee, Georgia

Are you starting a business in Hiawassee, Georgia? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Hiawassee.

Do You Have What It Takes?

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

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 Hiawassee. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful 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. A support network of family and friends can be a great sounding board for good advice before you decide for sure to go into business.

Hiawassee, Georgia Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	488
5-9 Employees	141
10-19 Employees	66
20-49 Employees	30
50-99 Employees	12
100-249 Employees	6
250-499 Employees	0
500-999 Employees	0
1000+ Employees	0
All Hiawassee Businesses	743

As a new Hiawassee entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Hiawassee 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
Amusement Arcades	1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	2
Beauty Salons	1
Bed-and-Breakfast Inns	1
Business Associations	2
Car Washes	1
Civic and Social Organizations	1
Commercial Lithographic Printing	2
Commercial Screen Printing	1
Dental Laboratories	4
Electrical Contractors	6
Engineering Services	1
Family Clothing Stores	1
Finish Carpentry Contractors	1
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers	1
Floor Covering Stores	2
Florists	1
Food (Health) Supplement Stores	1
Freight Transportation Arrangement	1
Full-Service Restaurants	10
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	1
Furniture Stores	1
General Automotive Repair	1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
General Rental Centers	1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores	2
Golf Courses and Country Clubs	1
Hardware Stores	1
Home Health Care Services	4
Homes for the Elderly	1
Household Appliance Stores	1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	3
Interior Design Services	2
Janitorial Services	2
Jewelry Stores	1
Land Subdivision	5
Landscaping Services	5
Limited-Service Restaurants	5
Marinas	1
Masonry Contractors	3
Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers	2
Motor Vehicle Towing	1
Nail Salons	1
New Housing Operative Builders	4
Office Administrative Services	2
Offices of Bank Holding Companies	1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants	1
Offices of Chiropractors	1
Offices of Dentists	3
Offices of Lawyers	5
Offices of Optometrists	1
Paint and Wallpaper Stores	1
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors	2
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	4
Private Mail Centers	1
Public Relations Agencies	1
Real Estate Credit	1
Recreational Goods Rental	1
Residential Remodelers	1
Savings Institutions	1
Site Preparation Contractors	3
Solid Waste Landfill	1
Sporting Goods Stores	2
Tire Dealers	2
Used Household and Office Goods Moving	1
Veterinary Services	1
Video Tape and Disc Rental	1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers	2
Window Treatment Stores	1
Women's Clothing Stores	1

Naming the Company

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.

Company names should be fun to say, and they should help people to understand what you do and how you differentiate yourself in the market.

For other considerations regarding naming a company, we recommend this article: Naming a Company.

As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are starting a business in Hiawassee, it's very important that you make sure no other Georgia company is using the business name you want to use.

Forming a Company in Hiawassee, Georgia

It's essential that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Without a legal structure for the business, you can be held personally liable for the actions, debts and obligations of your company.

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. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in Georgia, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Georgia. In fact, you are allowed to 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. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Where to Incorporate. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Hiawassee, Georgia, our information on Incorporating in Georgia may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Georgia.

Raising Capital for Your Venture

Getting your Hiawassee business the capital it needs to succeed requires strong organization skills and perseverance. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.

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

For Hiawassee entrepreneurs in need of startup financing, check out our List of Georgia Angel Investors and our List of Georgia Venture Capital Firms.

Marketing Your New Venture

To rise above the crowd in Hiawassee and accelerate your business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your successs.

There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Telemarketing Service Costs is a good read to get your marketing thoughts flowing. That's just one of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.

Now It's Up To You

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

If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.

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

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Hiawassee, Georgia

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

• Resources for Hiawassee, Georgia Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Hiawassee 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.
• Hiawassee, Georgia Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Hiawassee, Georgia newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Hiawassee area.

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