Opening a Business in Houlton, Maine

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

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 stir your creative juices on what kind of business to start, take a look at Good Business Ideas.

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 Opening an Electric Connectors Business guide or our How to Start a Linen Supply Services Business guide.

Always keep in mind that you are opening your new business in Houlton. Some businesses will do better in Houlton than others. Make sure you fully understand Houlton demographics before you lock in on your business idea.

Houlton, Maine Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	534
5-9 Employees	228
10-19 Employees	135
20-49 Employees	93
50-99 Employees	12
100-249 Employees	6
250-499 Employees	3
500-999 Employees	0
1000+ Employees	0
All Houlton Businesses	1011

As a new Houlton entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Houlton 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
Architectural Services	1
Automotive Glass Replacement Shops	1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	5
Automotive Transmission Repair	1
Beauty Salons	2
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores	2
Book Stores	1
Bowling Centers	1
Business Associations	1
Cable and Other Program Distribution	2
Child and Youth Services	2
Child Day Care Services	2
Civic and Social Organizations	1
Commercial Lithographic Printing	1
Convenience Stores	1
Convention and Visitors Bureaus	1
Couriers	3
Creamery Butter Manufacturing	1
Credit Unions	1
Custom Computer Programming Services	1
Cut Stock, Resawing Lumber, and Planing	1
Discount Department Stores	1
Electrical Contractors	3
Elementary and Secondary Schools	1
Engineering Services	2
Fertilizer (Mixing Only) Manufacturing	1
Finish Carpentry Contractors	1
Florists	2
Framing Contractors	1
Freight Transportation Arrangement	4
Full-Service Restaurants	9
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	1
Furniture Stores	2
General Automotive Repair	8
General Freight Trucking, Local	2
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
General Rental Centers	3
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores	2
Heating Oil Dealers	3
Home Health Care Services	2
Home Health Equipment Rental	1
Homes for the Elderly	12
Household Appliance Stores	1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	3
Investment Advice	1
Janitorial Services	2
Jewelry Stores	1
Limited-Service Restaurants	4
Local Messengers and Local Delivery	1
Logging	5
Machine Shops	1
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers	1
Materials Recovery Facilities	1
Men's Clothing Stores	1
Mobile Food Services	2
Motorcycle Dealers	2
New Car Dealers	1
Newspaper Publishers	1
Nonresidential Property Managers	1
Nursing Care Facilities	2
Office Administrative Services	1
Office Supplies and Stationery Stores	1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants	2
Offices of Chiropractors	2
Offices of Dentists	6
Offices of Lawyers	9
Offices of Optometrists	2
Offices of Podiatrists	1
Ophthalmic Goods Merchant Wholesalers	1
Paint and Wallpaper Stores	1
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors	1
Pet and Pet Supplies Stores	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	1
Radio Stations	1
Residential Property Managers	1
Residential Remodelers	3
Sales Financing	1
Savings Institutions	2
Sawmills	1
Sheet Metal Work Manufacturing	1
Shoe Stores	1
Site Preparation Contractors	6
Small Arms Manufacturing	1
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars	1
Sporting Goods Stores	1
Taxi Service	1
Tire Dealers	2
Tire Retreading	1
Travel Agencies	1
Used Car Dealers	1
Used Merchandise Stores	1
Veterinary Services	2
Video Tape and Disc Rental	1
Vocational Rehabilitation Services	1
Wet Corn Milling	1
Wired Telecommunications Carriers	1

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Houlton Business?

An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Maine. Follow that link and you can review several good businesses for sale in Houlton.

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

Naming the Business

A good company name can give a big boost to a new startup. It might seem like an easy thing to do, but there are many things to consider when naming a business.

Pick a company name that isn't too generic. If you do a search engine search for your proposed name and a billion results come up, you may want to reconsider the name. It's much easier to come up in the search engines when your name is fairly unique.

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

There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are planning on starting a business in Houlton, it's imperative that you check now that no other Maine company is using the business name you want to use.

Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan

Creating a business plan is vital in laying a solid foundation for your business success. In effect, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Failure to write a business plan

To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Maine.

Letting the World Know You Exist

Whether your goal is to attract Houlton customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your doing well.

There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Typical Direct Mail Response Rates 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.

With your business being located in Houlton, Maine, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Maine educational institutions. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any Houlton networking organizations.

Now It's Up To You

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

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

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Houlton 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 Houlton, Maine

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

• Resources for Houlton, Maine Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Houlton entrepreneurs.
• Maine Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Maine.
• Maine Small Business Development Center - Maine Small Business Development Centers and its technology-focused group, the Maine Small Business & Technology Development Centers, provide comprehensive business management assistance, training, resource and information services to Maine's entrepreneurs and small business owners.
• Houlton, Maine Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Houlton, Maine newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Houlton area.
• Houlton, Maine Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Houlton, Maine area radio stations.

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