Starting a Business in Houston, Mississippi

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

Are You Ready for the Challenges of Being an Entrepreneur?

Running your own business is hard work, much harder than working as an employee. Are you certain you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?

With so much at stake when you start a business, we strongly recommend you do the following before you proceed:

• Talk to other entrepreneurs in Houston. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
• We recommend reading Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
• Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. 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.

Choosing the Right Company to Start

Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. If you are struggling with what type of business to start, 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 How to Start a Home Parties Business guide or our Opening a Wholesale Distributors Business guide.

Always keep in mind that your new startup will be located in Houston. If Houston already has plenty of the kind of business you want to start, you might want to change your plans. Only by spending some time analyzing Houston demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.

Houston, Mississippi Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	3120
5-9 Employees	1104
10-19 Employees	672
20-49 Employees	336
50-99 Employees	144
100-249 Employees	72
250-499 Employees	0
500-999 Employees	24
1000+ Employees	0
All Houston Businesses	5472

As a new Houston entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Houston 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
Ambulance Services	1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	4
Beauty Salons	1
Business Associations	2
Child Day Care Services	2
Consumer Lending	3
Convenience Stores	2
Cut Stock, Resawing Lumber, and Planing	1
Discount Department Stores	1
Electric Power Distribution	1
Electrical Contractors	2
Elementary and Secondary Schools	1
Facilities Support Services	1
Family Clothing Stores	3
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	2
Florists	2
Food Service Contractors	1
Full-Service Restaurants	3
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	2
Furniture Merchant Wholesalers	2
Furniture Stores	1
General Automotive Repair	3
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores	2
Golf Courses and Country Clubs	1
Hardware Manufacturing	1
Hardware Stores	1
Home Health Care Services	2
Home Health Equipment Rental	1
Homes for the Elderly	1
Household Appliance Stores	1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	6
Land Subdivision	1
Landscaping Services	1
Limited-Service Restaurants	10
Logging	1
Machine Shops	3
Masonry Contractors	1
New Car Dealers	2
Newspaper Publishers	1
Nursing Care Facilities	1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants	3
Offices of Chiropractors	1
Offices of Dentists	2
Offices of Lawyers	3
Offices of Optometrists	1
Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	2
Polystyrene Foam Product Manufacturing	1
Radio Stations	1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing	1
Real Estate Credit	1
Residential Property Managers	1
Sales Financing	1
Security Guards and Patrol Services	1
Site Preparation Contractors	1
Solid Waste Landfill	1
Tire Dealers	2
Used Car Dealers	3
Used Household and Office Goods Moving	1
Vending Machine Operators	1
Veterinary Services	1
Video Tape and Disc Rental	2
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers	4
Wired Telecommunications Carriers	1
Women's Clothing Stores	1

Forming a Company in Houston, Mississippi

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

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

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 Mississippi, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Mississippi. In fact, you can incorporate wherever you want. 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 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 C Corp Versus S Corp. You may also want to seek the advice of an lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Houston, Mississippi, our information on Incorporating in Mississippi may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Mississippi.

Don't Skip the Business Plan

A business plan is vital to the health of your new business. Simply put, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Not having a business plan is a recipe for disaster.

To learn more about business plans, read Business Presentations. You should also take advantage of free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in Mississippi.

Startup Financing Basics

Getting your Houston business the capital it needs to succeed is not an easy task. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.

Fortunately, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled Business Credit Evaluation.

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

The Art of Selling

Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Houston business, you need to focus on sales.

The key to selling is to set sales goals goals and monitor your progress towards those goals. Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.

Selling Products on eBay 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.

Never Give Up

As an entrepreneur in Houston, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.

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

Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Houston and throughout the United States . We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Houston entrepreneur who is just getting started or you are already up and running with your new venture.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Houston, Mississippi

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

• Resources for Houston, Mississippi Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Houston entrepreneurs.
• Mississippi Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Mississippi.
• Mississippi Small Business Development Center - The Mississippi Small Business Development Centers (MSBDC) is dedicated to helping build and grow businesses in Mississippi. For new entrepreneurs, this is an excellent resource.
• Houston, Mississippi Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Houston, Mississippi newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Houston area.
• Houston, Mississippi Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Houston, Mississippi area radio stations.

More Business Startup Guides for Mississippi
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Starting a Business in Indianola

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