Start a Business in Laurinburg, North Carolina

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

Do You Have Entrepreneurial Drive and Passion?

Most new ventures fail, in part because the entrepreneur did not have the entrepreneurial skills and traits needed to succeed. So, before you start your business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.

While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:

• Talk to other entrepreneurs in Laurinburg. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
• 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. 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.

Laurinburg, North Carolina Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	855
5-9 Employees	366
10-19 Employees	234
20-49 Employees	189
50-99 Employees	33
100-249 Employees	39
250-499 Employees	15
500-999 Employees	6
1000+ Employees	0
All Laurinburg Businesses	1737

As a new Laurinburg entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Laurinburg 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
Appliance Repair and Maintenance	1
Automotive Glass Replacement Shops	1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	8
Automotive Transmission Repair	1
Beauty Salons	2
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores	1
Book Stores	1
Broadwoven Fabric Mills	1
Building Inspection Services	1
Business Associations	1
Cable and Other Program Distribution	1
Cafeterias	1
Child and Youth Services	1
Child Day Care Services	13
Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners	1
Commercial Lithographic Printing	1
Computer Systems Design Services	2
Consumer Lending	5
Continuing Care Retirement Communities	2
Convenience Stores	7
Couriers	1
Credit Unions	2
Cut Stock, Resawing Lumber, and Planing	1
Document Preparation Services	1
Drafting Services	1
Electric Power Distribution	1
Electrical Contractors	4
Elementary and Secondary Schools	1
Emergency and Other Relief Services	1
Exam Preparation and Tutoring	1
Exterminating and Pest Control Services	2
Family Clothing Stores	4
Farm Product Warehousing and Storage	1
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	2
Fine Arts Schools	1
Finish Carpentry Contractors	1
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers	1
Flat Glass Manufacturing	1
Florists	3
Food (Health) Supplement Stores	1
Food Service Contractors	4
Framing Contractors	2
Fruit and Vegetable Markets	1
Full-Service Restaurants	13
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	4
Furniture Stores	5
General Automotive Repair	9
General Freight Trucking, Local	1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores	2
Golf Courses and Country Clubs	2
Hardware Stores	3
Home Centers	1
Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers	1
Home Health Care Services	8
Home Health Equipment Rental	1
Homes for the Elderly	3
Household Appliance Stores	1
Industrial Gas Manufacturing	1
Industrial Launderers	1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	8
Janitorial Services	3
Jewelry Stores	3
Kidney Dialysis Centers	1
Landscape Architectural Services	1
Landscaping Services	5
Lessors of Other Real Estate Property	2
Libraries and Archives	1
Limited-Service Restaurants	19
Logging	2
Machine Shops	2
Mail-Order Houses	1
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers	2
Marketing Consulting Services	1
Masonry Contractors	1
Meat Markets	1
Motor Vehicle Metal Stamping	1
Motorcycle Dealers	1
Museums	1
Musical Instrument and Supplies Stores	1
New Car Dealers	3
Newspaper Publishers	1
Nursing Care Facilities	2
Office Equipment Merchant Wholesalers	1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants	6
Offices of Chiropractors	1
Offices of Dentists	7
Offices of Lawyers	8
Offices of Optometrists	4
Offices of Other Holding Companies	1
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers	1
Paging	1
Paint and Wallpaper Stores	2
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	7
Photography Studios, Portrait	2
Portfolio Management	1
Private Mail Centers	1
Professional Organizations	1
Quick Printing	2
Radio Stations	1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing	3
Real Estate Credit	5
Residential Property Managers	2
Residential Remodelers	1
Reupholstery and Furniture Repair	1
Securities Brokerage	2
Shoe Stores	2
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars	1
Solid Waste Collection	1
Sporting Goods Stores	1
Support Activities for Forestry	1
Tax Preparation Services	2
Temporary Help Services	6
Thread Mills	1
Tire Dealers	3
Tobacco Stores	1
Travel Agencies	1
Used Car Dealers	3
Veterinary Services	3
Video Tape and Disc Rental	3
Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters	1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers	1
Wired Telecommunications Carriers	2
Women's Clothing Stores	4
Wood Container and Pallet Manufacturing	2
Yarn Spinning Mills	1

Naming the Company

Making the right decision when choosing a company name is very important. There are many decisions you'll make now that you can change later, but changing a company name years down the road is not very easy. So, choose a good company name at the outset.

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.

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

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

Forming a Company in Laurinburg, North Carolina

A critical step is ensuring that you choose the right legal structure for your new entity. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.

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

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. If you are starting a business in North Carolina, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in North Carolina. As it turns out, you can incorporate in the state of your choosing. 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 Offshore Company Formation. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Laurinburg, North Carolina, our information on Incorporating in North Carolina may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in North Carolina.

Make Sure You Have a Business Plan

A business plan is critical in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Indeed, 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.

Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in North Carolina.

Marketing Your New Venture

Whether your goal is to attract Laurinburg customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.

There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Dealing with Angry Customers discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.

Now It's Up To You

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

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

We are here to help Laurinburg businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Laurinburg, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Laurinburg, North Carolina

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

• Resources for Laurinburg, North Carolina Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Laurinburg entrepreneurs.
• North Carolina Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in North Carolina.
• North Carolina Small Business Development Center - The North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) helps small business owners meet the challenges of today's business environment. To do this, they provide management counseling and educational services to small and mid-sized businesses throughout North Carolina.
• Laurinburg, North Carolina Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Laurinburg, North Carolina newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Laurinburg area.
• Laurinburg, North Carolina Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Laurinburg, North Carolina area radio stations.

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