West Virginia Business Startup Guides

Opening a Business in Lewisburg, West Virginia

Contemplating starting a business in Lewisburg, West Virginia? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Lewisburg.

What Business to Start

An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. To stir your creative juices on what kind of business to start, take a look at How to Evaluate a Business Idea.

For step-by-step instructions on starting a variety of business types, visit the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Starting an Entertainment Agencies & Bureaus Business guide or our How to Start a Pet Containment Business guide.

Remember that your new business will be in Lewisburg. Some businesses will do better in Lewisburg than others. Make sure you fully understand Lewisburg demographics before you lock in on your business idea.

Lewisburg, West Virginia Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
3395
5-9 Employees
1335
10-19 Employees
630
20-49 Employees
435
50-99 Employees
165
100-249 Employees
30
250-499 Employees
15
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
0
All Lewisburg Businesses
6005

As a new Lewisburg entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Lewisburg 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
Animal (except Poultry) Slaughtering
2
Art Dealers
1
Beauty Salons
4
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
1
Book Stores
1
Bowling Centers
1
Business Associations
2
Cafeterias
1
Car Washes
1
Caterers
2
Cemeteries and Crematories
2
Child and Youth Services
1
Child Day Care Services
4
Civic and Social Organizations
3
Collection Agencies
1
Commercial Lithographic Printing
2
Computer and Software Stores
2
Consumer Lending
1
Convenience Stores
1
Convention and Visitors Bureaus
1
Custom Computer Programming Services
1
Discount Department Stores
1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
2
Drywall and Insulation Contractors
2
Emergency and Other Relief Services
1
Employment Placement Agencies
1
Engineering Services
1
Family Clothing Stores
2
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers
2
Floor Covering Stores
2
Flooring Contractors
1
Florists
1
Food (Health) Supplement Stores
2
Food Service Contractors
1
Framing Contractors
1
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
3
Furniture Stores
4
General Automotive Repair
1
General Freight Trucking, Local
1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
4
Grantmaking Foundations
2
Graphic Design Services
1
Home Health Care Services
3
Home Health Equipment Rental
1
Homes for the Elderly
2
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
11
Investment Advice
1
Jewelry Stores
3
Land Subdivision
1
Lessors of Other Real Estate Property
1
Limited-Service Restaurants
14
Limousine Service
1
Logging
1
Masonry Contractors
2
Medical Laboratories
1
Men's Clothing Stores
1
Motorcycle Dealers
1
Museums
2
Musical Instrument and Supplies Stores
1
Natural Gas Distribution
1
New Car Dealers
3
New Housing Operative Builders
1
Newspaper Publishers
1
Offices of Chiropractors
2
Offices of Dentists
4
Offices of Lawyers
21
Offices of Optometrists
4
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers
2
Paint and Wallpaper Stores
1
Passenger Car Rental
1
Pet and Pet Supplies Stores
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
1
Photography Studios, Portrait
2
Real Estate Credit
1
Residential Property Managers
1
Residential Remodelers
4
Retail Bakeries
2
Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation
1
Securities Brokerage
1
Shoe Stores
2
Sign Manufacturing
1
Site Preparation Contractors
3
Sporting Goods Stores
1
Support Activities for Coal Mining
1
Taxi Service
1
Temporary Shelters
1
Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters
1
Timber Tract Operations
1
Tire Dealers
1
Used Car Dealers
1
Used Merchandise Stores
1
Video Tape and Disc Rental
1
Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters
1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers
1
Wired Telecommunications Carriers
1
Women's Clothing Stores
3

What About Buying an Existing Lewisburg Business?

An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in West Virginia. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Lewisburg.

If you are serious about buying a business, you may want to read this article: Buying a Business.

Forming a Company in Lewisburg, West Virginia

A critical step is ensuring that you form your business as a legal structure. Among other things, forming a legal entity for the business limits your liabilities.

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

Incorporating is a very common way to legally create a business entity. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in West Virginia, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in West Virginia. As it turns out, you are allowed to incorporate in any state you would like to. 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 Where to Incorporate. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Lewisburg, West Virginia, our information on Incorporating in West Virginia may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in West Virginia.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Finding the funds to fuel the growth of your Lewisburg business requires strong organization skills and perseverance. The reality is that there is very little funding available for new small businesses, and you have to explore every possible alternative.

Fortunately, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled How to Raise Money.

For Lewisburg entrepreneurs who need startup capital, check out our List of West Virginia Angel Investors and our List of West Virginia Venture Capital Firms.

The Art of Selling

Being able to sell is critical to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Lewisburg or are selling to customers throughout West Virginia, the United States or even the world, you have to be able to sell.

So what does it take to bring in more prospects and close more business? Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.

Hiring Good Sales People is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.

Next Steps

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

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

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

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Lewisburg, West Virginia

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

More Startup Articles for West Virginia Cities

Starting a Business in Kingwood
Starting a Business in Logan

Browse All Business Startup Guides for West Virginia
Starting a Business Guides for Other States

 

 

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