Starting a Business in Lewistown, Montana

Contemplating starting a business in Lewistown, Montana? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Lewistown.

Are You Ready for Entrepreneurship?

Before you get too far along in the process, assess your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.

Here are three things we recommend you do before you fully commit to starting a new business of your own.

• Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Lewistown. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
• Peruse Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
• Have a candid conversation with friends and family. 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.

Lewistown, Montana Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	2672
5-9 Employees	900
10-19 Employees	588
20-49 Employees	240
50-99 Employees	84
100-249 Employees	0
250-499 Employees	12
500-999 Employees	0
1000+ Employees	0
All Lewistown Businesses	4496

As a new Lewistown entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Lewistown 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
Aircraft Manufacturing	1
Animal (except Poultry) Slaughtering	1
Architectural Services	1
Automotive Glass Replacement Shops	1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	4
Automotive Transmission Repair	1
Beauty Salons	1
Beer and Ale Merchant Wholesalers	1
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores	1
Book Stores	1
Bottled Water Manufacturing	1
Bowling Centers	1
Business Associations	2
Cable and Other Program Distribution	1
Canvas and Related Product Mills	1
Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Services	1
Cemeteries and Crematories	1
Child Day Care Services	6
Children's and Infants' Clothing Stores	1
Civic and Social Organizations	7
Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners	1
Collection Agencies	1
Computer and Software Stores	2
Computer Training	1
Construction Machinery Manufacturing	1
Construction Sand and Gravel Mining	1
Continuing Care Retirement Communities	1
Couriers	2
Credit Unions	1
Custom Computer Programming Services	1
Digital Printing	1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	4
Educational Support Services	2
Electric Power Distribution	3
Electrical Contractors	3
Elementary and Secondary Schools	1
Emergency and Other Relief Services	2
Family Clothing Stores	2
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers	1
Floor Covering Stores	1
Florists	2
Footwear and Leather Goods Repair	1
Framing Contractors	3
Full-Service Restaurants	11
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	2
Furniture Stores	2
General Automotive Repair	4
General Freight Trucking, Local	2
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores	4
Golf Courses and Country Clubs	1
Grantmaking Foundations	1
Hardware Stores	2
Home Health Care Services	1
Homes for the Elderly	1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	8
Investment Advice	1
Iron and Steel Mills	2
Janitorial Services	4
Jewelry Stores	1
Lessors of Other Real Estate Property	2
Limited-Service Restaurants	12
Logging	3
Machine Shops	2
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers	1
Masonry Contractors	2
Meat Markets	1
Medical Laboratories	1
Motorcycle Dealers	2
Museums	1
New Car Dealers	3
Newspaper Publishers	1
Nursing Care Facilities	1
Office Administrative Services	1
Office Supplies and Stationery Stores	1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants	5
Offices of Chiropractors	3
Offices of Dentists	5
Offices of Lawyers	7
Offices of Optometrists	4
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers	1
Packing and Crating	1
Paint and Wallpaper Stores	1
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors	1
Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	2
Photography Studios, Portrait	1
Radio Stations	2
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing	1
Recreational Vehicle Dealers	1
Residential Remodelers	1
Sawmills	1
Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation	1
Securities Brokerage	2
Septic Tank and Related Services	1
Shoe Stores	1
Site Preparation Contractors	5
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars	1
Solid Waste Collection	2
Sporting Goods Stores	2
Tire Dealers	2
Tobacco Stores	1
Travel Agencies	1
Used Car Dealers	1
Veterinary Services	5
Video Tape and Disc Rental	1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers	1
Wired Telecommunications Carriers	2
Women's Clothing Stores	1

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Lewistown Business?

We've created a useful website page for those who want to Buy a Business in Montana. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Lewistown.

For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: How to Buy a Business.

Company Formation in Lewistown, Montana

It's very important that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.

When forming a company, you will pick from many company types, such as a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.

Incorporation 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. Just because you are starting a business in Montana, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Montana. In fact, you can 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's a lot to know about forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Why Incorporate in Delaware. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Lewistown, Montana, our web page covering Incorporating in Montana may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Montana.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Raising money to fund your new Lewistown business is not an easy task. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.

To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as Borrowing Money from Friends and Family.

For Lewistown entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, you'll want to take a look at our List of Montana Angel Investors and our List of Montana Venture Capital Firms.

Marketing Your New Venture

To grow your Lewistown business, you need a solid marketing plan.

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

How to Sell

Being able to sell is critical to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Lewistown or are selling to customers throughout Montana, 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.

Why Salespeople Fail offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.

Never Give Up

You have a dream -- starting a business in Lewistown. 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 Lewistown businesses to be successful. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Lewistown 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 Lewistown, Montana

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

• Resources for Lewistown, Montana Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Lewistown entrepreneurs.
• Montana Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Montana.
• Montana Small Business Development Center - The Montana Small Business Development Centers focus on the creation, retention and expansion of Montana small businesses.
• Lewistown, Montana Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Lewistown, Montana newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Lewistown area.
• Lewistown, Montana Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Lewistown, Montana area radio stations.
• Lewistown, Montana Payroll Services - This list includes Lewistown, Montana payroll services, national payroll services for Lewistown, and helpful information on choosing a Lewistown payroll service.

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