Starting a Business in New London, Connecticut

Thinking about starting a business in New London, Connecticut? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in New London.

New London, Connecticut Demographic Information

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

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

As a new New London entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in New London 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.

Is a Franchise Opportunity Right For You?

Visit the business district of New London and you'll see that franchises make up a large percentage of local businesses. But is franchising the right option for you?

We highly recommend you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Before Buying a Franchise. Gain a solid understanding of franchising by scanning all of our Articles on Franchising.

To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.

Sample franchise opportunities include Cottman Transmissions and KnowledgePoints Development Corp.. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Candy and Chocolate Franchises and Fitness Franchises.

Note on New London Franchise Opportunities: To find out if a franchise you are interested in is available in New London, you will need to get in direct contact with the franchisor.

Picking a Business Name

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.

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: Branding Advice.

There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are planning on starting a business in New London, it's critical that you ensure that your company name has not already been claimed by another Connecticut business.

Where to Get Money to Start a Company

Raising money to fund your new New London 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.

Take advantage of our many articles on raising money, such as 504 Loans.

For New London entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, check out our List of Connecticut Angel Investors and our List of Connecticut Venture Capital Firms.

Marketing Your New Company

Whether your goal is to attract New London customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your beating the competition.

There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Television Advertising Rates is an article that will stimulate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.

Learning More About Entrepreneurship

Successful business owners recognize that what they know now may not be enough to ensure their future success.

With your business being located in New London, Connecticut, you should investigate some of the many programs available at nearby Connecticut universities, colleges and community colleges. You should also check if there are any networking organizations for New London entrepreneurs.

Never Give Up

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

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

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in New London 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 New London, Connecticut

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

• Resources for New London, Connecticut Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist New London entrepreneurs.
• Connecticut Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Connecticut.
• Connecticut Small Business Development Center - Central Connecticut State University's Institute of Technology and Business Development (ITBD) supports Connecticut businesses and business-related organizations with training, technology assistance, conferencing services, procurement services and business incubation.
• New London, Connecticut Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for New London, Connecticut newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the New London area.
• New London, Connecticut Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for New London, Connecticut area radio stations.