Oregon Business Startup Guides

Starting a Business in Oakridge, Oregon

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

Oakridge, Oregon Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
110
5-9 Employees
48
10-19 Employees
30
20-49 Employees
18
50-99 Employees
0
100-249 Employees
0
250-499 Employees
0
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
0
All Oakridge Businesses
206

As a new Oakridge entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Oakridge 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
Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing
1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores
2
Beauty Salons
1
Bowling Centers
1
Business Associations
1
Child Day Care Services
1
Convenience Stores
1
Credit Unions
1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
2
Elementary and Secondary Schools
1
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers
1
Florists
1
Full-Service Restaurants
5
Golf Courses and Country Clubs
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
1
Lessors of Other Real Estate Property
2
Limited-Service Restaurants
5
Logging
4
Motor Vehicle Towing
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
1
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
1
Solid Waste Collection
1
Sporting Goods Stores
1
Tire Dealers
1
Travel Trailer and Camper Manufacturing
1
Video Tape and Disc Rental
1

Is Franchising a Better Option?

As you drive around Oakridge, you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. Should you be giving franchising serious consideration?

We advise the entrepreneurs we work with to look into purchasing a franchise. We have many articles on franchises, such as The Franchising Process. Become a franchising expert of sorts by reading more of our Articles on Franchising.

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

Sample franchise opportunities include The Mail Box Stores and California Quivers. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Baby Franchises and Bath Remodeling Franchises.

Note on Oakridge Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Oakridge.

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Oakridge Business?

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

Before buying a business, be sure to read this article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.

Picking a Company 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.

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 planning on starting a business in Oakridge, it's imperative that you check now that your company name has not already been claimed by another Oregon business.

Startup Financing Basics

Raising money to fund your new Oakridge business will be harder than you might expect. In fact, financing your new business may be the hardest challenge you ever face.

To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as 504 Loans.

For Oakridge entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, check out our List of Oregon Angel Investors and our List of Oregon Venture Capital Firms.

Promoting Your New Business

To rise above the crowd in Oakridge and advance your business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your beating the competition.

You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. 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. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.

Building Up Your Sales

Mastering the art of selling is a must if you want your new Oakridge business to do well.

Clever sales techniques can transform any business from good to great. The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.

Effective Sales Presentations offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.

Next Steps

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

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

We are here to help Oakridge businesses to be successful. 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 Oakridge, Oregon

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

Starting-a-Business Guides for Other Cities in Oregon

Starting a Business in Newport
Starting a Business in Ontario

Browse All Business Startup Guides for Oregon
Starting a Business Guides for Other States

 

 

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Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs

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Franchise Opportunities

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