Opening a Business in Odessa, Washington

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

Will You Be a Good Entrepreneur?

Before announcing to the world that you are going to start your own business, take inventory of 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.

• Talk to other entrepreneurs in Odessa. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
• 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. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.

What Type of Business Should You Start?

There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? You might get some good ideas about what kind of business to start by reading Free Business Ideas.

To view an extensive list of business types, complete with startup instructions, spend some time in the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Opening a Karaoke Club guide or our Opening a Pharmaceutical Products Wholesale & Manufacturers Business guide.

Don't forget that starting a business in Odessa has some implications. If Odessa already has plenty of the kind of business you want to start, you might want to change your plans. Don't forget to review Odessa demographics to see if there's a market for what you want to sell.

Odessa, Washington Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	728
5-9 Employees	126
10-19 Employees	84
20-49 Employees	21
50-99 Employees	21
100-249 Employees	0
250-499 Employees	0
500-999 Employees	0
1000+ Employees	0
All Odessa Businesses	980

As a new Odessa entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Odessa 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
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	1
Child Day Care Services	2
Civic and Social Organizations	1
Dimension Stone Mining and Quarrying	1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	1
Electrical Contractors	1
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	1
Full-Service Restaurants	2
General Automotive Repair	1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
Golf Courses and Country Clubs	1
Hardware Stores	1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	2
Meat Processed from Carcasses	2
Newspaper Publishers	1
Office Supplies and Stationery Stores	1
Offices of Lawyers	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	1
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars	1

Company Formation in Odessa, Washington

A critical step is ensuring that you are forming a legal entity that operates independently from you. Doing so will separate 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.

Incorporating 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. Just because you are starting a business in Washington, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Washington. In fact, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. 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 Avoiding Personal Liability in Business. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Odessa, Washington, our information on Incorporating in Washington may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Washington.

Marketing Your New Venture

To rise above the crowd in Odessa and build your business, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.

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

Advancing Your Entrepreneurial Skills

Successful entrepreneurs know that they don't know everything.

With your business being located in Odessa, Washington, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Washington universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Odessa entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.

What's Next?

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

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

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Odessa and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Odessa, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Odessa, Washington

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

• Resources for Odessa, Washington Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Odessa entrepreneurs.
• Washington Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Washington.
• Washington Small Business Development Center - Washington Small Business Development Centers promote economic vitality by providing advice, training and research to Washington entrepreneurs and existing Washington businesses.
• Odessa, Washington Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Odessa, Washington newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Odessa area.

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