Open a Business in Old Town, Maine

Are you starting a business in Old Town, Maine? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Old Town.

Do You Have What It Takes?

Running your own business is difficult, much more arduous than working as an employee. Are you sure you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?

Because entrepreneurship is not for everyone, we recommend you do the following to help you assess whether you should move forward with starting a business:

• Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Old Town. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
• Peruse Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
• Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. A support network of family and friends can be a great sounding board for good advice before you decide for sure to go into business.

Old Town, Maine Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	274
5-9 Employees	114
10-19 Employees	72
20-49 Employees	33
50-99 Employees	9
100-249 Employees	18
250-499 Employees	6
500-999 Employees	0
1000+ Employees	0
All Old Town Businesses	526

As a new Old Town entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Old Town 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	3
Beauty Salons	2
Boat Building	1
Boat Dealers	1
Bowling Centers	1
Car Washes	1
Charter Bus Industry	1
Child and Youth Services	1
Child Day Care Services	3
Civic and Social Organizations	5
Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners	2
Convenience Stores	4
Credit Unions	1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	3
Drywall and Insulation Contractors	1
Electrical Contractors	4
Elementary and Secondary Schools	2
Engineering Services	2
Family Clothing Stores	1
Finish Carpentry Contractors	1
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers	1
Florists	3
Footwear Merchant Wholesalers	1
Full-Service Restaurants	3
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	1
Furniture Stores	1
General Automotive Repair	4
General Freight Trucking, Local	1
General Rental Centers	1
Golf Courses and Country Clubs	1
Graphic Design Services	1
Hardware Stores	1
Heating Oil Dealers	3
Historical Sites	1
Home Health Care Services	1
Homes for the Elderly	2
Household Appliance Stores	1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	3
Landscaping Services	2
Limited-Service Restaurants	8
Logging	3
Machine Shops	1
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers	1
Materials Recovery Facilities	1
Motor Vehicle Towing	1
Motorcycle Dealers	2
Museums	1
Newspaper Publishers	1
Office Administrative Services	1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants	2
Offices of Chiropractors	2
Offices of Dentists	1
Offices of Lawyers	1
Ophthalmic Goods Merchant Wholesalers	1
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	1
Photography Studios, Portrait	1
Portfolio Management	1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing	1
Residential Remodelers	1
Retail Bakeries	1
Sanitary Paper Product Manufacturing	1
Savings Institutions	1
Sawmills	1
School and Employee Bus Transportation	1
Sign Manufacturing	1
Site Preparation Contractors	1
Sporting Goods Stores	1
Tax Preparation Services	1
Temporary Help Services	1
Tobacco Stores	1
Used Car Dealers	1
Video Tape and Disc Rental	1

Should You Buy an Existing Old Town Business?

If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Maine. Follow that link and you can review several good businesses for sale in Old Town.

If you are headed down the path of buying a business, you may want to read this article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.

Company Formation in Old Town, Maine

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 traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.

Incorporation 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 Maine, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Maine. As it turns out, you are allowed to 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 Why Incorporate in Delaware. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Old Town, Maine, our information on Incorporating in Maine may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Maine.

Raising Capital for Your Company

Getting your Old Town business the capital it needs to succeed is a difficult chore. 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 Business Cash Advances.

For Old Town entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, browse our List of Maine Angel Investors and our List of Maine Venture Capital Firms.

Marketing Your New Company

To rise above the crowd in Old Town and accelerate your business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your business achieving its goals.

We have some useful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Responsible Marketing is an article that will stimulate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.

Now It's Up To You

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

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

Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Old Town and throughout the United States . 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 Old Town, Maine

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

• Resources for Old Town, Maine Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Old Town entrepreneurs.
• Maine Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Maine.
• Maine Small Business Development Center - Maine Small Business Development Centers and its technology-focused group, the Maine Small Business & Technology Development Centers, provide comprehensive business management assistance, training, resource and information services to Maine's entrepreneurs and small business owners.
• Old Town, Maine Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Old Town, Maine newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Old Town area.

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