Starting a Business in Plains, Montana

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

Are You Ready for Life as an Owner?

Before quitting your day job, take inventory of your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.

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:

• Talk to other entrepreneurs in Plains. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
• 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. 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.

What Business to Start

There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? To help you decide on a business type, we encourage you to read Finding Your Niche in Life.

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 Starting an Asian Restaurant guide or our Starting an Elastic Goods Retailer guide.

Don't forget that you are starting a business in Plains. Some businesses will do better in Plains than others. Make sure you fully understand Plains demographics before you lock in on your business idea.

Plains, Montana Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	1008
5-9 Employees	216
10-19 Employees	180
20-49 Employees	24
50-99 Employees	0
100-249 Employees	12
250-499 Employees	0
500-999 Employees	0
1000+ Employees	0
All Plains Businesses	1440

As a new Plains entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Plains 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
Ambulance Services	1
Animal (except Poultry) Slaughtering	1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	1
Child Day Care Services	1
Civic and Social Organizations	1
Commercial Lithographic Printing	1
Construction Sand and Gravel Mining	1
Continuing Care Retirement Communities	1
Dimension Stone Mining and Quarrying	3
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	2
Drywall and Insulation Contractors	2
Electric Power Distribution	1
Electrical Contractors	1
Family Clothing Stores	1
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers	2
Full-Service Restaurants	5
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	2
General Automotive Repair	1
General Freight Trucking, Local	1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores	1
Golf Courses and Country Clubs	1
Hardware Stores	3
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	3
Landscaping Services	2
Limited-Service Restaurants	4
Logging	5
Masonry Contractors	1
New Car Dealers	1
Offices of Lawyers	1
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers	1
Pet and Pet Supplies Stores	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	1
Residential Remodelers	1
School and Employee Bus Transportation	1
Site Preparation Contractors	4
Small Arms Manufacturing	1
Solid Waste Collection	1
Sporting Goods Stores	1
Support Activities for Forestry	3
Used Car Dealers	1
Veterinary Services	1
Video Tape and Disc Rental	1
Vocational Rehabilitation Services	1

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 need to be easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember.

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 Plains, it's very important that you make sure your company name has not already been claimed by another Montana business.

Make Sure You Have a Business Plan

Having a business plan is essential in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Indeed, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Not having a business plan makes you more prone to becoming a business failure statistic.

Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim The Art of the Executive Summary. You can also get free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Montana.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Raising money to fund your new Plains business is not an easy task. If you don't have a rich uncle to fund you, you'll need to be creative in how you approach your fundraising efforts.

To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as Choosing VC Firms.

For Plains entrepreneurs in need of startup financing, check out our List of Montana Angel Investors and our List of Montana Venture Capital Firms.

Never Give Up

You have a dream -- starting a business in Plains. 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.

Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Plains and throughout the United States . We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Plains 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 Plains, Montana

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

• Resources for Plains, Montana Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Plains 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.
• Plains, Montana Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Plains, Montana newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Plains area.

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