California Business Startup Guides
Open a Business in Pleasant Hill, California
Need help starting a business in Pleasant Hill, California? We've got the information you need to open a business in Pleasant Hill.
Do You Have What It Takes?
Most new businesses fail, in part because the business owner did not have the entrepreneurial skills and traits needed to succeed. So, before you start your business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
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 Pleasant Hill. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
- We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. 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.
Pleasant Hill, California Demographic Information
Pleasant Hill has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Pleasant Hill demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Pleasant Hill.
Businesses
As a new Pleasant Hill entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Pleasant Hill 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.
Businesses
Naming the Company
A big decision when starting a company is choosing a company name. Believe it or not, choosing a good company name can be a big contributor to your business success.
Before you decide on a company name, run it by some prospective customers and see what they think. If they don't like it, it's probably a good idea to go back to the drawing board.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Company.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are planning on starting a business in Pleasant Hill, it's imperative that you check now that no other California company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Pleasant Hill, California
It's essential that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. 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. If you are starting a business in California, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in California. In fact, you can incorporate wherever you want. However, if you do incorporate in another state, you'll have to register as a foreign corporation in your home state.
There are many nuances to forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Pre-Incorporation Agreements. You may also want to seek the advice of an lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Pleasant Hill, California, our information on Incorporating in California may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in California.
The Role of the Business Plan
A business plan is critical to the health of your new business. Simply put, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Not having a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in California.
Raising Money for Your New Venture
Getting your Pleasant Hill business the capital it needs to succeed 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.
On the bright side, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled 504 Loans.
For Pleasant Hill entrepreneurs on the hunt for startup funding, we have assembled a List of California Angel Investors and our List of California Venture Capital Firms.
The Art of Selling
Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Pleasant Hill business to do well.
Good selling involves demonstrating that your wares meet your customer's needs. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
Compensating Sales People is worth reading, as it may give you some good ideas on how to sell your products or services. We have many more good articles on selling that you may enjoy reading.
Now It's Up To You
Most new Pleasant Hill businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Pleasant Hill 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 Pleasant Hill, California
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Pleasant Hill.
- Resources for Pleasant Hill, California Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Pleasant Hill entrepreneurs.
- California Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in California.
- Fresno, California Small Business Development Center - The UC Merced SBDC Regional Network assists Central California entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling, training and business information.
- Los Angeles, California Small Business Development Center - The Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Network (LA SBDC Network) is part of the national, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) effort to provide free one-on-one customized consulting services and low-cost training workshops to growing businesses and start-up businesses.
- Sacramento, California Small Business Development Center - As Northern California continues to grow demographically and economically, the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center (NECSBDC) at CSU, Chico is committed to helping communities prepare and plan for future growth.
- San Diego, California Small Business Development Center - The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Southwestern College serves entrepreneurs and small businesses in San Diego and Imperial Counties. The SBDC provides no-cost business assistance to start-up & existing businesses.
- San Francisco, California Small Business Development Center - The Northern California Network of Small Business Development Centers helps individuals start, manage and grow their businesses.
- Orange County Small Business Development Center - The Orange County SBDC is a leader in providing consulting, training, and technical assistance to the small business community.
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