Starting a Business in Portales, New Mexico

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

Are You Sure You Want to Do This?

Running your own business is hard work, much more challenging than working as an employee. Are you positive you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?

With so much at stake when you start a business, we strongly recommend you do the following before you proceed:

• Speak with other entrepreneurs in Portales. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a business.
• You should read Business Failure. It's a good read for those who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur.
• Involve a spouse, family member or trusted friend in the decision. The people who know you best are often in the best position to tell you bluntly whether you will be a good entrepreneur.

What Type of Business Should You Start?

An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. We recommend that you read Evaluating Your Idea.

For in-depth how-to guides on how to start specific businesses, browse our Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Starting a Fashion Designers Business guide or our Opening a Retail Nurseries Business guide.

Remember that Portales is the place where you are starting a business. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in Portales. A critical consideration is whether Portales demographics mesh well with your startup concept.

Portales, New Mexico Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	555
5-9 Employees	222
10-19 Employees	105
20-49 Employees	81
50-99 Employees	30
100-249 Employees	15
250-499 Employees	0
500-999 Employees	0
1000+ Employees	0
All Portales Businesses	1008

As a new Portales entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Portales 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	4
Beauty Salons	2
Book Stores	1
Cable and Other Program Distribution	1
Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Services	1
Cemeteries and Crematories	1
Cheese Manufacturing	1
Child and Youth Services	1
Child Day Care Services	7
Civic and Social Organizations	1
Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners	1
Commercial Photography	1
Computer and Software Stores	1
Computer Systems Design Services	1
Consumer Lending	3
Convention and Visitors Bureaus	1
Credit Unions	1
Direct Title Insurance Carriers	1
Document Preparation Services	1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	1
Drywall and Insulation Contractors	4
Electric Power Distribution	2
Electrical Contractors	10
Ethyl Alcohol Manufacturing	1
Exterminating and Pest Control Services	1
Family Clothing Stores	3
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	2
Finish Carpentry Contractors	3
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers	1
Floor Covering Stores	1
Florists	2
Food Service Contractors	1
Footwear and Leather Goods Repair	1
Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation	1
Full-Service Restaurants	13
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	1
Furniture Stores	2
General Automotive Repair	5
General Freight Trucking, Local	4
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
Glass and Glazing Contractors	1
Golf Courses and Country Clubs	1
Hardware Stores	2
Heating Oil Dealers	1
Home Health Equipment Rental	1
Homes for the Elderly	2
Industrial Building Construction	1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	5
Janitorial Services	1
Jewelry Stores	1
Landscaping Services	1
Lessors of Other Real Estate Property	1
Limited-Service Restaurants	10
Linen Supply	1
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers	1
Masonry Contractors	4
Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers	1
Motor Vehicle Towing	1
Music Publishers	1
Musical Groups and Artists	1
New Car Dealers	2
New Housing Operative Builders	1
Nursing Care Facilities	2
Office Supplies and Stationery Stores	2
Offices of Certified Public Accountants	5
Offices of Chiropractors	2
Offices of Dentists	2
Offices of Lawyers	2
Offices of Optometrists	2
Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	3
Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil	1
Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas	1
Poultry Processing	1
Quick Printing	1
Radio Stations	1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing	1
Residential Property Managers	3
Residential Remodelers	2
Roofing Contractors	1
Sales Financing	1
School and Employee Bus Transportation	3
Securities Brokerage	1
Sign Manufacturing	1
Soft Drink Manufacturing	1
Sporting Goods Stores	1
Tax Preparation Services	2
Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters	1
Tile and Terrazzo Contractors	1
Tire Dealers	2
Title Abstract and Settlement Offices	1
Tobacco Stores	1
Truss Manufacturing	2
Used Car Dealers	1
Vending Machine Operators	1
Veterinary Services	3
Video Tape and Disc Rental	2
Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters	1
Water Supply and Irrigation Systems	1
Wet Corn Milling	1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers	1
Wired Telecommunications Carriers	3

Company Formation in Portales, New Mexico

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 corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.

Incorporating is a very popular way to form a business. A key decision is whether to form and S-Corp or a C-Corp, and you also must decide in which state you will incorporate. Just because you are starting a business in New Mexico, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in New Mexico. As it turns out, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. For example, it's very popular to incorporate in Delaware, and incorporating in Nevada has become very trendy as well. Don't forget, though, that you will have to register as a foreign entity in all states that you do business in.

There's a lot to know about forming a company. To learn the basics of company formation, browse articles on our site, such as ESOP Formation. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Portales, New Mexico, our information on Incorporating in New Mexico may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in New Mexico.

Do You Need a Business Plan?

Writing a business plan is vital in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Simply put, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Starting a business without a business plan will greatly reduce your chances of business success.

Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim Business Plan Contests. You should also take advantage of free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in New Mexico.

Where to Get Money to Start a Company

Getting your Portales business the capital it needs to succeed is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. 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 Incubators.

For Portales entrepreneurs who need startup capital, we have assembled a List of New Mexico Angel Investors and our List of New Mexico Venture Capital Firms.

The Art of Selling

Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Portales business, you need to focus on sales.

Not knowing how to sell can result in lost customers and minimal market share. The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.

Hiring Good Sales People is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.

Next Steps

As an entrepreneur in Portales, 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 Portales and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Portales, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Portales, New Mexico

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

• Resources for Portales, New Mexico Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Portales entrepreneurs.
• New Mexico Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in New Mexico.
• New Mexico Small Business Development Center - New Mexico Small Business Development Centers provide quality direct assistance, entrepreneurial education and resource links for potential and existing small businesses to strengthen the economy of New Mexico.
• Portales, New Mexico Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Portales, New Mexico newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Portales area.
• Portales, New Mexico Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Portales, New Mexico area radio stations.

Starting-a-Business Guides for Other Cities in New Mexico
Starting a Business in Placitas
Starting a Business in Raton

Browse All Business Startup Guides for New Mexico