Pennsylvania Business Startup Guides

Open a Business in Pottsville, Pennsylvania

Need help starting a business in Pottsville, Pennsylvania? We've got the information you need to open a business in Pottsville.

Choosing the Right Company to Start

An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. If you are struggling with what type of business to start, read Business Ideas That Don't Make Sense.

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 Japanese Restaurant guide or our How to Start a Plastic Embedments Business guide.

Remember that Pottsville is the place where you are starting a business. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in Pottsville. Make sure you fully understand Pottsville demographics before you lock in on your business idea.

Pottsville, Pennsylvania Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
1876
5-9 Employees
930
10-19 Employees
750
20-49 Employees
420
50-99 Employees
114
100-249 Employees
84
250-499 Employees
6
500-999 Employees
18
1000+ Employees
0
All Pottsville Businesses
4198

As a new Pottsville entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Pottsville 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
Anthracite Mining
7
Appliance Repair and Maintenance
1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores
2
Automotive Transmission Repair
1
Beauty Salons
10
Beer and Ale Merchant Wholesalers
1
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
6
Book Stores
1
Bowling Centers
1
Breweries
2
Business and Secretarial Schools
1
Business Associations
3
Cable and Other Program Distribution
3
Camera and Photographic Supplies Stores
1
Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Services
1
Caterers
1
Cemeteries and Crematories
2
Child and Youth Services
6
Child Day Care Services
5
Civic and Social Organizations
4
Claims Adjusting
1
Commercial Lithographic Printing
1
Commercial Screen Printing
1
Computer Facilities Management Services
1
Consumer Lending
3
Continuing Care Retirement Communities
1
Convenience Stores
3
Convention and Visitors Bureaus
1
Couriers
1
Credit Unions
3
Custom Computer Programming Services
2
Diagnostic Imaging Centers
4
Diet and Weight Reducing Centers
2
Direct Title Insurance Carriers
1
Discount Department Stores
1
Electrical Contractors
5
Elementary and Secondary Schools
3
Emergency and Other Relief Services
2
Engineering Services
5
Environmental Consulting Services
1
Exterminating and Pest Control Services
1
Family Clothing Stores
1
Finish Carpentry Contractors
3
Fish and Seafood Markets
1
Fish and Seafood Merchant Wholesalers
1
Floor Covering Stores
1
Flooring Contractors
2
Florists
5
Food (Health) Supplement Stores
2
Full-Service Restaurants
17
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
1
Furniture Stores
1
General Automotive Repair
4
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
2
General Warehousing and Storage
2
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
4
Hardware Merchant Wholesalers
1
Heating Oil Dealers
2
Home Centers
1
Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers
1
Home Health Care Services
2
Home Health Equipment Rental
2
Homes for the Elderly
1
Industrial Launderers
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
12
Investment Advice
1
Janitorial Services
6
Jewelry Stores
4
Landscaping Services
4
Libraries and Archives
1
Machine Shops
2
Marketing Consulting Services
1
Masonry Contractors
1
Media Representatives
1
Men's Clothing Stores
1
Metal Stamping
1
Motorcycle Dealers
1
New Car Dealers
7
Newspaper Publishers
1
Nursing Care Facilities
7
Office Administrative Services
1
Office Equipment Merchant Wholesalers
1
Office Supplies and Stationery Stores
4
Offices of Certified Public Accountants
6
Offices of Dentists
16
Offices of Lawyers
24
Offices of Optometrists
4
Offices of Podiatrists
3
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers
2
Optical Goods Stores
4
Paint and Wallpaper Stores
1
Pet and Pet Supplies Stores
1
Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
6
Photography Studios, Portrait
1
Plate Work Manufacturing
2
Political Organizations
1
Professional Employer Organizations
1
Quick Printing
1
Radio Stations
1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing
2
Real Estate Credit
2
Residential Property Managers
1
Residential Remodelers
6
Retail Bakeries
1
Savings Institutions
4
School and Employee Bus Transportation
1
Securities Brokerage
3
Shoe Stores
2
Site Preparation Contractors
3
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
3
Software Publishers
1
Sporting Goods Stores
2
Support Activities for Coal Mining
2
Tax Preparation Services
1
Telemarketing Bureaus
2
Telephone Answering Services
1
Temporary Help Services
5
Temporary Shelters
1
Tire and Tube Merchant Wholesalers
1
Tire Dealers
2
Title Abstract and Settlement Offices
2
Tobacco Stores
1
Tour Operators
1
Travel Agencies
1
Underwear and Nightwear Knitting Mills
2
Used Household and Office Goods Moving
1
Used Merchandise Stores
3
Veterinary Services
1
Video Tape and Disc Rental
5
Vocational Rehabilitation Services
6
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers
2
Wired Telecommunications Carriers
1
Wood Container and Pallet Manufacturing
1

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Pottsville Business?

If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Pennsylvania. Follow that link and you can assess several good businesses for sale in Pottsville.

If you are serious about buying a business, you may want to read this article: Buying a Business.

Company Formation in Pottsville, Pennsylvania

A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. 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 common way to legally create a business entity. 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 Pennsylvania, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Pennsylvania. In fact, 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. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Incorporation Advice. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, our information on Incorporating in Pennsylvania may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Pennsylvania.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Getting your Pottsville business the capital it needs to succeed is not an easy task. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.

Take advantage of our many articles on raising capital, such as Business Incubators.

For Pottsville entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, check out our List of Pennsylvania Angel Investors and our List of Pennsylvania Venture Capital Firms.

The Art of Selling

Mastering the art of selling is essential if you want your new Pottsville business to do well.

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.

Cold Call Selling is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.

What's Next?

Most new Pottsville businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.

Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.

We are here to help Pottsville businesses to be successful. 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 Pottsville, Pennsylvania

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

More Business Startup Guides for Pennsylvania

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