Starting a Business in Rangeley, Maine

Thinking about starting a business in Rangeley, Maine? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Rangeley.

Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?

Most new businesses do not succeed, in part because the entrepreneur 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.

While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:

• Talk to other entrepreneurs in Rangeley. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
• 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. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.

Which Business to Choose?

An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. You might get some good ideas about what kind of business to start by reading 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 Dance Club guide or our Starting a Tatoo Parlor guide.

Remember that your new business will be in Rangeley. Some businesses will do better in Rangeley than others. Make sure you fully understand Rangeley demographics before you lock in on your business idea.

Rangeley, Maine Demographic Information

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

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

As a new Rangeley entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Rangeley 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.

Have You Considered Franchising?

Visit the business district of Rangeley and you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. But is franchising the right option for you?

Our advice is to consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Five Franchise Opportunities To Watch. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.

To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.

Sample franchise opportunities include Subway Franchises and Starbucks Franchises. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Accounting Franchises and Moving Franchises.

Note on Rangeley Franchise Opportunities: To find out if a franchise you are interested in is available in Rangeley, you will need to get in direct contact with the franchisor.

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Rangeley Business?

We've created a useful website page for those who want to Buy a Business in Maine. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Rangeley.

For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Buying a Business.

Choosing a Business Name

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.

Company names should be fun to say, and they should help people to understand what you do and how you differentiate yourself in the market.

For other considerations regarding naming a company, we recommend this article: Naming a Company.

As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are starting a business in Rangeley, it's imperative that you check now that no other Maine company is using the business name you want to use.

Company Formation in Rangeley, Maine

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

Incorporation 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 Maine, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in Maine. In fact, you can incorporate in the state of your choosing. 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 Rangeley, Maine, our information on Incorporating in Maine may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Maine.

Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan

Having a business plan is essential to the health of your new business. Simply put, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Failure to write a business plan makes you more prone to becoming a business failure statistic.

To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Maine.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Getting your Rangeley business the capital it needs to succeed will be harder than you might expect. 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 504 Loans.

For Rangeley entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, you'll want to take a look at our List of Maine Angel Investors and our List of Maine Venture Capital Firms.

Promoting Your New Company

Whether your goal is to attract Rangeley customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you need a excellent marketing plan.

There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. How to Write a Marketing Plan discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.

How to Sell

Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Rangeley business to do well.

Clever sales techniques can transform any business from good to great. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.

Compensating Sales People offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.

Learning More About Entrepreneurship

Good entrepreneurs know that they don't know everything.

As an entrepreneur who lives in Rangeley, Maine, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Maine educational institutions. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any Rangeley networking organizations.

Moving Forward

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

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

We are here to help Rangeley businesses to be successful. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Rangeley 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 Rangeley, Maine

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

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