Wisconsin Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Watertown, Wisconsin
Thinking about starting a business in Watertown, Wisconsin? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Watertown.
Will You Be a Good Entrepreneur?
Most new ventures do not succeed, in part because the founder did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary to succeed. So, before you open a business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
To determine whether you have what it takes to run a business, we recommend these three steps to help you decide:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Watertown. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being 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. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
Watertown, Wisconsin Demographic Information
Watertown has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Watertown demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Watertown.
Businesses
As a new Watertown entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Watertown 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
What About Buying an Existing Watertown Business?
We've created a handy website page for those who want to Buy a Business in Wisconsin. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Watertown.
If you are serious about buying a business, you may want to read this article: Buying a Business.
Forming a Company in Watertown, Wisconsin
A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. The main advantage of forming your new business as a legal entity is that it separates your business liabilities from your personal 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. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in Wisconsin, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in Wisconsin. 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 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 Avoiding Personal Liability in Business. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Watertown, Wisconsin, our information on Incorporating in Wisconsin may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Wisconsin.
Raising Money for Your New Venture
Getting your Watertown 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.
To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as 504 Loans.
For Watertown entrepreneurs who need startup capital, check out our List of Wisconsin Angel Investors and our List of Wisconsin Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Venture
Whether your goal is to attract Watertown 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. Sponsoring Local Events 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.
Increase Your Entrepreneurial Knowledge
Good entrepreneurs recognize that they don't know everything.
With your business being located in Watertown, Wisconsin, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Wisconsin educational institutions. It's also smart to see if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Watertown entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.
What's Next?
Most new Watertown businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Watertown businesses to be successful. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Watertown 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 Watertown, Wisconsin
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Watertown.
- Resources for Watertown, Wisconsin Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Watertown entrepreneurs.
- Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Wisconsin.
- Wisconsin Small Business Development Center - Wisconsin Small Business Development Centers offer a variety of educational services to small-businesses. The low-cost courses, seminars, and workshops cover both basic and complex topics, from marketing to management techniques to business plan development.
More Startup Articles for Wisconsin Cities
Starting a Business in Waterloo
Starting a Business in Waukesha
Browse All Business Startup Guides for Wisconsin
Starting a Business Guides for Other States
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs