South Carolina Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Beaufort, South Carolina
Thinking about starting a business in Beaufort, South Carolina? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Beaufort.
Do You Have What It Takes?
Before you get too far along in the process, take inventory of your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:
- Speak with other entrepreneurs in Beaufort. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
- You should read The Entrepreneurial Personality. It's a good read for those who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur.
- Reach out to a trusted acquaintance. 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.
Beaufort, South Carolina Demographic Information
Beaufort has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Beaufort demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Beaufort.
Businesses
As a new Beaufort entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Beaufort 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
Forming a Company in Beaufort, South Carolina
It's very important 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 common way to legally create a business entity. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in South Carolina, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in South Carolina. In fact, you are allowed to 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. To learn the fundamentals of company formation, browse articles on our site, such as Company Formation. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Beaufort, South Carolina, our information on Incorporating in South Carolina may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in South Carolina.
Don't Skip the Business Plan
Having a business plan is critical in laying a solid foundation for your business success. Simply put, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Starting a business without a business plan makes you more prone to becoming a business failure statistic.
If you want more information on writing business plans, we recommend reading Business Plan Outsourcing. You can also get face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in South Carolina.
Startup Financing Basics
Finding the funds to fuel the growth of your Beaufort business 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 Only Idiots Send Venture Capitalists Business Plans.
For Beaufort entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, we have assembled a List of South Carolina Angel Investors and our List of South Carolina Venture Capital Firms.
Improving Your Entrepreneurial Skillset
Good entrepreneurs recognize that they need to continually improve.
Given that you are starting a business in Beaufort, South Carolina, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby South Carolina universities, colleges and community colleges. We also suggest you look into Beaufort networking organizations.
Now It's Up To You
You have a dream -- starting a business in Beaufort. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
We are here to help Beaufort businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Beaufort, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Beaufort, South Carolina
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Beaufort.
- Resources for Beaufort, South Carolina Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Beaufort entrepreneurs.
- South Carolina Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in South Carolina.
- South Carolina Small Business Development Center - The South Carolina Small Business Development Center provides consulting services to small and medium enterprises through more than 14 locations across the state.
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