Florida Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Boca Raton, Florida
Thinking about starting a business in Boca Raton, Florida? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Boca Raton.
Do You Have What It Takes?
Before announcing to the world that you are going to start your own business, take inventory of your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
Here are three things we recommend you do before you fully commit to starting a new business of your own.
- Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Boca Raton. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
- Peruse Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
- Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. 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.
Choosing the Right Company to Start
Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. To stir your creative juices on what kind of business to start, take a look at 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 an Economic Development Agency guide or our Opening a Kitchen Consultants Business guide.
Remember that you are opening your new business in Boca Raton. If Boca Raton already has plenty of the kind of business you want to start, you might want to change your plans. Only by spending some time analyzing Boca Raton demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
Boca Raton, Florida Demographic Information
Boca Raton has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Boca Raton demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Boca Raton.
Businesses
As a new Boca Raton entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Boca Raton 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
Picking a Business Name
Making the right decision when choosing a company name is very important. There are many decisions you'll make now that you can change later, but changing a company name years down the road is not very easy. So, choose a good company name at the outset.
Companies like Starbucks, Apple, Target, Microsoft and Intuit all have strong company names that are easy to remember and have become well-loved brands. Wouldn't it be nice if your new company name got on a similar track?
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Branding Advice.
There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are opening a business in Boca Raton, it's very important that you make sure you will be the only Florida company using the business name you have chosen.
Forming a Company in Boca Raton, Florida
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. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in Florida, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in Florida. In fact, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. 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. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe 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 Boca Raton, Florida, our information on Incorporating in Florida may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Florida.
Raising Funding for Your Startup
Finding the funds to fuel the growth of your Boca Raton business is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.
To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as Business Credit Evaluation.
For Boca Raton entrepreneurs who need startup capital, you'll want to take a look at our List of Florida Angel Investors and our List of Florida Venture Capital Firms.
Improving Your Entrepreneurial Skillset
The best entrepreneurs recognize that they need to continually improve.
With your business being located in Boca Raton, Florida, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Florida educational institutions. We also recommend you look into Boca Raton networking organizations.
Now It's Up To You
You have a dream -- starting a business in Boca Raton. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Boca Raton businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Boca Raton, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Boca Raton, Florida
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Boca Raton.
- Resources for Boca Raton, Florida Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Boca Raton entrepreneurs.
- Florida Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Florida.
- Florida Small Business Development Center - The Florida Small Business Development Center Network (FSBDCN) is a statewide economic development partnership between higher education and other stakeholder organizations dedicated to providing entrepreneurs and established businesses with the assistance needed to start, grow and succeed, contributing to the Florida economy.
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