New York Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Brentwood, New York
Thinking about starting a business in Brentwood, New York? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Brentwood.
Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?
Most new businesses do not succeed, in part because the founder did not have the tenacity and/or the skills to succeed. So, before you open a business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
Because entrepreneurship is not for everyone, we recommend you do the following to help you assess whether you should move forward with starting a business:
- Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Brentwood. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- Peruse Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
- Have a candid conversation with friends and family. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
What Business to Start
There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? If you are struggling with what type of business to start, read How to Evaluate a Business Idea.
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 Ice Makers Wholesaler and Manufacturer guide or our How to Start an Emergency Disaster Planning Business guide.
Remember that Brentwood is the place where you are starting a business. Some businesses will do better in Brentwood than others. Make sure you fully understand Brentwood demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Brentwood, New York Demographic Information
Brentwood has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Brentwood demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Brentwood.
Businesses
As a new Brentwood entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Brentwood 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
Have You Considered Franchising?
Visit the business district of Brentwood and it becomes clear that purchasing a franchise is a common way to get started as an entrepreneur. So, it probably makes sense for you to consider franchising too.
Our advice is to consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Costs of Franchise Ownership. Become a franchising expert of sorts by reading more of our Articles on Franchising.
You can review hundreds of franchise opportunities by browing our Franchise Directory.
Representative franchise opportunities include Foliage Design Systems and Critter Control. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Dollar Store Franchises and Dry Cleaning & Laundry Franchises.
Note on Brentwood Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Brentwood.
Naming the Company
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.
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.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Company.
On a final note, given that you are starting a business in Brentwood, it's imperative that you check now that no other New York company is using the business name you want to use.
Raising Money for Your New Venture
Getting your Brentwood business the capital it needs to succeed will be harder than you might expect. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.
On the bright side, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled 504 Loans.
For Brentwood entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, check out our List of New York Angel Investors and our List of New York Venture Capital Firms.
Building Up Your Sales
Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Brentwood business to do well.
Good selling involves demonstrating that your wares meet your customer's needs. The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.
Anticipating Prospect Responses is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.
Moving Forward
Most new Brentwood businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Brentwood and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Brentwood, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Brentwood, New York
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Brentwood.
- Resources for Brentwood, New York Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Brentwood entrepreneurs.
- New York Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in New York.
- New York Small Business Development Center - The New York State Small Business Development Center delivers high quality business counseling and training to New Yorkers who want to start a business or improve the performance of an existing business.
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