Maine Business Startup Guides

Starting a Business in Dexter, Maine

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

Dexter, Maine Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
1485
5-9 Employees
567
10-19 Employees
297
20-49 Employees
81
50-99 Employees
81
100-249 Employees
0
250-499 Employees
0
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
0
All Dexter Businesses
2511

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

Business Type
# of
Businesses
Beauty Salons
1
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
1
Convenience Stores
2
Credit Unions
1
Drafting Services
1
Electrical Contractors
2
Exterminating and Pest Control Services
1
Floor Covering Stores
1
Florists
1
Full-Service Restaurants
2
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
1
General Automotive Repair
1
General Freight Trucking, Local
2
General Rental Centers
1
Golf Courses and Country Clubs
1
Hardware Stores
1
Heating Oil Dealers
1
Home Health Care Services
1
Homes for the Elderly
2
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
1
Investment Advice
1
Lessors of Other Real Estate Property
1
Limited-Service Restaurants
3
Logging
4
New Car Dealers
1
Newspaper Publishers
1
Nursing Care Facilities
1
Offices of Dentists
2
Offices of Optometrists
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
2
Portfolio Management
1
Quick Printing
1
Residential Property Managers
1
Savings Institutions
2
Shoe Stores
1
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
1
Solid Waste Collection
1
Tax Preparation Services
2
Used Car Dealers
1
Veterinary Services
1

Is Franchising a Better Option?

As you drive around Dexter, you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. But is franchising the right option for you?

Our recommendation is that you consider franchising as an option. This site has dozens of articles on franchising, such as Franchisees Versus Licensees. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.

You can review hundreds of franchise opportunities by browing our Franchise Directory.

Representative franchise opportunities include Perma-Glaze, Inc. and Screenz Computing Center. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Sports Franchises and Dollar Store Franchises.

Note on Dexter Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Dexter.

What About Buying an Existing Dexter Business?

An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Maine. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Dexter.

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

Naming the Business

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.

We strongly advocate that you make sure the ".com" domain name is available for your company name. Every business needs a strong Web presence these days, and having a non ".com" domain means somebody else may outrank you in the search results for your own company name.

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 Dexter, it's imperative that you check now that your company name has not already been claimed by another Maine business.

Startup Financing Basics

Raising money to fund your new Dexter business 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 Realistic Debt Financing Options.

For Dexter entrepreneurs in need of startup financing, browse our List of Maine Angel Investors and our List of Maine Venture Capital Firms.

Letting the World Know You Exist

To rise above the crowd in Dexter and build your business, you need a excellent marketing plan.

You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Advertising on Google discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.

Moving Forward

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

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

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

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

  • Resources for Dexter, Maine Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Dexter 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.

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