North Carolina Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Thinking about starting a business in Elizabeth City, North Carolina? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Elizabeth City.
Is Becoming a Business Owner Right for You?
Before quitting your day job, assess your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
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 Elizabeth City. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- We recommend reading Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- 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.
Elizabeth City, North Carolina Demographic Information
Elizabeth City has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Elizabeth City demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Elizabeth City.
Businesses
As a new Elizabeth City entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Elizabeth City 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 Buying an Existing Elizabeth City Business?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in North Carolina. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Elizabeth City.
For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Buying a Business.
Forming a Company in Elizabeth City, North Carolina
It's very important that you form your business as a legal structure. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
When forming a company, you will pick from many company types, such as a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
Incorporation 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 North Carolina, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in North Carolina. In fact, you are allowed to incorporate in the state of your choosing. 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 Nevada Incorporation. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, our web page covering Incorporating in North Carolina may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in North Carolina.
Do You Need a Business Plan?
A business plan is essential in maximizing the prospects of your new company. In effect, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Not having a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
If writing a business plan is on your to-do list, be sure to read The Art of the Executive Summary. You can also get free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in North Carolina.
How to Sell
Being able to sell is critical to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Elizabeth City or are selling to customers throughout North Carolina, the United States or even the world, you have to be able to sell.
Good selling involves demonstrating that your wares meet your customer's needs. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
Tips on Customer Referrals is worth reading, as it may give you some good ideas on how to sell your products or services. We have many more good articles on selling that you may enjoy reading.
Moving Forward
You have a dream -- starting a business in Elizabeth City. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.
We are here to help Elizabeth City businesses to be successful. We have a wealth of experience in business start-ups, financing, marketing, sales and more...and we've made all of our knowledge available to you.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Elizabeth City.
- Resources for Elizabeth City, North Carolina Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Elizabeth City entrepreneurs.
- North Carolina Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in North Carolina.
- North Carolina SBA - With offices in Charlotte, Wilmington, Raleigh and Asheville, the SBA organizes many events and provides useful resources for new entrepreneurs and growing businesses throughout North Carolina.
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