Illinois Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Franklin, Illinois
Contemplating starting a business in Franklin, Illinois? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Franklin.
Are You Sure You Want to Do This?
Running your own business is demanding, much harder than working as an employee. Are you sure you want to start a business?
Here are three things we recommend you do before you fully commit to starting a new business of your own.
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Franklin. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a business.
- 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. The people who know you best are often in the best position to tell you bluntly whether you will be a good entrepreneur.
What Business to Start
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. 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 How to Start a Dairy Store guide or our Starting a Beauty Salon Equipment & Supplies Wholesale & Manufacturers Business guide.
Don't forget that your new business will be in Franklin. Some businesses will do better in Franklin than others. Only by spending some time analyzing Franklin demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
Franklin, Illinois Demographic Information
Franklin has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Franklin demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Franklin.
Businesses
As a new Franklin entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Franklin 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
Company Formation in Franklin, Illinois
It's very important 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.
Incorporating 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. Just because you are starting a business in Illinois, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Illinois. In fact, you are allowed to incorporate in the state of your choosing. However, if you do incorporate in another state, you'll have to register as a foreign corporation in your home state.
There's a lot to know about forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Incorporation Advice. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Franklin, Illinois, our information on Incorporating in Illinois may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Illinois.
Don't Skip the Business Plan
A business plan is essential in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Indeed, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Failure to write a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
If writing a business plan is on your to-do list, be sure to read Business Plan Contests. You should also take advantage of face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Illinois.
Marketing Your New Venture
To grow your Franklin business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your business achieving its goals.
You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Comparing Advertising to PR is an article that will generate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.
Building Up Your Sales
Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Franklin business, you need to focus on sales.
Why should customers buy from you instead of buying from competitors? Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
Hiring Telemarketing Firms to Generate Sales Leads 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.
Next Steps
As an entrepreneur in Franklin, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
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 Franklin and throughout the United States . 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 Franklin, Illinois
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Franklin.
- Resources for Franklin, Illinois Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Franklin entrepreneurs.
- Illinois Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Illinois.
- Illinois Small Business Development Center - Illinois Small Business Development Centers located throughout the state provide assistance to new and existing small businesses.
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