Pennsylvania Business Startup Guides
Start a Business in Hanover, Pennsylvania
Are you starting a business in Hanover, Pennsylvania? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Hanover.
Hanover, Pennsylvania Demographic Information
Hanover has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Hanover demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Hanover.
Businesses
As a new Hanover entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Hanover 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
What About Franchising Opportunities?
As you drive around Hanover, it's apparent that franchising has become a very popular way to start a business. Would going with a franchise be a good idea for you?
We highly recommend you investigate buying a franchise. We have many articles on franchises, such as Common Franchisee Mistakes. Become a franchising expert of sorts by reading more of our Articles on Franchising.
A comprehensive list of franchisors is available via our List of Franchise Opportunities.
Sample franchise opportunities include Red Roof Inns, Inc. and Pillar To Post - Professional Home Inspection. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Seafood Restaurant Franchises and Employment and Staffing Franchises.
Note on Hanover Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Hanover.
Is Buying an Existing Hanover Business a Good Strategy?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Pennsylvania. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Hanover.
For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Buying a Business.
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.
Pick a company name that isn't too generic. If you do a search engine search for your proposed name and a billion results come up, you may want to reconsider the name. It's much easier to come up in the search engines when your name is fairly unique.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Branding Advice.
On a final note, given that you are starting a business in Hanover, it's critical that you ensure that no Pennsylvania company has already registered the company name you have selected.
Forming a Company in Hanover, Pennsylvania
It's essential that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
When forming a company, you will decide among many company types, such as a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.
Incorporating is a very popular way to form a business. A key decision is whether to form and S-Corp or a C-Corp, and you also must decide in which state you will incorporate. If you are starting a business in Pennsylvania, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Pennsylvania. In fact, you are allowed to incorporate wherever you want. 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 Avoiding Personal Liability in Business. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Hanover, Pennsylvania, our web page covering Incorporating in Pennsylvania may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Pennsylvania.
Raising Capital for Your Business
Obtaining startup financing for your Hanover business is a difficult chore. The reality is that there is very little funding available for new small businesses, and you have to explore every possible alternative.
Take advantage of our many articles on finding startup capital, such as SBIR Funding.
For Hanover entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, check out our List of Pennsylvania Angel Investors and our List of Pennsylvania Venture Capital Firms.
Building Up Your Sales
Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Hanover business, you need to focus on sales.
Why should customers buy from you instead of buying from competitors? Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.
Compensating Sales People is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.
Next Steps
As an entrepreneur in Hanover, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.
We are here to help Hanover 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 Hanover, Pennsylvania
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Hanover.
- Resources for Hanover, Pennsylvania Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Hanover entrepreneurs.
- Pennsylvania Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Pennsylvania.
- Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center - Pennsylvania SBDCs help aspiring entrepreneurs turn ideas into businesses, help small firms expand, and provide the information every business person needs to make critical decisions. There is no charge for their assistance and their free help can make the difference between business success and failure.
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