Kansas Business Startup Guides

Start a Business in Harper, Kansas

Are you starting a business in Harper, Kansas? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Harper.

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 Free Business Ideas.

For step-by-step instructions on starting a variety of business types, visit the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Opening a Factory Maintenance Business guide or our Opening a Valet Parking Service guide.

Don't forget that you are starting a business in Harper. Some businesses will do better in Harper than others. A critical consideration is whether Harper demographics mesh well with your startup concept.

Harper, Kansas Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
456
5-9 Employees
126
10-19 Employees
90
20-49 Employees
36
50-99 Employees
27
100-249 Employees
0
250-499 Employees
0
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
0
All Harper Businesses
735

As a new Harper entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Harper 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
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores
3
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
1
Business Associations
1
Child Day Care Services
3
Commercial Lithographic Printing
1
Construction Sand and Gravel Mining
1
Continuing Care Retirement Communities
1
Electric Power Distribution
1
Electrical Contractors
1
Finish Carpentry Contractors
1
Florists
1
Framing Contractors
1
Full-Service Restaurants
4
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
1
General Freight Trucking, Local
1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
1
Home Centers
1
Household Appliance Stores
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
2
Landscaping Services
1
Limited-Service Restaurants
4
Metal Window and Door Manufacturing
1
New Car Dealers
3
Offices of Dentists
1
Offices of Lawyers
2
Recreational Vehicle Dealers
1
Roofing Contractors
1
Solid Waste Collection
1

Choosing a Company Name

A big decision when starting a company is choosing a company name. Believe it or not, choosing a good company name can be a big contributor to your business success.

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.

For other considerations regarding naming a company, we recommend this article: Naming a Business.

There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are opening a business in Harper, it's very important that you make sure your company name has not already been claimed by another Kansas business.

Company Formation in Harper, Kansas

A critical step is ensuring that you choose the right legal structure for your new entity. 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. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. Just because you are starting a business in Kansas, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Kansas. In fact, you can 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'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 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 Harper, Kansas, our web page covering Incorporating in Kansas may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Kansas.

The Role of the Business Plan

Writing a business plan is vital to the health of your new business. In effect, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Not having a business plan will greatly reduce your chances of business success.

To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Mistakes. You can also get free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Kansas.

Bring in Revenues

Being able to sell is essential to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Harper or are selling to customers throughout Kansas, the United States or even the world, you have to be able to sell.

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.

Why Salespeople Fail offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.

Next Steps

You have a dream -- starting a business in Harper. 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.

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Harper and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Harper, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Harper, Kansas

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

More Startup Articles for Kansas Cities

Starting a Business in Halstead
Starting a Business in Hays

Browse All Business Startup Guides for Kansas
Starting a Business Guides for Other States

 

 

Share this article


Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs

Lists of Venture Capital and Private Equity Firms

Franchise Opportunities

Contributors

Business Glossary