Illinois Business Startup Guides
Start a Business in Highland Park, Illinois
Are you starting a business in Highland Park, Illinois? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Highland Park.
Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?
Most startup companies fail, in part because the business owner did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary to succeed. So, before you start your business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
Because entrepreneurship is not for everyone, we recommend you do the following to help you assess whether you should move forward with starting a business:
- Speak with other entrepreneurs in Highland Park. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- You should read Business Failure. It's a good read for those who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur.
- Involve a spouse, family member or trusted friend in the decision. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
Highland Park, Illinois Demographic Information
Highland Park has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Highland Park demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Highland Park.
Businesses
As a new Highland Park entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Highland Park 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
Should You Buy an Existing Highland Park Business?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Illinois. Follow that link and you can review several good businesses for sale in Highland Park.
If you are serious about buying a business, you may want to read this article: How to Buy a Business.
Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan
A business plan is vital in laying a solid foundation for your business success. Indeed, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Starting a business without a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
To learn more about business plans, read Expert Advice on Business Plans. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Illinois.
Raising Funding for Your Company
Raising money to fund your new Highland Park business is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.
Fortunately, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled 504 Loans.
For Highland Park entrepreneurs who need startup capital, we have assembled a List of Illinois Angel Investors and our List of Illinois Venture Capital Firms.
Bring in Revenues
Mastering the art of selling is a must if you want your new Highland Park business to do well.
So what does it take to bring in more prospects and close more business? Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.
Cold Call Selling 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
Most new Highland Park businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
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 Highland Park and elsewhere to achieve real success. 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 Highland Park, Illinois
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Highland Park.
- Resources for Highland Park, Illinois Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Highland Park 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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