Michigan Business Startup Guides

Start a Business in Lake City, Michigan

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

Lake City, Michigan Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
3516
5-9 Employees
1332
10-19 Employees
648
20-49 Employees
288
50-99 Employees
0
100-249 Employees
0
250-499 Employees
0
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
0
All Lake City Businesses
5784

As a new Lake City entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Lake 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.

Business Type
# of
Businesses
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores
1
Beauty Salons
2
Business Associations
1
Car Washes
1
Caterers
1
Civic and Social Organizations
2
Convenience Stores
1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
2
Electrical Contractors
3
Engineering Services
1
Finish Carpentry Contractors
2
Florists
1
Framing Contractors
1
Fruit and Vegetable Markets
1
Full-Service Restaurants
8
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
1
General Automotive Repair
4
General Freight Trucking, Local
2
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
1
Hardware Stores
1
Hobby, Toy, and Game Stores
1
Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers
1
Homes for the Elderly
2
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
3
Janitorial Services
1
Landscaping Services
2
Limited-Service Restaurants
6
Logging
4
Marketing Consulting Services
1
Masonry Contractors
1
Meat Markets
1
Newspaper Publishers
1
Office Administrative Services
2
Offices of Dentists
1
Outdoor Power Equipment Stores
1
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
1
Racetracks
1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing
1
Residential Property Managers
1
Sawmills
2
Site Preparation Contractors
3
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
1
Solid Waste Collection
2
Tile and Terrazzo Contractors
1
Tire Dealers
1
Truss Manufacturing
1

Should You Buy an Existing Lake City Business?

An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Michigan. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Lake City.

For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.

Choosing a Business Name

A good company name can give a big boost to a new startup. It might seem like an easy thing to do, but there are many things to consider when naming a business.

Company names need to be easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember.

To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Company.

As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are planning on starting a business in Lake City, it's very important that you make sure no other Michigan company is using the business name you want to use.

Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan

Writing a business plan is vital in laying a solid foundation for your business success. Indeed, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Not having a business plan will greatly reduce your chances of business success.

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

Bring in Revenues

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

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.

Tips on Customer Referrals is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.

Improving Your Entrepreneurial Skillset

Good entrepreneurs know that what they know now may not be enough to ensure their future success.

As an entrepreneur who lives in Lake City, Michigan, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Michigan universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any Lake City networking organizations.

Moving Forward

You have a dream -- starting a business in Lake City. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

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

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Lake City, Michigan

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

  • Resources for Lake City, Michigan Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Lake City entrepreneurs.
  • Michigan Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Michigan.
  • Michigan Small Business Development Center - This organization supports 12 regional offices and over 30 satellite offices, each providing counseling and training to Michigan small business owners and entrepreneurs throughout the 83 counties in Michigan. Services to entrepreneurs are offered through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

More Startup Articles for Michigan Cities

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Starting a Business in Lake Leelanau

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