New Hampshire Business Startup Guides

Opening a Business in Lancaster, New Hampshire

Contemplating starting a business in Lancaster, New Hampshire? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Lancaster.

Do You Have Entrepreneurial Drive and Passion?

Most new ventures do not succeed, in part because the founder did not have the tenacity and/or the skills to succeed. So, before jumping into the world of entrepreneurship, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.

To determine whether you have what it takes to run a business, we recommend these three steps to help you decide:

  • Talk to other entrepreneurs in Lancaster. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful 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. A support network of family and friends can be a great sounding board for good advice before you decide for sure to go into business.

Lancaster, New Hampshire Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
3060
5-9 Employees
1044
10-19 Employees
684
20-49 Employees
468
50-99 Employees
216
100-249 Employees
72
250-499 Employees
0
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
0
All Lancaster Businesses
5544

As a new Lancaster entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Lancaster 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
Beauty Salons
3
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
1
Child Day Care Services
4
Civic and Social Organizations
1
Computer Systems Design Services
1
Continuing Care Retirement Communities
1
Credit Unions
1
Electrical Contractors
1
Emergency and Other Relief Services
1
Exam Preparation and Tutoring
1
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers
1
Floor Covering Stores
1
Flooring Contractors
1
Florists
2
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
1
General Automotive Repair
1
General Freight Trucking, Local
1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
1
Hardware Stores
2
Heating Oil Dealers
1
Home Centers
1
Hydroelectric Power Generation
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
4
Landscaping Services
2
Limited-Service Restaurants
4
Logging
3
Marketing Consulting Services
1
Masonry Contractors
1
New Car Dealers
3
Newspaper Publishers
1
Nursing Care Facilities
2
Offices of Certified Public Accountants
1
Offices of Dentists
1
Offices of Lawyers
4
Offices of Optometrists
2
Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil
1
Plastics Bag Manufacturing
1
Portfolio Management
2
Radio Stations
1
Residential Property Managers
1
Residential Remodelers
1
Savings Institutions
2
School and Employee Bus Transportation
1
Site Preparation Contractors
2
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
1
Solid Waste Collection
1
Sporting Goods Stores
2
Temporary Help Services
1
Temporary Shelters
1
Tire Retreading
1
Used Merchandise Stores
1
Video Tape and Disc Rental
1
Wired Telecommunications Carriers
1

Is a Franchise Opportunity Right For You?

Browse the Yellow Pages for Lancaster and it becomes clear that purchasing a franchise is a common way to get started as an entrepreneur. But is franchising the right option for you?

Our recommendation is that you consider franchising as an option. This site has dozens of articles on franchising, such as Buying an Existing Franchise. Gain a solid understanding of franchising by scanning all of our Articles on Franchising.

To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.

Sample franchise opportunities include Blue Collar Financial Group and Jack in the Box Inc.. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Tanning Franchises and Marketing, Sales and Advertising Franchises.

Note on Lancaster Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Lancaster.

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Lancaster Business?

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

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

Forming a Company in Lancaster, New Hampshire

It's very important that you form your business as a legal structure. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.

The entity you form can be a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.

Incorporation 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. If you are starting a business in New Hampshire, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in New Hampshire. In fact, you can incorporate in the state of your choosing. For example, it's very popular to incorporate in Delaware, and incorporating in Nevada has become very trendy as well. Don't forget, though, that you will have to register as a foreign entity in all states that you do business in.

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 LLC Advantages. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Lancaster, New Hampshire, our information on Incorporating in New Hampshire may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in New Hampshire.

Where to Get Money to Start a Company

Finding the funds to fuel the growth of your Lancaster business is not an easy task. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.

The good news is this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled Bank Credit Lines.

For Lancaster entrepreneurs in need of startup financing, you'll want to take a look at our List of New Hampshire Angel Investors and our List of New Hampshire Venture Capital Firms.

Now It's Up To You

Most new Lancaster businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.

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 Lancaster and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Lancaster, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Lancaster, New Hampshire

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

More Startup Articles for New Hampshire Cities

Starting a Business in Laconia
Starting a Business in Lebanon

Browse All Business Startup Guides for New Hampshire
Starting a Business Guides for Other States

 

 

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Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs

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Franchise Opportunities

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