Indiana Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Marion, Indiana
Thinking about starting a business in Marion, Indiana? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Marion.
Marion, Indiana Demographic Information
Marion has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Marion demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Marion.
Businesses
As a new Marion entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Marion 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 Franchise?
Visit the business district of Marion and you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. Would going with a franchise be a good idea for you?
We advise the entrepreneurs we work with to consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Franchise Marketing Support. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.
You can review hundreds of franchise opportunities by browing our Franchise Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include Sleep Inn and Sleep Inn & Suites and Larry's Giant Subs. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Franchises that Serve Liquor and Hair Styling Franchises.
Note on Marion Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Marion.
Picking 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.
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 Business.
On a final note, given that you are opening a business in Marion, it's imperative that you check now that no other Indiana company is using the business name you want to use.
Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan
Having a business plan is essential to the health of your new business. Simply put, 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 makes you more prone to becoming a business failure statistic.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Indiana.
Getting Money to Start a Business
Getting your Marion business the capital it needs to succeed 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.
Fortunately, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled Angel Investors.
For Marion entrepreneurs on the hunt for startup funding, we have assembled a List of Indiana Angel Investors and our List of Indiana Venture Capital Firms.
Bring in Revenues
Mastering the art of selling is a must if you want your new Marion business to do well.
The key to selling is to set sales goals goals and monitor your progress towards those goals. The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.
The Art of Customer Referrals 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.
Improving Your Entrepreneurial Skillset
The best business owners recognize that they don't know everything.
Given that you are starting a business in Marion, Indiana, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Indiana universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also wise to see if there are any networking organizations for Marion entrepreneurs.
What's Next?
Most new Marion businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Marion and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Marion, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Marion, Indiana
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Marion.
- Resources for Marion, Indiana Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Marion entrepreneurs.
- Indiana Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Indiana.
- Indiana Small Business Development Center - The Indiana Small Business Development Center assists Indiana entrepreneurs and small businesses through one on one counseling, education and business resources.
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