Tennessee Business Startup Guides

Open a Business in Portland, Tennessee

Need help starting a business in Portland, Tennessee? We've got the information you need to open a business in Portland.

Portland, Tennessee Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
4450
5-9 Employees
1470
10-19 Employees
1200
20-49 Employees
720
50-99 Employees
480
100-249 Employees
450
250-499 Employees
90
500-999 Employees
30
1000+ Employees
0
All Portland Businesses
8890

As a new Portland entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Portland 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
Broadwoven Fabric Mills
1
Business Associations
1
Cafeterias
1
Car Washes
1
Caterers
1
Cemeteries and Crematories
2
Child and Youth Services
1
Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners
1
Commercial Lithographic Printing
1
Community Food Services
1
Computer Systems Design Services
1
Consumer Lending
2
Couriers
1
Custom Roll Forming
2
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
1
Electric Power Distribution
1
Electrical Contractors
3
Elementary and Secondary Schools
2
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
3
Finish Carpentry Contractors
2
Florists
2
Full-Service Restaurants
5
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
1
General Automotive Repair
2
General Freight Trucking, Local
1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
1
General Rental Centers
1
General Warehousing and Storage
5
Glass and Glazing Contractors
1
Golf Courses and Country Clubs
1
Hardware Manufacturing
1
Hardware Stores
2
Home Health Care Services
2
Homes for the Elderly
2
Industrial Building Construction
1
Janitorial Services
4
Jewelry Stores
1
Land Subdivision
1
Landscaping Services
7
Limited-Service Restaurants
9
Local Messengers and Local Delivery
1
Machine Shops
1
Marketing Consulting Services
1
Masonry Contractors
1
Meat Processed from Carcasses
1
Motor Vehicle Metal Stamping
5
Natural Gas Distribution
1
New Housing Operative Builders
1
Newspaper Publishers
1
Office Administrative Services
1
Offices of Bank Holding Companies
1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants
1
Offices of Chiropractors
1
Offices of Dentists
4
Offices of Lawyers
1
Offices of Optometrists
1
Periodical Publishers
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
3
Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas
2
Polystyrene Foam Product Manufacturing
1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing
1
Real Estate Credit
1
Securities Brokerage
1
Sign Manufacturing
1
Site Preparation Contractors
2
Temporary Help Services
2
Tobacco Stores
1
Used Car Dealers
3
Veterinary Services
1
Video Tape and Disc Rental
2

What About Buying an Existing Portland Business?

If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Tennessee. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Portland.

If you are headed down the path of buying a business, you may want to read this article: Buying a Business.

Naming the Business

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.

We strongly advocate that you make sure the ".com" domain name is available for your company name. Every business needs a strong Web presence these days, and having a non ".com" domain means somebody else may outrank you in the search results for your own company name.

Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Naming a Company.

On a final note, given that you are starting a business in Portland, it's imperative that you check now that your company name has not already been claimed by another Tennessee business.

Promoting Your New Company

To rise above the crowd in Portland and build your business, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.

You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Business Cards discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.

Ramping Up Sales

Mastering the art of selling is essential if you want your new Portland business to do well.

Why should customers buy from you instead of buying from competitors? Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.

How to Build and Motivate a Sales Team offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.

Advancing Your Entrepreneurial Skills

The best entrepreneurs recognize that they need to continually improve.

As an entrepreneur who lives in Portland, Tennessee, you should investigate some of the learning programs at local Tennessee educational institutions. You should also check if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Portland entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.

What's Next?

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

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Portland and throughout the United States . We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Portland entrepreneur who is just getting started or you are already up and running with your new venture.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Portland, Tennessee

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

Starting-a-Business Guides for Other Cities in Tennessee

Starting a Business in Pikeville
Starting a Business in Powell

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

 

 

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