California Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in San Pedro, California
Thinking about starting a business in San Pedro, California? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in San Pedro.
Are You Ready for Life as an Owner?
Most new businesses fail, in part because the founder did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary to succeed. So, before jumping into the world of entrepreneurship, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:
- Grab a meal or cofee with other entrepreneurs in San Pedro. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
- Take a look at Business Failure. It's a short article but it's a good reality check for those are about to jump into the world of entrepreneurship.
- Involve a spouse, family member or trusted friend in the decision. Ask them directly: Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Listen carefully to their answer, as they presumably know your strengths and weaknesses.
What Business to Start
Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. To stir your creative juices on what kind of business to start, take a look at How to Evaluate a Business Idea.
To view an extensive list of business types, complete with startup instructions, spend some time in the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Starting a Dance Club guide or our Starting a Tatoo Parlor guide.
Remember that you are starting a business in San Pedro. Think about what needs are currently being underserved in San Pedro. Only by spending some time analyzing San Pedro demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
San Pedro, California Demographic Information
San Pedro has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for San Pedro demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in San Pedro.
Businesses
As a new San Pedro entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in San Pedro 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
Raising Capital for Your Venture
Getting your San Pedro business the capital it needs to succeed is not an easy task. If you don't have a rich uncle to fund you, you'll need to be creative in how you approach your fundraising efforts.
The good news is this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled Business Incubators.
For San Pedro entrepreneurs on the hunt for startup funding, check out our List of California Angel Investors and our List of California Venture Capital Firms.
Promoting Your New Company
Whether your goal is to attract San Pedro customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
You can learn a ton about marketing on our site. Writing Contributed Articles discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just a sampling of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
The Art of Selling
Mastering the art of selling is a must if you want your new San Pedro business to do well.
Clever sales techniques can transform any business from good to great. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
Hiring Telemarketing Firms to Generate Sales Leads offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.
Never Give Up
Most new San Pedro 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 San Pedro and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in San Pedro, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in San Pedro, California
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in San Pedro.
- Resources for San Pedro, California Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist San Pedro entrepreneurs.
- California Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in California.
- Fresno, California Small Business Development Center - The UC Merced SBDC Regional Network assists Central California entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling, training and business information.
- Los Angeles, California Small Business Development Center - The Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Network (LA SBDC Network) is part of the national, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) effort to provide free one-on-one customized consulting services and low-cost training workshops to growing businesses and start-up businesses.
- Sacramento, California Small Business Development Center - As Northern California continues to grow demographically and economically, the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center (NECSBDC) at CSU, Chico is committed to helping communities prepare and plan for future growth.
- San Diego, California Small Business Development Center - The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Southwestern College serves entrepreneurs and small businesses in San Diego and Imperial Counties. The SBDC provides no-cost business assistance to start-up & existing businesses.
- San Francisco, California Small Business Development Center - The Northern California Network of Small Business Development Centers helps individuals start, manage and grow their businesses.
- Orange County Small Business Development Center - The Orange County SBDC is a leader in providing consulting, training, and technical assistance to the small business community.
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