California Business Startup Guides

Start a Business in Seal Beach, California

Are you starting a business in Seal Beach, California? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Seal Beach.

Are You Ready for Entrepreneurship?

Running your own business is demanding, and can be orders of magnitude more strenuous than working as an employee. Are you certain you are ready to take on this challenge?

Here are three things we recommend you do before you fully commit to starting a new business of your own.

  • Talk to other entrepreneurs in Seal Beach. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
  • 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. 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 Are You Starting?

Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. To help you decide on a business type, we encourage you to read Finding Your Niche in Life.

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 an Advertising Traveling Signboard Business guide or our Starting a Newsletter & Small Publication Production Services Business guide.

Don't forget that your new business will be in Seal Beach. Think about what needs are currently being underserved in Seal Beach. Study Seal Beach demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.

Seal Beach, California Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
1077
5-9 Employees
221
10-19 Employees
216
20-49 Employees
141
50-99 Employees
57
100-249 Employees
27
250-499 Employees
3
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
3
All Seal Beach Businesses
1745

As a new Seal Beach entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Seal Beach 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
Advertising Agencies
1
Appliance Repair and Maintenance
1
Beauty Salons
6
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
2
Boat Dealers
3
Bowling Centers
1
Building Inspection Services
1
Business Associations
2
Cafeterias
1
Canvas and Related Product Mills
1
Child Day Care Services
4
Civic and Social Organizations
1
Clothing Accessories Stores
1
Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners
2
Commercial Photography
1
Community Food Services
2
Computer Facilities Management Services
2
Convenience Stores
2
Convention and Trade Show Organizers
1
Court Reporting and Stenotype Services
1
Credit Unions
1
Custom Computer Programming Services
8
Diagnostic Imaging Centers
1
Direct Mail Advertising
1
Display Advertising
1
Document Preparation Services
2
Drilling Oil and Gas Wells
1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
3
Educational Support Services
2
Electrical Contractors
3
Employment Placement Agencies
1
Environmental Consulting Services
1
Exam Preparation and Tutoring
1
Exterminating and Pest Control Services
1
Facilities Support Services
1
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers
1
Floor Covering Stores
1
Food Service Contractors
1
Full-Service Restaurants
32
General Automotive Repair
1
General Freight Trucking, Local
1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
6
Glass and Glazing Contractors
2
Golf Courses and Country Clubs
1
Grantmaking Foundations
1
Hardware Stores
1
HMO Medical Centers
1
Hobby, Toy, and Game Stores
1
Home Centers
1
Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers
1
Homes for the Elderly
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
12
Janitorial Services
4
Jewelry Stores
3
Landscaping Services
3
Limited-Service Restaurants
25
Luggage and Leather Goods Stores
1
Mail-Order Houses
1
Marketing Consulting Services
5
Men's Clothing Stores
1
Mobile Food Services
1
Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers
3
Nail Salons
3
Natural Gas Distribution
1
New Car Dealers
1
New Housing Operative Builders
4
Nursing Care Facilities
3
Office Administrative Services
9
Offices of Certified Public Accountants
9
Offices of Chiropractors
6
Offices of Dentists
8
Offices of Lawyers
18
Offices of Optometrists
1
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers
1
One-Hour Photofinishing
1
Paint and Coating Manufacturing
1
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors
3
Parking Lots and Garages
1
Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services
2
Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals
1
Photography Studios, Portrait
1
Portfolio Management
1
Real Estate Credit
5
Residential Property Managers
1
Residential Remodelers
1
Roofing Contractors
2
Sales Financing
1
Securities Brokerage
13
Sheet Metal Work Manufacturing
1
Shoe Stores
2
Site Preparation Contractors
1
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
8
Software Publishers
2
Sporting Goods Stores
4
Tax Preparation Services
4
Temporary Help Services
2
Testing Laboratories
1
Travel Agencies
4
Used Merchandise Stores
2
Voluntary Health Organizations
1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers
11
Women's Clothing Stores
3

Should You Buy an Existing Seal Beach Business?

If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in California. Follow that link and you can assess several good businesses for sale in Seal Beach.

If you are intent on buying a business, you may want to read this article: Buying a Business.

The Role of the Business Plan

A business plan is vital in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Indeed, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Failure to write a business plan is a recipe for disaster.

Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim Business Plan Contests. You should also take advantage of face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in California.

Marketing Your New Startup

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

You can learn a ton about marketing on our site. Sponsoring Local Events is an article that will stimulate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.

Ramping Up Sales

Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Seal Beach business, you need to focus on sales.

The key to selling is to set sales goals goals and monitor your progress towards those goals. Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.

Sales Training is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.

Never Give Up

As an entrepreneur in Seal Beach, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.

Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.

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

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Seal Beach, California

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

More Business Startup Guides for California

Starting a Business in Scotts Valley
Starting a Business in Seaside

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

 

 

Share this article


Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs

Lists of Venture Capital and Private Equity Firms

Franchise Opportunities

Contributors

Business Glossary