Mississippi Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Southaven, Mississippi
Contemplating starting a business in Southaven, Mississippi? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Southaven.
Which Business to Choose?
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. You might get some good ideas about what kind of business to start by reading Business Ideas That Don't Make Sense.
For in-depth how-to guides on how to start specific businesses, browse our Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Opening a Major Electric Appliances Repair & Parts Business guide or our Opening a Maternity Clothing & Accessories Wholesale & Manufacturers Business guide.
Don't forget that your new startup will be located in Southaven. If Southaven already has plenty of the kind of business you want to start, you might want to change your plans. Only by spending some time analyzing Southaven demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
Southaven, Mississippi Demographic Information
Southaven has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Southaven demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Southaven.
Businesses
As a new Southaven entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Southaven 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
Naming the Company
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.
Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Naming a Business.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are planning on starting a business in Southaven, it's critical that you ensure that no other Mississippi company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Southaven, Mississippi
A critical step is ensuring that you are forming a legal entity that operates independently from you. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
The entity you form can be a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.
Incorporating is a very popular way to form a business. A key decision is whether to form and S-Corp or a C-Corp, and you also must decide in which state you will incorporate. If you are starting a business in Mississippi, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Mississippi. In fact, you are allowed to incorporate wherever you want. However, if you do incorporate in another state, you'll have to register as a foreign corporation in your home state.
There are many nuances to forming a company. To learn the fundamentals of company formation, browse articles on our site, such as ESOP Formation. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Southaven, Mississippi, our information on Incorporating in Mississippi may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Mississippi.
Promoting Your New Business
To grow your Southaven business, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Billboard Advertising Best Practices is an article that will stimulate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. That's just a sampling of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
The Art of Selling
Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Southaven business, you need to focus on sales.
Good selling involves demonstrating that your wares meet your customer's needs. The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.
Sales Forecasting 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
Good entrepreneurs recognize that what they know now may not be enough to ensure their future success.
With your business being located in Southaven, Mississippi, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Mississippi universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any networking organizations for Southaven entrepreneurs.
Moving Forward
As an entrepreneur in Southaven, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Southaven and elsewhere to achieve real success. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Southaven 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 Southaven, Mississippi
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Southaven.
- Resources for Southaven, Mississippi Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Southaven entrepreneurs.
- Mississippi Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Mississippi.
- Mississippi Small Business Development Center - The Mississippi Small Business Development Centers (MSBDC) is dedicated to helping build and grow businesses in Mississippi. For new entrepreneurs, this is an excellent resource.
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