Florida Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Tallahassee, Florida
Thinking about starting a business in Tallahassee, Florida? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Tallahassee.
Will You Be a Successful Entrepreneur?
Most startup businesses do not succeed, in part because the founder did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary to succeed. So, before you open a business, 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:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Tallahassee. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
- We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
What Business to Start
There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? To help you decide on a business type, we encourage you to read Good Business Ideas.
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 Starting an Auto Glass Retail Business guide or our How to Start a Cosmetics Business guide.
Remember that Tallahassee is the place where you are starting a business. If Tallahassee already has plenty of the kind of business you want to start, you might want to change your plans. Make sure you fully understand Tallahassee demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Tallahassee, Florida Demographic Information
Tallahassee has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Tallahassee demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Tallahassee.
Businesses
As a new Tallahassee entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Tallahassee 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
Is a Franchise Opportunity Right For You?
As you drive around Tallahassee, you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. But is franchising the right option for you?
Our advice is to consider franchising as an option. This site has dozens of articles on franchising, such as Evaluating Franchise Opportunities. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.
A comprehensive list of franchisors is available via our List of Franchise Opportunities.
Sample franchise opportunities include Newport Furnishings and Crescent City. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Dry Cleaning & Laundry Franchises and Kid Friendly Franchises.
Note on Tallahassee Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Tallahassee.
Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan
A business plan is critical in laying a solid foundation for your business success. Simply put, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Starting a business without a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Software. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Florida.
Where to Get Money to Start a Company
Obtaining startup financing for your Tallahassee business 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.
The good news is this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled 504 Loans.
For Tallahassee entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, check out our List of Florida Angel Investors and our List of Florida Venture Capital Firms.
What's Next?
Most new Tallahassee 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 Tallahassee and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Tallahassee, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Tallahassee, Florida
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Tallahassee.
- Resources for Tallahassee, Florida Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Tallahassee entrepreneurs.
- Florida Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Florida.
- Florida Small Business Development Center - The Florida Small Business Development Center Network (FSBDCN) is a statewide economic development partnership between higher education and other stakeholder organizations dedicated to providing entrepreneurs and established businesses with the assistance needed to start, grow and succeed, contributing to the Florida economy.
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