Colorado Business Startup Guides

Start a Business in Telluride, Colorado

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

Are You Sure You Want to Do This?

Being an entrepreneur is hard work, much more challenging than working as an employee. Are you certain you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?

Before you move forward with starting a business, be sure to do these three things:

  • Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Telluride. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a business.
  • Peruse Why Small Businesses Fail. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
  • Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. The people who know you best are often in the best position to tell you bluntly whether you will be a good entrepreneur.

What Business Are You Starting?

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 Finding Your Niche in Life.

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 How to Start a Tar & Tar Products Business guide or our Starting an Environmental Services Insurance Business guide.

Remember that you are opening your new business in Telluride. Some businesses will do better in Telluride than others. Don't forget to review Telluride demographics to see if there's a market for what you want to sell.

Telluride, Colorado Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
1064
5-9 Employees
270
10-19 Employees
195
20-49 Employees
108
50-99 Employees
12
100-249 Employees
3
250-499 Employees
3
500-999 Employees
3
1000+ Employees
0
All Telluride Businesses
1658

As a new Telluride entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Telluride 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
Art Dealers
4
Beauty Salons
3
Bed-and-Breakfast Inns
2
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
3
Book Stores
2
Building Inspection Services
1
Business Associations
2
Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Services
1
Caterers
6
Cemeteries and Crematories
1
Child and Youth Services
1
Child Day Care Services
5
Children's and Infants' Clothing Stores
2
Civic and Social Organizations
1
Convention and Trade Show Organizers
1
Convention and Visitors Bureaus
1
Custom Computer Programming Services
1
Dance Companies
1
Dimension Stone Mining and Quarrying
1
Direct Mail Advertising
1
Direct Title Insurance Carriers
1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
5
Drywall and Insulation Contractors
1
Educational Support Services
1
Electric Power Distribution
1
Electrical Contractors
5
Elementary and Secondary Schools
1
Employment Placement Agencies
1
Environmental Consulting Services
1
Facilities Support Services
1
Family Clothing Stores
4
Fine Arts Schools
1
Finish Carpentry Contractors
4
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers
2
Floor Covering Stores
2
Florists
1
Food Service Contractors
1
Framing Contractors
4
Full-Service Restaurants
23
Furniture Stores
4
General Automotive Repair
2
General Rental Centers
1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
3
Golf Courses and Country Clubs
2
Grantmaking Foundations
1
Graphic Design Services
3
Hardware Stores
1
Household Appliance Stores
2
Hydroelectric Power Generation
1
Investment Advice
4
Janitorial Services
8
Jewelry Stores
1
Land Subdivision
4
Landscape Architectural Services
4
Landscaping Services
11
Lessors of Other Real Estate Property
2
Marketing Consulting Services
3
Masonry Contractors
2
Men's Clothing Stores
1
Mobile Food Services
1
Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers
1
Motion Picture and Video Production
1
Museums
2
Natural Gas Distribution
1
New Housing Operative Builders
4
Newspaper Publishers
2
Nonresidential Property Managers
1
Office Administrative Services
3
Office Supplies and Stationery Stores
1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants
4
Offices of Dentists
2
Offices of Lawyers
15
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers
2
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors
7
Passenger Car Rental
1
Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
1
Portfolio Management
1
Private Mail Centers
1
Radio Stations
1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing
1
Real Estate Credit
1
Residential Property Managers
9
Residential Remodelers
1
Roofing Contractors
4
Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation
1
School and Employee Bus Transportation
1
Securities Brokerage
1
Security Guards and Patrol Services
1
Sheet Metal Work Manufacturing
1
Shoe Stores
1
Silverware and Hollowware Manufacturing
1
Skiing Facilities
1
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
4
Soft Drink Manufacturing
1
Sporting Goods Stores
19
Sports and Recreation Instruction
4
Television Broadcasting
1
Title Abstract and Settlement Offices
2
Used Household and Office Goods Moving
1
Veterinary Services
1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers
1
Women's Clothing Stores
5

Company Formation in Telluride, Colorado

It's essential that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. The biggest advantage of forming your new business as a legal entity is that it separates your business liabilities from your personal liabilities.

When forming a company, you will decide among many company types, such as a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.

Incorporation is a very common way to legally create a business entity. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. Just because you are starting a business in Colorado, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Colorado. As it turns out, you are allowed to incorporate in any state you would like to. For example, it's very popular to incorporate in Delaware, and incorporating in Nevada has become very trendy as well. Don't forget, though, that you will have to register as a foreign entity in all states that you do business in.

There's a lot to know about forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Dissolving a Corporation. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Telluride, Colorado, our web page covering Incorporating in Colorado may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Colorado.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Raising money to fund your new Telluride business is a difficult chore. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.

Take advantage of our many articles on raising capital, such as Getting a Small Business Loan.

For Telluride entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, you'll want to take a look at our List of Colorado Angel Investors and our List of Colorado Venture Capital Firms.

Marketing Your New Business

Whether your goal is to attract Telluride customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you need a great marketing plan.

There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Yellow Pages Advertising Advice is an article that will generate 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.

Next Steps

As an entrepreneur in Telluride, 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 Telluride and elsewhere to achieve real success. We have a wealth of experience in business start-ups, financing, marketing, sales and more...and we've made all of our knowledge available to you.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Telluride, Colorado

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

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