Starting a Business in Florida
Are you looking for all the steps it takes for starting a business in Florida? This state has a great landscape for business prospects on a well-rounded scale. It considers different types of venture ideas and models. The legal framework is also flexible enough to allow all of this to happen without any overbearing legal implications. The low tax burden makes for a profitable startup, as well as easy access to capital. According to USChamber, “corporations that exist in Florida have the benefit of only being required to pay 5.5% on their corporate income tax return”.
Plus, it’s a popular seasonal tourist spot, so your chances of coming up with a lucrative business model get a whole new perspective.
In order to start your own business in Florida, the following steps have been designed to ensure that all relevant grounds are covered before your start, and you’re set from all directions to run your business successfully:
Step 1: Settle on a Business Idea
If you figure out a business prospect that favors both your profitability in the long run, as well as the ability to scale up once you’ve garnered enough capital and are being met with higher demand, then you’re already done with the most difficult part of this process. It only gets easier from here.
For opening a business in Florida, do proper research to figure out which business ideas have the most potential to attract the local Florida citizens and the tourist attraction that the state acquires over the last leg of the year. Visit a list that offers information on the best business to start in Florida. The startup costing, locations, demographics, and personal dexterity all should be accounted for here. You should settle with a business idea that not only makes sure your chances of success are lofty but also aligns with your personal passions and is something you believe in and want to push for, even 10 years from now.
Step 2: Work on the Preliminary Preparations
Once you’ve come up with what nature and field of business you want to pursue, it’s all mostly logistic now. It’s time for you to start working on your preliminary preparations and plans for the business, which includes:
Naming Your Business
Naming your business is always fun. But it’s not all about what sounds the best to you. Some thought and research go into what name could potentially impact the customer’s outlook on your brand as well as the availability of website domain with your business name. You also need to keep in mind if your business name complies with Florida’s rules for naming LLC or corporate businesses.
Finding a Business Location
Your business’s physical location makes all the difference in factors contributing to your business’ success. Whether you plan to open up a brick-and-mortar store or an online work-from-home venture, it’s important to consider where you will be working from and what official address all your work activities carry. This comes into play when acquiring licensing and permits. Plus, a good location in touch with its surroundings always sells more if its demographics make sense.
Conducting Market Research
You’re delving into a new field. Whatever facts you think you know are always subject to doubt since the market interests are ever-changing. Start with conducting thorough research of whichever field you’re trying to crack. Conduct surveys, check out its online landscape and outreach through SEO, and understand how it can be beneficial to your model.
Coming up with a Business Plan
Next on your list of preliminary activities should be devising a solid business plan, i.e., what you intend to actually do with this business, and a list of well-written propositions that could help you attain the necessary funding for this plan. This plan should include product development strategy, sales & marketing, HR, and overall financial planning with clear projections for at least the next 5 years.
Step 3: Find appropriate funding
This is very important! Everything that lies ahead is based on the funds that you have to run this business. Even before you officially open up your business, there are already a good few business expenses that need to be taken care of to allow for a seamless start.
What helps if you’re stuck on this step is to actually map and calculate every possible business expense both before and after your business has opened up, at least for the six months. The best way to start a small business is to be cautious from the get-go. Have enough resources at hand to sustain and subsequently juice up the business whenever needed for a decent initial period before the profit actually starts rolling.
The next important step is to acquire the relevant funds. There are multiple ways you can go about this. For starters, if you have enough funds, you can fund yourself and invest your personal capital into making this business. You could ask your friends and family to pitch in return for a profit share, or you could apply for small business grants or loans. All of these are adequate ways that have kick-started millions of business ideas around the world.
Step 4: Structure your Business
You need to find the right structure for your business and register it accordingly. It not only increases your level of credibility towards your customers, but it also takes responsibility against any personal liability you would have to incur should the business ever get sued. Here are some business structures that you could opt for, for setting up your new business in Florida:
Sole Proprietorship
While not the brightest structure in terms of defense against suing or any lawsuits, sole proprietorship, however, puts the entire business structure in the name of its sole owner, who also gains 100% of all its profits. Yet, this also means that the personal liability of the entire business also falls on you.
Corporations
A corporation is a separate legal entity comprising various shareholders. This will take the personal liability off of you and have more legal as well as formal regulations in place to protect you in any legal case. It also greatly attracts investors. Amazon.com is also a business entity falling under this.
LLCs
LLC is a business structure most preferred by businesses since it combines both the limited liability of a corporation with the favorable tax treatment and flexibility of sole proprietorship or a partnership. This business structure is also comparatively easier to maintain.
Partnerships
This business structure is just like sole-proprietorship but with various business owners pitching in towards the business, having their own respective shares. Since it does not hold any formal structure, it faces the same problem of no protection against any personal liability issues.
Non-Profits
In case of declaring yourself a non-profit, it is funded by whatever donations you acquire and is not subject to any taxation. However, the business structure stays similar to sole-proprietorship or partnership in terms of deficit of protection in case of any liability infringed.
Step 5: Register and Set up Business Banking
After the business structure has been settled upon, the next step is to register your business. Your next question would be, “Well, how do I register my business in Florida?”. To register your business in Florida, irrespective of whatever business structure you have opted for, you need to complete the following tasks:
- Have a name for your business
- Choose a registered agent
- Get an Employer Identification Number
- File Formation Documents
Each business structure has a distinct set of requirements. Make sure you look into them before filing for your registration.
Your business and personal assets need to be separated in case your business gets sued and your personal assets fall at risk. This requires the establishment of a dedicated business bank account. This will ultimately also make your tax filing and accounting considerably easier to maintain.
To manage your business, you also require to get a business credit card. This will help separate your business and personal expenses and also add to building your company’s credit history. Lastly, also work towards finding and setting up an adequate business accounting software system to keep tabs on all your capital influx as well general business financing.
Step 6: Insurance, Permits & Licensing
Business insurance helps you mitigate risk in your business and shift your focus towards business growth. But what licenses are needed to start a business? The state of Florida has various business insurance plans in place to consider for business owners. Every small business owner or home-based business is urged to have a base General Liability Insurance Policy.
More professional business businesses selling services such as consulting or professional advisory should consider getting the Professional Liability Policy. Whereas the Florida department, by law, requires every business owner with four or more than four full-time or part-time employees to have a Workers’ Compensation Insurance.
Based on the kind of business you choose to run, you would also have to keep in mind the local, federal, or state laws and regulations in place to run that business. This means that acquiring relevant licenses and permits is also an important task that falls in compliance with your business nature. For, e.g., if you plan to open up a restaurant, you need to understand the food industry permit framework and get a restaurant permit in place to actually run the place.
Our advice is to get in touch with a legal advisor to find out the legal requirements for starting a small business and what permits or licenses would be required to run your business within the state of Florida or generally (should you plan to expand down the line).
Step 7: Start the Employee Hiring
Every great business is balanced by a great team in place to support it. Whether you plan to run your business with just a couple of employees, or an extensive team with dedicated departments, now is the time for you to start looking into building your business team. This should be done by keeping in mind the relevant field experience for all the applicants and giving opportunities to newer incoming individuals.
One thing to keep in mind while going through the hiring drive for your business is to make sure that all the Florida state regulations for official employee hiring for a business are being met. This means hiring people under a legal framework registered under theIRS, and applying for Florida employee registration.
After having hired your team, the next step is to build company structures in which your employees are to operate, the line of order, and the respective hierarchy in terms of task assignment. Get a competent HR and Payroll system in place to keep on top of all their activities, their paycheck timings, and tax management.
Step 8: Market & Promote your Brand
Alright, you’re on the final stretch, and these things could make or break how the targeted demographic audience is going to perceive your brand. You must have a clear idea of what the business is supposed to be, what it stands for, and what values you cannot compromise on no matter what. You are now down to just three final activities:
Branding
Branding shapes your brand. It’s the act of giving your company a symbol and a particular design that helps sell your products or services. Make sure your business has a logo along with a catchy tagline to attract your customer base. You should create branding that makes sense and fits your brand’s overall theme and message.
Business Website
Get in touch with a developer and build a website that puts your business on the web and establishes the relevant call-to-action that your business requires. A website helps put your business in the limelight. You can inform your customer base about your story, mission, vision, team members, and more via a good website. It’s also where they can contact you in case of a problem with their order.
Marketing & Promoting
Finally, make sure you leave a good chunk of your funding for this final step. This is going to be crucial. You’re finally putting the word out there that your business exists and why it’s the next best thing they have ever seen. Invest in carefully crafted social media campaigns, as well physical advertisements through billboards, standees posters, and other promotional material.
Conclusion
We’ve made sure to possibly cover every step you’d need to follow to set up your own business in Florida. A plan is only as good as the paper it is written on. It requires to be breathed life and fully implemented in order to actually achieve any results. We hope this helped you understand what it takes to run your own business and all the preliminary work that goes before its actual inception.
