Guide to Starting a Business Now Online!

The Interactive Guide to Starting a Small Business in Chesterfield County is now available on the Chesterfield County Economic Development Web site at www.chesterfieldbusiness.com/guide/. This guide is an interactive system for potential and existing small-business owners that take the user through every aspect of starting a small business.

The guide contains virtually every document required on local, county, state and federal levels, accessible in pdf format. It also includes interactive links to all related Web sites to ensure ready availability of up-to-date information as laws change. It covers all aspects of starting a venture with a tutorial on business basics including:

  • How to research your industry and market;
  • How to analyze competition;
  • Finding, hiring and keeping good employees;
  • Identifying and projecting your market share; and
  • The importance of a business plan as a growth tool.

In addition, the program includes a tutorial on the different types of business organization such as proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations, and identifies the pros and cons of each.

This guide is also available on a CD-ROM that includes a business plan software program. The business plan program, through a series of questions, will help the user produce a 35-50-page business plan that includes financial projections.

The Interactive Guide to Starting a Small Business was developed by the Community College Workforce Alliance through funding provided by the Greater Richmond Partnership.

If you are interested in receiving the CD-ROM version of the Guide, please send an email with your name and mailing address to Karen@chesterfieldbusiness.com and a copy will be sent to you. For more information or additional small business assistance, contact Karen Aylward, Project Manager for Small and Minority Business at 804-748-3963.