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Thinking about starting a business? Here is your starting line

Posted at 6:19 PM, Feb 07, 2023
and last updated 2023-02-08 16:13:08-05

GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — The state of Wisconsin has a fairly simple website that can set you up with just about everything you need to get your business registered and ready to go.

In the past, starting a business took weeks, months, and even years to get every piece of paper signed dated, and documented. Now, it can take as little as 2 hours.

Ron Franklin the Director of Entrepreneurship for the Greater Green Bay Chamber talks about how the times of starting a business have changed.

“The misconception of starting a business is that it takes a long time and that it's tough and complex, you need a lawyer and print out all these papers and send them to the right places,” said Franklin. “But the state of Wisconsin has made it actually pretty easy to start your own business.”

A one-stop shop for every piece of paper needs to be filed.

“What used to take days now takes 15 minutes to 30 minutes, you can have it out and within hours get your registration,” said Franklin.

Greg Maloney is a legacy entrepreneur, whose expectation of the process was much different than the reality that was set by his entrepreneurial family.

“I was pleasantly surprised with how user-friendly it was and how cost-effective it was I thought I was going to have to hire an attorney and go through all my paperwork process to even establish myself and I was worried financially about how I was going to be able to afford that.”

After years of social work, Maloney found a niche and stuck with it, but still never thought it would be as simple as it was.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Wisconsin has nearly 500,000 small businesses employing 1.3 million Wisconsinites.

And according to Franklin in times of economic strife small businesses begin to spike.

“People naturally turn to entrepreneurship to start their own business. They already have a strong skill set, they have been doing it for 20-30 years but due to unforeseen financial circumstances they have to find out what they can do or find a different option,” said Franklin.

And the numbers back it up, according to Us small business administration in 2021, 14,650 small businesses were established in Wisconsin.

For more information about the Portal and starting a business https://www.greatergbc.org/business-resources/startups/startup-hub

The Portal Website: https://onestop.wi.gov/