SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Nearly 190,000 people in Bexar County already run a business on their own\u2014no employees, no payroll, just an idea and a lot of hustle \u2014according to U.S. Census Bureau data.<\/p>\n
Add in the roughly 40,000 businesses with actual employees on payroll, and one thing becomes clear: San Antonio is a city built on small business.<\/p>\n
But building one isn\u2019t easy. Federal data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows only about one in three businesses born 10 years ago are still operating today.<\/p>\n
So what does it actually take \u2014 and where do you go for help?<\/p>\n
Michelle Gimbel knows the feeling firsthand. Three months ago, she left a 15-year career in corporate IT and launched 3E AI Solutions, a company that brings artificial intelligence tools to small businesses that otherwise couldn\u2019t afford them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it difficult? Yes,\u201d Gimbel said. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t, everybody would be an entrepreneur. Is it worth it? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gimbel credits a lot of her early momentum to LaunchSA, a free resource center for small business owners in San Antonio. The organization is a partnership between the City of San Antonio\u2019s Economic Development Department and Geekdom.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaunchSA has been a huge part of my business and getting it started,\u201d she said, \u201cand helping me to grow and to stay on track.\u201d<\/p>\n
For anyone thinking about taking the leap, experts say the first steps look something like this:<\/p>\n
Validate your idea: Make sure people actually want what you\u2019re selling before you spend a dime.<\/p>\n
Choose your business structure: An LLC, sole proprietorship, or corporation each carries different tax and liability implications.<\/p>\n
Get your permits in order: Requirements vary by city and industry \u2014 do your homework early.<\/p>\n
Know your costs before you need the money: Startup costs vary wildly by business type.<\/p>\n
Find your first customers: Marketing doesn\u2019t have to be expensive, but it has to be intentional.<\/p>\n
Funding is often where people get stuck. Matthew Espinosa, director of LaunchSA, said most first-time business owners underestimate how much preparation goes into securing a loan or outside investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s usually not a \u2018Hey, I\u2019m going to walk into the bank tomorrow and get a loan and I\u2019ll be good and ready to go,\u2019\u201d Espinosa said. \u201cThere\u2019s usually a fairly extensive process. So the more you learn that before you need it \u2014 that\u2019s what\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n
LaunchSA hosts free one-on-one business advising sessions and weekly events, including a Wednesday networking series called One Million Cups, where entrepreneurs present their businesses and connect with each other.<\/p>\n
Gimbel\u2019s advice for anyone still on the fence is simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cFind an advisor, find a mentor, find the networking group \u2014 and begin talking to those people,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ll connect you with people who are doing something similar or who can help you along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
SA Startup and Tech Week is coming up, with events scheduled everyday Monday through Friday. KSAT is a media partner for SA Startup and Tech Week. A full list of events and information on LaunchSA\u2019s free resources is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read also:<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Nearly 190,000 people in Bexar County already run a business on their own\u2014no employees, no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[910,918,2210,82,84,83,5255],"class_list":["post-445622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-entrepreneur","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-san-antonio-startup-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}