Saturday, January 5, 2008

Setting up Shop in the Best Location

Author Name: W Brumm

Setting up Shop in the Best Location

There are a lot of things to consider when starting a small business. You have to find a source for your initial capital, you have to draw up a business plan, and you’ll need to research the marketplace. One of the most important decisions you’ll make, however, has to do with location. You’ll need to decide what state you want to open your business in, what county, what city, and what street. You’ll have to decide what type of property will best suit your needs. You’ll need to abide by the city’s zoning laws. There are a hundred different decisions to be made when settling on a location for your business, and each of them may affect your success more than you think. If you have no idea where to start, here are some things you need to think about as you begin setting up your new business.

One thing you’ll need to consider when starting your new business is the state in which you want to open up shop. This is an area many small business owners overlook, and it could be to their detriment. Most business owners simply choose to open up their business in the state and city where they currently live, but this is taking a great deal of your success and leaving it to fate. After all, you can decide where you live. If you have the slightest freedom of mobility, you may want to put careful consideration into where you open your business. Different states have different programs and tax breaks for small businesses. Every state is not equal in this respect.

You may also want to take some time to match your demographic to the state in which you plan to do business. You may be thinking of opening a certain type of business, but have reservations as to whether such a shop would do well where you live. If so, think about moving to an area where you believe it will do well.

After making up your mind when it comes to the bigger geographic considerations, you’ll need to determine where best in the city to rent space. You’ll need to give serious thought as to what kind of neighborhood you’d like your business to be located. This needs to be looked at from not only a safety standpoint, but commercial considerations as well. Some neighborhoods might not be as encouraging to commercial traffic as others. On the other hand, those rental locations likely to benefit most from walk in customers are going to be priced accordingly. What you have to decide is if your business is the type that will benefit from being located near, say, the mall. If most of your business is coming from telephone lookups and appointments, it may be a waste of rental fees to choose a commercially high traffic location.

Your final consideration will be for your employees. Are you located so far off into the boondocks that it will take a commute of thirty minutes for any of your employees to reach you from the suburban areas? You’ll have to think about your customers, and whether they will feel peace of mind when visiting your business. And you’ll have to think about the needs of your business when it comes to office space. You might have the prime location picked out, but no suitable rental properties from which to choose.

W Brumm is the owner of CashDr.net and writes on a variety of subjects. If you are interested in this topic it is recommended you visit: CashDr.net


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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Nice and informative post. I want to run my own business soon, so I'll keep this in mind. There are so many options to running a business that lately I've been thinking about buying a business instead of starting one from scratch. I'm not sure what kind of format though. Franchise? Non-franchise? Home-based? I don't know. Do you have any suggestions or advice? Thanks.