Four Tips for Choosing a Location for Your Business

If you are just starting your business or have been in business for a little while you are probably thinking about where you might expand to or relocate your business. Businessweek.com says that “even with the highest quality products and services, friendliest staff and best prices, a poor location can significantly hamper your business’ success”. Many people when they start out use their kitchen table which is one of the worst places to set up shop. Here are five quick tips on what you should consider when choosing a location for your business:

Tip #1 – If You Work from Home, check all the rules – While working from home can save costs and be incredibly convenient, the unique situation of working from home presents its own challenges. You should definitely have a separate space for work away from kids and other distractions. This is helpful for tax time when you are going for the home office deduction. Also check your zoning rules in case it is illegal and there might be business licenses required.

Tip #2 – If you are a retail business, research traffic counts – Your county’s Department of Transportation (DOT) tracks traffic counts for major intersections in your area which is great when you are evaluating different commercial retail sites for your business.

Tip #3 – Make sure there is a dedicated space to meet with clients – Even if you do work from home, having access to an executive suite building will give you a commercial address and you will look professional. Meeting people in coffee shops can be fine once and a while but there will be times where you need the quiet and privacy of a dedicate meeting space. I used to work out of a large coffee chain virtually for about a year

Tip #4 – If you are open to it, look for SBA HUBZones to locate your business -HUBZones are designated as a historically underutilized business area by the Small Business Administraton. There is federal contracting assistance available to companies that apply for it and get approved for HUBZone status.

Are You Ready to Look for Office Space? What have been your experiences and preparation steps?

We want to hear from you if you have been through this process and if there are any things we missed and lesson you can pass on to fellow entrepreneurs. Leave a comment. We would love to hear from you.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 8:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized, UnintentionalEntrepreneur. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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