Choosing a business location is one of the most important things you need to do as a business owner. It may seem like something that’s just a matter of convenience and opportunity but it’s much more than that. The location will determine how close you are to your competitors, your customers and what kind of employees you can count on.
The location also sends a message about what kind of company you are, which is very important if you’re meeting with clients and making business deals right there in the office.
Taxes
Taxes are always what worries business owners the most. They account for quite a large portion of your income and that can stop a small business in its tracks. Taxes are very much dependent on where your business operates from.
Before you decide to move to a new state or to a different area, you need to ask accounting professionals about the ramifications of this decision. It’s also important to note that the tax policies tend to change and can be difficult to plan around in the long-term.
What you plan to use it for
The style of your operations is one of the most important considerations to take into account when choosing an office space. If your office is an actual place of business where everyone stays for hours, you need to choose a location that’s close and accessible to your employees.
On the other hand, if your business mostly relies on remote work and the office is there just for meetings, you can choose something more remote and probably less expensive.
Foot traffic
For retail businesses, foot traffic means cash. Regardless of how good your advertising campaign is and how much you work on retaining old customers, those that come into your store while browsing around are still the most important source of income for most retail companies.
These days, when mobile devices are the most important advertising channel, you don’t have to rely only on those passing by. If you use a mobile app to promote your company, it can alert the customers when they are approaching your store and notify them of the upcoming sales and offers. The key, however, is to be in an area with a lot of foot traffic.
How hard is it to move?
Moving a company takes a lot of time and wastes a lot of resources. The actual move is not that much of a problem, but the disruption it requires means that you need to stop the work for a while and maintain a few offices at least for a few weeks.
That’s why you need to find a business location that’s well connected with the most important points of the city you’re working in (what those are depends on the type of work that you do). It’s also a good idea to prepare the move in advance, using Ute hire from Brisbane to make the process smoother.
Proximity to other businesses
There are two ways to approach this and it mostly depends on what kind of business are you running. If you have a company that’s mostly self-reliant, you can locate your business a bit further from the action and dominate the area and the market.
However, if your business depends on the services of others, you need to be in the middle of the busiest part of town. This is also a more expensive option but it’s more than worth in terms of production.
The infrastructure
Modern businesses need a lot of tech to operate. This is especially the case if you store a lot of data about your customers. It can’t get lost or damaged in any way or it’s your reputation on the line. That means that some of the older buildings, regardless of how beautiful they are – aren’t suited to the needs of a contemporary business.
It’s best to survey the building before making a call and to use the services of an IT engineer and an electrician in the process, especially if you want to add some tech to the business.
The location isn’t just about how your business looks – it can actually have an effect on your bottom line. It’s also important to plan for the business you’re going to have, not just the one you have now.