Just as the time eventually comes for many people to move away from their homes and relocate for any number of reasons, the same is true for businesses. When you own a business, there are several differentiating factors that go into where you choose to run your business, like the economic growth of the area, where your client base is located, product availability, real estate costs and other important considerations that go into the everyday operations of a business.
Moving your business is a big change for your company, but it doesn't have to be one that interrupts your normal flow of business, especially if you plan and prepare well enough in advance for it and do your due diligence on the best possible place for you to relocate to. Because of the ever-changing economic climate that has seen many businesses relocate in the last few years, it's becoming something that is more and more common, as business owners try and seek out the right place for their business to thrive.
There are many different reasons why a business owner would want to relocate his or her business, and this guide will discuss some of the most common reasons, as well as some explanation behind each reason and how it could potentially benefit the company that is relocating.
#1: Improving Your Business Growth
One of the main reasons why you may need to relocate your business is to foster your company's growth in a new location that may be more conducive to it. A change of scenery and change of environment can sometimes be a good thing for a business, especially if you're stuck in a place where your client and customer base is thinning and you want to reach more of your target demographic.
Some people tend to jump the gun a little too quickly when they are deciding where to open their business at the outset of things. Maybe you didn't yet have enough capital to pick up and move somewhere else to start your business, so you just opened it in your hometown, without really doing any proper research about where it would be smartest to base your business. However, a few years down the road you've come to realize that the business just isn't taking off the way it should and that maybe relocation would help to rejuvenate things.
There could be a number of different reasons why you ended up opening your business where you did and why things just aren't working out there, but doing some research and relocating your business to a new marketplace where it has a better chance of succeeding can really help your company's growth.
#2: Go Where the Employees Are
No matter what kind of business you run, the key to being successful is finding the right employees that can carry you there with hard work and dedication. Unfortunately, if you're located in an area where finding the right kind of employees is too difficult, perhaps you should consider relocating your business to an area with a higher percentage of employees in your particular field.
Of course, locating your business in a major metropolitan area or at least within driving distance of one will greatly increase the amount of qualified candidates that apply to work for you. However, locating your business near major cities will also significantly increase your real estate or rent costs, so there is some give-and-take that comes with finding a location with a steady influx of qualified employees.
Doing some research on the backgrounds of candidates that typically apply for positions with your company will give you a good head-start on where to look as far as relocating your business. Also take into consideration the demographic profile of an area and research the history of similar businesses in the area and how they have fared in the past. But be wary of moving into an area that is home to multiple businesses that are very similar to yours, as you could be entering an already established marketplace where most of the talent is already employed in other positions.
Remember to be aggressive with your job postings and utilize social media to your advantage as well. A business isn't a business without employees, and so finding a place to relocate where you'll have an ample supply of talent to choose from is vital to your business's success in the long run.
#3: Personal Circumstances
Stepping outside of purely business-related factors for a moment, another common reason why you may choose to relocate your company are personal desires. Sometimes a change of scenery is all that is really needed to revitalize a business or to bring a fresh new perspective that you've been lacking in your old location. Sometimes inspiration and resources have all but been exhausted and relocation is for the best.
However, other times your personal reasons may extend even beyond the company and may be more related to what you want for yourself and your family. As a business owner, you have the freedom to relocate to wherever you want, granted you have done enough research to back up your decision and you are knowledgeable of what kind of impact the relocation will have on your business.
Above all, family often takes precedent over business matters, and if you need to relocate to be closer to family members or to move to place that you feel will be better suited for you and your family, then relocating your business is perhaps your best option.
#4: Increased Marketability and Product Availability
There are times when all of the advertising dollars that you've spent to increase your company's exposure and all of the social media campaigns you've put together just haven't been able to capture the market in your area as well as you'd hoped it would. Maybe your brand isn't reaching the right demographic and you need to relocate someplace where your products and services will be better received and you'll have to easier access to the products and resources that you require to enable your business to run at full capacity.
Relocating to another area where your product will have access to a large enough market to support your business is another one of the biggest reasons why a person might relocate his or her business. Here's an example: Let's say you wanted to open a new restaurant, but your specialty and your passion is fresh seafood. If you live in the Midwest in a landlocked state, your restaurant's marketability is going to suffer and your product availability will not be as abundant as it would be if you were to open your restaurant near the ocean or in an area where fresh seafood is easily obtained. Therefore, relocating your business to a place where it won't only increase your exposure but also increase your access to the products that you need to make you successful is a great option to have.
Furthermore, your business may have changed over the years from when you first started it and you need to relocate to better enable your new services and products to thrive. Businesses change their models and their products all the time to adapt to changing times and changing cultures and often relocation is major part of the process of adapting in order to better reach your customer and client base.
#5: Real Estate Costs
Real estate prices and rent costs are in a constant state of fluctuation depending on the surrounding real estate market values, the economy, the abundance of resources and jobs located in the area, and many other factors. Sometimes, rising real estate costs and rent prices are enough to force a business to relocate to an area that is more affordable.
Running a business is expensive and there are many different overhead costs associated with it, one of those being the cost of actually renting or buying your office space to provide a suitable working environment for your employees. Businesses located close to major metropolitan areas, especially the larger ones like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, typically pay an exorbitant amount of money to rent or buy office space, and sometimes these costs can become too much to handle and it may be necessary to relocate the business in order to support it and keep it afloat.