Running a small business from your home offers a lot of benefits – but what if you have to move house and change city? Will it affect your business?
Working from home or running your business from a home office gives you the flexibility of working when, wherever you want. But sometimes, for various reasons, you are forced to move home to another city.
What happens to your business then and can it survive the move?
What are the risks?
If you’ve built your business through word of mouth, have a good local client base and hire workers from nearby towns, then moving city could damage all the hard work you’ve done to establish yourself.
Reputation, especially among small businesses, is hugely important and your standing and work in the local community can be a big part of that.
You may have also attended local networking events and made key contacts – even have gained a client or two. Would these contacts be so open to working with you if you moved hundreds of miles away?
Steps to making it work
You can make the move work, but you need to make sure you’re organised and ready when the day comes.
1. Plan in advance
If moving might be on the cards, start planning it in advance. Don’t rely so much on local custom and take to the internet to spread the geographical reach of your business.
If you know where you’re moving to, reach out to locals there. Let them know you’re coming soon. Anticipation is a great marketing tool.
2. Go wireless
Stop the face-to-face meetings for a while and start setting up video chats.
Do this with your local contacts to get them used to the fact that this is how you’ll be working with them in the future. And to show them it can be done painlessly.
3. Is geography important?
Have a serious think about your business model to see how important geography is.
Are your customers and clients local because it was easier than going national? If the answer is yes, then moving shouldn’t matter – it’ll just take a bit of hard work to adjust.
If your local market is vital to the survival of your business, you might want to consider whether you really need to make the move.
4. Get a virtual office
There’s no reason why people need to know where you are physically based if you use one of Velocity Virtual’s virtual offices.
We can provide you with instant business credibility through a prestigious business address and telephone answering service.
Call us on 0800 953 0050 for more details.
Posted by The Secret Businessman