Finding the right location for your new start up business is crucial. Get it right and you’ll reap the benefits – get it wrong and a poor choice of location could prevent your business from thriving. You need to balance the requirements of your business against those of your customers – and one of the key decisions you’ll need to make is whether to opt for premises in or out of town.
In Town:
Renting office space in a town location has a number of benefits. It will make your premises easy to access for staff and customers as transport links will be in place, lead to greater awareness of your start-up and, depending on your line of work, you could also benefit from passing trade. For some types of business, such as retail, this last point can be of particular importance.
The main downsides to a town location are the cost, which tends to be higher than for out of town premises, competition for the best sites and a lesser degree of flexibility about how space can be used or altered. Some online searching will quickly give you a good idea of the type of town premises available in the area that you’ll be operating from and how much you should expect to pay for them.
Out of town:
While out of town premises may not be suitable for all start-ups, particularly those which rely on passing trade, they can be the better option for others. An out of town location will typically be cheaper, bigger and have greater flexibility for altering or adapting the space. There is often greater flexibility when it comes to negotiating lease lengths and contract terms.
Out of town premises can, therefore, be particularly suitable for those that need manufacturing or storage space. In addition, if you will be working in an industrial field, operating from commercial business parks can mean that customers are on your doorstep and you will be able to develop and maintain good business networks. Similarly, if you mainly operate online, an out of town location is unlikely to have any disadvantages.
Considerations:
When deciding on the right location you need to take a number of factors into account. If you hope to be employing large numbers of staff then access is vital. Will they be using public transport or is there a decent amount of parking for both customers and staff? You don’t want to take on premises that are much larger than your current needs but you might want to choose somewhere with a little more square footage so you can cope with expansion.
It’s also worth considering a unit within a business center where you can use communal facilities such as meeting rooms or kitchen facilities. Finally, don’t overstretch yourself financially. It’s tempting to go for a really plush office but you need to work out whether your forecasted income makes it a realistic choice.
Work out your budget for premises and stick to it. Once you know how much you have to find the ideal premises from which to watch your business grow.
About guest blogger
James is a freelance contributor. He likes to write on various spheres like finance, shopping, home improvement, SEO, Travel, Shopping, Technology, and Business etc. Currently he is writing for http://officespacestorent.co.uk/.