RELOCATING? Don’t Do It Until You Check These “Online Business” Necessities
During the last 20+ years I’ve owned a successful online company. Most of these, I’ve run from my home. It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I actually got an ‘office’ to go to and work with my team. The process of moving, whether across town, or across country, presents some very important concerns that you do NOT want to overlook as a small business owner.
While you are looking at room size, cost of utilities, distance to your favorite stores and more, it’s CRITICAL you take your ‘small business owner’ checklist to your real estate agent and let them know you don’t even want to look at a house until it passes the test.
The Small Business Owner’s Home Buying Checklist:
- Internet connection speed: This one seems pretty obvious but you would be surprised how many people I coach come to me with tears telling me the area they ‘just relocated’ to has horrible internet service. ASK questions! I personally would take my smartphone AND my laptop to a house if we were serious about buying it and I tested out the internet connection speed. It’s as simple as asking the current home owners if you can ‘test out’ their internet speed for your business. Then check the providers in the area and see who has the fastest speed with the best rate. Don’t guess…. TEST! I had a client who built their ‘dream home’ on the side of a mountain. HER BUSINESS paid for it. WHOOOPPSSS… there was literally NO high speed internet. Dream down the drain! 🙁
- Building structure: This one isn’t as obvious. Imagine you find a great house and even test out the internet speed, but you later find out that the walls, poles and other structures in the home are PATHETIC for a wireless signal to transfer through. Remember: YOU run a business. This is not a hobby. If you can’t have your laptop, iPad and iPhone all connecting and running really well all at the same time, find a different house!
- Small business owners in the area: When I relocate, it’s important to me to know the ‘climate’ of the atmosphere I’m moving to. Doing my due diligence, I will find out from the local city offices how many small business owners happen to live and work in the area. (see my previous article on how crucial this is to YOUR success.) This is not the time or the place to become a pioneer. If you’re around a bunch of people who do not work at home, think small business is not legitimate, let alone online businesses, you’ll fight a spiritual battle that could destroy your efforts. Where I live now in Kansas City I am SURROUNDED by small business owners. As a matter of fact I spoke to a local police officer recently who said they even have a ‘policies’ guidelines list at their headquarters. Things such as parking, advertising, etc were such common questions they had a checklist for business owners. Check your atmosphere. It will spare a lot of headaches later.
- Taxes: This is another critical aspect for a small business owner. One area where we lived in Indiana literally taxed my small business equipment even after the purchase as a ‘business producer’. Sheesh…. I’m glad they couldn’t tax my brain! My phone, computer, monitors, etc were all taxed a secondary business tax because it was used to generate a profit. When we moved to the Kansas City area a simple move that was just 1 mile away took us outside the Missouri borders into the state of Kansas. Guess what Kansas doesn’t have? They have NO state business tax. That saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars. I am thrilled to pour that BACK into my small business marketing budget. WARNING: Did you know that Amazon won’t even let you do affiliate sales in multiple states? Do not take this for granted. Do your due diligence!
- Safety: Again, this is pretty obvious, but just like I check the sex-offenders list when I relocated to a certain area, I ALSO check how many breakins involved a home business and said equipment. DO NOT GUESS. Test. Check your local area, online police reports are available. YOU DO NOT want to move to an area that has repeated breakins to small business owners, nor do you want to have to pay a higher premium on your small business insurance because of it.
These simple steps will make your relocation even more enjoyable. Take this checklist with you when you start getting ready to home shop. It will save time and so many headaches!
Happy relocation!
Love,
Sandi Krakowski
