Moving | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer

Moving House to Fit Your Growing Business

January 24, 2023 by Katie Conroy Leave a Comment

As the owner of an expanding home-based business, you may find that your current house doesn’t quite make for a good base of operations. It may be too cramped, not private enough, located far away from clients, or something along those lines. It may be time to move house (or possibly renovate your existing one) to fit your growing business.

Needless to say, moving is complex, stressful, and requires a great deal of effort. To help you avoid mistakes and think of everything important, Mike McRitchie offers this mini-guide below:

How much time will it take?

First, you should know that moving your business from place A to place B could take weeks – or, more realistically, months. There are two major time-consuming processes to navigate:

Home-buying process: Buying a new house can take three months or even longer, especially if you’re applying for a mortgage. It involves gearing up financially, getting pre-approved for a loan, scouting out homes, getting homes inspected, negotiating with sellers, closing, and, finally, moving in.
Home modifications: Assuming you’re planning to make changes to your home to better fit your business – such as adding a separate entryway – you’ll have to allocate a few weeks or months extra. Major changes will take months, while minor cosmetic ones could take a few days.

Having a budget will help

Getting on top of your finances can speed things up. If you know exactly how much home you can afford, it’ll make house hunting easier without you wasting time on properties out of your reach. If you have a budget for home modifications, it’ll be easier for you to engage an interior designer or contractor. It may be a good idea to come up with a budget for your new house, home modifications, moving, and business-related expenses.

Make sure you get the house – and location – right

Unless you want to have to move again, you’ll need to ensure your new home is a good present and future base of operations. Some things to think about:

Curb appeal: If you’re going to have clients over often, you may want to consider the house’s look and feel. Does it make a good impression?
Nearby services: Do you need any support services to run your business? Some examples are transportation, cleaning crews, restaurants, and supply shops.
Easy to reach: Having a business that’s near the center of the city could bring you more footfall or get you supplies faster.

Home office and workspace considerations

If you’re going to have a home office, workshop, or similar work area, you will need to ensure your new home can accommodate it properly:

Ergonomics: How comfortable would it be to work from home? Does the space make you feel productive?
Seating area: Many home-based businesses, like consultants or doctors, have seating areas for guests.
Storage: Businesses always need extra storage, whether it’s for documents, supplies, products, equipment, or similar. You may want a home with a basement or just one with extra rooms.
Privacy: You likely don’t want to be disturbed by friends or family while you’re working, and you don’t want to disturb them, either.
Accessibility: Having an additional entryway that leads to your work area may be helpful for clients, employees, or guests.

What about your family?

Your house is still a home for your family (and you). You will need to think about everyone’s living needs. Some examples are amenities, nearby services like schools, entertainment, and security. You may want to have a family meeting and make sure everyone’s on the same page about the new house. Financial Samurai offers important considerations.

Keeping your business running smoothly as you move

If you’re not planning to shut shop while you’re moving from point A to B, you’ll have to make arrangements to keep your business running smoothly. Some suggestions are making a staggered move (having your business going in both places), keeping your stakeholders in the loop, moving at night, getting help from employees, using reputable movers, and hiring extra help for your business temporarily.

Legal arrangements like LLC formation

You need licenses and permits to operate a home-based business if you didn’t know. Investopedia lists them here. Furthermore, when you move your business, you have to change your address officially, which involves notifying some agencies. Last, but not least, if you’re planning to make home modifications, you may need permission from the government as well as the local HOA.

If you’re moving out of state, you may also need to re-register as an LLC (or other business structure). If you have never registered as an LLC, it may be a good idea to do so now. It offers benefits like limited liability, tax advantages, less paperwork, and more flexibility. You can file the paperwork yourself. Alternatively, you can use an affordable formation service (or an expensive lawyer). Every state has its own rules around LLC formation, so check the rules before moving forward.

Consider homeowner’s insurance

Having homeowner’s insurance may be a good idea for coverage against damage to your home’s structure, theft of belongings, and injuries that happen on your property. You can expect to pay about a $100 per month for this, on average. If you’d like to insure your business, you can expect to pay another $50-100 on top. If you’d like coverage for home systems or home appliances, then you need a home warranty. This is an annually-renewable contract that covers breakdowns of heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing systems. It also includes appliance repairs.

Add a cast bronze plaque onto your home as a finishing touch

No home-based business is complete without advertisement. Adding a cast bronze plaque onto your home, with your business name and address, is a wonderful finishing touch. You kill two birds with one stone – It advertises your home business and also makes it more professional and presentable to clients or customers. If you get a plaque, you can customize the thickness, borders, backgrounds, texture, color, and more. You may consider this durable plaque that can withstand the rigors of being outdoors.

Conclusion

Getting organized and careful planning will help you pull the move off successfully. The earlier you begin, the easier it will be. Be sure to work with experienced professionals – like realtors, movers, cleaners, handymen, and business agents – to have a hassle-free experience. Image via Unsplash

Make the Most of Your Move by Launching a Business

August 22, 2022 by Emma Grace Brown Leave a Comment

Image via Pexels

The US economy continues to surprise and do well. Now is a great time to consider adding your own business to the mix. If you’re currently in the process of moving, don’t let that hold you back — in fact, relocating can be an asset. With these tips from Mike McRitchie, you should have no problem starting a business while moving.

Get to Know Your New City

If you’re moving to a new city, it’s common to feel a little nervous. To help you get acquainted with your new area, learn about things to do. Once you’re situated, you can look forward to enjoying the area so you don’t get overwhelmed with all work and no play. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the city’s small business tax laws. You might be pleasantly surprised to know you may not have to pay a franchise tax based on your revenue.

Write a List of Everything You Want in a Home

It’s easy to get carried away when you see everything each home has to offer. You might desire an in-ground pool and granite countertops. You may want that white picket fence to be more than a dream. Each of these extra features adds to the price of your home, increasing your mortgage and causing you to have less money to spend on enjoying life.

Instead, know exactly what you need, want, and can afford. Consider the price per square foot — you don’t want to choose a house with the highest price per square foot if you’re on a tight budget. Establishing a budget before you start the home-purchasing process can reduce the chances of overspending.

Consider Hiring Moving Help

Think about hiring help with the moving process to save time and headaches so you can focus on your business with fewer distractions. Begin by searching online for ‘movers near me’. Check to see which movers offer the services you need, which could range from help packing to just moving the items. Some only handle local moves, while others specialize in interstate moves. Before choosing a company, check online reviews and look for deals — some companies may offer credits or specials to reduce the cost.

Create a Business and Marketing Plan

Creating a business plan can increase your likelihood of success. Outline the services or products you’ll offer, define your business structure, determine how you’ll find your funding, and estimate your expected earnings.

Increase brand awareness with a professional logo. The right logo will help your business put its best foot forward and stand out from the crowd, and it’ll ensure that customers recognize your brand. To save money, make custom logos online by using an online logo designer and choosing your text, font, image, and colors. Although your design will begin as a template, you can easily make it your own without spending a ton of time and money.

Make Moving and Entrepreneurship Work for You

When you create a strong business plan, hire help, and budget, you can handle moving and launching a business simultaneously. If you’re not yet ready to launch your business and need help updating your resume for your new city, contact Mike McRitchie today!

A Second Location: Moving Onto The Next Stage Of Expansion

May 31, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

You’ve done well by thriving in your first location. Business is well you’ve got heaps of customers and you have a loyal consumer base that sees your products and services on par with large companies. Momentum is like a rolling boulder in business. Taking so long to move when you are finally gathering some pace, it feels like you’re unstoppable. But now that your business is thriving in one location, it’s time to expand and open up another location so you can meet the increase in demand. The consequences of not expanding could be both irreversible and a missed opportunity that may not come around again. For one, an increased demand means you have to service much more customers that you may have planned for. When you cannot fulfill the needs of consumers, your reputation will be damaged permanently. You’ll be forever seen as unreliable and taking on more than you can handle. On the other hand, a perfect location may only be available for an unknown period of time since other businesses may move into those spots.

Expand your line

Could you simply copy and paste your existing business from one location to another? Sure, you can. Would this wise? Not when you have a chance to shine. Just because you’re expanding your business to a different place where you may only be slightly heard of, it doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels. Just as you’re going to open up a new spot, expand your line of products and services. This takes obvious planning and releasing them at the precise moment you do expand. However you have a new lease of life as a business that gains popularity but doesn’t innovate, goes through a classic boom and bust cycle. Presumably, you have been noting all the customer feedback you’re getting and once you have a clear picture of what needs to be improved, you can design a new product or service that plugs that gap. At the new location, you also have an immediate connection with new customers as they will be more likely to be accepting of the new additions.

Financial momentum

Growing a business cannot be easily done if you don’t have the appropriate funds. It’s one thing to utilize a piece of your revenue but then you would be exposed in an emergency. If a financial crash were to occur, then you wouldn’t have a revenue well you could dip into for a prolonged period of time. So to expand you might it in your interest to get a small business loan like the type offered by SummitFR. They come in and observe your business practice and take a look at your business model. Obviously, when you’re expanding you are showing you are not only thriving but moving onto the next stage of growing your company. They target businesses that are looking for rapid growth. With their loan, you can capture a market share which is what you can do with a new line of products and services.

Expanding a business is all about making a strong decision to move your business to the next step of your journey. The financial wave will smooth over any speed bumps you run into and new offerings to consumers keeps your business relevant while you expand.

Memorial Day Moving Madness

May 24, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

Moving can be a painful experience.

Yes, it is easy to get caught up in the fun and excitement of moving. But there is also all the little details necessary to make that move successful that are often overlooked.

I know. You remember the big things. Change of address cards. Terminating your old lease and signing a new one. Boxing up files and scheduling movers.

But what about the little things? A few which might be critical to the longevity of your business.

Here’s a few things to add to that already long list.

Update your phone number and address on your letterhead, business cards, and website.
Notifying your customers and suppliers of your new contact information and location.
Determining if you’ll be ready for business at the new location on day one…or if you’ll have a transition period where you’re not open.
If there is downtime, what will that cost you and how will you cash flow it.
If you’re in an office environment maybe you have an office copier lease and maintenance contract that needs to be updated – and maybe you need a different rep at the new location.
Same with water and coffee services, office cleaning services, etc. And they might not even service you there.
Are any employees impacted? And will you likely lose any due to increased commute distances? Are there work-from-home options you might consider with a few impacted staff members?
How are you handling any office wiring and server and internet connections? What about office phone setup? How is that all being coordinated? Will there be any downtime?
What’s the parking situation at the new location? How does that impact things?

I’m sure I could go on with more to add to the list. But I think you get a sense of the enormity of a move.

Moves should be carefully planned in advance.

And backup plans for each key item should be in place as well. You rarely see things go perfectly smoothly. But you don’t always know in advance what the specific issue will be. You need to be prepared for it all.

Also expect the cost to be more than you anticipated and the time to complete the move and get fully operational to be longer than what you figured out in your initial planning. It just comes down to not being able to know everything. Shoot, yesterday I moved from one apartment to another. And even though I got a truck one size larger than what the website said I needed, I still had extra that couldn’t be jammed into the truck any more.

You’ll find the same thing when you move. Stuff will expand. You’ll find things you completely forgot you had. And that will add to the complexity of your move situation.

So this Memorial Day weekend, as you move your business or plan for an upcoming move, make you you do your homework. And prepare accordingly. Good luck!