Finding the best location for your small business

We’ve all heard the saying Location, location, location! The actual place where you launch your small business is a very important consideration – especially for businesses that rely on window shoppers and foot traffic. Finding the best location for your small business is a step that involves a lot of research, but can make a big difference in the success of your business.

So, how do you find the best location for your small business?

Identify the best location for your type of business

There are several different location types for businesses:

  • Home-based businesses – Home locations are great for businesses who need minimal equipment and don’t have much face-to-face contact with customers. Depending on the kind of work you do, you may need a separate office or meeting space.
  • Retail businesses – Retail businesses are located in shopping centres, strip malls or street-level shops. These locations must be accessible to customers. Consider also the amount of competition nearby – is it complementary to your business, or is it direct competition?
  • Mobile businesses – Mobile locations are favoured by businesses who take a service or product to where their customers are. These locations often cost less to operate and have more flexible hours than traditional storefront locations.
  • Commercial businesses – Commercial businesses often have office locations where clients can visit to interact with them. These differ from retail locations because there is no storefront location and, often, there is a service offered rather than a product.
  • Industrial businesses – Industrial businesses are often further away from commercial or retail centres and must be accessible to trucks and tractor trailers making deliveries and pick-ups. They are often also large, accommodating equipment.

Analyze your desired location

You’ve found a location or two that you really like – but that’s just the beginning! Once you’ve got a location or two in mind, sit down with a large piece of paper and analyze your business’ potential location from the following areas:

  • Accessibility to customers
  • Nearby competition
  • The business environment (health of surrounding businesses and nature of environment)
  • Access to supplies and resources
  • Site availability and regulations
  • Costs
  • Layout

Finding the best location for your small business involves a lot of work and research, but it’s a critical step. Your business’ location can make all the difference to your success!

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What are the 12 key skills for small business executives?

Here is another bit of small business inspiration we’ve recently found on the internet – a blog post by Jim Estill titled, “Work Your Strengths.”

Here’s a sample:

I read an awesome, well researched book called Work your Strengths – A Scientific Process to Identify Your Skills and Match them to the best Career for You by Chuck Martin, Richard Guare and Peg Dawson. The author team has an impressive track record in research and psychology.

Through a questionnaire, they get the prospect to identify their strengths on 12 different scales that they have identified as being crucial for success.

Read Jim’s post to find out all about the 12 crucial skills for executives (and, we think, crucial skills for entrepreneurs as well). Thanks for the great post, Jim!

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Dan Pink’s enlightening talk on motivation

At GoForth, we’ve been enthralled by this video illustrating Dan Pink’s TED talk on what motivates us:

Not to ruin the ending, but as providers of entrepreneurial education – and entrepreneurs ourselves – we love the idea that money isn’t necessarily the best motivator in the workplace. This is great news for small business owners – save your money! Favour purpose over profit and get creative with ways to inspire your employees!

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What is microfinance?

In this month’s GoForth Institute newsletter, we’re answering the question, what is microfinance?

Basically, microfinance (also called microcredit or microlending) is a way of providing credit, savings and general banking services to  millions of entrepreneurs who may be lacking collateral or a good credit rating. Often, a person thinking of starting a small business just needs a bit of money to get started – to buy a computer, farming equipment or other supplies. They don’t need or want a loan for tens of thousands of dollars and, sometimes, they don’t have access to traditional sources of funding. In these cases, microfinance can help them start their small business on the best footing possible.

Read more about microfinance in our June newsletter, including why it’s often referred to as “liberation capital” and what some organizations are doing to support entrepreneurs through microfinance partnerships.

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