Relocating a business for personal reasons is one option frequently available only to entrepreneurs. If it’s your business, you can pick up and move it just about anywhere.
A few years back, Matt Bearson and his family decided to leave Los Angeles for the rolling hills of Marin County in Northern California. Friends and customers were surprised because his specialty furniture store, 100% Rocking Chairs, was at the top of its game. The store, which sold only rocking chairs, found a lucrative niche in the Los Angeles maternity market, with 1996 revenues topping $500,000, the best in its nine-year history.
“A lot of friends thought I was crazy to walk away from a business I was doing so well with,” said Bearson, who thought he’d have no problem finding a buyer for his quirky business.
Unfortunately, he was wrong. Unable to find a buyer, he said, “we just sold everything and walked away.”
Bearson spent a year and a half exploring other opportunities and enjoying the slower pace of life in Marin County. He didn’t intend to reopen his store in Marin, but decided to do it when nothing else seemed more appealing.
But, he made substantial changes before opening the new store. He wrote an employee training manual, created a Web site, and changed the name of the store to Rocking Chairs 100% to make it easier to find in the Yellow Pages. He converted the product descriptions he devised for the Web site into detailed and informative price tags that help employees and customers better understand the product.
“These are things I would have never gotten around to doing in L.A.,” said Bearson, who opened Rocking Chairs 100% in the Corte Madera Town Center. Bearson said sales are stronger at his new location than in Los Angeles.
Setting up shop
For Bearson, reopening his store involved the daunting challenge of finding a new location. He had moved from a greater Los Angeles customer base of 7 million people to an area with a population of only 250,000.
However, Marin is an upscale area where people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a rocking chair. He also had to pay much more in rent to capture the foot traffic in a popular, open-air mall.
Next, he had to rebuild his inventory. Though he met with some resistance from the vendors he’d done business with before, his solid reputation helped him get his foot back in the door.
“I didn’t leave a trail of debt,” he said. “I paid everyone when I closed up the last time,” Bearson said.
It also helped that he was prepared to place large orders. Part of his business strategy is to invest upfront in inventory. (Bearson’s mall lease provides him with warehouse space.)
“It’s important to me to have the merchandise on hand. I can close more sales than if I have to order it,” said Bearson. “It’s worth it to me to pay the interest rates if I can close the sales.”
In fact, Bearson placed his factory orders before he had even signed a lease on a new location, so he wouldn’t waste time paying rent on an empty store. In addition, Yellow Pages and other advertising were placed months before he opened.
Finally, Bearson created a Web site, www.rocking-chairs.com, which encourages customers to call his toll-free number and speak with him or a sales associate instead of blindly ordering online. The site also helps draw customers from San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland. “They come with a purchase in mind. They know it won’t be a wasted trip.”
About seven years ago, Karen Mendez-Smith had to move and reinvent her business when divorce forced her to give up the multimillion-dollar animation production company she owned with her ex-husband in Los Angeles. The former television executive arrived in Lexington, Ky., with a young daughter to start over from scratch.
She founded Koo Koo Inc., a firm that represents children’s authors, illustrators and animators and develops children’s media products.
“There was no company in Lexington that did what I did, so I had to start my own company,” said Mendez-Smith, who fortunately had some freelance projects in the works at the time.
One project was a cartoon for the Children’s Television Workshop that was actually created by her daughter, Marina, who was just 7 years old at the time.
“I went to every media person in Lexington and found things to do,” said Mendez-Smith, who earns about $50,000 a year, far less than she earned in Los Angeles. Mendez, now happily remarried, said her life in Kentucky is very different from what she had in Los Angeles. “But, I’d rather be happy and secure in my life than be a millionaire.”
Living anywhere you like
Ernest Oriente, a business coach, recently moved his family and business from Irvine to Park City, Utah. Oriente, a former publishing and advertising executive, created Power Hour, a virtual business coaching company that serves clients across the country.
The move most people only dream about allows him to spend more time with his family and to realize his dream of living in a ski resort.
“I knew that if I could develop a virtual company, I could live wherever I wanted,” said Oriente, who entered the field of business coaching in 1995.
Conducted entirely through virtual communication, Oriente helps individuals and organizations balance their professional ambitions with their personal goals.
“All my work is done by fax, e-mail and phone,” said Oriente.
Jane Applegate is the author of “201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business,” and is founder of ApplegateWay.com, a multimedia Web site for busy entrepreneurs. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
