Making Your Move
Relocating your business means more than packing boxes. Make sure you're ready long before moving day.
What happens when a deadline-dependent business such as a
newspaper relocates 600 miles away, but its darkroom equipment
takes a detour and doesn't arrive in time for production?
Either the newspaper misses its deadline, or it goes to Plan B.
Fortunately for the 250,000 readers of National Speed Sport
News, publisher and co-owner Corinne Economaki was wise enough to
devise a Plan B--several, in fact--when she moved her 11-employee
business from New Jersey to Charlotte, North Carolina. Thanks to
her backup plan, Speed Sport News is still one of the oldest,
continuously published motorsports publications in the country.
Failure to create a backup plan is the second most common
mistake made by entrepreneurs moving their companies, according to
Steve Mumma, senior vice president of marketing and public
relations for Evansville, Indiana-based Atlas Van Lines Inc.
Incredibly, failure to create a plan at all is the most common
pitfall. "Without a comprehensive relocation plan, your move
is doomed," Mumma warns. "And the earlier you start
planning, the better."
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James C. Sheil is a freelance journalist and law student who
has survived three office relocations with varying degrees of
success.