How to find a suitable premises if you are going to start your own business
Tips Avitonomika / / January 02, 2021
1. Rate the geography
A business premise should also help you monetize your business. Keep this in mind at all times and rely on factors that will help you earn more. For example, if you sell something or provide services, choose locations with high traffic. People will accidentally walk into a coffee shop for the aroma of espresso and pastries, but they are unlikely to go to the other side of town for your croissants. If you do not need to attract a stream of visitors, look for a place that will help reduce transportation costs and save on communications with suppliers or partners.
During your search, you will need to solve a global issue: take a separate room or integrate into an existing structure, for example, a shopping center or coworking. Each option has its own pros and cons. For example, in a shopping center you can save on rough repairs, since the premises are usually rented out ready for use. But it will be possible to get into your office only when the center is open. In a separate room, you can set any schedule and work even at night.
2. Learn the history of the premises
There are two important reasons for figuring out how the site was used before you. The first is to estimate the implicit costs of repairs. Example: the office used to have a bank and some rooms were used as depositories. You will have to break out the sheathed walls of the premises, in which you will not even catch a cellular connection. It is expensive. Another example: the building had a fast food restaurant kitchen that clogged the ventilation system with grease. According to the documents, it is listed as serviceable, but in fact it will work poorly and need repair.
The second reason is the issue of reputation. For some time, the name of the past tenant will be associated with you among former clients: “A fitness studio opened here in an old grocery store”. Try to choose places that are not associated with scandalous stories or crime, so that your business does not have a trail of other people's notoriety.
If you are looking for a place for your business, look at the base of commercial premises on the service Avito Real Estate. Here you will find many options of any size: from a startup office to a branch office of a large company. And also studios in walkable business centers, production workshops, premises for street retail, containers for street restaurants, warehouses for individual storage and much more. All this can be rented or bought (sort your search results using filters). There are many offers from owners on Avito, so you won't have to overpay due to commissions and fees.
3. Make a mapping
The traffic of bystanders is good, but working with your target audience will bring more benefits. Therefore, evaluate your location from the point of view of the community: what groups of people are near the point and how to direct them to your business. Entrepreneurs call this analysis mapping. For example, you open a dance studio. Residents of local houses, employees of offices near you, students from a nearby university building or visitors to the gym on the next street are your first customers. The more places like this, the better for your business.
Draw a typical route for different categories of people in your area and evaluate endpoints - places between which people move purposefully. Usually it is home, work, university. Consider if your business is integrating into local community endpoints or if you should look elsewhere. It is better to open up where the environment and scenery fit your concept, meet the tastes of the people you are targeting. This will increase the attraction of the right audience.
4. Rate the competition
Even if the location seems perfect, don't make a decision until you know how many similar businesses are already in the area. Your excellent bakery can be unprofitable just because it is tenth in the area. In this case, it would be wiser to occupy a street where residents do not yet have freshly baked ciabatta within walking distance. However, the competition is not so straightforward. First, if you solve customer problems better, faster, cheaper than others, it will make you stand out. Secondly, there is such a thing as market synergy: you can create common projects with competitors, hold joint events, give customers the opportunity not to get bored.
Moreover, if you come across too large and expensive premises, you can cooperate with other industry players. These do not have to be direct competitors, manufacturers of related products are quite suitable. For example, you open a flower shop - share the premises with the sellers of decor for the holiday. You start a cheese shop - take a closer look at sausage shops. Many entrepreneurs are happy to cooperate for similar reasons: high rental prices and large sizes of sites.
5. Make a project presentation
When visiting the tenth office in a row, it is easy to forget to clarify important details with the owner, or fail to demonstrate that you are the tenant of your dreams. A good presentation will make it easier to talk to the owners of the premises and help you come up with loyal terms. Make detailed slides with illustrations and business goals, giving the owner a chance to see exactly how their site will be used. This will help you be more convincing and look like a responsible person who has everything calculated. Make a checklist of questions about the premises and rental conditions and fill it out for each place so that nothing do not forget and not confuse, especially if you work in a big city and watch several sites in day.
6. Calculate the rent
Rent is a constant expense and an important factor in your economic model. Therefore, it is obvious that you need to choose a place where your business will not work only to pay rent. Also, estimate the absolute value for each site. For example, for 200,000 rubles a month you can rent one of two premises: 100 square meters for 2,000 rubles or 20 meters for 10,000. These will be two completely different business concepts. A large room on the outskirts is not always better than a small room in the center, and vice versa. When discussing the price, do not forget about bargaining, especially if you are planning long-term cooperation. Check in advance the possibility of prolongation and make sure that these conditions are spelled out in the lease so that it does not turn out that you will have to leave the office a year after the renovation.
When looking for premises within your budget, keep in mind that if you rent a venue through an agency, you may have to pay a commission for services. On the Avito Real Estate service, you can sort offers from individuals and agencies. And if only agencies have interesting options for you, then in the search results you will immediately see which premises are leased without commission.
Find your dream office