“Should I start my remote local business in my current city or somewhere else?”
I get this question a lot — especially from interested parties at MaidThis Franchise. In my opinion, one of the allures of this business opportunity is that you can do it remotely from anywhere.
Many people think, “Well if I do it remotely, why do I need to do it in my hometown?”
Spoiler alert: it depends. I dislike that answer and I really don’t like when people give me that answer but it really does depend on your motivations as well as the market you’re in.
I started my business in 2013 and I did it in Los Angeles because that’s where I’m from. At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. I didn’t know that it was possible to run a business completely remotely.
I’ve learned a lot since then and I’m going to dive into some pros and cons of whether this is something you should or shouldn’t do.
Pros
You get to pick your geography. Let’s say that you live in a small town in the mountains and there’s no labor in your market. You know that it’s going to be really tough to run your business because you won’t be able to find reliable employees. If labor is a big concern, then it might be wiser for you to move your business somewhere else.
You’re forced to systemize your business faster. This pro may sound counterintuitive but hear me out. When I started traveling in 2015, I had to get really systemized really quickly and because of it, the business grew a lot faster. It was a reminder that a business that can run on systems is more likely to be successful.
Cons
Time zone issues. As I mentioned my home base is in LA. And while you wouldn’t necessarily think about time zone issues within the continental US, when I opened a business in Orlando I discovered that it could pose a problem. The business opens at 8 am EST, which is 5 am for me. If a problem occurs at 8 am that means that I need to be up at 5 am ready to deal with it.
The “X Factor." This con is a bit unusual but it does happen. Let’s say that you want to land a big client for your biz but they want to meet in person first. Unless you’re in the position to hop on a plane at any given moment, you could lose this client because you weren’t local. It’s something to think about.
Fewer opportunities for marketing. Most of your marketing will likely be digital, but the reality is there are going to be times when digital marketing doesn’t work. If you’re local to your market, you could do boots-on-the-ground community marketing like leaving flyers or postcards.
You don’t know the territory as well. Many times franchisees will tell me, “I want to go and look at this other area, but I don’t have any connections there. I just think it may be a good market.” I typically strongly advise them not to. Going somewhere totally foreign to you will make running a successful biz a little more difficult.
The Bottom Line
As you can see I listed out a lot of cons compared to the pros, but the reality is it depends on who you are.
For example, I know of three guys who run a large cleaning company in the US. They’re launching businesses all remotely across the nation and they’re crushing it. They can’t do just a local market because they wouldn’t be able to reach the scale they want.
So, how are you going to decide?
For 8 out of 10 people, I’d say it’s better to stay in your own city. Business is hard enough in general, don’t make it harder.
Now if you’re in a market that can’t support that, meaning typically that there isn’t enough labor, then you should consider an external market.
Moving your business to a different market can be very alluring for a myriad of reasons. As long as there is enough money and labor in the market you’re in, there’s no reason to leave it.
Photo by Caleb Jones on Unsplash
This article was written by Neel from MaidThis Franchise, a remote-local franchise opportunity for people looking to escape the rate race and reach financial freedom. Learn more here.
