There’s no city tougher to open a business than New York City. The reason is compounded ranging from fees, overhead, taxes, and quality clientele. The challenges are great but the rewards for a successful business in the Big Apple.
Location is the primary key. All five Burroughs have business potential and picking the right one depends on the niche your business is in and your operational capital. It costs more in Manhattan than on Staten Island but the returns for a successful business. Strategy is the keyword here because of the competition and the massive amount of absurd administrative things a business has to do. It’s not so simple as starting a DBA. It calls for an infrastructure of a corporation to protect oneself and one’s assets from a myriad of potential hazards.
Back to competition. Your location may or may not have a business niche like yours. If not, then you’ve done well and can focus on less strenuous duties. You’ll need a well designed and attractive office or building or shop, easy to see from the street, parking and accent shops. By accent shops we mean shops that make your shop more fun to visit like a deli or supermarket or even a knick knack establishment. Shops like this lend a more friendly, neighborhood type of atmosphere that your business accents and vice versa.
A subway, bus, taxi stop nearby is another big plus.
Staffing and employees are always a priority and in New York City this can be a make or break thing. It’s wise to hire professionals from the area as they’ll know the area and tell their friends and family about your business. You’ll have a constant foot in the door an amity among the populace.
Another plus is that New York has easy distribution. Trucks and vans travel in and out of the city on an hourly basis so something you need can be easily distributed to you or anything you need distributed can be done rather comfortably. Of course it’s your due diligence to make sure the ancillary services are honest and fair but that’s a concern no matter where you set up business.
Probably the biggest hurdle you’ll have is meeting all the regulations. New York, like Los Angeles, California, has so many regulations and laws that one has to follow just to start a business that you can be several thousand dollars in the hole before you even open the doors. That and state and city taxes are driving people away from these regions like the plague. Luckily, Governor Mario Cuomo has recognized these stumbling blocks and pushed for and signed into law many of the breaks that make doing business in New York city more palatable. It was just a matter of government administration realizing that the working public were a great source of exploitative revenue and they took it to the max until the businesses just packed up and left leaving millions in revenue losses.
Thanks to computing the workloads can be lighter especially if you do your administrative work online or do promo, sales. No products to lug about and using mail to deliver directly from the primary company to the consumer is a breeze and mostly trouble free.
Finally, the big benefit of having a business in New York city is two-fold. One, you can make a brand name for yourself rather easily and second, the sheer volume of the masses of the city will see your shop, comment, and peruse around. That’s attention and revenue you can’t underestimate.
So do your due diligence when starting a business in New York City. Careful planning and general good responsibility should convert to a good reputation and sound revenue.
Image credit: Flickr: Empire State Building