Moving Your Business
Conventional wisdom has it that moving is as traumatic, and no less unpleasant, than death and divorce. Although the end result is undeniably more positive, the process of moving can certainly feel (almost) as awful. Plan carefully, keep your focus on the wonderful new place...and start packing.
Organize your business records.
This is a great opportunity to get your books and records organized. If you're like most business owners, you're too busy running a business to pay attention to the "business". Your bookkeeping slips a little, you forget to file your receipts, your bank statements pile up, and you haven't brought your checkbook up to date since last ...If you can afford a business manager, or a weekly (monthly?) bookkeeper, ask him or her to help you organize, and edit, your old papers. Or you may decide to set aside some packing time and review and clean out old files yourself.
Some very conservative experts advise keeping tax returns and supporting documents for as long as you have room to store them, while others say no more than seven years. Talk to your tax preparer and follow his or her advice. Go through your files: dump the hand-written notes, worksheets, blank forms, shopping lists. Don't pay a mover to haul unnecessary paper!
Organize the material you need to retain. Pack paper in water- and fire-proof containers, if at all possible, and keep everything in chronological order, to make unpacking and retrieving material that much easier.
Protect confidential information.
Be sensitive to the privacy of your students, faculty, and staff. Moving to a new space is a good time to institute new procedures to safeguard confidential information. Student waivers, registration and health information forms, financial and scholarship information, faculty withholding and medical insurance information, credit card records, and the like should be treated with extreme care. Keep only the most current information, and shred everything else.
Moving creates chaos, no matter how careful you, and your movers, try to be. The day of the move is the culmination of weeks or months of planning and packing, and everyone gets tired. And careless. Don't let a box of student records get lost, wet, or ripped. Mirrors can be replaced, but privacy, once breached, can't be repaired. And you will be liable for any consequences.
Change your address.
Be systematic about changing your address. You can save a trip to the post office by changing your address on line. But don't count on mail being forwarded indefinitely. Identify the tax authorities and government agencies, if any, that need to notified of your new address. It's up to you to notify the utilities companies. If you lease computers or a copier or any other office machine, the leasing agent needs to know that its equipment is in a different location. And it's important to contact your insurance carriers: whether you rent or own, you cannot allow your fire, theft, or liability insurance to lapse.
Make an appointment with the telephone company as soon as you start planning your move. You may be able to keep your old telephone and fax numbers, which will make your business move a lot easier. This may be a good time to upgrade your internet service, as well.
Send out a notice to your students, past and present, even if they know about the move. A well-designed change of address card, along with a schedule and registration form, may bring old students back.
Plan a party.
Celebrate your new space. Have an open house. You've worked hard. Now show off.