Should I get premises for my new startup?

Deciding to not have fixed premises can be daunting. You may worry that without fixed premises, your business may not seem as professional or that customers may not be as willing to purchase your products or services without having seen the goods in person first.

However, not only do premises require a large deposit/upfront payment, but the monthly rent, rates and utility bills also become fixed overheads the business is liable for from the outset.

Meanwhile, as location independence is growing in popularity, the number of start-up which now operate nationally is on the increase with many business now exploiting the different locations to attract new customers. Therefore, if you can manage without premises, our advice would be to do without!

Here are just some of the businesses which have successfully launched without premises:

• Mobile cat grooming
• Mobile café
• Mobile street food van
• Online leather goods and accessories store
• Online clothing store
• Online estate agency
• Web developers working from home
• Training providers and consultants working from home
• Tradesmen

If you decide you do need premises, here are some considerations:

• Will you need to apply for planning permission or change of use?
• Try and get a break clause as early as possible in case the business does not work as well as expected.
• Does it have the option to sub-let if required?
• Would it be cheaper to work from home then hire meeting rooms as and when required?
• What other businesses are in the area? For example, launching a coffee shop 2 doors away from a Costa may not be the best idea. Similarly, looking to open a nursery in the middle of an industrial estate is unlikely to give the business the best chance of success either
• Consider any legislative requirements and any responsibilities you may have as a tenant