You Don’t Have To Move Out To Expand
Business utopia does not have to mean scaling to a point that you have to look beyond the immediate place you built your business.
Some companies have been vocal about moving out of Dorset. However, when it comes to modern facilities, quality of life, education, resources and complementary industries, it is all here.
Is The Grass Greener?
Coming out of a Covid-impacted world, it asks a question. Does having a London office address mean anything today? Even if it is just a mailbox and a name block on the wall. Is value in vanity a thing anymore?
Tokyo, Milan, Paris, Dorset. For many businesses, especially digital businesses, we can rank among the best, no matter our postcode. This has been proved by companies such as 3 Sided Cube and Crowd to prove it.
These companies have been growing internationally but more importantly, expanding locally too. They must have very good reasons to do so, beyond the business owner’s choice of location for their home.
Unless you are an absolute pioneer, you want to set up a business in a landscape that can provide support for it. Alongside similar businesses, a little competition sharpens up your game, but not too much as to risk drowning or distraction. It also means there is a potential talent pool or acts as a talent magnet.
Building Business
We all have a part to play in all the different layers that make a local economy.
The front cover of the book Town Inc. by Andrew Davis says “Grow Your Business, Save Your Town, Leave Your Legacy.” The first paragraph of his introduction struck a huge chord with me and is worth seeking out.
Businesses can help make a place known for something, as long as you treat it more than cost-effective office space. Make connections, put back in, share and celebrate — together.
What kind of B company do you want to be? I don’t mean a new-fangled B Corp status, I mean a Bristol company, a Brighton company, or a Bournemouth company? Rhetorically.
Having spent time in Bristol and Brighton and enjoyed being there, there is not one part of me that thinks, ‘Wouldn’t it be fantastic to have The Lanes shopping district in Bournemouth or a bustling riverside peninsular vibe that Bristol embraces?’
I think businesses will gravitate to where they feel complements them and they will act as the draw — the natural magnet, as opposed to totally being template driven by local government. They have to support, yes, but dictating this will be for a particular sector is unlikely to work, unless incentives are in place.
That sort of business cultivation is much harder to do in a town where it is a rich tapestry of landlords and businesses. Easier to do in a purpose-built science park or innovation complex.
Build Your Base
The conversations I see from local technology and digital businesses, eight months on from the onset of Covid, seems buoyant. It is certainly not on the floor and in a desperate place. Nothing scientific in that survey, but if it was doom and gloom, we would certainly see more of it and perhaps more businesses being vocal about the state of their marketplace.
It demonstrates that Dorset can be a strong base for businesses. I have spent time with many people who have finally sold up and made the move out of London and surrounding counties to settle here. It bodes well when it comes to talent, business acumen, experience and entrepreneurship.
It is time to shake things up. Whatever branch you are on, be it a Business Chamber, Silicon South, Dorset Growth Hub, You Are The Media, Council, or board-level connected groups, shake it together. It all goes back to the magic money tree and whatever falls; we want it to fall here.
There is an opportunity for us all and to welcome those who make that stand together with us. You don’t have to look elsewhere to build success and recognition.
