5 tips to take the stress out of moving

Let’s face it – moving is one of those things in life most people dread.

Whether you’re moving out of your home office to your first commercial space, or upsizing to accommodate your expanding business it can be a stressful time.

Add to this the pressure of continuing to trade while your organise the move and it’s easy to see how things get missed.

You’ve got to get everything ready to go live from day one.

James Nooney, says business owners need to remember that it takes more than a day to connect services like power, gas, phone systems and the internet.

“You’ve got to get everything ready to go live from day one or it’s going to start disrupting your business,” he says.

“It could result in a bad customer experience or not being able to open for business.

“You need to make some decisions around making sure you’ve got a safety net.”

To help cut out some of the stress of the move, we put together a quick checklist of things to remember when so it can be business as usual from day one.

1. Time to power up

It sounds simple, but there’s a reason this is number one on our checklist. If you forget to connect the power this could put everything else in jeopardy and it could mean you won’t be able to open for business.

You should ideally include a buffer of a number of days to ensure the power is connected and working when you move in.

2. Change your details

If your customers can’t find you then you’re going to struggle to meet their needs. Advise your clients of the move and make sure your new address is well publicised.

It’s a good idea to promote this in multiple ways – signage in the office, a reminder note on the bottom of invoices, an email including a map and directions to your new premises and a text message notification.

Schedule these in your calendar in the weeks before the move so clients have plenty of notice.

3. Get connected

We’re talking the full gamut here – mobile phones, landlines and the internet.

Remember, if your customers can’t reach you, they can’t order your products, which means you will likely not make any money.

“If the internet goes down and you can’t receive orders for a week that might be the end of some companies,” says Nooney.

Nooney advises that some connections can take up to three weeks to get up an running so make sure you organize this well ahead of moving day.

4. Hire some help

Depending on the size of your business you’ll likely need more than a mate’s ute to complete the move.

Complete an inventory of everything in your office that has to be moved to your new premises – this should give you an idea of how big the task at had is.

Once you understand the size of the move you can determine how much help you’ll need on the day.

Whether you use a moving company or hire a truck and get staff or friends to help, make sure everyone is booked in for moving day and knows what tasks they need to complete.

5. Make good

If you’re leaving a commercial property, there’s likely a clause in your lease to make good – returning the premises to the condition it was before the uptake of the lease.

Make sure you know what condition you need to return the property to the landlord in, and allow time for this work to be carried out.