There has undoubtedly been a rise in entrepreneurial spirit over the last 10-15 years, and many things have helped people turn their dream of running their own business into reality. Educational courses at school like business (available to take as a GCSE or further), social media, funding and support from the government, and excellent resources like self storage.
From selling online, to creating craft stores, more and more people are starting their own business to earn a living. In 2015, there are 5.4 million SME’s, which makes up over 99% of all business. This number is set to grow considerably over the next few years.
Whether you start running your own business from your garage, spare room or from a rented office, one thing you are likely to need is space. Space for stock, crafting supplies, paperwork and equipment – there’s always a reason for space.
Luckily, there is over 35.7 million square foot of storage space for you to take advantage of in the UK, so finding local storage space is not really going to be an issue.
Self storage can help your business grow and most importantly, save you lots of money, particularly if you’re in a sensitive stage of expansion.
Flexibility For Your Business
Consumers are increasingly looking to buy online rather than on the high street, proof of which could be seen during this year’s Black Friday sales where high street shops bumped up security for the expected crowds, but shopping remained calm and fairly quiet, whereas online sites were crashing from all the excited consumers trying to grab the best deals in their PJ’s at home.
As more and more customers choose to buy online, businesses need cheap storage space for stock, something that isn’t easily acquired with hefty warehouse contracts.
However, it can be easily acquired with self storage, offering small businesses a truly cost effective solution because they aren’t tied down to any long contracts, or expensive warehouse space. For seasonal businesses, self storage is a particularly great solution.
Saving You Even More Money
Businesses are able to save money by skipping on much more than just expensive warehouse costs by investing in self storage. Businesses don’t have to pay business rates on their storage space, and they avoid council tax. VAT is still something that has to be paid but VAT registered businesses have the ability to claim it back. Both of these costs can amount to a lot and have the ability to make or break a business, especially if the income is still unstable.
A Secure Place To Store Your Stock
Self storage offers a secure and safe place to store items, which is ideal when you have vital business stock you need to protect. Yes it is possible to store some items in a spare room, or garage (whilst sacrificing living space!) but you don’t benefit from climate control, CCTV, security alarms, fire protection and additional security measures. Losing stock to accidents, humidity or theft can be extremely harmful to businesses that are growing, it even has the ability to destroy a business depending on its size. Self storage enables you to protect your vital business goods.
The Ability To Work When You Want
With 24 hour access available at many facilities, you can run your business whenever you want to, which is great if you really need to monitor it and put in extra hours. It gives you greater control over how much money you want to make, and how much effort you want to put in. Some storage facilities will even accept deliveries for you, which saves you even leaving the house.
These are just some of the ways self storage can save your business money. There are endless ways it makes good business sense, all that’s left to do now is to make the most of it!