Make a Move to Boost Your Bottom Line

I talked to a small-business owner this week who was explaining to me why he had such a hard time finding qualified workers in his region. Turns out, the place where he lived, Billings, Mont., has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.

I asked him if he ever considered moving his business, and it didn't take long to gather that relocating would never be an option for the longtime Montana resident who wanted to stay close to home, family and friends. But some business owners, like the ones in the Wall Street Journal article, can easily say good-bye to the place they call home and head for greener business pastures.

It may sound crazy, but for the owners of Industrial Motion Inc., moving cross-country from high-rent, high-wage California to Mooresville, N.C., just made plain business sense.

Same went for Rod Pera, who we featured back in our December/January 2007 issue. Pera, though, moved his business twice, once from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore., and then from Portland to Austin, Texas.

So what's the secret to make it successful: "Honestly, it was just confidence in my services, knowing that they would be needed in the new location just as much as they had been in the first one," Pera explained.