Multiple places in Arizona have made WalletHub's list of best cities to start a business. So break out your lemonade stands or Etsy brick and mortars. It's one more reason why we thought it's a good time to host our Phoenix State of the Market event on April 29.
The list ranks the top 150 metros by 14 metrics, including the five-year survival rate, affordability of office space, and education of the labor force. Those ranked: Tuscon (No. 74), Glendale (79), Chandler (83, above), Phoenix (89), Mesa (92), Peoria (102), Gilbert (105), and Tempe (113). Want to see those numbers go up next year? Here are five ways to attract new businesses to your location.
1) Have a hardworking talent base.
Scottsdale—although not ranked in the top 150—tied for fourth with Las Vegas for the longest average workday, with folks clocking in for 8.06 hours per day (only outworked by Fayetteville, N.C.; Plano, Texas; and Anchorage, Alaska). "Entrepreneurship is notoriously grueling work, as small companies must out-hustle the competition in order to maximize limited resources and ultimately become a big company," WalletHub reports. And that's harder to do when the local workforce is conditioned to punch out the second 5 o'clock strikes. Here's to what motivates you, whether it's a 3pm caramel macchiato with two pumps of peppermint syrup or a photo of an after-work brewski on your desktop.
2) Offer ways to connect.
We spoke with Jenny Poon, founder of the CO+HOOTS coworking space in Downtown Phoenix, a 4,500 SF spot where 115 members work and connect. She said one big reason that more small businesses don't come here is because they feel there isn't enough talent or jobs: "It's like the chicken or the egg dilemma." But there are plenty of talented, skilled workers in the Valley, she says, and many are stuck in the suburbs or other areas where there isn't an easily accessible way to network and expand your business. CO+HOOTS was launched in 2010 to change that, she says.
3) Communicate opportunities.
The office, above, is a mix of permanent space and come-and-go members, she says. (As the sign suggests, medium ideas won't cut it.) They range from graphic designers, web developers, and marketers to contract workers for out-of-state companies and startups (taxi app Uber took space there until it grew out of it). While the city has been great at attracting businesses to the Valley, Jenny says it can do a better job of communicating opportunities to people, especially with its great reach in the press and other large distribution networks.
4) Make yourself attractive to a young, innovative workforce.
Mayor Stanton, above, said in his State of the City last month that Phoenix will continue to build an innovation infrastructure that spurs creativity, brings entrepreneurs together, and accelerates economic development (like working with Google to lure its ultra-fast fiber network). What also needs work, according to Jenny: the RFP process to work with the government, which is "long and painful"; the young talent doesn't have the patience or bandwidth to put together a 50-page document in a day to qualify for a project. "You're working with a new generation, and there needs to be a little give if you want innovation... it's how they work." But there have been some strides in making it easier, she says.
5) Promote local business.
More CO-HOOTS members above. "There's been a lot of energy being put forth to educate the community in how dollars are spent locally," Jenny says. If you spend $5 with a local business, that $5 is going to be reinvested in the community rather than go to a large, out-of-state corporation, she says—and it's those small businesses that have pulled the community out of the recession. (Two-day Amazon shipping is nice, but walking two blocks to the store is nicer.)
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