A Road Map to Moving

I don’t often make big moves….of any kind. It’s no wonder we have only moved offices once in 20 years. But that all changed in May.

For any business owner looking to move, I wish I would have had a road map. So now that I’ve been through the process, I’ll share mine along with some key takeaways.

Dreaming

At the beginning of 2024, we realized we were outgrowing our current space, so we set a ROCK (a goal in Onward speak) for us to start an office search. At one of our quarterly meetings, we put together our wish list for what we all wanted. A few highlights:

• Large conference room with A/V set up;
• Private and soundproof areas to huddle for internal meetings or zoom calls;
• Open spaces for collaboration;
• Walkable community with lots of restaurant and food options;
• Natural lighting; and
• Free parking.

Of course, we wanted our new office to be a place that would get us excited to go to work. It would need to give us the best chance for growth, for hosting clients, for being creatively inspired, and conducive for doing and delivering our best work.

But I also had a dream that this new space could be a resource for others who are doing good in the community. I wanted to be able to offer our conference room for free to non-profits in Columbus that might need it to get their good work done.

Starting the process

We had an incredible office at the Jefferson Avenue Center for 12 years – I was used to an extremely affordable rent with utilities included, free parking, and a centralized location downtown. We also had the best landlord and dearest friend in Katharine Moore.

Additionally, we shared space with another company owned by a dear friend – Jamie McGann of McGann Media – for many years. Once I made the decision to start an office search, I needed to have some hard conversations with both. Both were incredibly gracious.

Gathering a team

Why would I need a team? Because moving is an investment and the way we decided to do it was an even bigger investment than I had planned – but spoiler: I’m thrilled with the results. Instead of giving a long dissertation on who all I brought in and why, I’ll list all our partners here for you (which will end up being a long dissertation on who all I brought in and why 🙂):

• Rob Myers of TogetherSolve (May 2024): Rob is a friend and fellow Vistage member who specializes in brokering contracts for commercial real estate, energy, telecommunications and much more. Irvin PR is much smaller than Rob’s typical client, but he still graciously put me together with a great commercial real estate team, Allied Real Estate Advisors. Side note, Rob is going to work with me on our utilities, to make sure they are green, and ensure I get the best value. Takeaway: your people will lead you to the right people. Lean on your connections to find the right fit.

• Michelle Fude of Allied Real Estate Advisors (May 2024 to December 2024): Michelle is a rockstar commercial realtor and got to know Irvin PR and what we needed. Initially, I was interested in purchasing an office, so we looked at both purchase and lease deals. We worked together for at least five months in earnest – touring office spaces, meeting landlords, brokering initial contracts and more. She also helped walk me through the negotiation and lease process. She is direct and honest, and I so enjoyed working with her. Takeway: get comfortable with things you’re uncomfortable with. Learn all your options.

• Jacob Miller and Harrison Zoldan of Altman Company (December 2024 and ongoing): Our new landlords! Michelle found this space the second it went on the market and called me immediately. She knew my dream would be to have an office in German Village, where I live (and two of our team members live). It was over Cento Restaurant (the former G. Michael’s and this particular spot had been Jimmy’s Too, for those of you who lived and thrived in Columbus in the 1900s!). It had most recently been a co-working space and would need a complete buildout. I can’t thank Jake and Harrison enough for the incredible work they did to make it all happen. We worked together on a mutually beneficial lease and buildout costs, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Takeaway: have a vision and pursue it. Don’t settle when the option on the table is to make something special.

• Mindi Wells of Wells Law (October/November 2024): We have worked with Mindi for several years now and I knew I needed to bring her in to review our lease and make sure Irvin PR was covered in all aspects. She had some great suggestions and updates, and A. Altman Company worked with us to make appropriate updates to the lease. Takeaway: Make sure someone outside the project has your back, always.

• Judy Politi of Judith Politi Interior Design (November 2024 to May 2025): Now to the fun part! After nearly 20 years of the same furniture and artwork, we decided we wanted all-new everything. Judy and her team not only worked with us on all of that, but they came up with all the plans for our new office and helped configure where everything would go to make the best use of our space. From window treatments to carpeting and flooring to the amazing light fixture in our conference room, our space has Judy’s talent all over it. Takeaway: this is the vision coming to life. Professional help that knows your vision will help make it so much better than you imagined.

This is just a list and timeline of the key players in this moving saga. There are many others including a variety of specialized vendors who jumped through all kinds of hoops to make this move happen.  Additionally, I must give a shout-out to our VP Audrey Adair, who was my sounding board throughout the process; and our team member, Steph Steel, who oversaw everything from packing our office, to donating many pieces of furniture, to coordinating a million other details for the move. And, of course, to the rest of our team for always jumping in however they could.

This has been the best sort of Rock for us to collectively check off our list.

Dreaming of the ideal office space is the easy part. Bringing it to life truly is a team effort. For any other business owners who have recently made the move  – what did you learn? What am I forgetting?