Are you wondering whether it is a good idea to buy a business in Dallas? I can’t count all the reasons DFW is a great place to buy, start or run your business, live your life and make all your dreams come true.
The great state of Texas has long been a popular place to start or buy a business, but the DFW and North Texas region, in particular, stands out from other Texas cities. DFW is routinely ranked among the top places to live, top places to raise a family, and the top places to own a business.
With all that’s happening in DFW, there are more reasons to run your business here than ever. We could go on for hours talking about why we love this city, but we’ve decided to narrow it down to the three best reasons why you should buy a business in Dallas.
FAVORABLE BUSINESS LAWS IN TEXAS
Texas is one of the best states to do business in, by far. The legal atmosphere in Texas is unlike any other state. Texas is where liberty lives. That’s why the Lone Star State has led the nation in job creation over the last ten years and in population growth over the previous 14. As the 9th largest economy among the nations of the world, Texas offers a business-friendly climate—with no corporate or personal income tax—along with a highly skilled workforce, easy access to global markets, robust infrastructure, and predictable regulations.
Savvy entrepreneurs want to base their business out of a business-friendly state, which also means compromising where you live. Nevada and Delaware are business-friendly but don’t have any cities that can compete with Dallas, making it the easy choice.
LOW COST OF LIVING
Texas offers the best of city and country lifestyles, with each place presenting a unique Texas experience. DFW is not like any other metropolitan area. It has a low cost of living and offers every amenity you could imagine. Low cost of living will benefit you in several ways:
• Overheads, such as rent and utilities, are lower for your business.
• Your potential customers have fewer expenses and more money in their pockets.
• Your business will be attractive to future and potential employees because of the location.
BOOMING POPULATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Dallas is rapidly growing right now and is nowhere near peaking. Right now, you’re still able to get in on the ground floor. Most economists anticipate the current growth rates to extend for 3-5 more years and potentially even longer. Even with a slight pullback of growth, the economy will be thriving for many years ahead.
Of course, a growing economy is great for business, but the ever-increasing population also has its advantages. In DFW, there is an outstanding talent pool of potential employees and college graduates. Enormous amounts of graduates from great schools across Texas and the entire country are flocking here for job opportunities. Those thousands of people moving to Dallas every year also means you have access to a lot more potential customers.
There is nowhere else in the country with the perfect storm of business opportunity happening like there is in Dallas. Buying a business in DFW here is one of the smartest decisions an entrepreneur can make. Success is almost all but guaranteed with a little hard work.
The potential for success is enormous, but there are pitfalls.
Let’s start with a few discouraging statistics. The federal Small Business Administration says that about 30 percent of all new businesses fail within their first two years. Fifty percent are gone within the first five, and two-thirds don’t make it past their 10th anniversaries. Those numbers make it plain: Failure is an even more integral aspect of business than is success. Beyond that, a rise in the number of failing businesses is counter-intuitively a sign of a healthy economy.
“A huge percentage of startups fail, and we should be happy about that,” says Cullum Clark, an economist at Southern Methodist University. Not for the failure of any one, he adds, but for having a system that provides for so many experiments to take place.
“I seriously doubt, and cannot conceive of, a real success story over a period of time without having had major setbacks,” says Craig Hall, whose HALL Group is a major player in North Texas real estate development. He is probably best known today for his thriving mixed-use campus in Frisco and his HALL Arts development in Dallas’ Arts District. Yet, he’s also had plenty of personal experience with failure.
Dallas Is a Great Place to Fail
Nobody wants to fail, of course. But if you’re going to fall short in business, North Texas is a forgiving place to do it. For one thing, the cost of living remains low compared to other big metros. So, getting back on your feet after suffering a financial loss is more manageable than in pricier markets.
But there also appears to be a cultural element involved. Think of famed oilman and investor T. Boone Pickens, who is all the more celebrated for having lost and rebuilt more than one fortune in his lifetime. Far from suffering any stigma for those failures, he has been honored for having demonstrated his resilience.
Setbacks in business can be more easily overcome in Dallas-Fort Worth because of its “can-do” environment. “Maybe it comes from the cowboy culture of when you’re thrown off the bull, you dust yourself off and get back on. Although it is worth noting that “there’s no great place to fail,” there’s something to the entrepreneurial spirit in Texas that encourages risk-taking—and doesn’t blackball those who fall short when a risk is taken.
A lot of that is an outgrowth of the oil industry. The wildcatters in the oil industry were the early risk-takers of America. It was the oil guys who took enormous risks and, in turn, made enormous fortunes. You can’t be unwilling to take a risk and expect to be tremendously successful.
How can I prepare for future disruptions that affect my business?
Many factors can disrupt our local businesses. We are all guilty of having the “that could never happen to me” mentality. Still, the truth is it’s difficult to predict when a business disruption will occur – especially when that interruption is not a natural disaster. With the size of DFW, there are so many resources and places to go if you need help that, most likely, any scenario can be fixed and fast.
From adverse weather, loss of IT/Telecommunications, transport network disruption, loss of human talent, supply chain challenges, there are so many different things that can happen. While business disruptions are a continuous threat and typically cannot be fully prevented, a business can take steps to ensure the least possible fallout from such a situation. Proper planning ahead of time can prove to be enormously beneficial if and when a disruption occurs. It is never too late to do a strategy session to discuss the possible scenarios and what you will do if this happens.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the benefits of starting or buying a business in Texas are almost too good to pass up. With an easy regulatory environment, low licensing fees, high job growth, access to high-quality, skilled employees, and a low cost of living, you’d be hard-pressed to think of reasons not to start a business here. When you are ready to look at businesses for sale in DFW, Valhalla Business Brokers are here to help you through the process.
