An important step to growing the business nationally  is to first grow it locally.  Doing so will give you the experience and knowledge necessary to expand nationally.  Expanding nationally takes on a whole new dimension.  The distance between locations will present a challenge to the management team.

 

These are some things to consider when contemplating growing the small business nationally.
 

You have to consider the different tax rates in each state and how you will manage the collection and payment of taxes.  These are the taxes you will have to be concerned with.

 

The sales taxes:  When you sell a product within a state you’re required to collect sales taxes and pay it to the state.  The Sales tax rate vary from state to state.  Within each state counties and large cities have their own sales tax rate.  Maintaining the same Point of Sale (POS) system across all locations will make make the collection and payment of sales taxes manageable.  Even when purchases are made over the Internet some states still require the collection and payment of Internet Sales tax.
 

Payroll taxes:  Each state have different requirements for collecting and paying payroll taxes.  Each state also have different payroll tax rates.  All employers are required to collect and pay payroll taxes on employees they have in each state.  Learn more about payroll taxes.
 

Corporate income tax:  In addition to the federal corporate income tax that all businesses are required to pay you will be required to pay corporate income tax at the state level as well.  Not all states have a corporate income tax requirement.  But, if you expand your business to one of the states that have a corproate income requirement you will have to pay it.  Learn more about state corporate income tax.  Additionally you will have to pay attention to cities that have their own corporate income tax requirement.  Learn more about these cities with a corporate income tax requriement.
 

Environmental Laws:  Depending on the type of business you’re in environmental laws may or may not have an impact on your business.  If it does you have to take into consideration the environmental laws of individual states in addition to the federal laws.  Research therespective state environmental laws before expanding your business there.
 

Minimum Wage:  Expanding to another state requires that you abide by minimum wage in that state.  Many states and municipalities have minimum wage rates that are different from the federal minimum wage rate.  You will be required to abide by those minimum wage rates.  Ensure that you can afford to pay the minimum wage rates in areas that you will expand to.  Learnmore about states minimum wage.  Learn more about the federal minimum wage.
 

Busienss Registration:  When your business is headquartered in one state and you expand to other states you’re required to register your business in those states as a foreign entity.  Learn more about this requirement.
 

Wages:  Wages will vary depending on the state or geographical location of the business.  Because the cost of living is different from one region of the country to another what you pay a manager in one state may be different in another state even though they have the same responsibilities.  Research the going rate for the region.  Use the National Compensation Survey – Wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to learn about wages across the U.S.
 

Management Team:  From a management perspective expanding nationally means that you have to start forming a management team that will live in the vicinity of where you will expand the business to.   If you take a member of your local team and make them travel hundreds of miles every day to another state to work at the new location that individual will not stick around for very long. 

 

Professional Licenses:  If you’re in the type of business that requires professional icensing you have to revisit licensing on a state by state basis.  Not all states accept a professional license certification from other states.  The licensing requirements vary from state to state.  You may have to get people re-licensed in the specific state you’re expanding your small business to.  Learn more about Professional Licenses.
 

Legal:  You will need legal representation in other states that you expand to.  Your current legal team may already have offices in those states that you’re expanding to and are licensed to practice there.  But, if they’re not, you will have to new find legal representation.  Learn more about Legal.
 

Suppliers:  Ensure that you suppliers can provide the same level of service in other states without increase costs.  If your suppliers have to ramp up their service in order to continue to provide you with the same level of service in other locations it may come at a cost which they will try to pass on to you.
 

Grow the National Customer Base:

In order to grow the national customer base you need to market nationally to reach the national consumer base.  The four(4) most effective ways to reach a national customer base are as follows:

 

Internet:  Internet marketing is using resources on the Internet to promote your business.  These includes online advertising, website ranking, email marketing, blogging, link exchange, etc.
 

Social Media:  Social networking marketing refers to the use of social networking media to promote your business.  Social media, encompasses many Internet-based tools that make it easier for people to listen, interact, engage and collaborate with each other.   These tools allow you to promote your business by building communities based on common interest, share videos and share your experiences.
 

Press Release:  A Press Release is a message that goes out to Journalists and Editors of magazines, newspapers, TV show producers, etc. that notifies them of a potential newsworthy story that they may want to write or talk about on their TV shows, magazines, newspapers, etc. 
 

Print Advertising:  Print advertising is marketing your business on medium such as flyers/brochures, newspapers, magazines and business cards.  Each of these methods have their own advantages and disadvantages.  Each method offers you a way to reach your target audience in a different way.  Use the methods that best suites your marketing needs and your budget.