My company is based on Long Island, a 120-mile-long, 20-mile-wide, glacier-carved island with 2.3 million inhabitants and an expressway we affectionately call "the world's biggest parking lot."

Besides the Long Island Expressway (LIE), there are several ways to get to Manhattan from here: train, high-speed ferry, and, of course, helicopter. The New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens are actually on the island, but they're still the city. We're the 'burbs. From a Manhattan perspective, Long Island is very far away.

We Long Island businesses have lived with this perception -- and reality, when the LIE is bumper-to-bumper and the trains aren't running -- for ages. Many of us do a lot of business with New York City clients -- but they sure don't come out here. In fact, most of my clients are in Manhattan, which means I make the trek all the time. And this area is really becoming quite a tech hub. Still, I finally decided that having an outpost in Mecca was key if I didn't want to be labeled a suburban business. So now we're in the throes of looking for office space there.

Regular readers will recall that StaffWriters just moved into new offices. That was tough enough. This is like launching a new business. Manhattan is big, and rents are exploding there. We're talking between $20 and $25 a square foot in the financial district, which is where we want to pitch our tent. The prices are really high. We're on several waiting lists in buildings we like. Last year, we could have had the space we wanted for the asking but we didn't move quickly enough. So now we wait.

Setting up here isn't just a matter of hanging out a shingle. Even though most of my clients are here, I'm considered a newcomer. That means a whole new strategy for getting the name out, and the Big Apple means Big Bucks. Trade shows, networking-group dues, and ad space in city publications are a lot more expensive. Even the burgers cost more. The challenge here is to get our name out without going bust.

People know me on Long Island because I was a fixture at just about every grip-and-grin business event there for four steady years. I have to start all over in Manhattan.

I'm psyched, though. We're going to take the city by storm. I can see it all: a year-long ad campaign in a Silicon Alley magazine, mailings, trade shows, T-shirts, tote bags...the whole bit. We're even considering launching an annual awards ceremony to honor freelance writers and editors.

Wait. It gets better. We're planning to rollout a sexy new Web service: Harried executives on the road will be able to get writing and editing help. I've even picked out a song for the commercial. Getting the rights would probably break the bank, so I better keep that under my hat.

Gotta go now. Hey, look us up when you're in the Big City.

George Giokas is the president and CEO of StaffWriters Plus, a specialty agency that places writers in temporary and permanent positions with corporate and other employers. It also provides editorial consulting work. His database includes 2,500 writers and editors specializing in more than 60 categories. His Web site is located at www.staffwriters.com, and you can E-mail him at george@staffwriters.com.