Don't Pick Unsuitable Office Space
When you start a business, you might decide that you need a physical office. A physical office will often become the home hub of any company. It’s where you’ll meet and hopefully impress potential clients. It’s also where the majority of your work will be completed. So, it needs to have the right aesthetic, the best location and even be fairly comfortable for employees. It’s worth than considering what you should be looking for with your physical office and what features you will definitely need.
1) Making The First Impression Count When you view a business property, it’s quite common for owners to completely overlook the importance of the exterior. After all, there is the inclination to assume it’s what’s inside that counts because that’s where the work will be completed. While this is true, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of curb appeal, even when you’re looking for a business property. You have to consider what clients will see first and this will always be what lies outside your entrance way. The windows, the walls, the office doors should all be immaculate. You might even want to think about looking at an office with an ultra-modern design. This will ensure that clients make positive assertions about your business, including that you are successful.
Of course, there are lots of different traits that fit in with a successful image. For instance, clients will often assume that city addresses are more expensive. As such, virtual offices always provide this type of central location to guarantee that companies look like they are making millions.
2) Keeping Connected Do make sure that your business is going to be completely connected to the outside world. We are of course talking about internet and phone connections. You can not afford these days to choose an office in a dead zone with no phone signal and a low-speed internet connection. Instead, you need to make sure that your business can be in the heart of the action. It’s imperative that connections to clients and customers are as rapid as possible. You might even be using cloud computing and to gain the max potential from this type of setup you definitely want a fantastic connection.
You also need to think about whether the connections are going to be up and running as soon as you move in. If not, you will have to take into consideration how long your business will be offline and how many days of profit you will inevitably lose.
With a virtual office, you don’t have to worry about connections at all. You can run your business from absolutely anywhere and make sure that you have super fast speeds with the best phone signal possible. Calls can even be handled for you by a trained team.
3) Security Solutions Do make sure that you are running your business from a secure location. When you choose an office to rent or buy, you should guarantee that physical security features are part of the setup. You need to look for a space that has CCTV on the inside and outside of the building. This will act as a deterrent and ensure that people do not even consider breaking in.
Lighting can be a great feature too. With exterior lighting, you can guarantee that there aren’t any blind spots around your business property. It can also ensure that the area still looks alive and filled with people or at least, security staff, in the middle of the night. You may even want to think about opting for an office that has security management onsite at all times.
Look at the locks and systems that protect the entrance ways as well. Modern office buildings have scanners in place to guarantee that only supervised personnel can enter. At the very least you should make sure that the doors of the office building are force resistant. This will make a break-in far more difficult and reduces the chances that you will need to deal with a potential theft.
With a virtual office, security isn’t a major issue. The advertised address for your company won’t be where all your sensitive systems and secure data are being secured. Ultimately your company will be completely hidden from public view. But you will still have a fantastic presence on the market for promotional purposes that will guarantee clients can still discover your company.
4) Open And Accessible In this instance, we are talking about for clients, investors and of course employees. You need to choose a physical office in a solid central position. Look at the infrastructure of the area and think about levels of traffic. Traffic can be a nightmare for employees, and it may be enough to put off the best workers from joining your company. You don’t want this, you want your business to be attractive to everyone and not just clients or customers.
Think about how far away transport links are as well. Remember, important clients and investors won’t want to spend hours travelling to your business. They will want to be able to get off the plane or train and in minutes be at the doors of your business. This means that a city office address might not be the best option.
If you are choosing a physical office in a remote location, do make sure that it is close to an area that provides housing, schooling, and shops for your employees. You don’t want to be in a location where your employees need to travel hours to get to work each day. Businesses who face this issue are typically trying to save money by purchasing an office in a less attractive area. They fail to see how detrimental this can be to the success of the business.
Of course, with a virtual office, you can get the best of both worlds. You can have a public city address while your actual company can be run from a location close to the local airport or out in the suburbs where traffic levels are far lower.
5) Room For More? Finally, do think about whether the office you are buying provides room to grow. You should choose a location where you can easily expand to other floors or even other buildings depending on the size of your company. It’s not just the offices themselves either. You should also consider whether there is room for more parking if your workforce needs to expand as well.
While your business may be small right now, in a few years, it might grow to the point where you’ll want to build new offices close by. Does the location allow for this? Is it in an area that is protected by government regulations or a place that provides access for easy expansion? These are considerations that you should always keep in mind to avoid a situation where you’ll have to move to a new office when your business increases in size.
A virtual office provides a far more scalable solution. You can grow by having complete freedom to run your business from wherever you want. This allows your business to remain flexible, expanding in various ways without being tied down to an expensive office address.
Using this advice, you can make sure that you choose a fantastic first physical office for your new small company. If you’re not ready for a new office, a virtual office could be your best option. You get a lot of the benefits of your own physical address without any of the issues. Your business will look successful, and you can even make your company look a lot bigger than it actually is on all marketing and promotional campaigns.