Three Reasons to Consider an Office Even if You Work From Home

If you’re like many freelancers and small business owners of the digital era, you don’t see much need for an office. You meet all your customers online, you deliver all your products and services digitally, and you do it all from the comfort of your home. But an office isn’t just for traditional businesses – even someone who does all of their work from their laptop may see very intriguing benefits from an investment in a shared office or a virtual office.

1) Image

Whether it’s your branding or your strength for effective networking, both are greatly enhanced by a legitimate office location. There’s a reason so many respectable online businesses have offices nominally located in New York City or other major metropolitan areas: it works. If you want to attract bigger and better customers, partners, and investors, then meeting them at your midtown Manhattan office space instead of a local Starbucks could be the edge you need to succeed.

2) Support services

Whether you’re investing in a shared office or a virtual office service, one of the biggest benefits lies in various support services. That means a receptionist to screen calls and receive mail. It means virtual assistants and remote customer service personnel. If you don’t want to deal with every tiny fuss of your business, office services like these can be a true godsend.

3) Focus

If you’re like many who work from home, you’ll occasionally or frequently struggle to stay on task. With the distractions of home, a job that could be handled in an hour of intense work instead lingers through the day, and everything you do until it’s done is ruined by that twinge of guilt. Heading out to a shared office for a few hours then coming home can greatly boost productivity – and it makes your free time truly free again.

Admittedly, not every business needs all of these benefits. But many should see these options and see real potential to improve their productivity, life/work balance, and long-term growth. Think carefully about what your business could stand to gain, do your research into options, and make the right decision.