4 Reasons Your Small Business Needs an Office

If you’re running a small business from your home, you may question the point of an office. But you should understand that there are benefits to maintaining a work space in a reputable area. At the bare minimum, you may want to consider a virtual office, which offers many of the same benefits but is a fraction of the cost of actually renting floor space. Whichever route you consider, make sure you weigh up these potential benefits in your assessment:

1. A professional image

There’s a lot to be said for looking the part of a high-end professional business, even if that business consists of you and your laptop in a Starbucks 99% of the time. Certain clients will prefer to work with a business that has a receptionist and a Manhattan business address – it’s just the way things work. It’s also important for getting business partners to treat you appropriately and to get the attention of investors, if either of those are a consideration for your business.

2. Organizing incoming communications

If you’re working from home, you don’t want every professional email, phone call, fax and package delivered to your normal inboxes and phones. It’s just not practical, especially if your business gets a bit bigger. Maintaining an office to receive communication, even if it’s purely a virtual office and only exists for communication, makes it much easier to keep life and work organized.

3. Scalability

If things go well, your business will only get bigger over time. When it threatens to overwhelm you, will you struggle to expand? Maintaining an office allows you to slot in new people if they become necessary, even if those people are just a call center connected to your work number or a virtual assistant who keeps your schedule sorted.

4. Work/life balance

From a purely psychological standpoint, it’s healthier to keep work and home life separate. Otherwise, you become that person who vanishes during dinner to speak with a client, troubleshoot a tech problem or deal with an invoice. That’s not good for your home life. The same goes in reverse – you don’t want to be an arm’s length away when you’re trying to work. Kids and pets don’t really understand that you’re working now and need to stay away to limit your distractions.

If you’re considering renting office space or setting up a virtual office, you can contact us today. We manage office space in a number of locations, and can help you acquire a virtual office address in a number of New York City locations.