How A Virtual Office Can Help Ease Your Growing Pains

Solopreneurs and small business owners are busy. Unlike many larger businesses that remain shackled to the concept of the permanent office space, many no longer see permanent offices as a business requisite. Instead, solopreneurs are embracing virtual addresses and offices, which give them an agile and cost-effective option for growing their businesses. 

Business professionals who remain tethered to the idea of the 9-to-5 workday and a permanent office location are dinosaurs. Arbitrary 9-to-5 models assume workers are more productive sitting—and monitored—at a fixed desk. But the data indicates otherwise. 

68% of small business professionals indicate their teams are more productive when they are given flexible work hours. Almost half would take a lower paying job to work remotely (I have). The reality is that we live in a digital age where the divide between professional and personal lives has closed. As an example, substantial numbers of professional women and men say they prefer to do work at night—44% and 37%, respectively—and the majority report regularly working outside of the 9-to-5 timeframe. 

For solopreneurs and small business owners thinking about securing a permanent, fixed office space, think again. Getting stuck with a permanent office that comes with long-term sunk costs is the last thing you want to do in today’s digital age. Virtual offices give you the flexibility to work on demand, regardless of your location, and to schedule external and internal meetings in professional settings and to deliver the types of customer, partner, and employee experiences commensurate with your brand. Following are some of the most prevalent use cases for solopreneurs and small businesses: 

1. Temporary Office Space.

Sometimes solopreneurs and small business leaders need temporary office space. The upside is that there are numerous options such as day offices for the business professional who needs focused time alone in an office space and coworking spaces that facilitate collaborative conversations with other members of your team or simply other businesses sharing the coworking space. 

2. Virtual Address. First impressions count.

Virtual addresses enable solopreneurs and small businesses to list professional addresses in highly desirable locations, allowing them to look just like much larger businesses that can afford permanent office space. 

3. Expansion, Multiple Locations.

For businesses seeking to expand into new locations or solopreneurs and businesses that are on the road and require office or meeting space in multiple locations, virtual offices have you covered. 

4. Customer or Partner Meetings.

Virtual offices offer solopreneurs and small businesses the chance to secure meeting rooms, along with technological tools such as whiteboards, video conferencing, etc. and services such as lobby greeters and administrative support, that give customers and partners great experiences representative of their brands. These on-demand conference rooms provide the level of flexibility solopreneurs and small businesses demand. 

5. Employee Meetings.

For small businesses, coworking space and coffee shops simply don’t provide the right venue for all employee meetings (e.g., staff meetings, all-hands meetings, off-site meetings). In these instances, they can look to rented conference rooms and the various services and technology tools that come with them.

6. Employee Engagement and Recruitment.

Flexibility in terms of where and when they perform work is cited by workers as an important priority for them. Over three-quarters of employers say having a flexible work environment has a big impact on their ability to hire. With nearly half of employees saying they would take less money in exchange for greater workplace flexibility, businesses need to take notice; those that fail to do so will find their workers are less engaged and productivity than competitors that offer workplace flexibility and have greater difficulty retaining and recruiting top-tier workers.

About Patrick Spencer

Patrick Spencer (Ph.D.) is the President and Founder of TIRO Communications that helps companies develop, build, and manage content, customer, advocacy, and demand-gen programs. Included in its offerings is TIRO Cognition Insights, a data analytics tool that enables B2C and B2B businesses to pinpoint what their customers and competitors’ customers are saying and to identify corresponding actionable product, services, competitive, sales, and marketing intelligence.

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Website: www.tirocommunications.com