Branching out beyond the home office

What’s the next step from your home office?

i2 Office guest blogs today on taking those first steps out of the home office:

Your small business may be ready for cautious growth, but taking on staff is a huge step. There are plenty of ways you can expand, invest in the business, improve your productivity and gain a more professional edge without taking on an extra person.

Virtual and serviced offices are a great way to test the water, get out of the home office and give your small business a professional look.

Meeting Rooms
Sometimes, Starbucks just won’t cut it. Serviced office buildings will often allow work-at-home businesspeople to rent cutting edge meeting rooms in city centre locations for important meetings. Manchester offices offer meeting rooms from £15/hour in the heart of the downtown business district – for meetings with investors, making this kind of impression is well worth the money.

Virtual Offices
Virtual offices aren’t sci-fi robots who handle your paperwork (we wish!), but provide a professional façade and a range of helpful services for people who are used to working in a home office.
If you’re not comfortable providing your home address and telephone number on business documents, a virtual office gives you a prestigious city-centre address (although mail gets forwarded to your home). Phone calls are answered by a receptionist or forwarded to your mobile or home phone.

Serviced Offices
If you feel like you are finally ready to expand out of the home office, but are intimidated at the costs of office space, a shared serviced office can offer an affordable solution.
It has all the benefits of a real downtown office, without the overhead costs. High-speed internet, telephone lines, projectors and meeting equipment, board rooms, and more – but rental periods can be as short as two months.

You’d wear a suit to meet a client, but make sure the rest of your business has the same professional look as you do. Meeting rooms, virtual and serviced offices are a great way to polish your image and invest in your business without having to take on extra staff. And when you’re finally ready to do so, you’ll have the structure in place to help the business grow.