The term “virtual office” gets thrown around a lot these days. But how many of us are actually clear on what it really means? In short, virtual office services are those that are set up to help start-ups and other small businesses to have a business address and certain facilities. However, it eliminates the overheads that come with renting a brick-and-mortar office of their own.
When you’re starting out and can’t afford to waste a single cent a virtual office with a virtual business address can help you save and provide other benefits at the same time.
In the past, many start-ups and small enterprises have run into financial difficulties because they spent too much on renting office space. Especially in nice buildings with prestigious CBD and other addresses. They may do that both for image and security reasons. But, either way, it costs them dearly. And, some fail to make enough profit to properly grow into their premises.
A virtual office, then, provides the same high-level business address, often in very prestigious locations in whatever city they’re in. It also serves as a place to receive mail and packages. You can have access to meeting rooms and workspaces if you need. Many virtual offices also offer virtual office services like phone call answering.
That kind of professional sheen is a great way for new businesses to make a strong first impression. But also ensures that no calls slip through the cracks while busy entrepreneurs are trying to get everything else done.
Despite the name, a virtual office has both physical and virtual elements. Some of these physical elements are above. The first is a real physical address to which you can direct all your mail and packages. That same address is also one you can put on your stationery and website. This gives your fledgling company that feeling of professionalism and solidity that clients like.
Furthermore, virtual office services are typically based in coworking and shared office centers. Thus, you can also gain access to key office facilities like printing, sending/receiving faxes, meeting rooms, and more. All for much less cost than it would generate if you were to do all this in your own office rental.
Virtual elements are mostly centered around phone-based services like call answering and forwarding. However, you can request other remote receptionist services. These provide a great level of consistency and security for communication with existing and prospective clients. This ensures that someone will answer all calls and you won't miss anything. It’s very easy for that to happen when you use personal numbers in your enterprise’s early days. On top of that, using a personal mobile number, for instance, can put people off as it makes a business look less established.
Traditionally, one of the most stressful parts of starting a business has been finding a place in which to base it. The easy option seems to be to just start from the kitchen table and save a lot of overhead. But there’s a problem there which is that your residential address isn’t a suitable one to use for business purposes. You may even be breaking local laws. The next choice is to rent an office somewhere. However, the only affordable space you may find could be in a place a client would never deign to venture.
In the past, this has forced businesses to “go all in,” risking it all to rent a large space to operate properly. They must then earn money to grow and fill that office space. A virtual office and virtual business address gives you those benefits at much lower costs. Thus, allows small companies the breathing space they badly need to work on building themselves up.
