When my daughter moved to New York City, she wanted to continue her business from home since she had a small child to care for now. She wanted a virtual office with a professional address, having a regular PO box number. She would need the service of a receptionist and an office assistant, and a phone answering service. She would also need to occasionally drop in at an office space, about three times a month, to hold face-to-face meetings with clients.
So she started looking for virtual offices in New York City that would be close to her apartment in case she had to have urgent meetings. She was also looking for one with reasonable monthly rentals since her business was part-time and yet to register substantial growth.
After a thorough online search, she could locate one that was quite close to her home, had a high-end address, and came with other ‘add-ons’ like open envelope scanning, broadband internet, fax facilities, conference calling, and video conferencing facilities. The best thing was that the on-site office had a kitchenette that could be used to make tea or coffee during conferences, giving it that distinctive office-type look. It also had a small lobby where clients could wait in case she was busy with something else.
She has been using her virtual office for the past six months now, and has been able to successfully blend her office and home demands together. She makes breakfast, feeds the baby, prepares a small lunch for herself, and is behind her workstation by 11 am everyday, other than during the weekends when the family either come over to our place in Jersey or drive down to her husband’s parents. Sometimes they camp out, but she carries her laptop everywhere in case she has to hold urgent meetings. Her work hours are also flexible, and she takes breaks during the afternoons and early evenings to feed the baby.
The best thing about her virtual office is she can keep expenses down to a bare minimum and avail on-demand services. For instance, she pays for the actual usage time for certain facilities like the services of an accountant or a receptionist. The virtual office people have also offered to redesign her website and maintain it at nominal annual fees. Since all related headaches of running an actual office have been taken care of by the virtual office, she is able to devote more time to expand her business (More: Foundaspace).
Moreover, she doesn’t have to worry about health care benefits, payroll, or insurance for her employees, After using the virtual office, her business has in fact registered a double digit growth and she is now looking at adding more products in her portfolio.