Finding your first office

The time has come for your venture to find a place to grow, to thrive and to prosper. Your small business plans with big business dreams have outgrown your spare room, garden shed, home office or simply your imagination and now need dedicated phone lines, a reception desk and meeting rooms at the very least. So how do you go about finding the perfect first office?

When the time comes to find your first office space, there are several options to choose from. The most common include taking a virtual office, sharing office space with another entrepreneur or company, or taking your own dedicated place of work. Each option comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, so you need to decide which one best suits your small business plans.

Does a virtual office fit with your small business plans?
When your small business plans necessitate a more centralised location, somewhere to meet clients and an element of prestige, a virtual office may well be the solution for you. For a monthly fee you can register your business address there, have your post collected and forwarded to you, have your phone answered by a reception team and messages taken for you, use meeting rooms, and even use office space when you are in the area. It is an office away from your home office that you can have occasional access to, as and when you need it. Of course the restrictions of this option are that you do not actually have an office to call your own, you have nowhere to put employees if you are looking to expand, and you can only use the office space on a hot desk basis.

Does an office share fit with your small business plans?
Sharing an office with someone else is an excellent way to obtain the space you need while experiencing significant savings in comparison to the expense of a private office space. Sharing office space also offers several other distinct advantages, such as the opportunity to share ideas, provide and receive feedback, socialise with like-minded professionals and sharing personnel. While you may not be able to personalise the space to completely meet your exact needs, the cost savings and social exchanges may be well worth that small sacrifice.

If your small business plans could benefit from sharing an office then it is always a good idea to find a business to share with that has a skill or client base complementary to yours – for example, a web developer and an SEO specialist, a plumber and a carpenter.

Does a private office suit your small business plan?
Of course, most entrepreneurs dream of growing to the point of needing their own private office space to run their small business, and there are plenty of excellent reasons to aspire to this. Having your own office allows you to focus on your work with limited interruptions, customise the space to fit your exact needs, create a comfortable, personalised working environment, avoid the negotiations that may be necessary when sharing a space or hotdesking, and rest assured that your belongings, documents and important information are as secure as possible without the risk of their being tampered with or misplaced by someone with whom you are sharing an office.

So what is most important to your business? Image, cost savings, security or flexibility? Answering this question will certainly put you on the road to deciding which is the best office solution to take your small business plans and transform them into your big business reality.

Once you have made your decision, there are plenty of online and offline resources at your disposal to find just the right space for your business. Choose from online and offline commercial estate agents and office space websites that pull together information from multiple sources.

Good luck in your search.