Article - July 2011

How to set up a virtual office

Sometimes when you are a new business start-up, or an entrepreneur with a great idea but limited resources, then the best way forward, while still maintaining an important air of professionalism to your clients, is to employ the services of a virtual office provider.

Most business centres will provide the facilities to supply virtual office services, which in a nutshell means you will have an address and telephone number at the centre, usually with call handling, but in reality you are usually working from home without the need to put your residential address on any of your correspondence.

The benefits of this set up for a new business is obvious: You save the company money in rent and rates, achieve a veneer of professionalism and it gives you the freedom to work not just from home, but literally anywhere, meaning you can get out on the road and do some much needed prospecting.

Forsyth Business Centres are experts in providing virtual office services and they have provided this quick guide to setting up a virtual office and the possible pitfalls to guard against.

The most important aspect of a virtual office is to ensure your home workspace is set up properly to avoid any unnecessary distractions that may prevent you from fulfilling the important task at hand. Here are a few pointers:

  • Choose an area at home which you are both comfortable in and will not lead to distractions, such as TV’s, Game consoles or the kids when they are on school holidays. A bedroom with a closable door is ideal.
  • Make your work station as comfortable as possible, with a decent sized desk and comfy chair. This is where most of your time will be spent, so no need to suffer!
  • Invest in some filing cabinets, shelves and storage boxes to allow your work area not only to be kept neat and tidy, but to allow your company to be organised too.
  • Set time parameters for your working hours and try to keep business and family time separate. Unless your unique selling point involves clients being able to contact you at any time, choose a cut-off point where you will finish work and deal with any issues the following day.
  • Evaluate your weaknesses and impose rules to combat them, such as not surfing the internet for personal reasons unless at break times or after work, having set regular intervals to go and stretch your legs or get a drink and having a set lunch hour.
  • Remember to keep up human contact, as working from home in an enclosed space can be isolating. Pick up the phone during your break and call a friend or your Mum just to say hi, or have an active social life outside of work to remind yourself there is a big world out there and it is still available to the likes of you.
  • Make sure the hardware you purchase is tailored to the job in hand and the best that you can get for your budget. If you are likely to be on the road a lot then a smart phone with email forwarding and a laptop computer are the best options, however if all your work will be conducted from the home office then a workstation may be the better option.
  • Digital cameras (if you are doing a lot of web based design), all in one printer, scanners and copiers and a good broadband connection are other things to consider. Also be sure to invest in some back up storage system like an external hard drive to keep copies of important business documents.
  • Last but not least and often a cost which is overlooked when setting the initial budget is software. Software such as Microsoft office and Photoshop can be expensive so ensure you buy the correct and most up to date version and that you have the right number of licences to cover all the computers in the business.
  • Also make sure you have good virus protection as the last thing you need is to lose valuable work time because your hardware is in the shop being fixed and cleansed of a particularly nasty virus.

So, that is how to set up a virtual office at your end, and fortunately the rest is easy. Forsyth Business Centres can have a virtual office with the options of mail handling and shared or dedicated business phone handling services set up in no time, allowing you to push forward with your new business start-up and earning the revenue you deserve for all your hard work. Either visit the Forsyth website to see a full range of their office based services or call them free on 0800 731 5928.