“Working from home will make my life complete!” – We’ve all thought it. Some of us have tried it. A few have made it work. Most have found it to be harder than they could have possibly imagined.
Work from home?
Who hasn’t had the dream of getting out of the daily grind? Of giving up work, starting a new business and being our own boss?
For small business owners who’ve done this, working from home is the preferred option in the early stages of the business. Saving money on commuting and renting is often touted as the main reason, but the idea of working from home seems very attractive, at least in the early stages of the business.
Time to rent office space
In practice, though, for many small business owners, working from home just doesn’t reap the rewards initially imagined. There are distractions, image issues and the ever present danger of isolation.
There comes a time when every business has to ponder the prospect of looking for office space. Is it the right thing to do? Is it the smart thing to do, and will it be more beneficial for your business than continuing to work from the home office?
Here’s three reasons why working from a small rented office, might be the smarter way for your small business to operate.
1. Improve your Productivity
One huge benefit of working in an office is that affects your efficiency. Beating the distractions at home can become a business task in itself: there’s the dog, the kids, that second cup of coffee before you start work. Distractions pop up everywhere, and the pressure to complete home tasks before business tasks looms daily.
In an office, your business gets your full attention. Most small business owners who move out of home and into an office admit that their own productivity levels soared as a result. The clear, clean working environment, and the presence of other businesses and working people has a profound effect upon us. It helps us focus on what’s important for our business when we are working in the business, and what’s important for our home, when we get home.
Investing time to each, in the right places, ensures a better work-life balance, which is something a lot of home workers struggle with.
2. Improve your Image
Skype calling someone in their pyjamas doesn’t provide you with the most positive image of their business acumen. Just as phone calls to clients interrupted by the doorbell, or the dog, or the kids, can leave you looking like a backroom amateur, rather than a serious business owner.
In the same way, there are only so many client meetings you can hold in the generically branded coffee house. As good and comfortable as they are, they don’t provide the image of activity, enthusiasm and forward momentum that small businesses need to project to their clients.
A high quality office location, such as OurWorx, can have a huge impact on your businesses identity. Rented office spaces like OurWorx have dedicated areas to host client meetings. Seeing your clients in a vibrant working office space, ensures you maintain the air of legitimacy and professionalism you need to succeed.
3. Improve your Enthusiasm
Whether you’re on your own, or working with others, working remotely can be lonely. We’re told regularly in the media that loneliness is a killer. But it’s a killer to businesses as well. Because it leads to distraction, loss of focus and apathy towards work, as well.
Even though you might only rent an office for you, or a small team, office spaces like OurWorx promote healthy interaction between all the small business within the building. There is the opportunity to talk, share practical advice, bounce ideas off others, and learn from their experience of running small business. All this can be invaluable to small business owners, and it comes free of charge.
Sharing spaces with other businesses, and learning from them, can lead to increased enthusiasm for your offering, and even collaborative opportunities in new areas of business.
Working Smart
The main reason small business owners decide to run their company from home is that it seems, initially, to be cheaper. But that isn’t always the case.
If we think about the improvements renting good quality office space, like the space on offer at OurWorx, could have on your business, it might start to feel that you can quickly earn the money back. Through smarter working, enhanced productivity and a greatly improved image to your clients.
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