One of the main attractions of starting your own business is the freedom it offers. Nothing is more liberating than being able to plan your own work routine – when and where you plan the meteoric rise of your fledgling enterprise.
More people than ever are working from home, and the current economic downturn has led to an increase in the numbers of self employed and limited companies formed in the UK. Clearly, traditional employment is less secure than it’s ever been, so why not take your destiny into your own hands?
Once you have decided to start up your own business, where you physically work is a truly important thing to work out early on. So many different factors come into play depending on the type of business you operate, what your home environment is like, what distractions you are likely to have, if you look after your children, and so on.
You may want to work permanently away from your home, have access to occasional office space, or work from home whilst providing a professional image for your business. Here are a few of the options available for small businesses:
1. Office Rental / Serviced Offices
Aside from buying or leasing your own premises, for start-ups who don’t want a certain amount of freedom from onerous contracts and lease terms, monthly office rental may well be the perfect solution. You will either pay a monthly/yearly fee for use of the office space, with all other services (internet, utilities, rate) on top, or included in a single fee depending on the office provider you sign up with.
2. Occasional Office
If you need to use an office or use meeting rooms on an occasional basis, you can sign up for a flexible package with one of the leading office space providers. You will typically pay a monthly fee depending on the number of days office space you require. Regus BusinessWorld is one of the best know services, providing access to business lounges, or day offices across the UK for a monthly fee. easyOffice is a fairly recent entrant to the market – mainly based around London currently.
3. Virtual Office
Many small businesses want to be able to provide the professional image of a larger business, without the associated expense. Such is the demand that there are thousands of virtual office services operating in the UK. For a monthly fee, you are provided with a professional business address, and any number of additional services such as mail forwarding, telephone answering, and in many cases day office and meeting room access.
If any of these options suit, the key thing for any start-up is not to get tied into a long-term agreement unless you are sure that the service suits and is future-proof. The flexibility that modern office space solutions provide minimise risk and up-front costs. Try our guides to finding flexible workspace for your business and virtual office services for further ideas.
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