Starting a business from home helps to keep your overheads low, but you must invest in products to enhance your business image. Home-based businesses just aren’t taken as seriously as those launched in offices, so entrepreneurs take an interest in products like virtual offices, and with them services such as business addresses, mail forwarding and phone answering. When they meet with clients they don’t do so at home but rather hire a meeting room, these can be hired on an hourly basis and help them to project a professional business image.
Every home-based entrepreneur should have a dedicated workspace.
This space should be furnished with office furniture, even if it’s secondhand, and if you have children make it clear that your office is off-limits. Keep your home office orderly, you’ll find that you get more work done, and also invest in all the office equipment you require to work efficiently. Creating a dedicated workspace helps you to focus on work, free of the distractions that prevent many home-based entrepreneurs from not achieving what they set out to achieve.
Every home-based entrepreneur should have a regular meeting space.
This space should not be at your home but rather in a business centre, and as mentioned above, this space can be rented by the hour with discounts afforded to those who join business lounge and related programmes. By meeting with your clients in a professional meeting environment you’re projecting an image of professionalism and this image counts for a lot.
Every home-based entrepreneur should have access to professional business support services.
This is essentially the outsourcing of admin and related duties. This doesn’t refer to mail forwarding and phone answering, as these are included in a virtual office package along with a business address, which is something that every home-based entrepreneur should have, but more so access to services that can be conveniently outsourced like spreadsheeting and word processing. Outsourcing tasks like these provides the entrepreneur with more time to concentrate on bigger things.
Every home-based entrepreneur should have their phone calls answered by a receptionist.
This also helps home-based entrepreneurs project an image of business professionalism and it’s a great way to make a favourable first impression upon new clients. Virtual office packages are available in the same business centres where an office space rental in Manhattan would be sourced, and in addition to having one’s phone calls answered and forwarded, they can also have their mail sent there too.
Every home-based entrepreneur should have the ability to ‘workshift’.
‘Workshifting’, a relatively new term, is the ability of a worker, or in this case an entrepreneur, to work outside the office. This means that they are able to work whilst on the move and therefore work from cafes, hotel lobbies, etc. There are products available that help entrepreneurs to work more effectively when away from their home office, such as business lounge membership packages, and for meetings; conference and meetings rooms, which as mentioned above, can be hired by the hour.