As startups grow into fully fledged businesses in their markets and maybe then even into market leaders, they have to adapt to their surroundings. They have to get used to the demands of the new environments that they find themselves in as they grow. They need to adapt to the different challenges they face as they bulge in size. And, one such thing that they have to get used to and adapt to is the fact that as they grow, so should their office space.
Yes, as startups grow they should always be adapting and adopting new office spaces in order to meet the demands of their current day and to show that they take themselves seriously. And, if you’re a startup owner and wondering exactly what type of office your business should be in at what specific time, then make sure to read on.
At startup level, a virtual office
When your business is in its fledgling startup status, quite simply, it doesn’t need a real office. It doesn’t need the stereotypical office space, with the coffee station to boot. It doesn’t need to have all of its employees congregated in the same area day in, day out. It doesn’t need one for a number of reasons, the main one being that it will induce the huge overhead of rent demands for absolutely no reason — demands that might kill your business even before it has had the chance to take off. And, no matter how tempted you might be to move your little business straight into an office in order to make it feel and look genuine and bona-fide, resist the temptation. Resist it and go virtual instead.
What this means is that you should keep your business mobile and based at home for as long as you comfortably can, and that you should pay for the services of a virtual office whilst you do so. What doing so will offer you is the chance to keep your overheads down without having to show customers that you are working from a residential address, as the the virtual office provider you choose to work with will provide you with a business address and maybe even an office space right in the heart of a business or financial district, such as Canary Wharf in London. What all of this means is that you will never have to face losing customers because they do not look at you as a genuine business because of your lack of an office space.
The next stage, a pre-engineered building
You can’t stay at home forever, however. No, you will need to ditch your home-based office and the virtual office service at some point. And, when this point comes, you should move your business straight into a pre-engineered building.
You should do so because these types of offices are perfect for startups — they are customisable, they are vibrant places, they are big and open spaces and they look perfect in terms of marketing and advertising purposes. So, when you begin shopping for your startup’s first real world office space, make sure to consider pre-engineered buildings in your area of choosing.
The final stage, a building of its own
By this final stage in the office journey your business should have accumulated enough money to be able to either afford to have an office space of its own to be erected from nothing, or to have work done on a current office space that turns it into the perfect office for it. The end result: an office that matches your business’s demands completely and does everything it can to tailor to your business’s needs.
At this late stage in your business’s growth, as it seeks to take the final step into market leader territory, it needs an office that is its own. It needs one that is like no other. It needs one that is instantly recognisable as being its office. So, don’t be afraid to spend that money you’ve earned throughout your business’s formative years on having commercial building contractors build you the perfect office space. Just make sure they build one that caters exactly to the size of your workforce and provides them with all the space they need to do their job and use their equipment properly. Make sure they build on that encapsulates your business’s theme and style. And make sure they build one that markets your business in the exact way it needs to be marketed.
As your business grows and its income is boosted, so will its office demands. And, you need to make sure these demands are met by always being willing to move your business about if needs be and by taking heed of all of the advice above.
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