PerfectBusiness - The Entrepreneur Network to Create Your Perfect Business

Table of Contents

Web

Technology

Location

Legal

Personnel Management

Risk Management

Insurance

Business Success Tips

Sample Documents

Checklists

Contributing Authors

	Stephanie Chandler Author of The Business Startup Checklist & Planning Guide
ORDER NOW: The Business Startup Checklist & Planning Guide
	Steven D. Strauss Author of The Small Business Bible
ORDER NOW: The Small Business Bible
	Tom Severance Author of Business Start-Up Guide
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	Joe Kennedy Author of The Small Business Owner's Manual
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Growth

There comes a time in the life of many home-based businesses when it

seems like it is time to move up and out of the house. But if you have

grown accustomed to the place, accustomed to the pace, how do you

leave the creature comforts of home and still grow? The answer is, you

don’t have to. Here are some simple ways to continue to grow and still

work in your slippers when the mood strikes.

Use an Executive Suite

Executive suites are offices that you can rent by the hour, day, week, or

month and share with other small businesses. They are fully furnished,

have secretaries and receptionists on hand, and offer all the amenities

(conference rooms, Internet access, copy machines, and so on) of your

own full time, out-of-the-house office but at a fraction of the cost. Most

usually are in beautiful, modern downtown offices, so you are assured

of impressing clients.

Fees vary depending upon your needs. For example, you may want

to continue to work at home and simply use the address of the suite on

your stationery. That works. Most suites offer an affordable virtual office

option (a couple of hundred dollars a month, tops) that allows you

to use their address, have them receive your mail, and have them answer

your phone (transferring the calls to you at home) and get a few

hours of conference room time, too, for meeting clients. The more of-

fice time you need, the more you pay. These are great places to meet

clients and make an impression.

By utilizing an executive (or professional) suite, you can put a shiny

external face on your home-based business if you desire, and at a very

affordable price.

Regus Business Centers offer executive suites at more than 400 locations

worldwide in incredible, state-of-the-art buildings. They offer fully furnished

offices, the ability to pay only for the time they use, a professional staff, a

prime business address, and high-tech, wired conference rooms. Maybe best

of all, once you are part of the system, you can use any office in any of their

other locations. If, say, you rent a virtual office in Manhattan and have to go to

Los Angeles to meet a potentially big client, all you need to do is call your New

York Regus office and have them book you a room in the southern California office

of your choice (www.Regus.com).

Rent the Space You Need

Many successful home-based businesspeople continue to run their

business out of their home while renting the space they need to grow.

Barsahrin Travis is a fantastic yoga teacher. She used to hold sessions

in the quiet living room of her house, but when her classes grew too

popular, she decided to rent space at a nearby studio. She continues to

manage her thriving business from home, but uses space outside the

house to grow.

It may be that you need warehouse space, a place for inventory, a

location for your workshops, space for employees--the reasons for

wanting more room are varied. The important thing is not to think of it

as an either-or situation. You can continue to work from home and rent

space and continue to grow. You do not have to move out of the house

to get bigger.

Remember, too, that it is fairly easy to remotely access your computer;

working in one place and logging on to another computer (back

at home, for example) is easy. The latest version of Windows offers this

sort of interface, as do web sites like www.GoToMyPC.com. Having a

small business server also allows you to remotely access your office,

which makes having two workplaces much easier.

Get Help

When you face the happy dilemma of too much growth and not enough

room, another option is to contract with another company or individual

who can handle the overflow for you. Yes, hiring people as either an

employee or independent contractor to do work you could do yourself

costs money, but that is what businesses do--they segment duties and

hire staff to handle jobs. It is a sign that your home-based business has

reached a more mature stage of development.

Aside from taking those duties off your hands, the other benefit of

hiring help is that it frees you to concentrate on matters more important.

Far too many small businesspeople spend far too much time working

in their business and not on their business. You only have so much

time, and when you spend it stuffing envelopes, filling orders, or collecting

past-due invoices, you take time away from doing something

else, usually a better, smarter use of your time. Hiring staff enables you

to have more free time to think bigger and plan better.

Go Virtual

If you do not want the expense and responsibility of hiring employees

and finding space for them to work, consider instead hiring a virtual assistant:

an independent contractor who works from her own home or

office, handles duties for you, and communicates with you via telephone,

fax, and messenger services. Virtual assistants, or VAs, have become

quite the rage. According to the International Virtual Assistants

Association, “A Virtual Assistant (VA) is an independent entrepreneur

providing administrative, creative and/or technical services. Utilizing

advanced technological modes of communication and data delivery, a

professional VA assists clients in his/her area of expertise from his/her

own office on a contractual basis.”

VAs are especially good at handling unwanted administrative duties

such as collections, marketing, travel planning, research, and account-

ing. They might even help with your web site, prepare your newsletter,

or schedule appointments. VAs are affordable, typically less than $50 an

hour. You pay only for the time you use. Maybe best of all, by hiring a

VA, you get all the advantages of having a guy or gal Friday without the

associated overhead--no related employment costs or taxes, no rent for

office space, nada.

A VA can really help your business grow. A good one is committed

to your success, knowing that if she does well, you will do well, and if

you do well, she might do even better.