by Home Office Success Guru Jeff Landers
If you are what I term a ‘Growth Maven’ then you’re the type of entrepreneur who wants stellar growth and long-term business success. You need customers to know who and what you are. You want to develop a recognized name brand and have an open and consistent dialogue with your clients.
It’s time to start building your global enterprise-for you this means you must get out of your home office and into “real” office space so that you can start hiring people. But you want to handle it well so that the big move doesn’t divert your time, money, and resources.
For starters, avoid real estate agents and most landlords. Their interests are not necessarily aligned with yours - despite what they tell you. A traditional office lease of 3-5 years is not a smart move for your young company.
I’ll give you two important reasons to avoid even relatively short-term contracts, much less 3-5 year leases.
1. New businesses often don’t make enough revenues to cover their expenses in a cash flow crunch
The simple solution is to rent an executive suite, which are typically high-end, fully equipped, and ready to move into. Networking becomes less of a challenge, since there are often many other small businesses housed in the same executive suite facility. Don’t expect real estate brokers to promote these options to you because in most cases there’s not enough profit from these deals to make it worth their while. Other options include subleasing space or sharing an office with a larger firm.
Moving in is painless and fast because your executive suite is fully equipped, furnished, and ready to go. It has a high-speed Internet connection, phone systems, fully functional conference rooms, and very often a receptionist to handle your phone calls.
Here’s how it works. An executive suite company typically rents an entire floor or two in a well-located office building. These buildings tend to be first class, prestigious, and in the heart of the business district. The company then subdivides the space into a large number of offices for rent to individual businesses like yours. These individual offices range in size from about 100 square feet-good for one person-to several hundred square feet-good for up to five people or more.
Executive suites are the ideal place for “image” entrepreneurs. These are the folks who know that having a first class professional appearance will help build their business. They know that their clients want to invest in and work with winners. Looks count. These business owners realize that perception is reality-you are only as big and solid as you look. They want to work with the big fish clients and compete against companies many times their size. And this is how they can.
Imagine prospective clients coming to see you in your gorgeous office where they are greeted by a friendly receptionist and given coffee while they wait in comfy chairs. Then imagine these prospective clients being blown away by your high-tech-enabled presentation and the videoconferencing you did with your partner in London.
A big improvement from that last presentation in your basement when your clients noticed your wet bra hanging off the TV set, right? If you agree, then it’s time to get going.