If you take care of business from home, whatever that business may be, your next logical move towards expansion is to invest in your own office and staff. Of course, this presents a few challenges that you’ll need to overcome. It can be hard to know exactly where to start with this sort of operation, so below you’ll find some information and ideas to help you out.
With anything like this, one of the most important things to consider is the law. But as laws differ from place to place, you need to research this aspect of the task yourself. Don’t take the law lightly; small mistakes at the start of your business’ life can have a dramatic effect in the future.
The Building and Location
The offices you choose can make a real difference to your business. When starting out, you never want to over stretch. So in this rare instance, you only want to plan a short time ahead. If you’re expecting some growth, it’s okay to move into an office that’s bigger than you require. But don’t go too far. You can always move officers or extend in future when you need to. At the start of your business’ life, losing money on space that you’re not using can be a make or break situation. And it’s not worth sacrificing all of your hard work, to save a bit of time in the future. Also, think about location; you don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere if you are looking to hire graduates or other people who are unlikely to drive. Use the estate agent as a tool to find you the best location, for the best price.
Choosing the right location for your office
Deck It Out
Once you’ve found your office, you’re going to need chairs, tables, desks, file storage, computers and even more. For this, the internet is your guide! In just a few quick searches you can find sites for office furniture, and sites like ebuyer.com for computers and office electronics. You ideally want to look for companies that specialize in selling to businesses. This way you can get bulk discounts, instead of paying full price on websites like amazon.com. A lot of office furniture sites also offer used furniture and office design services. So you can find ways to save time and money everywhere through this part of the process.
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Aaaaaaand Utilities
Just like at home, an office needs to have power, water, gas and an internet connection to function properly. Most countries even have laws in place to make sure that water and power are provided in an office. Water, power and gas don’t tend to vary in cost between companies, that much. So you can simply use a comparison site and find the best price. But for the internet, you have loads of options. You need to pay attention in particular to download limit and speed. Ideally, you’ll want to have no limit on how much you can download. But if you have to have a limit, make sure it’s enough for your company. Most businesses need fast internet, so going for fast fiber broadband is usually a good option. Just pay attention to the speed they give you!
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These are just some tips to help you out. You need to do the research yourself in these matters, and it never hurts to seek professional advice.
