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Choosing to start your own business is a brave step. Having a great idea and believing that it will work is one thing, putting it into action however is never that easy. Once you have your business concept up and running you have to then maintain it in order for it to run smoothly. The question is how you find the time to not only start and work at establishing your business as a reputable company but also finding time to rent office space, buy furniture and equipment and hire and train staff to keep you in business. This is the side of the venture that comes as an afterthought. 

 New business owners should know that the stress of starting your own company no matter how large or small can be reduced dramatically by considering using a virtual office. The best way to know if a virtual office would be suitable for your business use is to weigh up the Pros and Cons of both a virtual office and standard office space.

It may be an advantage that you can get up every morning and physically go to your office however if you are a small company just starting out a city centre office can be costly. Rent, rates, utilities and staff add up and eventually eat into your profits, not to mention how time consuming setting up new property and running an office can actually be. If your organization relies on you selling your product or trades you will inevitably need to recruit the right people to be the first point of contact for your customers and clients. Hiring and training staff is time consuming and gaining the right balance of people who are efficient and trustworthy can be like spinning plates.

It sounds a little peculiar at first but when you can start your business and have it up and running within 24 hours it makes perfect sense. It allows you to escape the commitment of running an office and overseeing reception and administration staff. It also allows you flexibility as you can access your virtual office from anywhere in the world. Most importantly, above all, it saves you money.

By using a virtual office in a business centre you are provided with the whole package. You have a mail service, business telephone and fax numbers, access to meeting and conference rooms and other touchdown facilities, all of which are serviced with professional business support staff who carry out practically all your administrative needs. It’s true they may not be there to make you a coffee first thing in the morning or run out for your lunch (unless you are having a meeting at your serviced office when all of the above can be provided!) but they do cover every other necessity from answering phones to sifting out your junk mail.

In essence a standard office may be great if you like sitting behind your desk writing cheques for rent bills and organising staff holiday rotas, but if you are looking to get out there to establish your business, generate customers and income then using a virtual office is instant and ideal.

One of the biggest challenges for any new company is to counter the distrust that surrounds very new and very small business. Prospective customers and clients are happy to deal with 'big business' for a variety of reasons, not least because the corporate entity has probably been around for a while, and perhaps it has a 'household' name. The deduction being...the big and established company must be doing something right! Definetly not 'here today, gone tomorrow.'

Undoubtedly an element of trust exists around an established business, that is missing from new business. Start-ups have an uphill task in creating customer confidence within the marketplace. The problem is...a start-up needs that phone to start ringing now, not in a few years time! So how can this distrust be countered?

One solution to the problem is to create an 'established' look to the front end of the new business...a genuine business presence, with a virtual office service.

The main ingredients of which are:

1. A City Centre Business Address

2. City Centre Telephone and Fax Numbers

3. Reception Staff

4. After Hours Business Voicemail

The importance of the above cannot be over-emphasised. Customers require to have an element of confidence in an unknown company before they will do business with them. They will need answers to the following questions: Is the company trading from a business area? Does the phone number match the address? Do they have professional reception staff as a first point of contact? These questions and many more like them are all going to be considered before a decison is made to do business with an unknowm small company.

The most cost effective way of creating a genuine business presence is to use a virtual office service. The most competively priced virtual offices in Glasgow are priced at around £65 per month, and provide the main ingredients of an established business. Other benefits of the virtual office are on-tap business support services, and access to touchdown offices and meeting rooms.