Virtual Office

As defined in wikipedia.org, virtual office is a term describing "shared office services, which normally includes business address, mail & courier services, phone services, fax services, answering services, web-hosting services, and meeting & conference facilities." Since people interested in virtual offices are looking for a prestigious business address, most virtual offices are located in major cities such as Honk Kong, New York, London. This article serves as a brief virtual office guide.

Setting up a virtual office is ideal for people who are just starting their own business and have a fairly limited amount of funds. But the fact that virtual offices are cheap, doesn't mean they are of less quality or will somehow lower your productivity. With the development of the Internet, a lot of workers are becoming more and more mobile and for them, the office is basically where they are. With all the technology that's currently available, one can work from the Caribbean and appear as if he is doing business in New York. The virtual office allows you to conduct your business from anywhere in the world.

Let's say you are running a home-based business. That can save you an awful lot of money, plus you won't spend time commuting to work. The advantages are clear, but what about the impression you will make on your customers when they find out you are a one man band working at home? Well, obviously they won't be so impressed. In this case, you have two choices. You can either rent a Post Office Box, or use a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency that will give you a corporate sounding address. But those options have their drawbacks.

The stories about several guys making millions from their garage are outdated. Make way for the virtual office that allows several people spread across the world, each in the comfort of their home offices or outdoor, working from their laptops. This type of career gives people more control over their life so they can have more time focusing on other things besides work.

At the same time, let's not forget about the major financial savings associated with virtual offices. Obviously, going virtual means you won't have to spend any money on building/renting the infrastructure and equipment (counting the computers and internet connection expenses for all your employees). With a virtual office, you can have tens or even hundreds of employees working around the world. If you manage to setup a large virtual office network of employees working for you on several projects that were assigned to you, the potential for making money is enormous. But to keep your virtual team so tightly connected, you need a very well developed virtual workplace. The main problem with this kind of work would be the discipline of your employees. You need employees that are well disciplined with some small exceptions only available for the brightest ones that you simply can't afford to loose. In that sense, the entrepreneurs running the given online business must posses strong leadership skills, be extremely clear about what they expect from employees (in terms of deadlines) and treat payroll just like in a traditional office with well defined dates and means of payment.

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