Virtual Office

The most popular choice of company formation is a company that is Limited by Shares. For this type of registered company, you will need to have a Company Director and at least one Shareholder. A Company Director can also be a Shareholder, so you can fully incorporate a new company with just one person acting as both the Director and Shareholder.How these two roles operate is of great importance to your new business, so it is handy to know exactly what responsibilities each role takes on. Here we will take a look at what each does and the differences between them.

Management and ownership roles

Technically, a shareholder owns the company, or at least part of it, depending on how many company shares they own. Each shareholder will be issued with share certificates to confirm their stake in the company.A Company Director is the person that is tasked with the duties of managing the company. This means they will be responsible for the day to day running of the company and overseeing every aspect of it, from managing staff to ensuring profitability and steering the company in the right direction.Normally, shareholders have no requirement to actually get themselves involved in the day to day running of the company, but depending on the structure of the company, they may or may not need to be present at shareholders meetings.There are many thousands of Companies Limited by Shares that have very hands-off shareholders who simply invest their money into company shares for their portfolio without actually ever visiting the business site, or meeting the company directors.You can set up and run your own limited company all by yourself and act as both company director and first shareholder. There are many thousands of solo entrepreneurs doing this right now in the UK, and they manage their businesses very well.Many of them will get help running their company by hiring virtual office services, such as our Complete Virtual Office London, to take on the bulk of the necessary admin work while they focus of managing the company and taking it forward.

Directors and Shareholders decision making

Both the company director and the shareholder are allowed to make decisions for the company. Exactly what they can decide on should be clearly outlined within the Articles of Association. The details would have been drawn up as part of the Memorandum and Articles, which is a document that spells out the terms and conditions of the company. The company may also have a Shareholders Agreement in place where the exact duties and responsibilities of shareholders are outlined.

Are there any rules and restrictions?

To form a Company Limited by Shares, you will need at least one person to act as a Company Director. You can have as many directors as you like, and you can also start your company with just one director and add more further down the line.You will also need at least one shareholder to register your company with. Again, you can start with just one shareholder or as many shareholders as you want. You can also sell more shares further down the line and take on more shareholders, or sell further company shares to existing shareholders.A shareholder doesn't necessarily have to be a human either. You can have corporate shareholders where another company may buy your company shares and own them in their company name. As a registered company is seen by the law as a single entity that is separate from its owners and directors, a company is able to purchase shares in other companies just as an individual person can.When you first register your company with Companies House, the identity of the first shareholder or shareholders will be known as Subscribers. This means that in years to come, even if the original shareholders cease to become shareholders, their names will always be on record in the details of the company formation.There are also a few important changes to businesses that you may want to learn about before you create your new company.

Limited by Guarantee Companies

While Limited by Guarantee companies don't carry any shareholders, they do have members that act like shareholders in the company. The main difference is that members will agree to contribute a specific amount of money to the company. Usually, this is as little as £1.00, but the exact amount can be agreed upon in advance of the formation.Just like Companies Limited by Shares, Limited by Guarantee companies can have as many company directors and members as they choose. Again, a company director can also be a company member.For a registered partnership (LLP), there will be a need for at least two partners to set up the company, but members can also be a real person or another company. Again, there are no limits to how many members a partnership can take on.Whether you are looking to set up a Company Limited by Shares, a Company Limited by Guarantee, or a Partnership (LLP), the directors, shareholders or members do not need to be UK residents.

Registering your Company Limited by Shares

When you form your company, you will need to submit certain director and shareholder details to Companies House so that they can register your company and add your information to the Register of Companies. Here is what you will need to submit:Directors information (for each director you are registering your company with): Full name, date of birth, nationality, occupation, country of residence, residential address and service address.For each Shareholder you register with, you will need: Full name, address, share information including share currency, share class – such as Ordinary, Preference, Redeemable, number of shares they hold, value per share, and some personal identification security ID.For a Corporate Shareholder, your registration will need: Company name, director name, and the same share information as listed above.Be aware that all company directors, shareholders and member information, including their registered addresses, will be entered into the Public Register of Companies, which is on public display and can be searched by anyone.If you are wanting to set up your company and run it from your home address, this means that your private residential address will be on public display. This means that you could open up your home to cold callers and salespeople. You can choose to protect your home address and keep it off the public record by using a business address service, such as our Directors Service Address London, to use instead.If you need any further information about how to use our business address services for your registered company, do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help!Call us 0207 566 3939email: office@capital-office.co.uk

There are many thousands of small businesses and solo entrepreneurs that operate their businesses online. For the older generation of workers and business owners that operate and work within a physical, bricks and mortar business, it can be very difficult for them to understand that a business can exist solely online.Many people have difficulty believing that anyone can 'do business' where your company does everything online, and has no physical assets or offices. It can be hard for them to accept that in this digital age, running a company online is entirely possible.However, even if you are running a successful company from your back bedroom or from your laptop as you move from place to place on the road, there will be some aspects of it that still exist in the real world. We are talking about business phone calls, business mail and essential legal correspondence coming from HMRC and Companies House.These all need to be handled professionally and in a timely manner. This is where using a virtual office solution can work for you.

Why it makes sense to use a Complete Virtual Office

Although virtual offices have been around for quite a few years now, evolving new digital technology has meant that the services they can offer have changed drastically from what was offered originally.In fact, for anyone wanting to launch a brand-new business idea, they are now able to put 100% of their time and effort into developing and growing it without having to be distracted or have their time diverted towards other essential day to day tasks that need to be done.In the old days, setting up a brand new business meant that the business owner needed to look for offices to rent, lay out a lot of money for deposits and securities for the office space, then go through the quite long-winded process of looking for staff to man the office, such as a receptionist to answer the company phones and take in their business post.The office set-up alone could be a huge drain on resources, and with most entrepreneurs working on a very tight budget, seeing a large slice of their savings disappear on building rent and staffing costs can be very frustrating. Then there is also all of the extra expenses to add on, such as telecommunications equipment purchase and installation, building insurance, gas, electricity and water to supply and pay for, furniture, carpets and curtains to put in to make the place comfortable for the staff.All this extra time and expense paid out even before your business idea has even been launched!Luckily, there is a perfect solution that allows modern entrepreneurs these days to skip all of this expense as well as the time-consuming tasks of setting up and running a physical bricks and mortar office for their business.

Running a lean online business

Using the services of a complete virtual office provider, such as Capital Office, will allow your virtual office to become an essential part of your team. When you want to run a lean business and strip your resources down to the absolute bare bones of what is necessary to run your business, you will quickly learn that one of the biggest drains on your finances will be running a physical office and paying for your full time staff.Why would you do this if you are working from a tight budget when there is a perfect solution all ready and waiting to go in a complete virtual office set up.By choosing to use a complete virtual office service, you can have a very cost-effective way to effectively manage all of your day to day administration tasks that are essential to the successful running of your business – but you will not have to spend a single penny on office rent, equipment costs or staff wages!By outsourcing your admin needs to Capital Office, you can be giving yourself a great strategic advantage. There amount of time saved on sorting out your office can now be dedicated to developing your business idea and getting it launched ASAP.

How virtual office services work

Instead of you trying to answer all of your incoming business calls and sorting your business mail single-handedly, you can be out meeting clients, developing your marketing strategy or working on your plans for expansion.Our complete virtual office services are already set up and running in Central-London and staffed with highly trained, professionals with many years of administrative and customer service experience under their belt. You simply book our services, give us your required information, and we will take care of the rest! There is no having to rent offices or hire staff – we have everything you need and can start working for your business within a day.

Our complete virtual office services can be yours in three simple steps:

• Sign up now online

Choose a suitable package online and complete our simple online order form in under 60 seconds.

• Start using the service

Once your registration is complete you will be able to start using our prestigious City Road office address as your own instantly.

• Your post is processed & calls answered

Once we start receiving your letters and calls we will handle this the way you have asked us too.By choosing our Complete Virtual Office services, you will be benefiting from a strong partnership with us that allows you to concentrate on your urgent projects and meetings, while leaving the running of your office in our safe and capable hands. You can be rest assured that we will take good care of you and your business. Capital Office has been helping entrepreneurs and small business owners to run their companies for many years from our Central-London offices.Why not take a look at our Complete Virtual Office packages and choose one of our flexible plans that suits your needs and your budget. You will be so glad that you did!

Further reading:

What Benefits Can Your Business Get from a Virtual Receptionist?5 Benefits for New Start-ups Using a Virtual Office

For many businesses, one of the first things they believe they need to acquire to become a reality, or a bona fide business, is a physical premises to operate from – usually an office or shop space. And while this remains the case for many types of business, others have begun to explore a better option to help combine their need for a company space with the lack of need for a customer facing facility – the virtual office.

As the notion of flexible working becomes more of a reality, and a central part of many businesses working life, many business owners are examining new ways to work. Technology and progressive management techniques also mean that the traditional bricks and mortar office is not always an essential requirement for a modern business. Changing business structures, flexible working arrangements and the outsourcing of services have all meant that the virtual office may be the perfect solution for your business.

What is a virtual office?

Virtual offices allow your business some of the key benefits of a traditional office without the need to hire a dedicated physical space, such as an office block, or a commercial premises that also contains a suite of offices. A virtual office can offer a professional city centre address, call handling, mail sorting and reception services that allow the business to portray a professional image to the whole world without the inconvenience of having office or building space to rent and other associated costs. Virtual office packages start with a very basic ‘address only’ options that can handle mail forwarding and create a physical business address. This means that you don't have to use your own personal home address on your business paperwork and then have to suffer being inundated with junk mail and cold callers at your home.

In addition, businesses can also use services that assist people working from home such as PA services and access to meeting rooms at a discounted price for when you need somewhere professional to meet with important clients. It even offers call management services to cut down the time spent answering the phone. These services can be a Godsend to busy entrepreneurs who need to focus on getting their business off the ground without all of their time being taken up with the necessary day to day administrative tasks of running a company.

When is a virtual office the right option?

The cost difference between a virtual office and real bricks and mortar office is obviously significant, especially for address only and mail forwarding services where you want to keep your home address private and separate from your business. Added to this is the prestige of having an EC1 London city centre location for a business address that most business owners couldn’t afford to rent for their traditional office space. But cost alone isn’t the only way to know when a virtual office is the right choice.

The trend for people working from home has grown steadily over the last ten years or so as more people either work freelance, start their own business from home, or simply conduct their company role from their home address. Rather than being a temporary solution, it has become a lifestyle choice for a wide range of people – from parents to people wanting to live in rural locations or even in another country.

However, there are still some who see this business model as offering problems – people located in far flung places, removed from the ‘real’ world of business as they work from home. Often a physical address is used as a defining factor when choosing a business to work with and a home based business may miss out due to this. By replacing the registered address from a home address to a virtual office, a business can cut through this preconception and offer a traditional style address to look more professional in the eyes of prospective new customers.

Another option is for those home based businesses who need extra services but don’t want to commit to running a full office suite just yet. Or they have an office that they are happy with but it is in a more remote location and when you are London-based, this can sometimes be seen as a negative. Some 74% of businesses currently using virtual office services are working with companies based in the City or West End of London but who aren’t ready to commit to a physical office space in these locations.

Geographical benefits

Another part of the flexible, home working business model is that employees can be remote or satellite workers that are spread across diverse geographical areas where a permanent office space for this type of business simply doesn’t make any logical sense. However, a central address to use for correspondence purposes as well as for client meetings and even to use for personal assistant services can be highly beneficial. Quite often these service are used by a sole trader, freelancer or single entrepreneur who needs PA services to support them in their work.

A high quality complete virtual office service will act as part of the team, adding an additional level of professionalism to the business, as well as helping to manage essential administration duties. It allows businesses that are using flexible and modern technology options for their business to also offer a physical address that fulfils some traditional requirements and is also a very cost-effective way to get a professional London address. The virtual office services can also be scaled up and down as needed and cancelled within a short notice period if the needs of the business should change. This is not so easy to do in the real world with live staff that you will have to hire and fire as your business develops and matures. It also allows core staff to work wherever suits them best rather than wasting time commuting into the office every morning and thankfully avoid that dreaded rush hour traffic!

The tech industry is booming at the moment, and there are new start-ups taking their first steps into the business world almost on a daily basis. However, just as quickly as new start-ups get going, just as many are floundering. Industry experts will tell you that the key to starting up a successful business is fostering, maintaining a very high level of efficiency, and having a virtual office.Most start-ups have to work to very tight budget constraints, so it makes sense for them to utilise their resources in a sensible way. This means making economic decisions with regards to business premises and staffing levels. These are two essentials that are very draining on your budget, but without them it can be almost impossible to establish and run your business.This is where having a virtual office is incredibly useful for new start-ups. When money is tight and your time is precious, having a turn-key solution that is already set up and ready to handle all your necessary day to day administration and running tasks to allow you to function can be a Godsend.Lets take a closer look at the top five reasons why having a virtual office is key to the successful grounding of a new start-up business.

A cost-effective solution

Let me ask you a question. You have a set budget to spend on getting your business off the ground. Would you like to spend the bulk of your available budget on renting premises and buying office furniture, hiring staff, and spending out on all the necessary insurances to meet current health and safety standards, or would you prefer to spend your money on developing your new product or service?Virtual offices are so very cost-effective, efficient and convenient. There is no hiring or firing to do, no staff training or providing them with facilities such as car parking, toilets, kitchens or staff rooms. There is not office furniture, computer equipment or telephones to buy. You can hire our complete virtual office that has everything you need at very affordable prices. The cost is a drop in the ocean when compared to what you would need to lay out for your own office suite.Plus on top of these benefits, you can easily scale up your services on demand to meet your growing needs as your business expands. So when you would have outgrown your first small office, had you set it up yourself, there is no need to search for larger premises, move your office and suffer the down-time while everything is being dismantled, moved and set back up again. With a virtual office, you simply have more services added to your plan. Easy!

Convey a professional image

You can never underestimate how important image is in business. A new start-up needs to get itself established as a reputable company that must be taken seriously as quickly as possible. To do this, having a good business address with some gravitas makes you look much more credible in the eyes of others, especially those you wish to do business with as well as your business peers.To stay one step ahead of your competition is important if you want to be successful. You can create, establish and maintain a strong and credible brand to attract customers and investors by having your very own prestigious City Road EC1 London business address.

The human touch

There are also added extras that you can make good use of without the need for them to be a permanent fixture of your business. For example, why pay for your own meeting room when it will stand empty for most of the time? Yes, business meetings are important, but do you need to spend a lot of money on renting premises large enough to accommodate a meeting room when it stands idle for the most part?So what is the solution? Our meeting room hire service is something that you can use as and when you need it. This can save you a lot of money, and don't forget that our meeting rooms come complete with a personalised reception service where a professionally trained member of staff will welcome your visitors and settle them in your chosen meeting room. Our high quality unbranded modern meeting rooms are very comfortable, air-conditioned, fully serviced with full rapid speed fibre optic Wi-Fi and cabled Internet solutions and have presentation whiteboards.Although we offer a virtual office solution that is perfectly tailored to suit your business needs, it doesn't mean you are going to miss out on the personal touch. Don't forget that whether you choose to use our complete virtual office service, or just the telephone answering service alone, there will always be a real life human there taking your business calls in a professional and friendly manner. This can convey a great sense of trust and reliability within prospective clients or possible business associates. The level of professionalism on offer with our virtual office services is second to none.

In-built flexibility

Flexibility is key with any new start-up business. As your business grows, you will want to quickly keep apace with your expansion needs. The flexibility that a virtual-office offers is immeasurable. You can upgrade your existing package to include extra services or have larger meeting rooms to facilitate group meetings, AGM's or small conferences. You can comfortably expand and grow at your own pace without having the inconvenience of moving offices or renting larger office premises.

Seamless continuity

Who needs the disruption of having to move office every year or so when there is no need to? With a virtual office solution you can expand your services to meet the growing needs of your business as it expands. Our services will continue seamlessly with no disruption or downtime that would be associated with an office relocation. There will be no need for a change of address on your official business letterheads, invoices and business cards. There will be no need to notify clients of a change of address and no risk of a communication breakdown that can lead to frustration and lost business.With a virtual office solution, you can avoid many common issues that comes with facilitating your own office space, plus you will be saving a fortune on overheads and administration that comes with running an office. You can free your time up to focus on what is important – the future growth of your company.

When the UK voted to leave the European Union back in June 2016, the business world was thrown into turmoil. No one could say with any great certainty what the future would hold for UK businesses, no matter what their size and trading position with Europe. With some experts speculating that the British economy will take hit, many business owners are now looking at ways that they can tighten their belts and make their business more ‘Brexit-proof’.

As we still don’t know what will happen for the vast majority of businesses because the Brexit negotiations have only just begun, what actions you take to ensure the future survival of your business is largely up to you. However, examining your budgets, cutting your expenses and looking for more affordable and flexible solutions is going to be a top priority moving forward. One area where a lot of money can potentially be saved is from within your own work-space infrastructure.

Just about every business owner wants to see their business thrive and expand, but while budget constrains and uncertainty about the future are hanging so prominently in the air, the last thing you want to do is to enter into long and expensive property leases that could be difficult to get out of. The solution to this of course is to look at setting up a flexible way to cover your expanding office and administration needs without actually having the expense or commitment needed to take on full-time members of staff and provide them with office accommodation.

There are already well-established and reliable services in place that you can take advantage of to meet your growing business needs while the country is going through Brexit. From using a simple call answering service to a comprehensive London-based Virtual Office Package where you can combine a virtual PA, mail sorting and forwarding services, and have the use of a modern business meeting room in a prestigious part of London city to meet and greet your clients.

Regardless of the outcomes from Brexit, London will still remain as one of the greatest cities in the world to operate a business from. Although working environments are changing rapidly, especially with the advancement of technology, there is nothing like having a prestigious London based address to work from. No matter where your company is based, you can benefit from using a Virtual Office that is based in the heart of London.

Flexibility is a major factor

While we go through the Brexit process, business owners are going to be faced with market fluctuations on an almost daily basis. Having the built-in flexibility of a Virtual Office service can help you transition between pre and post-Brexit smoothly without worrying about committing your business assets, or tying your business up in long and complicated contracts that could prove very costly in the long-run.

Having the flexibility that a Virtual Office and flexible meeting rooms can offer with mean you have the agility to scale up or down your requirements as you need them. You will be able to meet the demands of a sudden boost in your business without worrying that you have overstretched your budgets. Should market changes and fluctuations mean your need to downsize quickly, then you are not stuck with an unsustainable contract for business premises or face having to lay off staff.

No matter how rough a ride Brexit will give UK businesses, it will still be important for companies to present a strong and steady front if they are to remain competitive in the future. Your image and how people interpret your company still hinges on you offering a bespoke and reliable service. Using a well-established and experienced Virtual Office service can give your company the boost it needs to continue to exude an air of professionalism and trust, no matter what stage we are at with our divorce from the EU.

For entrepreneurs and small businesses

A Virtual Office package is an ideal alternative solution for small business owners or entrepreneurs with restricted budgets. Many small businesses don’t actually need a full-time, fully staffed office. Having a Virtual Office package in place will allow you all the benefits of a regular office but at the fraction of the price of setting up and maintaining one yourself.

Many business owners start off with just mail forwarding and telephone call answering services until they are in a position to afford to set up and run a permanent office. However, very many of them go on to continue using these services or take on a Virtual Office because it is a lot less of a hassle and costs far less than committing to a full time on-site office. With the possibility that physical office space rental may rise sharply post-Brexit, it makes more financial sense to stick with a Virtual Office package where prices will remain stable over the long-term.

It also makes sense that business owners shouldn’t have to pay out to keep a meeting room space that is vastly underused onsite. Using a modern, well-maintained and fully serviced meeting room in the heart of the London business district to meet and greet your clients is going to impress. Hiring an unbranded meeting room allows you to conduct important business meetings in a profession environment where your clients will be totally unaware that you don’t own the building. You get the help of professional admin staff to greet your clients and service your meeting room without the added commitment of having to employ any permanent staff yourself.

A bright future post-Brexit

Flexible work-space hire has grown by 67% in London in the past decade alone and with the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, experts are predicting another sharp rise in these figures over the next few years while the economic marketplace starts to settle down once again. Regardless of Brexit, flexible office space and Virtual Office solutions are not going to disappear overnight. With over 30 years of growth within London, this way of working is looking increasingly more appealing to smart business owners who want to ride the rough waves of Brexit and appear on the other side as a much stronger competitor in their marketplace.

Take a look at our Virtual Office package to see how you can benefit from our professional services.

We can also help you with the following services to assist your business growth and to make your business run more efficiently:

London Address and Mail-Forwarding

Professional Call Answering

Modern Business Meeting Rooms

The main worry around Brexit for most business owners is seeing our strong bonds with Europe being severed and the possible loss of a valuable cross border workforce. Will Brexit make UK businesses less competitive and therefore less attractive in the global market? We simply don’t know yet.

Now that Article 50 has been triggered and we have begun negotiating our exit from the European Union, many businesses are looking at an uncertain future that is going to be hard to predict. We have no real idea how this will impact on us, from concerns about the demand for our exports to finding enough seasonal workers to pick fruit from our fields and orchards or to staff our hotels.

According to figures coming from the Office for National Statistics, migrant workers in Britain reached a record level of 2.15 million during 2016. These figures account for over half of all new workers, so who will fill the gaps in the market for these workers should they stop coming here? There are many businesses both small and large from all sectors that may suffer as a result.

Top bosses from the ever-growing tech industry in the UK says that there are insufficient numbers of home grown engineers to fill their needs, so they actively source talent from across Europe who come here on working visas. Most tech companies have to do this to remain competitive, and any reduction in overseas staff will mean they cannot grow as fast as they need to. This could leave the UK tech industry lagging behind its competitors.

Despite claims from the Prime Minister that she is making workers on EU visas in London a top priority, nothing as yet has been put in place and any failure to do so will be disastrous. Companies across all sectors who rely on European workers will struggle to fill essential roles and would find it hard to attract workers from the EU, especially those who may feel like they are no longer welcome to work in this country.

Could the solution to Brexit be the Freelance Economy?

The freelance economy has grown by 25% since 2009, and is now estimated to generate £109 billion per year in turnover. According to figures from the Office of National Statistics, self-employment grew from 3.8 million in 2008 to 4.6 million in 2015, with around 2 million of those currently self-employed working in a freelance capacity.

Being able to fill a variety of roles across a wide range of industries and carry their existing knowledge, experience and expertise with them is looking like a very attractive option for business owners looking to fill the gaps left by missing EU workers.

Although freelancers are often seen as part of the ‘gig economy’, this isn’t strictly true! The ‘gig economy’ in it’s true sense is made up of quick tasks, and a gig worker is someone that may work for Uber or Deliveroo collecting and delivering things on your behalf for example. A freelancer on the other hand is able to offer businesses essential skills, talents and support no matter where they may reside in the world. They can provide employers with short or long-term flexible support for project developments and can often bring new skills to the table that the company don’t yet have.

Did you know for example that major brand names such as ASOS and Google hire freelancers that make up half of their UK based workforce? Many large organisations hire remotely based freelancers to make up their workforce and have done so for many years. The most obvious benefit of hiring a freelancer over an EU worker is that a freelancer doesn’t need a visa to be able to work for you. Freelancers are going to be far less susceptible to the outcomes of Article 50 and therefore are going to be a more reliable source of talent when making short term or long term plans for the future.

Employment Restrictions

With Brexit will come a whole new raft of restrictions regarding working visas for overseas workers, so business owners are going to have to think long and hard about how they are going to manage their talent with regard to geographical borders. Managers are now looking at ways they can use to attract and retain talented freelancers while still moving their plans for growth forward. A lot of this is going to be down to good management of their freelance pool and knowing which person is going to be the best fit for each new project or role as it arises.

Business forecasters are predicting a shift in focus for many hiring managers. This will involve moving away from bringing in overseas workers and helping them to find accommodation, fit in with the company culture and feel at home to a more hands-off approach with freelancers. Here they will need to put in place a system that makes on-boarding new freelancers more simple, and helping them to integrate smoothly without causing disruption to their current workflow. Focus must also be placed on ensuring that all freelance staff are treated well, paid fairly and most importantly, paid on time. If they want to retain the best workers, they cannot afford to neglect the basics that freelancers rely upon = good communications and regular pay.

Outsourcing tasks that can be done virtually anywhere to professional freelancers has been growing in popularity over recent years. Outsourcing jobs and hiring freelancers is also a great way of keeping business running costs to a minimum. With an unpredictable few years ahead, many small and medium enterprises in the UK are getting ahead by using professional freelancers, hiring virtual offices and personalised call handling services.

With so many uncertainties surrounding life in post-Article 50 Britain, it will pay business owners to embrace the professional freelance economy to support their plans for the future.

In the last few years there has been a massive increase in the number of people who are becoming self-employed or starting their own small business. From freelance accountants and bookkeepers to odd job people and even fashion designers, more and more people are setting up on their own and for a great number of these people, this means setting up business from your home. But how can you ensure that your business remains professional and will be successful when you share your workplace with your living place?Lets take a look at some top tips and sound advice about running your own business from home and not letting it take over your whole home life.

Starting the business

The first step to having a home business is to know what you want to do. Planning is crucial to avoid vagueness and a sense of panic when work doesn’t start to arrive when you expect it to. Therefore, creating a business plan is something you should do before you give up your current job or register yourself as self-employed. Questions you should ask yourself include:

• What can I do?What do I enjoy doing?Is there a market for this service or product?Can I make a living from it?How will I make and store this item pending sale?

People looking at a service based business have a few less considerations than those creating a product. For example, the self-employed accountant simply needs space for computer equipment, maybe some filing room but someone making handmade crafts needs room to store both the equipment and supplies to make the products and for the finished items themselves. So you need to assess what space you need and if you can take over enough of the house to do this when planning your business.A lot of people make good use of a spare room in their home, extend into their loft space or convert a cellar or garage into a storage area. You have to make sure that these environments are safe for storage or to work from.

Creating the business

Once you have an idea, know it is viable and there is an active demand or market for it then you can move onto the next step. Whether you simply register with HMRC as self-employed as a sole trader or form a company will depend on your plans. For example, a self-employed accountant might not plan to ever take on staff and only do the work that he or she can manage on their own. But the handmade crafts business may plan to eventually have employees making the products or have staff to handle packaging and distribution. So while being a sole trader might work for the former who never plans to expand, forming a limited company might be better for the second.When you work from home, this could mean giving out your private home address to everyone you do business with and this might not be a good idea. Therefore as part of forming your company, it might be worth investing in a registered office address service. This allows you to use an address, say in London, where all of your statutory business mail is sent. This address will go on all of your official documents and will be on the public register at Companies House for anyone researching your company.Once the company is formed you need to create an online presence for it. This means a combination of a website and social media accounts, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, that are for the business and will help start to make its existence known to the world. You can hire a web designer to build your website for you if you don’t feel confident doing the job yourself. You might also want to consider having a blog for your company as this increases your online exposure, helps your search engine rankings, and can drive new customers to your business.

Growing the business

As the business grows and takes up more of your time, you may start to outsource some of the tasks to other professionals or companies that specialise in certain aspects of running a business. One good example is a call handling or mail handling service, or a complete virtual office that can answer your calls and sort through your mail. This frees up your time to deal with other matters and means you only get the calls and mail that is important to you. Mail handling services can even scan mail and send the content to you via email, reducing the time between receiving it and you handling the contents.Other tasks you may want to outsource include your accounting and the writing of the blog. Freelance accountant paired with online bookkeeping software can make the process of submitting tax returns and other official documents much easier. And if you want to continue to grow your online presence, hiring a freelance writer to create blogs posts is ideal. Some offer virtual assistant services too where they can handle your social media awareness and marketing campaigns.

Take a break from it all

One of the most important things when working from home is that you take a break from it all on a regular basis and that you try to have an established working pattern. There’s always the temptation to do another 30 minutes after dinner because you work in one of your bedrooms and it is convenient to check emails or follow up on messages - but beware, this can lead to burnout! And because your home is also your place of work, it is important to take a break and get away from it all for a while.Remember, if you set up your outsourcing correctly, the business can continue to run without you for a week or two!

A virtual address is a solution that suits a number of businesses from different industries. It suits the kind of business that don’t have mail handling facilities at their premises or perhaps their business premises are also their home address. It may suit people who travel abroad a lot and aren’t around to check mail or it may simply be that the business doesn’t have the budget for a receptionist or administration assistant. This is where the virtual address service comes in.

What is a virtual address?

A virtual office service is available in several different variations to suit all types of businesses and all points in the business life-cycle. The range of facilities available means that businesses can take as much or as little as they need - from the start up entrepreneur working from the dining room table to the international company juggling dozens of bases in different locations.

The virtual services

The first part of the service is called a virtual mail room. This can includes a number of different services depending on your needs including mail sorting and scanning to email to storage of mail until personal pick-up or bulk forwarding to another address. This includes cheque depositing and a mail forwarding service as well as options such as cloud based accounting services.The second level of service is termed as a virtual office and includes general services such as phone answering as well as company mail handling. Your chosen level of mail-room services can be added on or you can simply have all of your mail forwarded as required. Our Virtual Office services also includes physical services such as the use of a smart, state of the art, unbranded conference room and an office area for physical meetings when you need to do business in person. By using this service, you get to use a prestigious London address for those important meetings.

UK Postbox services

Our virtual mail-room service is a comprehensive service that makes use of the top online mail management service available, called UK Postbox. This service is operated around the world and offers private and confidential mail handling services, much in the way of a PO Box but with several additional benefits.With a normal PO Box, you need an address and the box needs to be within your sorting area. But the UK Postbox service has no such restrictions so you can be based anywhere in the UK. It can receive and action important personal and business documents that will be scanned and sent to you as you choose. Other options include having documents stored on the secure server that you can then print or just view online.Finally, as the service is privately owned, it can offer complete privacy for customers. There are no requirements to release information under the Data Protection Act to give customers an added level of security to that offered by simple PO Boxes.

Extra services

There are also additional services that can be added to the package or taken in their own right if they suit the needs of the business.Private mailboxes are an ideal solution for small businesses and for people that travel a lot due to the nature of their work. They allow the receiving and safe storage of mail and ensure that there is no risk of mail being lost or damaged while no-one is around to collect or deal with it.The virtual address service can also be used for two legal purposes – as a registered office address and as a director’s service address. By using a registered office address service, the business can use a single London address on all of its correspondence, with the added prestige that comes with owning your own central London business address. It is also a practical measure if you work from home or don’t have a permanent business address yet, allowing the business to be registered in one location, regardless where it operates.The director’s service address works in a similar way. Any company directors need to register certain details with Companies House and this includes their address. As it is a matter of public record, some people don’t want to use their home address and have this disclosed to the general public, so instead use a service address for the public record. This service is for that purpose and allows the London address to be used on all official matters. It also helps to keep business cold-callers from arriving uninvited at your door at all times of the day or night.

Benefits of virtual office services

There are other reasons why a business would choose to use one or a number of virtual office services.Top of the list, especially for the mail handling services, is that there either isn’t someone available to deal with mail at the business premises on a daily basis, or the business address is also a home address. Managing mail can take time and also space which some businesses don’t have. Or they may not be in the position to employ someone to do the task and this can result in a haphazard approach to mail handling where important paperwork may be easily missed.Privacy and security are two big issues for businesses and one way to help with both is to withhold the business address from public record, especially if these are private residential addresses. Using virtual office services allows you to do this as well as to be certain that paperwork and deliveries are handled in a secure manner before being forwarded to your chosen address.There is also a great first impression that comes when a business has an address in London, regardless of where they are actually based. This can add prestige to the company and this can help to quickly establish new companies who have recently formed and want to be taken seriously by their new clients.Finally, if the business is based abroad but trades in the UK, virtual office services can offer a London address for those UK customers to correspond with that guarantees the handling of mail in a timely manner and can even handle incoming phone calls from UK based customers.

In order for a business to remain relevant in today’s world, it has to be up-to-date with trends. It also has to be in-tune with technology. Brands that use the latest technology to improve customer experiences are dominating their respective industries. To become a driving force in your specific industry, it may be time to make some upgrades to your business’ methods, tools, and strategies.

Use Video Marketing

Video marketing is trending in 2016. It is important to learn the tricks to creating a compelling video-marketing campaign that displays the brand’s ability to adapt to change. When creating video advertisements, make sure to only include text that is relevant. Society wants to watch and listen rather than read. Show examples of how a product or service works while explaining simply why a consumer or business needs the product/service. Simple is the best approach with video marketing.

Telecommuting Employees

Telecommuting (virtual) employees are ideal for growing businesses. Not only are virtual offices and virtual employees becoming more popular, it is a better way to keep overhead costs down for businesses. Employees that have the ability to work remotely are more productive, have better work ethics, and are more relaxed. They also have less sick days and require less vacation time than traditional employees. Going virtual is trending in 2016 as more businesses see the advantages of a virtual workforce and the need to cut spending on traditional office spaces.

Mobile-Friendly Websites

In 2016, much of the world has gone mobile. This means that your business needs to be able to go with them. More people are accessing the Internet from wireless devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers. Google has also made changes to its policies requiring businesses to be mobile-friendly.Your mobile users should be able to access the same features as your web-users. When consumers have to go to a computer to place an order rather than right from their mobile device, it is seen as an inconvenience.

Increased Demand for Faster Service

Consumers do not like to wait for ordered items to arrive in the mail or via parcel delivery. More are demanding same-day service for goods, services, and consultations. If your business has multiple locations, it may be a great marketing strategy to advertise same-day delivery for local customers. This will increase your client base and allow for the business to expand to more areas around the world with the same business model, operations, and delivery practices.Those that are not local should be offered the option of overnight delivery, at their cost for shipping. Companies have to be able to cater to customer demand in order to have longevity in their industries.

Upgrade Computer Networks

Upgraded computer networks using an individual business server, cloud networks and integrated applications, makes working easier for your employees. Advanced technology is designed to make performing tasks, staying productive, and reaching co-workers with questions easier. It is important to include a central location for employee chatter for employees to decompress, joke a bit, and take some of their work-related stress off.Consider implementing the use of tablets, mobile inventory counters and mobile conferencing technology, to keep all employees on the same page. Outdated technology tends to fail over time, and this can result in a huge loss of company data. It is vital that you stay up-to-date with technology.

Use Digital Tools

Digital tools help keep all of your employees on the same page. Tools like Dropbox, Slack, Trello and Evernote, are ideal for keeping files in a specific location while allowing access to them by all employees. Some of these tools can be used with additional integrated apps to create time lines, have productivity reminders, and deadline reminders. Anything that helps employees stay on-track, upbeat and happy at work, is a good addition to your digital tools. The tools should be available to all employees so that none are working at a disadvantage.

Final Word

Working to get your company up-to-date may cost a bit up-front but will be worth it. It will also provide a better overall experience for your customers. The increased revenues from happy customers that continually come back, gives you more to re-invest into the company for further technological improvements to your everyday operations.

A virtual office space is beneficial for small businesses and solely online companies. Business owners do not have the worries of paying for building repairs, dealing with building malfunctions, or paying for the cost of a company location. Instead, employees have a centralized location to refer to while working from anywhere in the world. Productivity increases when employees have the option to work remotely either regularly or from time-to-time.

Low Company Overhead

When there is not a need for a physical office location, you can cut a lot of overhead costs out by going virtual. You will not have to worry about paying for utilities, cleaning services, or renting office space. The lower overhead means that you can put that money right back into your business or work on the next phase of growth.

Lower Business Start-Up Costs

There are dozens of costs associated with setting up a new business. That comes with finding and securing a building, creating office space for administrative purposes, and paying for proper licensing fees. Physical locations also require equipment, furnishings, and sanitary restroom spaces. There are building codes to adhere to and they often come with hefty maintenance bills. Avoiding all of this when you are just starting your small business is less of a financial burden right from the start.

Physical Location Information

A virtual office does have a physical address and real phone number. It is provided as a means for mail delivery, global mail forwarding, and access to a receptionist. If you have a board of directors or high-profile positions, the personal information of the directors can be kept private as well. Their data would show as the company location for security purposes.

Happier Employees

Employees that can work from any location and have access to a virtual office set-up are happier. Their work is of higher-quality and their productivity remains high. Since employees have the option to design their personal workspace and access virtual offices, they are more likely to stay on-schedule, complete more work, and stay with an employer for a longer period of time.

Advantages for Internet-Based Businesses

Internet-based businesses do not need a physical office location for its employees. It may be a good idea to create a hybrid business model situation here as a small group of executives could work together in one space. If you require a physical meeting space for a conference or potential industry-changing meeting, you can use office space that is available through the entity that you set up your virtual office with. Most have meeting spaces available for client use in their packages along with the ability to provide materials to use during presentations as well.

Potential for a Hybrid Business Model

In some business situations, having a small workforce in one dedicated space is necessary for operations purposes. The rest of the employees can be virtual employees, working from any location in the world. Integrate a cloud networking system and communications tools for your workforce to communicate with. The workforce should also have a dedicated means of contacting superiors and department leads.

Higher Attendance Rates

When you create a virtual office network for your business, you have a higher attendance rate and less employees calling in sick or requesting time off. As employees can work from anywhere, their work can also go anywhere. If an employee is under the weather but still able to perform their job duties, having the ability to do so from the comfort of their bed or home office will allow them to still complete your expected tasks for the day without affecting their work performance.

Global Telecommunications

With the increased technology of the Internet, you can have a workforce that is located anywhere. The use of VoIP services, video conferencing technology and cloud networks helps a virtual office work as a traditional office would. Teleworkers are able to work on flexible schedules in any time zone and adapt their working times accordingly.

Final Word

Consider if the benefits of a virtual office are ideal for your small business. As a start-up, it can cut down some of your immediate spending and allow the business to build and become successful. A virtual office location is convenient and allows for safe communications between employees and customers.