Find the Perfect First Real Office for Your Business

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.

First, avoid real estate agents and most landlords. Despite what they say, their agenda is often times very different from yours. A traditional lease in a traditional office space does not have the flexibility your fledgling company needs in order to grow.

I’ll give you two important reasons to avoid even relatively short-term contracts, much less 3-5 year leases.

1. If the business does poorly, you are stuck paying for unnecessary office space

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.

You can make your big move immediately and painlessly because your executive suite is ready to go. It has high-speed Internet access, phone systems, furniture, fully functional conference rooms, and in most cases a receptionist to answer 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 best option for what I like to call “image” entrepreneurs. These are the folks who know that having a high-end professional appearance will help build their business. They know that clients want to place their trust and their business in the hands of someone who walks the walk. Looks count. These entrepreneurs realize that perception is reality-you are only as big as you look. They want to land the big fish clients and compete with companies many times their size. And this is how they do it.

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.

Much better than making your presentation in your living room next to the wet socks hanging off the TV set, right? If you agree, then it’s time to take action.