For many, a consistent business address provides some form of credibility and, depending on where it is, some prestige may also be associated with your business address. In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business world, there has been a committed move by many startups and smaller businesses to work from home. The result is a dilemma regarding whether they should use their home address for the company. Or whether it’s worth separating this and instead of using a virtual office address or a professional rental space as the office address.
This article will discuss this dilemma and show how to overcome the disadvantages of the home office address.
The rise of the home office address
As mentioned above, there has been a marked move by the smaller businesses and those who can work from home and convert their business models to remote working arrangements. This means that the business essentially works from anywhere and is predominantly based in the cloud.
Yet there is still a need for a professional address and possibly space to meet clients and customers and a professional administration/call handling service. There are thus several pros and cons of the home office address and the related services and office needs that may not be possible from a home office.
Pros and cons of the home office address
Pros
The most significant advantage of the home office is the flexibility it allows for workers and the business as a whole. It is the number one reason many remote workers don’t want to return to the physical office.
Work can be done on a 24/7 basis. Many remote workers and companies have instituted shift work to suit workers and change the business operations to a global, 24/7 concern.
There are no additional costs associated with the home office address. There is no need for a post box, and all office calls can be diverted to your mobile.
The office is local; there is no commuting and no travel.
Cons
If the home address is used in business correspondence, all customers, clients, and business stakeholders will immediately know where you live. It is a significant business privacy issues that many directors and owners of smaller companies and businesses have begun to face.
Reduced professionalism, in that a home address on business correspondence immediately affects how the recipient views the business. Everyone then knows that you are likely working from your dining room, kitchen counter, or garden-based office (shed or garage).
Poor call handling as unless a professional telecommunications system is installed, the telecommunications will generally be via mobile phone, and the company numbers may have to change.
Updates of address can be costly, and as such, having a set professional address will allow the business to save on these changes and updates.
No professional meeting space in the home office will not qualify for essential face-to-face meetings and may even struggle to manage the virtual meetings unless connectivity and IT has been upgraded.
The possible solutions
It is a difficult decision to make. Although there are several pros for simply using your home address for the business, this will not deal with all the disadvantages, which can cause long-term reputational damage to the business.
Several businesses have gone the post box route, and the postal address deals with some of the issues mentioned above. However, the virtual office space is better suited to dealing with this issue. If you’re in the Queensland area of Australia, then a virtual office address in Brisbane would serve to deal with most of the disadvantages of the home office address. A virtual office should thus have a professional telecommunication handling service, actual space that can be used for the meetings that just can’t be conducted virtually, and an address that adds some prestige to the business as a whole.
Conclusion
The use of a professional address or virtual office address and space for small/home-based businesses is a growing trend in the business world. However, it is simply one aspect of the solution for the obvious cons of using your home address for your business. The bottom line is to avoid the business risks associated with a home business address, and you will be better off researching the alternative options in detail. You will probably come to the same conclusion as presented herein: that the virtual office or professional office address offers the best solution for remote and home-based businesses.
