Virtual Office Solutions

by Edwina Wilson for Work-at-Home.org

Your teen age son answers the phone, slams it down on the desk and yells, “Hey Dad, it’s for you!”. You cringe at the impression your business just made on your banker.

You’ve got an important meeting with a very important supplier or vendor and you’re not sure they’ll still want to do business with you if they know you’re a home-based business. What do you do?

Services like Intelligent Office give you all the benefits of having a huge office, without the cost and hassle.

You’re in a type of business, such as investment counseling, in which you need to meet clients, but don’t want to meet them in your home. You want to make sure your calls are answered all the time and very professionally, but you’re not always accessible and getting interrupted constantly is destroying your productivity. What’s the solution?

You work at home but you don’t want your home address plastered all over the internet and in ads. A “P.O. Box” address just isn’t going to cut it for all situations. What’s the best alternative?

There are exciting and cost-effective solutions for all these problems and more.

First, before you even start your home business or start working at home, you should get an alternative address that is NOT your home address and NOT a P.O. Box. You should also have a telephone number used for business purposes only and NEVER give out your personal telephone number.

You can rent private mail boxes from private mail box rental services such as UPS Store (the most expensive) or Pak Mail. Choose one that you feel is secure, convenient to get to (you’ll be going there often), and offers the services that you need. Cost of a basic mail box is very affordable, less than $15 per month in many cases. Your privacy will be protected and they will receive your mail and provide other services for you.

Voicemail services or internet phone can afford you extra telephone numbers and additional services like voicemail and call forwarding, for very affordable fees. Services like OneBox offer 800 numbers, voicemail/PBX services, emailing, faxing and more for one small fee. Vonage is an excellent internet phone company.

Renting a mail box protects the privacy and sanctity of your home.

If you feel your home business needs to project a more professional image and/or you want a real, live professional answering your calls, consider renting Office Suite services, such as those available through a company like Intelligent Office. There are also similar services locally in many cities; just check your yellow pages. These types of services will rent you a small office in a very large, impressive office suite/building, and provide all of the services you may need in an office, such as: receptionist, fax service, copying, mail service, teleconferencing, internet access, and even use of a conference room. The office receptionist takes calls for everyone in the suite but sounds like your own receptionist and can forward your calls to you, wherever you are, or take a message. Additional office support services may also be available.

Another alternative is to rent a very small office space of your own. Some storage facilities also offer little mini-offices that you can rent. They’re very basic, and small, and often you’re required to install phone service, internet service, supply furniture, etc. It makes for a good mailing address but may be limited on service. Still, you may want to check into this as an affordable solution if creating a professional image is not your highest priority.

Operating your home business from home while creating the impression that you’re not, is easier and more affordable than you might think. Whether your goal is to simply protect the privacy of your home address or to create the image of being a very large company while you still get to work at home in bunny slippers, solutions are out there.

Copyright 2008 Work-at-Home.org