Virtual Offices: 5 FAQs Entrepreneurs and Sole Traders Have About Them

5 FAQs Entrepreneurs and Sole Traders Have About Virtual Offices

Running your own business or being your own boss is hard.

You need to hunt for suitable clients and look for the best work, all while acting as your own human resources and managing finances. 

So, it can be tough to know if you need a fixed, virtual, or serviced office to work from to help you appear more professional and productive. If you are an entrepreneur or a sole trader, you may have some questions about having a virtual office space, so read on to learn the answers to some of the most searched questions online about virtual office spaces.

1. Is it Worth Having a Virtual Office?

If you are a new business or a sole trader looking to expand your business, then yes. It is worth renting a virtual office from a website like yourcityoffice.com to help give your business a registered location, a space to meet clients, and, if push comes to shove, to work in a few days a week.

2. How Does It Differ From a Serviced Office?

A serviced office is a space that a team or an individual can work in each day to conduct business meetings, as well as a spot where a physical team of co-workers can meet. This is not the same as a virtual office. A virtual office is an alternative to a physical office, which allows business owners to work remotely while being able to use the location as and when needed or solely to register their business address.

With both a serviced and a virtual office, the person who is renting the space can use it to meet clients, but the former has a more expensive contract and can have a set minimum lease.

Related: Best Meeting Minutes Software Solutions for Your Company

3. Can I Use It As My Registered Business Address?

Yes, you can. In fact, most sole traders and entrepreneurs will only use their virtual office as a business address solely to prevent their personal addresses from being given out. Depending on where you live, you can use your virtual office to register your business with overseeing entities, like HMRC or the IRS. Best of all, you can only use the office once a week, and you only need to pay a small fee to use the space as the base of your business.

4. Will I Be Able To Use The Space To Work?

Virtual offices are designed to help entrepreneurs and sole traders get access to equipment and help that they may not be able to get in a home office. Ergo, you should be able to use your virtual office as and when you need to. 

It can be worth checking before you sign the virtual office contract to ensure that the space has the equipment that you need to work successfully. For photographers, this could be a dark room to develop photographs. For graphic designers, it may be the latest Adobe software on the office’s computers. Either way, be sure to hunt around for the right office for the service or product that you offer.

5. Can I Use The Office To Meet Clients?

Yes, you can! In fact, one of the main reasons why many sole traders and entrepreneurs use virtual offices is because they can be the perfect setting to meet clients.

Just make sure that if you are booking a meeting with a client that the room you want to use is free on that day.