Four reasons why your business needs an office

As small business owners, we all have to look at overhead. Willowbend Service Park 'gets it' that two of the easy targets for eliminating overhead are marketing expenses and office space. A growing business needs both, but both are viewed as the low-hanging-fruit for paring cost when they probably should be higher on the priority list. Here are four ways to evaluate the office as a worthwhile investment for entirely non-financial reasons.

1)      Having an office shapes your company ID

Your environment is third only to your team and your work product when it comes to cultivating a strong sense of identity. It says more than your price or your years in the business: It says, 'We are here.' When you have an office address that has parking spaces instead of your driveway, it adds layers of legitimacy and an air of permanence.

2)      Your office encourages communication

Building a business without a permanent place to meet with your team members, clients, and prospects is hard work. It's financially practical, but it only gets you so far if you're interested in growing the business. Office space helps people to communicate better. Regardless of how trendy it looks to meet clients at a coffee house or how much you sell the idea that 'we come to you,' having your business' own place encourages face-to-face interaction. This is especially true of communicating with your team. Having an office beats finding a space that helps you and your team talk more frankly with one another, and removes any obstacles to getting the thinking from your head and into someone else’s

3)      Having to get out of your pajamas to go to the office creates routine

Leaving the house at a set time and getting your coffee as you enter the office are all parts of a routine and help you to separate home from work. Now you might think you started your own business to buck routine, but routine is relevant to growing your business. Taking time to work remotely on occasion – at home – is important for your happiness and (usually) productivity.

Knowing that you have to be in the office for a meeting or simply making sure that you are at the desk is a great way to increase your motivation to a) nurture the customers you have and b) go after the ones you don't have. If others are in the office warehouse with you, it also helps keep you off the distractions of your fantasy football pic or the billion cat videos the internet offers. Your productive routine can rub off on your team, and on days you need it, their productivity can rub off on you.

As an added benefit, your family knows that when you're home, you're home for them, not to work.

4)      Your office is your second home

We spend a huge amount of time in our professions. It is crucial to be happy where you work. This comes from the three main things that led us to be entrepreneurs in the first place: working in a field that you are passionate about; with people that you like; in a place you feel comfortable. Your office space is where you can express your individuality and unleash your creativity. And really, what better place to unleash it than in a place with four brand-new walls?

Photo by Kostya Klimenko, used with permission.