Routine Order

My friend’s home business is growing faster than anticipated, and he is looking for office space. He had some specific questions like whether he should get an executive suite, or just a room at a flat rate in some mall/business complex. As always, I was clueless, but my boss wasn’t. Here’s a list of the recommendations he made, for future reference, just in case I decide to wing it on my own, some day…

1. Get an executive suite if you want a reception service, meeting/conference rooms, a package handling service etc.
2. Ask for the price with the modifications you need - or you might just get a base rate and hidden costs.
3. check on the quality, and lead-time for the services (add-ons as in #1 above), maybe with existing tenants.
4. Ask if there are any “per-use” fees or additional monthly charges.
5. Check for ease of access outside normal office hours.
6. Check for provisions in case of emergencies - fire, natural disasters etc - Insurance provided free of cost is a plus.
7. How easy will it be to upgrade to more space/resources while keeping the same address?

A cheap hack, to save money, would be to instead sub-lease space from an attorney or other individual - they usually have additional space. By the way, this office-connections.com is a great url for a company that could find and provide office space - right now it seems to be some firm that provides virtual offices. Let’s see how long it takes before that domain name gets bought by someone who provides such services. I wish I was free from temporary financial pressures - there are so many cool businesses that are begging to be implemented.