 |
|
|||||
Small businesses at home in 'virtual offices'
Celebration, Fla. - When Kirby Ryan meets with his clients, they sit around a polished wooden desk in a well-appointed executive office.
But Ryan must make an appointment to use the office at 215 Celebration Place, because he's allotted only 16 hours a month there. He spends most of his time at his home office, 10 blocks away.
About 150 small businesses share Suite 500 in this corporate park. Users pay $250 per month for a package that includes an elite mailing address, an answering service and occasional office space.
It's called a "virtual office," and for small-business owners - who choose not to or cannot pay for expensive and scarce office space - it's a way to look big-time at a small-time price.
"It gives the appearance of a professional office setting when you need that setting," said Ryan, whose Clinical Mobility business sets up flu-shot clinics and diagnostic services at retailers and employers nationwide.
Adding to that professional appearance, he said, is the receptionist's computer that tells her which business a client is calling for, allowing her to answer the phone with the business's name.
For some people, it's better to say they have a business space, "versus working out of a home office or garage apartment," Ryan said.
Virtual offices have become the modern-day post office box, but with a physical address. Budding entrepreneurs no longer have to conduct business at the local coffee shop.
There's plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that virtual offices are popular. But with only an occupational license to prove they exist, the thin paper trail makes it difficult to report how many people are using them.
Experts agree that virtual offices are a result of evolving technology. It's not much different from post office boxes used by people who conduct business at home.
"It's not a deception," said Al Polfer, director of the Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida. The center offers seminars and counseling to small-business owners. "That is your technical business address."
He said some business owners claim to have locations in Rome, Vienna or London, but sometimes those locations are nothing more than virtual offices.
If customers feel they are being misled by the setup, Polfer said, it's up to them to do the research.
"People like to do business with people they know or trust. Trust can come from a misplaced belief that you're well-established. If that claim is important, you need to check on it," he said.
