What is a virtual office?

As a business leader, you may have come across the term virtual office before. Most virtual offices offer a ‘virtual’ business address along with a range of professional extras, which can include reception answering services, direct mail services, DDI memberships and more. Investing in a virtual office at a well-located, high quality business centre can also give you access to a range of other business growth services. For example, at Carrwood Park we have luxury co-working facilities, meeting rooms and serviced offices.

There’s been plenty of popular trends in our industry over the years, but very few have grown in popularity as rapidly as co-working. Did you know the first official co-working space was opened back in 2005 in America?

In recent years, the UK business landscape has changed dramatically. More people are now self-employed than before records even began. Because of this, many serviced office providers are reconsidering the facilities they offer, and looking at how they can adapt to suit these new types of businesses.

Which are the best advice blogs for entrepreneurs, small businesses and start-ups? With so many experts sharing advice for business owners on succeeding within a highly competitive landscape in 2016, you could spend your whole working week reading them all.

To save you time and help you refocus, we've sifted through and picked out some of our favourite best entrepreneur blogs for 2017. Enjoy!

The virtual office is on the rise. More and more small business owners and freelancers are opting to invest in a virtual office space rather than a ‘real’ one.

The reason for this is simple: many micro business owners, especially solopreneurs, have almost everything they need in their home-based office. Choosing virtual office provision can give them the extras they require without having to forgo what they see as the financial and personal benefits of working from home.

If you’re thinking of choosing a virtual office, here’s everything you need to know on the advantages of a virtual office.

(1) Virtual offices aren’t all created equal

The first thing you need to know about virtual offices is that they’re not all the same! Different providers will offer a very different level of service, so it’s important to be clear right from the beginning what you and your business needs.

(2) A virtual office can make you look more professional

Home-based businesses often reach the stage where they want the professionalism of a corporate office but aren’t quite ready to make the necessary investment.

A virtual office gives you the right to use a dedicated business virtual address and use the services of secretaries and PAs. This means your business can appear bigger and more professional, all without moving from your present set up.

(3) A virtual office helps keep on top of communication

Answering the phone, dealing with emails and handling post can all be time-consuming. This is especially true if you don’t have a member of staff that it makes sense to delegate these tasks to.

The team behind your virtual office would be able to manage all these communication channels on your behalf, making it much easier for you to focus your time on important work.

(4) A virtual office space offer ‘real’ space when you need it

Working from home can be great… until it’s the school holidays, you’re having building work done or you have an important meeting.

When you choose a virtual office, look for one that offers ad hoc work space when you need it. It can be invaluable to have a backup workspace and to have a professional base to meet clients.

(5) A virtual office will give you greater privacy

Many business owners don’t feel comfortable using their home address on business documents such as business cards, invoices or contracts.

A virtual business address would enable you to keep your home address private… and would mean clients get a very different picture when they look you up on Google Street View!

(6) A virtual office comes with SEO benefits

If you work from home, you probably don’t want to take advantage of services such as Google Local or Yell that allow you to ‘plot’ your business on the map. Missing out on these, however, can mean that it’s more difficult for customers to find you through search engines.

A virtual address can allow you to make use of these services and improve your SEO without having to compromise perceived professionalism or privacy.

(7) A virtual office can help get you started in a new location

Virtual offices aren’t just for small businesses! We know many larger businesses who make use of services like ours to create a base in a new area.

Having a local office, even if it’s a virtual one, can help you to reach out to a whole new geographical group of customers.

Could a virtual office be right for you? Take a look at our Leeds virtual offices packages and pricing options.

Emerging as what was widely considered a unique privilege of company directors, flexible working patterns whereby we have greater freedom over when and where we choose to work, is now evolving as a habitual pattern of working for the masses. Prolific advances in communications and technology enabling us to work and report back to clients and our seniors from remote locations have paved the way for flexible, remote working. As a means of keeping up with the high demand of this modern model of working flexible office space is now readily available around the world, in the form of co-working centres, virtual offices and serviced offices.

They say there’s an app for practically anything these days, including apps to help businesses and freelancers of all shapes, sizes and industries, find their most convenient and ideal flexible office space and use their co-working set-up to the maximum.

If finding flexible office space in an attempt to craft a more professional business image and take your company forward is on your 2016 business list agenda, you may be interested in the following seven best mobile apps for flexible office space.

• Ask Me Anything: 10 Answers to Your Questions about Leeds business address

  We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, outside London Leeds is the largest business and financial hub in the UK. Given Leeds’ enviable status as being the ‘London of the North’, a vibrant, well-connected city, in which students and professionals flock to in their droves, it stands to reason having a business address in buoyant and thriving Leeds is going to paint your business in an admirable light. 

  If you are thinking of taking the plunge and getting an ultra-exclusive Leeds business address, either by renting office space in Leeds or having a virtual office in the city or its surroundings, take a look at the answers to the following ten important questions related to business addresses in Leeds?