Every year about 400,000 small businesses are launched in the United States.

Many of these are set up by an individual – leading to the buzzword “solopreneur” – or perhaps an individual with a family member or two chipping in. Many more have just a handful of staff who may be widely distributed across the region or even the nation.

When you consider the broad trends in small business, it’s little wonder that virtual office environments are on the rise. Small businesses are distributed, overwhelmingly services-based, and are frequently on an uncertain growth trajectory. This means that committing to long-term leases for large, fixed office spaces often doesn’t make financial sense. Why spend tens of thousands on an office that only gets used for its mailing address?

Let’s take a look at why forgoing the typical office trappings in preference of working remotely can be the way to go for small business.

Working remotely is budget friendly

According to 2014 Census data, 39% of small businesses have an annual income of under $250,000. The median small business income sits at around $390,000 a year. With cities including New York, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and Pittsburgh all posting record highs for office space rentals, it’s clear that paying to have your name on a door can be a costly business decision.

While it may make sense for businesses such as medical professionals who need a specially outfitted workspace, or for those who need a retail presence, taking out a long-term lease for a single member or distributed business doesn’t offer great ROI. You’ll be paying a premium for utilities, amenities and rooms that might only be used for the occasional client or staff meeting!

A virtual office gives you all the benefits of your own office with none of the overhead costs. You can arrange to have your mail delivered, set up call answering and forwarding services, and even book meeting rooms for those all-important meetings and presentations – at a fraction of the cost. You and your staff can continue to work from wherever you prefer, whenever you prefer. You’ll have a happier, more adaptable working environment and a healthier bottom line.

Working remotely gives you flexibility

While corporate America is downsizing, small biz and start-up America is having its time in the sun. Many small business owners are serial entrepreneurs, running multiple businesses simultaneously, or spinning up one after another. As these grow, staff will need to be hired, clients will need to be managed, and admin will need to be dealt with. But no two growth trajectories are the same, meaning that it’s a challenge to work out exactly how much you’ll need to scale – and when.

Small businesses who go the full-time office route may find the decision to be stifling and inflexible. This is especially true when on-site staff are involved, as any subsequent changes in location or working environment will impact their lives at work and beyond. Opting for remote working by way of a virtual office environment – and its support staff – gives you flexibility around how you grow, where you work, and even who you hire.

With a virtual office environment, you can have multiple businesses “housed” at one professional address, and have staff and client calls routed through the right extensions. You can even tap into the virtual office’s in-house expertise when it comes to admin, bookkeeping and more – this means that you can hold off on hiring until it makes good business sense.

Working remotely offers all-new opportunities

Here’s one you might not have thought of with regard to a fixed office space: opportunity cost. When you choose to settle long-term in an office space, you miss out on the potential gains other alternatives might present.

Thinking outside the typical office space lets you identify new possibilities for where, how and who you work with. For example, you can hire widely, selecting the best talent from across the world. A flow-on effect from having a distributed workforce is that you can tap into a geographically widespread professional network of potential new hires, clients or industry expertise that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

Additionally, when you’ve built your business around the idea of distributed working, you’ll find that along the way you’ve built a team that excels at communication, scheduling and task management. When you’re not sitting in adjacent cubicles, you need to make the effort to keep each other informed and in the loop, with processes and procedures designed to make this happen. You’ll find that you’re ahead of the curve when it comes to project management efficiencies and new conferencing technologies – which benefits your staff and customers alike.

Is working remotely the path for you?

Not all small businesses are created equally, and the same is certainly true for small business owners and their staff. Some businesses need a fixed space to grow to their fullest extent. Some individuals prefer the routine of the standard office space.

But for many small businesses today, remote working supported by a virtual office environment is the way to gain an edge. Being unencumbered by the traditional office lets you experiment with new directions or approaches. It lets you network, travel or try out a new business idea without being tied down by exorbitant overheads or the limits of a physical space.

So the next time you’re thinking about signing a lease on an office, consider whether that money could be better spent on R&D or hiring a great virtual staff member. If all you need is the occasional use of a meeting room and a place to have your mail delivered to, the answer is a resounding yes.

What PrideGroupCo Offers

At PrideGroupCo, we offer flexible and customized virtual office packages.  Whether you need a prestigious address, a local phone number, conference room time, or a combination of services, we can design a plan just for your business.

We also offer virtual assistant and virtual business management services.  From bookkeeping to human resources, from social media to website management, and from ad hoc projects to strategic partnerships we help our clients grow their businesses and reclaim their time!  Find out how we can help your business.