Is It Still Practical To Rent Out an Office for a Small Business These Days?

Most budding entrepreneurs these days are most likely going to work from home. They might set up some kind of remote workflow and it’s usually down to cloud technologies to help them run a business from almost anywhere. As long as they have a laptop of some kind, they can generally conduct everything they need to form a single computer.

However, some entrepreneurs are still convinced that they need an office to run their company. While the simple answer to the titular question is “no, you don’t need to rent out an office”, the answer isn’t so black and white and there are a couple of good reasons why you might want to eventually rent an office.

But as a small business, here are some of the things you need to consider when judging the practicality of renting out an office for your business.

Is there a reason you need an office?

One of the first things to consider is if you need an office at all. There are very few reasons to have an office, especially when you can virtualize pretty much every aspect of your business. Whether you’re using managed IT services for all of your cloud needs or if you’re virtualizing servers so you don’t need to purchase and maintain hardware, there’s almost nothing you can’t do with just cloud technology alone.

With that said, it’s important to understand that there are a couple of reasons why you may need an office. For starters, meeting clients in a coffee shop or a co-working space isn’t as professional as inviting them to your office and having a proper meeting. Also, there are some cases where virtualizing hardware isn’t good enough for demanding workloads. For instance, if you need to edit videos regularly or use demanding software, then having your work computers is essential.

Are you financially prepared to have an office?

When it comes to upgrading to an office, you need to be financially prepared for all of the things you need to purchase and the services you need to hire. Don’t just look at an office listing and just assume that it’s the final price you’ll be paying each money. There may be service fees, you might be asked to pay for extra features, and you’ll need to furnish, equip and maintain your own space.

There are a lot of expenses when it comes to preparing your office, so make sure that you’re financially prepared for what’s to come. If you don’t think your budget allows for an office, then you may want to reconsider and stick to your at-home work setup. However, if your budget does offer you a bit of flexibility and you can afford an office, then you also need to consider if it’s a good return on your investment and if you’re able to sustain those costs. For a small business, that’s a tall order and might not be possible depending on the circumstances.