Cheaper: Working From Home of Renting an Office?

Most of us, at one point or another, have dreamed of a work-from-home job and the perks that accompany it. No commute, the ability to multitask at home whether that means spending time with the kids or doing loads of laundry in between calls, and saving money on lunch or gas expenses. But is it possible that working from home could end up costing you more? Or that utilizing office rentals as a part of your daily or occasional routine could help you save money? This is a definite possibility and one that probably gets overlooked by a lot of work-from-home professionals. After all, if time is money then think about how much money could be earned/saved if your time was spent more productively in your own office, without the distractions that come with working from home. While you still may have to DRIVE into an executive center or rented office, the ability to choose somewhere close to your house rather than a longer commute into your business headquarters or traditional office, still saves a great amount of time and money. Money Talks News provides a very interesting side by side comparison of a work-from-home environment versus renting a local office, and the pros and cons that come with each. On their list of ways to find affordable office space are a few solutions that we offer here at ESC to local Seattle professionals: finding an executive suite to rent, and utilizing a virtual office. Make sure you have explored all of your options so that you are maximizing both your work output and your fiscal savings as best you can!

Hi-Tech Solutions for the Modern Business World

Video communication is a luxury that has increasingly integrated itself into many areas of our lives-providing benefits and experiences that were out of our reach not too long ago.  Now we can catch up with our friend who is travelling in Europe, and see her new haircut. We can wish our grandmother who lives across the country a happy birthday, and see the smile on her face.  We can even eat dinner with our long-distance significant other, talking and seeing their face as if we were eating at the same table.

But how has this affected our business lives? Video Conferencing has truly provided solutions that benefit both the employee, and the employer, in a very happy medium.  Among other things, video conferencing eliminates costs, exhaustion and hassle involved with business travel.  Every company would like to help their bottom line by cutting out unnecessary expenses, and many employees would appreciate the chance to stay home with their families rather than embark on a weeklong business trip filled with meetings.  Video conferencing offers a better alternative to a simple conference call by adding a personal element, and providing the opportunity to enhance the call experience by sharing necessary visual aids.  In a world where technology seems to have the ability to both limit our personal interactions, while somehow still encouraging personal relationships to flourish, video conferencing embraces the positive effects of technology.

Read more about how video conferencing services can help your small business thrive.  For many of our local Seattle clients, this has been the perfect solution to maintaining a personal relationship with clients and colleagues, while maximizing efficiency and convenience.  For Seattle video conferencing services, visit us at Executive Support Center!

Bowling For a Good Cause!

As a wonderful reminder of the great things that can come from local community members  teaming up, Executive Support center participated in the “LET’S STRIKE OUT HUNGER!” bowl-a-thon event at the end of March.  Sponsored by the Tukwila Rotary (which our owner Kathy is a member of), the event was held at the ACME  Bowling Center and all proceeds from the bowling event, silent auction and raffle directly benefited the Tukwila Food Pantry.  After a great time  of fellowship with some of our own clients, some fellow Rotarians, and some other local businesses, we were incredibly happy and proud to hear the total amount donated to the food bank was over $8,000.  We all had a blast, and as usual, it felt great to make some local contributions that will benefit so many.

The quote “In the land of plenty, plenty are hungry” really stuck with us, and we are proud to honor the service of the Tukwila Food Pantry by sharing the following to help raise awareness:

Tukwila Pantry served over 2,300 households last year.

Tukwila Pantry had a total of 27,970 household visits.

Tukwila Pantry volunteers donated over 41,000 hours of service.

Tukwila Pantry distributed the equivalent 2,129194 meals. 

Tukwila Pantry receives nearly 4.8 million dollars worth of donated time and materials.

Tukwila Pantry distributed over 2,716,000 pounds of food last year.

Tukwila Rotary has partnered with Tukwila Pantry since 2001 

Tukwila Rotary has generated over $100,00 in support of Tukwila Pantry since 2001

Every dollar donated to Tukwila Pantry has a multiple of over 30 in value to our community 

Transportation costs Tukwila Pantry nearly $30,00 annually.

Children and seniors (most at risk population) make up 44% of Tukwila Pantry clientele. 

Local youth provided more than 4,500 hours serving at Tukwila Pantry. 

Thanks to everyone who came out for and contributed to this great cause, and we will continue to help our community as a local Seattle area business!

         

Your Office is Where YOU Are

After looking through some materials that i thought would be helpful in getting people to better understand what this concept of a virtual office is, i found a pretty literal and informative piece that is a great starting point about how virtual offices work.  The bottom line about working in this atmosphere, and the fun part about it, is that every virtual office is completely different, based on that fact that you create your own rules.  Your virtual office is located wherever YOU are, it operates however and whenever YOU want it to, and it utilizes whatever business features YOU want it to.

For some people, this freedom is ideal and creates a very successful working environment, and for other people, this freedom is a bit overwhelming.  You may be better at focusing on the day to day tasks of your business operations, where as creating your overall operating framework may not come as natural-besides, this is what corporations have done for us for years and years.  Not to worry, there are endless resources around you helping you to create your business plan, know what materials you will need for your business operations and decide what tasks you would like to do yourself and which ones you may want a local business center to handle. Whatever your questions are about starting or running your virtual office, the answers are out there for you.  Check out the tips from This How Stuff Works article, and know that your local business center exists exactly for this purpose-to maximize the convenience of creating and operating your own home office, mobile office, or whatever type of office that be.

How Do the “Winter Woes” Affect Your Business?

With a recent snowstorm under our belt up here in Seattle, I can’t help but think that in this kind of weather it is a perfect time to work virtually.  Why would anyone want to spend hours in bad weather commuting to an office when virtual capabilities are so common today?  For our local Seattle clients, we offer options like VOIP (voice over internet phones) where you can take a phone home, connect it to the internet and you now are an extension of the office.  They can take incoming calls, make outgoing calls – all as if they were sitting at their desk, and we love knowing that we are helping to make business a little bit easier during these harsh winter months. Read more about how the winter woes affect business all around the country, and can be a great thing!

A La Carte Eating In the Corporate World

The beauty of a restaurant’s a la carte menu is that it’s the perfect solution to getting all of your favorite dishes, or a little bit of everything-whatever you choose.  It makes sense that this freedom to choose should crossover into other parts of our lives to maximize efficiency, affordability and the ideal consumer experience.  In the business-center world, where we aim to help professionals create their ideal working environment, an a la carte menu means selecting only the business services that you require which are offered with the goal of raising the professional image of your business.

 

In our business for example, service packages can be bundled or offered individually.  You simply choose what is needed to run your business, without owning the systems.  You may need a permanent street address, rather than publishing your home address or a P.O. box.  Conference rooms and day offices are available by the hour or day to meet with clients in a quiet, professional atmosphere.  Video conferencing with associates reduce travel time and budget expense. Your telephone calls are answered by a friendly receptionist, who then transfers the calls to you or voice mail.  Our services are about YOU and allowing you to work the way you work best-which varies for almost everyone.

 

A local hotel manager recently commented that when he procured services for his hotel, he would start calling businesses until he found one that had a “live” answer.  Then negotiations would start.  His belief was that any business that had an automated answer probably was operated by a single entrepreneur who was out on call and wasn’t large enough to handle his needs.  This said, we know that there are a lot of professional small businesses out there who could greatly benefit from something like professional answering services to help their corporate image.

 

Choose the features you need to make your business thrive!

Creating Your Own Virtual Office

The concept of “virtual office” has really taken off recently.  The idea that work atmospheres and corporate arrangements have become more flexible, in large part due to what technology has enabled,  is a positive thing.  The next step is figuring out how to maximize your own corporate arrangement and find a situation that is most effective for both you and your clients.  If you have a work-from-home arrangement, the virtual office concept really allows you to benefit where want to.  Do you like doing your work at home but need a professional space to meet with clients?  Would you rather have another location (separate from your home) associated with your business either for professional or privacy reasons?  With your at-home set up, does it make more sense for you to use administrative services at a local business center than have fax machines and other devices taking up space in your family room? Whether the answer to these questions is yes or no, the great thing is, there are local business centers that provide this “virtual office” option for you, to use it as you like.  Almost every client of ours uses their virtual office differently, some every day, some once a week, some a few times a month.  If you have an nontraditional work set up, which has become so increasingly common, take a look at local resources to see how they can help fill the holes that you may be experiencing in your home office or mobile office.  Today, the possibilities are endless (and affordable)!