No One Needs to Know You Work from Home, Do They?

Many new independent workers start out by working from their home office or the kitchen table. It makes perfect sense at the time, after all it saves renting traditional office space. Not only do you save on the usual business overheads, you save on the commute too. That means extra time in bed, or extra time at the desk. Either way, it’s valuable time you never used to have. But there may come a time when the solitary home office is too much to bear or too small to work from. If this happens, there’s always Office Evolution’s coworking center in Hackensack to fall back on. We’re located in the heart of Bergen County, NJ, (more on this later).

Should You Tell Clients You Work from Home?

What do you tell your clients and prospects about where you work? The home office might be acceptable if it doubles as a veterinary surgery or is part of a family store, as two examples. But for lots of other business operations perhaps it’s not the best setup if you’re out to impress. There’s a good chance it’ll make you look cheap and amateurish. This could limit the fees you can charge and reduce your chances of winning new business. Whether clients care or not will depend on the kind of business you’re in and the impression you’re trying to make. At our coworking center in Hackensack, New Jersey, we fully understand the importance of first impressions, and that reflects in our business.

Another consideration is whether you need or want people to visit you at your work location. Not everyone likes the idea of strangers coming in and out of the same place they lay their head at night. Some people may even turn up uninvited when a home address doubles as your business address.

Some of the main reasons to keep the home office address lowkey include:

Privacy concerns. It’s public and therefore potentially dangerous
Not all homes can be used to legally operate a business
Home address cannot show up in Google local business search results
May damage your professional reputation
May damage your business reputation (makes the business look new, or small)—remember your address shows up on sites like Google Maps
Conflicts with home life
Too many distractions, the kitchen is a few steps away
Continual isolation saps energy and motivation

There can be other reasons too, which may be unique to individual setups, but you get the idea.

I Want to Work from Home in New Jersey

Perhaps you still want to work from home, or simply can’t afford not to as you push your business forward. Don’t worry—there are some pretty effective solutions to this dilemma. You’re probably thinking about using a PO Box, but before you do, here are some things you should know about that.

The PO Box and Small Business Pitfalls

In the past, people who worked from home that wanted to keep their private address secret used a PO Box. It’s sounds like a logical solution, but there are pitfalls. The problem with PO boxes is that they can come across as a bit seedy, no thanks to scammers who exploit them to conduct shady business dealings. Google doesn’t recognize PO Box as a commercial address when it comes to things like local advertising on AdWords or Google+ Business Pages. Some companies won’t even deliver to a PO Box. You may also find that local government registration and licensing processes disallow PO boxes as an official business address. Plus, you can’t meet clients at your address when you have a PO Box. As you can see, there are some definite disadvantages to the post office box concept. Okay, so these are the problems, let’s now move on to the solutions.

Mailbox and Business Address Options in Hackensack

Having a mail and address service with Office Evolution Hackensack could be a practical solution. To begin with, this is a real, physical address in an impressive building in a central location. Your address will be the street address and suite number, no box number. Already you look much bigger and more professional. This is an address that you can use on all your official company stationary, business cards and official documentation. You can add it to the contact page of your website if you have one. Even better, with a professional address you tell the world that you’re open for business by showing up in Google’s local business search results.

Google Places help small businesses become visible on the internet by showing all the relevant information about your business in the search results. The seven main benefits include:

Google Places is a free service
You have an online presence even if you don’t have a website
People who perform local searches can find you easily
Business phone number and other details will show up
You can add images and a logo, if appropriate, for your business
Searchers can find you easily on Google Maps
Customers can leave reviews and rate your services

Important! With regards to point 5, a picture paints a thousand words, as the saying goes, and it’s true. Unless you have reasons not to, a nice image of yourself will go a long way to help your business stand out from the crowd. Putting a face to the name helps to instill trust and professionalism. Hiding behind some other image, or only a company logo, can have the opposite effect.

The Mailbox and Street Address

Already you’re looking bigger, more professional, and improving your online presence without having to do very much at all. If you purchase a commercial business mailing address from Office Evolution in Hackensack, NJ you also get your own, secure private mailbox. However, the official address that you share with the world will not include a box number. Your address will look like this:

Bob Smith, CEO
ABC Company
2 University Plaza, Suite 100
Hackensack, NJ 07601

If someone looks up your business address, they will see an impressive building. Check it out on Google Maps.

Keeping your business mail and home mail separate is yet another step towards a more efficient and professional setup.

Even if you still work from the home office, your clients and prospects don’t need to know that. They think you’re located in a nice, modern office in central Bergen County. And you can be if you want to. If you outgrow your home office, or just need to get out of the house on some days, there are always our coworking spaces at Office Evolution to consider.

Coworking, Virtual and Private Offices in Bergen County

Coworking centers provide workspaces and other solutions that a community of professionals use—people just like you. They are fully-equipped working environments that cater to the needs of locally based solo professionals, small businesses and freelancers.

When clients want to meet you at your business address, our coworking spaces even provide professional meeting rooms that you can use as needed. You even have access to our virtual receptionist service if you want someone to take your business calls occasionally, or all the time. Like everything else here, this is a flexible service that members can use as and when they need it.

Some members prefer to divide their time between the home office and our coworking space in Hackensack. This is what we call the hybrid setup, bringing together the best of both worlds. Our coworking lounge access costs the same a cup of coffee a day.

By embracing these suggestions you achieve the following five solutions:

Google shows your business location at your new impressive Hackensack mailing address
he mailman delivers all your business correspondence to your new address
Clients think you work at your new address (also an option if you need it), and you can meet them there too
Clients who call think the virtual receptionist is your fulltime employee
You still work from home, or split your time between home and the virtual office at our coworking center

With these solutions, it’s easy for a small business or solo professional to look more expert and productive—this in turn, leads to greater profits. In today’s world of growing independent workers, the hybrid setup is fast becoming the new norm.

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At Office Evolution Hackensack, we provide virtual office, coworking, and private office solutions. We offer meeting rooms, offices, a coworking lounge, a shared reception, a business address, and virtual receptionist services. We have many options and price points, and all terms are flexible. Plus, you become part of a community of like-minded professionals.

Whether you live in Teaneck, Bergenfield, Maywood, Teterboro, Hasbrouck Heights, Moonachie, Little Ferry, Rochelle Park, Dumont, Bogota, River Edge, New Milford, Hackensack, Englewood, Paramus, Tenafly and other communities nearby in Bergen and Essex counties, choosing Office Evolution Hackensack in New Jersey will help you be more professional, productive, and profitable.