Many business owners worry about the cost of rent when starting their businesses because of its effect on profits. Leasing office space in a prime location is expensive, especially for small business owners. It seems almost impossible to get affordable space in such locations. But fear not, with a little extra effort, you can get the best office space for your business.
That said, It is possible to get cost-effective space in the ideal location for your business if you implement the following tips.
1. Consider leasing a virtual office
When starting a business, it isn’t always essential to have a permanent physical office. The most important thing at this stage is to get a business address where you can meet your clients or customers.
Leasing and furnishing an office space that creates a good impression can be an expensive and unnecessary cost at such an early stage of your business. You can lease a virtual office with the best outlook. Some companies allow businesses to lease their state-of-the-art conference rooms and spaces at an affordable monthly rate or even on an adhoc basis. You will only be committed to paying the low monthly charge and get an ideal space in a prime location where you can engage your clients. You also save the cost of furniture, office supplies, and equipment.
2. Lease shared office space
Leasing shared office space is nearly always cheaper than any other leasing option.
The advantage of co-working or sharing office space is that you can book your space on a long-term or short-term basis depending on your business requirements. Sometimes you just need space for a few months of the year, the flexibility of shared facilities means there is no need to tie yourself into longer than necessary contracts. However, shared facilities mean that you will need to make sure that you’re in agreement when it comes to specific services. A good idea would be to communicate with your office neighbours and share the costs of hiring a large commercial cleaning company. One example of a company you could get in touch with is Ideal Cleaning, who are able to provide cleaning services across the expanse of the whole building on a regular schedule.
The disadvantage of sharing office space is that you lose your privacy, so it wouldn’t suit businesses that deal in sensitive information. However, sometimes the relations with other business owners enable you to learn and utilize proven ideas or techniques to grow your own business. Your employees can also learn new skills from other occupants in the building.
3. Continue with another company’s lease
Sometimes businesses need to break from a lease contract before the leasing period expires. Breaking a lease contract before time attracts high penalties. Hence, such business owners look for other companies who require similar space to continue with the lease.
The benefit for the original tenant is the lower penalty cost. Your business will benefit from such a deal in terms of lower leasing costs. Property owners often overlook or reduce the upfront costs incurred when signing a new lease contract. In addition, you will have an opportunity to negotiate for lower rental rates than the prevailing rates in the markets.
4. Look for space in affordable locations
Every entrepreneur dreams of locating their business in a prestigious location because of the potential profits and of course the esteem attached to a much sought after location. It may be easier to start and grow a business in a prime spot, of course great accessibility, increased foot fall and also the image attached to trading in such locations will all increase your chances of success. However, rent costs in such areas are high especially when you are not sharing the space with any other business. If you cannot afford the rent in prime areas, look for space in the next best alternative.
You do not have to be on the busiest street in town to build a profitable business. You can utilize effective marketing strategies to grow your business from any location depending on your products or services. Sometimes moving away from the prime locations helps you to tap the unreached market share. You reach potential customers that your competitors may have been overlooking over the years.
5. Consider the possibility of expansion
Before leasing any space, consider the expansion plans of your business. You don’t want to be stuck in a long term lease that isn’t able to accommodate your growing team.
Moving from office to office is disruptive and costly to any business so before signing any lease agreements consider the opportunity for growth. Are you able to remove temporary walls, can your business lease adjacent spaces etc? This simple forward planning can save your business thousands.
Takeaway
Getting the ideal space for your business takes time especially when you have limited expenditure. You don’t need to go over the budget to impress your clients. In the early stages any available funds would be better spent on honing your business model, developing your brand, focusing on marketing, customer engagement and satisfaction. Once you are turning a profit, then you can look at the more prestigious office solutions.
From virtual offices to shared office space, you have many ways of lowering the cost of rent to increase your profitability. If in doubt, hire a reliable broker and take the time to explore all the options before signing any lease document.
