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Tag Archives: Virtual Office solution

Why a Virtual Office Address is Such a Good Idea in 2021

Saturday, 23 January 2021 16:49
Richard Cooper
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virtual office address

virtual office address

If you are a regular visitor to our blog then the concept of a ‘virtual office address’ is nothing new to you.  Maybe you are already a client benefitting from our virtual office services. But, for those who are new to the concept let me explain what a virtual office is and why it could be a perfect solution for starting your own business, especially in uncertain times.

Virtual offices are a relatively new addition to the office services industry. They are conceptually similar to traditional business centres, but they are generally more flexible in terms of the services they offer and the amount of space they occupy. Briefly, a virtual office is a shared workspace that is usually run by a professional management service but is often staffed by a receptionist, who will answer the phone and provide other basic services. The client can get meeting room facilities, which they can book by the hour or day. Some virtual offices offer additional services, printing facilities, and secretarial support, while others provide only the basics.

For entrepreneurs who have been building their business from home, a virtual office can serve as that first step towards getting established in a physical space – but without the commitment of renting an actual desk or room in an office building.

So, if you’re looking to give your business a more professional image but aren’t ready to move into an office, a virtual office is a more flexible, much cheaper alternative to taking that leap.

Similarly, if you’re already working in an office but are finding it to be too much of a strain on your time and purse strings (we all know that start-ups have to use their resources carefully), a virtual office could be a better compromise for you.

Whilst in a big city like London there are many virtual office address providers, you need to look a bit beneath the surface to choose the optimum solution for your business venture.  The #1 criterion is the address. This is what labels your company to any supplier or potential customer. Having a prestigious business address is the most important thing for your brand especially if it is fresh out of the box. A suburban home address does not inspire confidence and it also risks exposing your personal details online to all and sundry.  Every successful entrepreneur knows how important it is to set clear boundaries between work and personal life.   This is where a virtual office address really comes in handy since any mail that is sent to the office address is conveniently forwarded to your private address. Indeed, mail forwarding is one of our many ‘superpowers’.  Your clients and suppliers see your office location and it reassures them as to your credibility and business standing.

When you choose a virtual office package from Hold Everything you are demonstrating that concept of traditional office space traditional is outmoded and an unnecessary business cost.  You do not actually need physical office space to proudly put Regent Street on your business card.  We can also provide you with a designated telephone number and make sure that your business calls are dealt with by our professional phone answering team.

If you need a meeting space, we can provide you with a fully furnished, equipped board room on an hourly or daily basis. So if this sounds like a great business plan for you, then do be in touch and join the many business owners who have used our services over the last 40 years.

Become an Entrepreneur – Your Resolution for 2021.

Saturday, 12 December 2020 14:50
Richard Cooper
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become an entrepreneur

New Year is fast approaching and the traditional new year resolutions are being considered.  Many people, after a chaotic 2020, are seriously considering going their own route as an entrepreneur, to become an entrepreneur.  Unfortunately, for many, the option has been forced upon them by the Covid-19 fallout and how it has put a wrecking ball through the retail and leisure industries.  Whilst many employees were ‘furloughed‘ this safety net is now being taken away.

become an entrepreneur

Become an entrepreneur in 2021

For others, setting up your business has been a perennial option to be considered as each year draws to a close.  Perhaps you have been putting off the decision until things change in your personal life.  Maybe the kids have left school or have finished their expensive university years.  Perhaps you have inherited some money which could help tide you over, during the necessary period of transition. But, for whatever reason, you have made ‘become an entrepreneur’ your resolution for 2021 we would like to show you a useful business model that will make the decision easier for you, at least when you startup.

For entrepreneurs, start-ups and small companies, leasing a physical workplace isn’t always financially or logistically feasible; with working at home or at the local coffee shop or pub often seen as the less expensive and easier alternative.

But if you want to be taken seriously in your new, independent role there are aspects you have to bear in mind.  You need to set up your suppliers, market your services and goods, consider the competitors, work out logistics on how to deliver your products and services and crucially find a base for your workplace.  Not just to work from, but a work address that provides the right ‘look’ for your new enterprise.

With office rates still uncomfortably high in the UK, discovering a cost-effective service for your office requirements can represent a tough and challenging task.

For those among you who have made a start on the route to become an entrepreneur, a virtual office can act as that initial step towards getting developed in a physical location, however without the commitment of leasing a real desk or room in an office building. It is the seductive element of not having to make a long-term rental commitment that makes a virtual office such a great option for a startup.

The #1 essential benefit of the virtual office, and frequently what eventually drives business owners to adopt one, is that they cost much less than leasing a conventional workplace or coworking space.

 Virtual workplaces aren’t strictly the domain of only entrepreneurs and sole traders– it’s equally possible to handle a team of remote employees through your virtual office. 

Think carefully about your essential business requirements: A telephone or telephone system for handling and taking customer calls (your smartphone may well be all you require for this but there are many software options that can provide some very sophisticated telephony for the WFH entrepreneur. so what are the essentials that you will need to run your fledgeling business through a virtual office?

  • A powerful laptop
  • A cloud-based email service such as Outlook or Gmail, so you can check out and send out messages from any connected device
  • A cloud-based file sharing and storage system such as Google Drive or Dropbox, so you can access essential files anywhere Productivity software application (if you’re directing a group)
  • Video conferencing software (if not offered by your virtual workplace supplier)
  • For home-based business owners and start-ups aiming to gain a more expert image, renting a virtual workplace could be the perfect business solution.
entrepreneur multi tasking

Multi-tasking can be made easier with a virtual office

Now, let us add to this list the services that a virtual office such as Hold Everything can add to the mix:

  • A mail forwarding service.  Mail can be addressed to your central London registered office address and then be forwarded to your home or shepherd’s hut on a regular basis.  That way, your new business and your personal life can be elegantly separated.
  • A telephone answering service.  Having a professional voice answer your business calls on a dedicated London phone line goes a long way to establishing you as a serious company which is what you need when you become an entrepreneur.
  • A meeting room for client conferences.  why pay for fixed office premises when top virtual offices can provide you with a stylish boardroom to impress your visitors, all you need to add is the coffee and biscuits.
  • A legal registered business address.  Having your office address correctly registered will give you peace of mind and full business status.  It is a service we offer our clients so you look professional ‘right from the off.’

 

Top Qualities to Build Your Business.

Thursday, 12 November 2020 09:57
Richard Cooper
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business success

Build Your Business.

As in all aspects of life, there are five essential ingredients for success: passion, enthusiasm, optimism, inner strength, and perseverance.  So in a post-Covid world what qualities will help us succeed as entrepreneurs?  The last 9 months have made many of us reassess our work and our business direction.  Like many who use Hold Everything, you are probably working from home building a business.  Perhaps you have been nudged on the freelance path by redundancy or a major shift in the way your industry operates.  But whatever the reason is that brings you to our door we want to help you succeed in building your business quickly and efficiently.   As you know, we do all the heavy lifting for you by answering your calls, sorting and forwarding your mail and generally providing a backbone of essential office services for you.   But what are the qualities that you need to focus on to build your business when you are working from home?

After working with thousands of successful entrepreneurs I can say that the characteristics that have stood out are:

Clear goals. They are extremely precise regarding the objectives to be achieved; They spend a lot of time designing their purpose and adjusting anything that throws them off course. They permanently evaluate their performance, not comparing themselves with others, but with themselves. They have a high standard of excellence in everything they do.

Build Your Business.

A positive self-image is very important.

Positive self-image. Self-image is the internal representation of who you are and what you want when you look in the mirror each morning. Winning-minded people can see beyond, they know how to self-observe in-depth, enhance the good and improve what they still lack. They know that there are always new skills to be learnt, be it a new language or mastering a new software product. You understand that each extra skill will help build your business.

Self-confidence. Winners trust themselves and their potential. They tend to have a high tolerance for frustration, disappointment and failure, from which they recover quickly. They are aware of how others relate to them whether as a business partner or as a competitor.

Self-determination. They are permanently affirmed in their strength and not in their weaknesses. They do not victimize themselves and go to the front without neglecting that there may be others who find it difficult to keep up. They are also skilled and quick in decision-making, they do not procrastinate for days over every tiny detail.  They have unusual speed in processing a lot of scattered information.  They can see how various factors would fit together in the changing business landscape can affect their situation whether from a legal or accountancy or a fulfilment perspective.

Self-discipline. When they commit, they go deep. They always act in direction to achieve what they seek. They are determined and rarely hesitate to define crucial issues. They have a good relationship with the risk/opportunity factor. They are usually ordered, or surround themselves with people who help them in their high performance, to focus in that case on what gives them the most pleasure and what they do best.

There are of course other important things to consider in developing a winning mindset and build your business, such as keeping a close eye on costs and seeking value from your budget.  But then, as a client of Hold Everything you are already exhibiting these qualities by choosing to avoid the expenses of a rented office and full-time staff.  Business development is always an ongoing process but by having the team at Hold Everything working on your behalf you can be the entrepreneur you always dreamt of becoming.

Digital Transformation and Why a Virtual Office is the ‘New Normal’.

Thursday, 10 September 2020 08:49
Richard Cooper
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digital transformation

digital transformation

I have noticed a clever meme floating around on social media this month – “who spearheaded your company’s digital transformation?” Answer “Covid-19”.   Yes, it’s undoubtedly true that when things have settled enough for us to look back on the disruption of 2020 we will see Covid-19 being the catalyst we had been waiting for to rationalise the way we work and let office practise catch up with digital reality.  Indeed, experts had warned against the false sense of security many companies had that the warmer weather and the general easing of restrib=ctions would return us to a landscape not wholly different from what we had known in the past.

Without a vaccine readily available, many organizations are continuing to encourage their workers to work remotely. In July, Google became the first major organization to formally extend its work-from-home policy until summer 2021. Other large organizations such as the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, and Japanese technology company Fujitsu took a further step in their digital transformation by announcing “indefinite”  flexible and remote working policies for their employees.

Socially distanced work, a novelty only four months ago, has now become the “new normal.”  But are countries prepared to make near-term improvements and plan investments for the longer-term, beyond the immediate crisis?  And where do they start?  This is a macro policy consideration but it is important to think about.  In order to have a Work From Home (WFH) new normal we need certain structural elements in place.  Not all countries are equal in meeting the challenge.

A study by Harvard Business School shows that America (of course!!!) is well equipped for the challenge as is the UK.  But many other European countries do not have a reliable enough digital framework to support a distance-working economy. For business leaders, it raises new possibilities for recruiting and hiring new and diverse talent. Unbound by the constraints of physical headquarters or office locations, executives are free to hire talent in new locations, provided that adequate network infrastructure exists for remote working. This enables companies to recruit and manage staff well outside their normal base of operation.  There is a vast pool of talent sitting around on short term recruitment platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr and now, People Per Hour.   This influx of new overseas talent means that UK freelancers must work ever more efficiently to compete and thrive in our new world order of digital transformation.

digital transformation freelance

Having an efficient virtual office based in the centre of London helps make this possible and gives a big tactical advantage to small businesses and freelancers working from home.  Being able to get your phone calls answered professionally by British staff and mail forwarded through the fastest UK mail channels gives a huge advantage which will be more apparent as the working world changes.   This is a good moment to talk with the team at Hold Everything on London’s Regent Street.   We have been preparing for this enormous paradigm shift for the last 30 years.  We knew it had to happen eventually, commercial properties are expensive to rent and very wasteful on space and resources.  Employing full-time staff to answer 20 phone calls a day is an anachronism, it only makes sense to pay for what you actually need.   We can show you how you can boost your business or freelance profile and save money doing so.   Forwarding mail and answering your phone is just a small part of what is entailed in a virtual office.   We can help you, from company formation to your IPO, We want to help you make sense of Post Covid-19 business.

Post Brexit London. Medical Tourism Generates Millions for the Economy.

Sunday, 02 February 2020 18:20
Richard Cooper
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medical tourism near the hold everything virtual office
medical tourism near the hold everything virtual office

Harley St is the epicentre of London Medical Tourism

Over the coming months and years London will need to be ‘fleet of foot’ to thrive independently from the EU.  The soundest way to do this will be to push our strengths and our unique skill sets that our European competitors cannot compete with.  Obviously we have our financial sector which is world-beating and  the premier destination for mainland Europe to raise finance and take advantage of our sophisticated financial instruments. But over the coming weeks we will look at other lesser known sectors that are unrivalled from Berlin to Rome.  One of these is situated right on our doorstep and its importance may yet surprise you.

Many people, when they think of Regent Street, think mainly of the prestige shops that line the streets from Piccadilly Circus to Oxford Circus .  The huge flagship stores from Apple and Nike and the world famous toyshop Hamleys.  People seldom think that just the other side of Oxford Circus  is another vast tourist goldmine earning this country millions of pounds every year.  Just a few hundred yards north of Oxford Circus is Harley Street, the epicentre of the British private medical universe.  Nowhere else in the world is there such a concentration of medical skill and specialisation which act as a magnet to London’s high-level medical tourism market.  Different intermediaries, especially, medical concierge companies, help international patients to navigate the UK health system and ease the travel arrangements. Many of those offer services oriented to the wealthiest clientele.

The United Kingdom has been the destination of choice for medical tourists to whom quality of treatment comes first, and price second. Medical facilities in the UK offer many advanced treatments that are not available in other medical tourism destinations, despite the fact that the latter may be far more affordable. The UK has been seen as a premier choice for medical procedures like fertility treatment and cancer therapies and also for cosmetic surgery clinics, owing to its reliable quality of care that far exceeds its competitors elsewhere. Medical tourists typically visit cities like Manchester and London to take advantage of the first-grade healthcare facilities and their wealth of skilled practitioners.  Typically medical tourists are wealthy visitors from the oil-rich Arab countries and Russian oligarchs who also spend large sums on accommodation and entertainment whilst they are visiting their doctors.   Our medical tourist industry also helps finance our own NHS by using NHS facilities at market rates.  This, in turn is a social benefit for all of us in London.

So, if your business is in the medical tourism sector, perhaps as a medical facilitator, you would be very wise to base your business at our virtual office since it locates you right at the heart of medical London and gives extra credibility to your company.   Over the coming weeks we will be looking at various sectors that will help the uK thrive post-Brexit and make London and even more prosperous city.