October 3rd, 2008 by Martin Senn
There is a point in a small business development when you are ready to boost your business up a level. And to seek out an investor to help you move forward, you need to be able to present yourself in the best manner possible. It is at this time when a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Office will be critical. It is important to be organized, professional and have a strong business development plan. Once you have those things in place, here are a few ways to find investors for your business:
Start with a strong investment statement that highlights your achievements and shows a trajectory for economic growthDetermine exactly how much you need, for what duration and to what end
Be prepared to offer a return on investment to your investors, could be interest, product, services, ownership
Next compile a list of all of the people you know, then work your way outwards to find all of your potential connections
Include family members in your list of people, (it goes without saying they should be family members in good standing)
Begin by approaching the people you know, then expand outward. Find local venture capital groups and angel networks. See what requirements they have for pitching propositions. Connect yourself to nonprofits that can help you gain access and show you the ropes. The Oregon Entrepreneurs Network is a great example. Associate with entrepreneurs groups either in person or on line (www.entrepreneur.com, www.edgyentrepreneur.com) to gain key insights and save time by avoiding common pitfalls.
And remember, persistence is your friend. Don’t give up, keep pushing forward, you can do it!
Relevant Tags:investors, virtual office space, virtual offices, virtual assistant

September 30th, 2008 by Martin Senn
Virtual office space, there when you need it and not when you don’t! What an amazing concept that is…It used to be that if you wanted to start your own business, you would have to open an office. Get the space, fill it with furniture, turn on the utilities, all of the things a reputable business would do. Man, have things changed!
When I am ready to go to work, I roll out of bed, pour myself a cup of coffee and switch on my laptop. That’s it…I am immediately at work. I have a couple of websites and a blog or two where I establish my presence online. And, I certainly haven’t stopped in person networking…meeting people, virtually or at an event, is still a critical component of building your contact lists and client base.
If I have a coffee or lunch scheduled, I have two or three places I like to go, so I offer to meet my contact there.
But there are times when I need to have an actual office space…and that has been the catch for many a small business owner up until now. And though many have tried to work around it by having an office built onsite at home, it just never seems as “official” as having an office space in a business district.
Thankfully, there are now ways to rent space for short amounts of time. You can find spaces where you can meet for an hour or for a week. Spaces like these have several sizes of rooms, furniture, white boards and screens.
You can also find locations that have phone systems, computer access, duplicating machines, faxes, video and phone conferencing and all of the standard accompanying features of large offices.
Keep a list of resources, like virtual office space rentals, so that when you have a really important client meeting, you won’t be fumbling around for the information.
Relevant Tags:virtual office space, virtual offices, virtual assistant

September 16th, 2008 by Martin Senn
By now, you’ve probably heard of virtual offices, and how businesses around the globe are using them to help runt their businesses more efficiently.But have you ever wondered what virtual office space can it do for your business?
Davinci virtual office space provides a team of remote receptionists along with professional and other services. If you work on the road or from home, we are available during business hours to answer, screen and/or forward your calls in a professional, personalized manner. Your client or customer will never know the difference.
A virtual office space gives you access to other services as well, from conference room to mailing and pickup services. Because you pool the cost with other businesses, you can get service at a higher level but with a lower cost. Most businesses are not so busy that they need a dedicated full-time receptionist or meeting rooms and business services. However, these things are key to growing a successful business.
The best part of a virtual office is the consistent and professional image it provides. No more missed calls that become missed opportunities as your client calls another business. You don’t have to worry about appearing small and unprofessional or disorganized because of things out of your control.
Virtual Office Space Tip: Having a virtual office assistant means the same person answers your phones. There isn’t noise from traffic, your kids, or other distractions and noise that can leave a bad impression.
Relevant Tags:business services, virtual office space, virtual offices, virtual office assistant

September 16th, 2008 by Martin Senn
It is becoming clear in the twenty-first century business world that use of a virtual office setup can be beneficial for a wide range of companies, even those that would traditionally be run out of the home. A major positive to using a virtual office is the potential for dramatic reduction in commuting time and costs – and indirectly having a positive impact on environment with reduced auto emissions. Using virtual offices can also increase employee productivity and improve employees’ quality of life.
As it’s true that 100% of business cannot be conducted over the telephone or via fax or email, having access to conference rooms at ones’ virtual offices is a great solution, especially over the alternative (have you ever truly seen a “quiet” corner at a coffee shop?).
Another unexpected bonus to using a virtual office is that the pool of job applicants available to you need not be restricted to your immediate geographic area. Perhaps the absolute perfect fit for the job opening at your company lives a time zone (or two) away from the company – but with a virtual office, the perfect fit can become an employee and everybody wins.
Virtual Office Tip: By switching your company to virtual offices from a traditional office space leasing arrangement, the cost savings can be astoundingly high.
Relevant Tags:business services, virtual office space, virtual offices, virtual office assistant

September 15th, 2008 by Martin Senn
In most ways, rapid growth of a small business is not call for concern, but rather call for celebration! But, in some ways, you see, when a small business outgrows the business owner’s home office (spare room or corner of the kitchen), it can become a problem.
A great solution to this so-called problem is to investigate and acquire virtual offices. With access to virtual offices, you can get the necessities for your business that you thought were out of your financial reach. Among the professional-level services offered by virtual offices are receptionist or call forwarding, conference room spaces, and even courier, catering, and concierge services. All those employees and services are available to assist you with the administrative aspects of your growing small business, but without the enormous expense of having to hire individuals for each service, or the expense of leasing, furnishing, and maintaining office space.
The Small Business Administration says that 53% of small businesses are run out of the home. If the majority of those businesses are not making use of virtual offices, then they are possibly not working at their best and most efficient potential.
Virtual Offices Tip: The money saved through the use of virtual offices can now be better used to help your small business grow still more.
Relevant Tags:virtual office, virtual offices

September 11th, 2008 by Martin Senn
Raise your hand if you internally groan when you see that you’ve got a staff meeting on your calendar. Admit it, much of the time, such meetings end with one side of the room doodling on their notepads and the other side of the room watching the clock, waiting for the meeting to end. But you and your employees (or co-workers) don’t have to dread staff meetings held in a virtual office space.
When your company takes virtual office space, it is taking advantage of an extremely hot and very effective new business trend. Employers and employees alike have access to countless benefits to using virtual offices, including higher productivity, efficiency, and remarkable potential for huge cost-savings (on overhead and operating expenses).
Your company’s virtual office space staff meetings will feel new, different, and exciting from the beginning. You can use any number of new technological tools to conduct your staff meeting: teleconferencing, computer mirroring, interactive presentations, and more. Of course, a good meeting or presentation is not all about the technology — the system is just a tool and a significant portion of the ultimate success is up to the change in the way the staff using virtual office space think and interpret the information made available in the virtual meetings.
Virtual Office Space Tip: when you consider how much time can be wasted by traditional office meetings, the high-efficiency of working virtually is clearly cost-beneficial.
Relevant Tags:virtual office space, virtual offices

September 11th, 2008 by Martin Senn
Startup companies can find incredible benefits by taking part in an emerging new trend in business today: virtual offices.
One of the biggest benefits to a startup that opts to open virtual offices is that startup costs – traditionally quite sizeable – can be reduced drastically. No overhead for office space and operating costs. No full-time employees with full-time salaries. But endless potential opportunities for growth and success and access to professional, expert, and competent office assistance.
The heads of startup companies enjoy the fact that, through virtual offices, they can tap a seemingly endless source of expertise for administrative or time-consuming business tasks while taking care of the client-specific business tasks themselves. In addition to the increased efficiency, delegating certain tasks to their virtual office assistants is cost-effective as they’re only charged for time-used on tasks.
With virtual offices, startup companies can accomplish much more than possible on their own. They can effectively meet new business challenges and move ever closer (and faster) towards their business goals, whatever those may be.
Virtual Offices Tip: Many startup companies agree that with good management, smart planning, trust, confidence and commitment, you can make your virtual offices work efficiently and effectively.
Relevant Tags:virtual office space, virtual offices

September 10th, 2008 by Martin Senn
A large number of business analysts would tend to agree that the virtual office phenomenon is widespread (indeed, worldwide), is steadily increasing, and is expected to continue to grow more all the time.
What many companies and employees alike are finding about virtual offices is that it fits well with the careers of the twenty-first century. Companies of all sizes are discovering that the virtual office setup can be an ideal solution for them, offering cost-savings measures at the same time as opportunities to increase employee motivation and productivity.
A number of companies that use virtual offices tend to have their employees’ needs in mind with this transition. Studies have shown that the stronger a company’s value on teamwork, flexibility, and communication among employees, the better the company will do, in the long-term, with working in a virtual office. These same studies also demonstrated that employees working in a virtual setting tend to have a greater productivity and increased job performance. This can be partly attributed to the fact that virtual managers are more apt to trust their remote employees with projects and also that the managers find delegation of business tasks to be effective motivation for virtual office employees.
Virtual Office Tip: Some basic business functions like customer service, human resources, finance, and marketing can be greatly enhanced for companies that use a virtual office setting.
Relevant Tags:virtual office, virtual office space, virtual offices

September 10th, 2008 by Martin Senn
Never before has technology been so central to the way businesses operate today, one example being the virtual office. One fantastic benefit of virtual offices is the potential for flexible working hours. Companies and employees alike enjoy a number of benefits. Allowing employees to work flexible schedules via virtual offices offers access to new motivation. Numerous surveys have demonstrated that employees who enjoy a good work-life balance or quality of life are happier with their jobs and in return offer greater productivity and efficiency.
Another great benefit to virtual offices for employees is the potential for significant stress-reduction. Avoiding long and expensive commutes, having increased time and opportunities for family time, and the decrease in office distractions goes a long way to solving some major sources of stress for employees.
Companies that use virtual offices also find that it’s a great recruiting tool for new employees. In addition, the pool of candidates to fill jobs is hugely increased; now companies on one coast can hire employees located on the opposite coast, with great success for everyone involved.
Virtual Offices Tip: The payoffs of virtual offices are great for both the employee and the employer when there are clear work goals, proper training and a well-thought out plan.
Relevant Tags:virtual office space, virtual offices

September 9th, 2008 by Martin Senn
As recently as a few years ago, companies found that as much as 11% of their new hires were relocating in from out of state to the company’s location. It might seem like there’s no way around paying relocation costs to get that perfect fit for your business’ job opening signed on as an employee. But the reality is that with a virtual office, relocation is no longer an issue for you or for potential employees.
Thanks to virtual offices, a company can be “based” in one location (for mail delivery and client meeting purposes, for example) while some or all of the company’s employees are physically working in locations 10, 50, or even hundreds of miles away.
Everyone is connected through technology that the virtual office offers, so team projects and efficiency don’t suffer. Companies see a significant cost savings in their operating budget by utilizing a virtual office.
And employees? Employees might be the happiest, as they have a great job that they enjoy and yet they didn’t have to uproot their families, put their houses on the market, and deal with packing and unpacking dozens of boxes in order to take the job.
Virtual Office Tip: An increasing number of service-industry companies are finding that a virtual office setup is ideal for them and their employees.
Relevant Tags:virtual office, virtual office space, virtual offices

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