AT WHAT POINT DO YOU RENT AN OFFICE FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

Starting a business has many milestones from hiring your first member of staff to reaching your first twelve months trading to, with any luck, turning a profit. But at what point do you consider an office for lease? Taking on a small private office for rent such as those available at LABS and trading up from your spare room or local coffee shop brings with it a wealth of benefits. From somewhere professional clients can visit, to a WiFi connection that can cope with a heavy schedule of virtual meetings, to being able to more easily achieve that all-important work/life balance by taking the office out of your home.

Maybe the question of considering a business office for rent isn’t ‘can I afford to be there?’ but ‘can I afford *not* to be there?’ given other factors like the race to hire and keep the best talent.

When looking at commercial property, it’s worth bearing in mind what facilities you’ll need, from the size of the office to the workplace facilities available, such as a range of meeting rooms like those across LABS’ network of buildings. This also goes beyond the physical space of your workplace, whether that’s a series of coworking hot desks through a service like LABS’ Roaming membership or taking an entire floor of flexible serviced office space through services like LABS’ Enterprise offering, its about the aim of developing a brand and creating a culture as a business to help improve the ‘work’ experience for both managers and staff.

Perhaps a good litmus test of when you should be considering an office for lease, be it a short term office rental or a longer term proposition, is the convenience of location for all stakeholders in your business.

Is it easy for all team members to travel to come together and collaborate and learn together to grow the business? Where are your clients located and, crucially, where are your competitors based? ‘Place’ is, after all, one of the fundamentals of any business’s marketing strategy so it’s worth getting it right first time after carefully considering your options.

An office location is not, of course, somewhere simply to go to and come back from at the end of the day. As businesses grow they need a stimulating environment to work and thrive in, a box room in a home cannot really provide this. It requires meeting space, break out areas, maybe even a rooftop for al fresco working options on a sunny day. And when you step out of the office building what’s the local ecosystem like? Are there places to go to grab a healthy lunch? How about extra-curricular activities, is there somewhere nearby or onsite to hit the gym or enjoy after work drinks? There are many things to consider when looking to rent an office, but the benefits of leasing professional workspace can be considerable.