The Professional Imperative: Signs Your Business Is Ready for a Formal Workspace

Launching a business is rarely a period of luxury or excess. If it’s to be successful, it will most likely start in a shared desk or a home office. Scaling up is a different challenge – and for good reason. At some point, the decision to stop cramming everyone into an overcrowded attic and move into dedicated rented office space is the beginning of something new. Not just bigger, but also more professional, sustainable and committed to being a leader in your market. But when is the right time to invest in a proper business premises? Well, ignoring it can limit your potential and put your brand at risk. Here are 12 signs that it’s time to rent an office space for your growing business.

1. A Residential Address Lets Down Your Brand

Think about what it says to a prospective customer or business partner if you still have a residential address on your website and corporate literature. The move to a business address at a professionally rented office space can make your company look much more established and credible in the eyes of top-calibre clients.

2. You’re Outgrowing Your Workspace

The most obvious sign that it’s time to make the move is space. The most effective office spaces will naturally become too small when your team is expanding and you’re hiring more staff. When you have to jostle for space at the desk or take interviews in the local café, it’s a sign you need a properly furnished workspace to match your ambitions.

3. Clients, Investors or Partners Will Be Meeting You

Make no mistake, first impressions matter. Will your new clients, investors or business partners feel welcome and see the professional image you want to project by being welcomed into your kitchen or bedroom? Purpose-built meeting rooms are a standard feature at every working hub and offer you a confidential and impressive space to seal the deal.

4. Household Chores Are Taking a Toll on Productivity

As every home-based worker knows, working from home can easily lead to a clash of priorities. Household chores and a lack of structure at home can make it difficult to get into a productive headspace. A separation between your home and work life will help establish boundaries that make it easier to focus and feel more professional.

5. You Are in a Competitive Race for the Best Talent

Recruiting top-flight talent can be a real challenge in a crowded marketplace. The environment where new hires will work is a key part of what will excite and attract them to your brand. Most professional and ambitious workers expect an office space that is fit for purpose with all the bells and whistles of a first-class working environment. Your talent will expect it, and they will have good reason to look elsewhere if they don’t see it.

6. Your Technology and Data are at Risk

Whether or not you have moved away from a home-based IT setup, you will have reached a point where your data is sensitive enough that you need to take it seriously. That level of digital security is extremely unlikely to be provided by your broadband provider. Working from a rented office space will give you access to enterprise-grade internet speeds, private networks, and professional IT support.

7. Company Culture and Collaboration are at Risk

Business is social, and when your team are scattered around the country, it can be difficult to make connections that nurture company culture and collaboration. Shared working hubs provide a great environment to refocus your team and create a strong identity for your business, and a private office or meeting room is an equally great option for those that prefer it.

8. You Need Facilities that Your Home Office Can’t Offer

Your business may now have needs that go far beyond desks and a reliable Wi-Fi connection. It might be a dedicated product demonstration suite, podcasting studio, a server room or a maker’s lab. It’s likely that working hubs have access to just the sort of facilities you need.

9. Your Storage and Logistics Needs Have Grown

If you are still storing filing cabinets of paper files, products or excess stock, marketing materials or prototypes at home, you will eventually reach a point where you have to make a decision. The storage and logistical support offered by an office space can free up your home again and give your operations a professional sheen.

10. Networking has Become a Business Need

Operating from home for so long can feel like your business has been in a bubble. It’s one of the most powerful features of the well-curated communities found at modern working hubs: access to a network of potential clients, collaborators, and mentors across all industries. And when your company is expanding, that’s exactly what you need.

11. Your Legal Structure Requires a Business Address

It’s not just for vanity that formal business structures need a registered address for correspondence. It’s a legal requirement for bodies like Companies House, so in that case having a business address isn’t just important – it’s non-negotiable.

12. Work-Life Balance is a Necessity

It’s easy to lose perspective on your work when you’re busy building a business. But being an entrepreneur is a marathon, not a sprint. If you are unable to switch off when your office is in your home, you are only a few weeks away from burning out. For your own sake, rent an office space for your business before it’s too late.