Mailboxes Archives - Office Space for Rent in Raleigh, Garner, Cary & Sanford

The Coffee Shop Conundrum

Amy Brewer — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 16:44:13 +0000

The coffee shop will never have to be your conference room ever again.

As I usually do, I stopped at a coffee shop on my way into the office the other day. As I hurried across the parking lot, a car wrap caught my eye for a company that deals with estate sales of elderly parents who are transitioning to an assisted living facility. Wow. Heavy stuff.

My first thought was about how I went through something similar with my parents a few years back. But then, as is my habit, I noticed, “they don’t have a business address posted on the wrap, I wonder if Office Ours can help?” What can I tell you? Work is always on my mind.

I was also curious: “does the salesperson travel around the Triangle meeting with clients at coffee shops?” Hmm. I felt certain that all parties of this highly emotional, private subject matter would benefit from a private office or a conference room big time. I decided, in that moment, if I met the owner in line, I would give him my business card.

Public place. Private meeting.
Sure enough, not 5 feet from the door, a sales guy was opening a large tri-fold brochure of estate sales services to an overwrought person—someone whose parents were going through a transition. I was shocked. Such a private and emotional, human moment was being discussed in front of people walking in and out of a coffee shop. Preventing this exact type of scenario is what made me passionate about opening Office Ours.

Take the space you need. Everybody benefits.
No business should feel like they can’t afford a private meeting space, especially when they need it. But Office Ours takes it one step further by providing multiple locations around Wake County, and, now Lee County, making office space and conference room space more available to all. It’s our mission.

Why? The truth is certain industries require a place to meet; a place where they can discuss private topics with clients, conduct interviews, or have team meetings. Plus, like today, sometimes privacy is needed to respect a person’s right to be lost, emotional, sad, overwhelmed and comforted. While other times it’s necessary because of confidential information or trade secrets that will be exchanged. And still, all that just scratches the surface.

What do you need? What’s your reason?
Perhaps you just need a place with no distractions. Personally, I hate when the person across from me is slurping coffee and chomping on a blueberry muffin. Then there’s the person on my right on a sales phone call, having a conversation like nobody else is around. While the person on my left can’t stop looking at what is on my laptop more than what is on their own. Ugh.

Don’t get me wrong. Coffee shops are a wonderful thing. Love meeting my friends there to catch up. But conference room access for as little as a $5 cup of coffee every day is even better. I left my Office Ours business card under the driver’s side windshield wiper of the car wrap car. Ironically, I didn’t want to intrude on the meeting. No call yet. But here’s to hoping.

Learn more about virtual office spaces with conference room access, private offices with conference room access or a monthly conference room subscription with OfficeOurs now.

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PO Box or Virtual Office?

Amy Brewer — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 20:55:15 +0000

The holidays are upon us, and just like every year, you can expect that the parking lots for post offices and retail mailboxes will be busy. They are tough to miss because of the loud horns and long lines of cars waiting to get into the shopping center’s parking lot. Cars drive up and down the parking lot looking for a free spot. It is a tough place to find a parking spot from November to the New Year. When you finally find a spot and join the crowd inside the building, after you leave, you wish to never return until after the holidays. That isn’t an option if your business mailbox is located at the post office or retail mailbox store. For the rest of the season, you must fight for a parking spot and brave the crowds to get inside to check your business mail. Fortunately, you have another option for a professional business address; a virtual office at your locally owned coworking business center. A virtual office gives you more than just a mailbox, it is the cure for your headache around the holiday season.

Office Ours locations don’t share parking lots with big box stores, grocery stores, or malls, so they have plenty of parking close to the building. You will always be able to get in and out quickly. A perk of a virtual office is the easy parking and access to other amenities in the building. Do you need to check your email or a place to eat lunch before heading to a meeting? Need to drop off outgoing mail? Office Ours mailboxes have outgoing mail slots. We will deliver it to the post office for you…let us deal with the post office traffic instead of you.

Office Ours locations are kept clean and tidy, and hand sanitizer is available inside the front door of every location. It is reassuring to know that when you pull into an Office Ours location, you will have a place to park, a clean building to walk into, and office amenities at your fingertips. Not only do virtual offices have easy parking, but they also give you a membership to access printing and conference rooms at any Office Ours location. Our virtual office members also receive a monthly credit to cover some of your conference room time and printing costs. When was the last time you saw a printer at the post office that didn’t look like it stopped functioning in the 1990s?

A virtual office at Office Ours goes beyond what a PO Box can do for you and your business. On top of all the other benefits, during the holidays, it saves you from anxiety, headaches, frustration, and, most valuable of all, time. Who wants to deal with a busy parking lot, long lines, crowds, and facilities that are dirty or out of order? At Office Ours, we don’t want you to deal with any of these holiday headaches either. Instead, enjoy those few moments of checking your mailbox by waving hello to our friendly staff and your fellow members while inside our warm and calm buildings. Expect more from your mailbox.

So, where would you rather pick up your business’s mail?

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December Member Spotlight

Amy Brewer — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 19:29:11 +0000

Many small business owners don’t realize the value of having procedures and processes when starting their business. As a small business owner, you might also feel like you don’t have the time or money to hire someone to help you set up these procedures. This is something Brittany Jackson has seen across the workforce and one of the reasons she started her company, Building Stronger Teams. Brittany helps small businesses implement best practices and procedures in their companies, so their employees are happy and able to do their best work. By providing human resource services to companies across the Triangle, Brittany can train and coach employees and help these businesses maintain a successful team.

After working ten years in staffing and management, Brittany decided to work for herself and build her own human resources business. Building Stronger Teams was born in April 2021 with a desire to make a more significant impact and help small businesses create the best teams possible. Brittany provides recruitment services and best practices and procedures to help business owners maintain and nurture their employees. As Brittany said, “You can’t have a successful business without happy employees.” To provide this service to businesses, Brittany works with companies to support and train their employees, so everyone is operating as best as possible. Brittany finds that when businesses have clear procedures in place accompanied by a supportive leadership team, their employees are often more effective and fulfilled in their roles, as she stated, “When you take care of your employees, they will take care of your business.”

When it came time to find a virtual office for her business, Brittany chose Office Ours for multiple reasons including good customer service and knowing she had the ability to scale up to a private office when she was ready. Brittany started with a virtual office for her life coach business at our Professional Court location in February 2020. From the beginning, she knew she would want to upgrade to a private office and was happy to see that Office Ours made this transition an easy process. Almost one year after getting a virtual office, Brittany transitioned to a private office space at our Midtown location where she currently works and now operates Building Stronger Teams. Having printing services on-site and access to conference rooms for her future workshops and trainings gives Brittany peace of mind when it comes to her business. Just like Building Stronger Teams, Office Ours has been committed from the beginning to helping small businesses thrive by giving them the ability to get professional office space. In the past, only large businesses had the ability to acquire office space or an HR department. Building Stronger Teams and Office Ours are enabling small businesses to have quality office space and HR departments now too!

Brittany is excited for the future of Building Stronger Teams and looks forward to adding more employees to her company soon. In the meantime, she will continue to support her clients and help their employees be more successful and happy in their workplace. As her company grows, she hopes to be considered a preferred human resource partner in the Triangle and help employers build strong teams.

Learn More About Building Stronger Teams:

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Top 5 Places You Will Need a Professional Business Address

Amy Brewer — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 16:37:42 +0000

You’ve started your new business out of your home, and things are picking up quickly with new clients and prospects. You are ready to hand out business cards at events or start getting your digital marketing campaigns off the ground. There’s only one problem. When you add your business address to your business cards, you realize you might not want people to know your home address. Securing a virtual office with a professional business address quickly fixes this problem. With an actual business address, you will be able to add it to your website and your business cards proudly. There are many places a professional business address is essential. We compiled a list of the top 5 places you will need to have a business address.

Estimates and Invoices

When you send a prospective client an estimate with your home address or no address at all, they may question the legitimacy of this business they are about to contact for a service. An estimate is that final step before a prospect becomes a paying client, so you’ll want to show them that you have an actual address for your business. After the work is done, you will send them an invoice that contains the place for the client to send their payment. Which type of address is more professional and credible, a commercial address or a residential address?

Business accounts:

When it comes to business, you must learn to segregate your personal life and business life. There are mental health and mindset reasons for this. There are also legal and financial reasons to do this. For example, you need to segregate your personal bank account from your business bank account. If you don’t, there could be tax consequences with the IRS or liability consequences with a plaintiff quickly being able to pierce the corporate veil. You’ll also need separate insurance. Your personal homeowner liability policy doesn’t cover business activities. So why would you commingle your home address and business address? You need an address you can give your bank and your insurance broker to put on your policy. When you move residences, do you want to also change all your business addresses on all your business accounts? Financial institutions will look upon you more favorably if you are using a commercial property address and a business phone number that isn’t your cell phone.

Business cards:

After meeting someone face to face and shaking their hand, the next tradition in the business world is to exchange business cards. Doing so gives each person the ability to remember your name and contact you after the meeting for a follow-up meeting. Your business card is the first impression they will get of your business. When someone doesn’t see an address on the business card, they might ask themselves, “what are they hiding?” Or, if they look up the address on Google Maps and they see a picture of a residential house, they may immediately ask, “Is this a real business?” The address of a commercial office on your business card shows that you are a professional.

Website:

For many people you haven’t met yet, your website is the first and only impression they will get of your company. When potential clients, partners, investors, and employees view your website and see that you don’t have a commercial address listed, they may ask themselves, “Do they not invest in their company enough even to have a professional business address?” This may be a reason why they decide to look elsewhere when choosing where to do their business. Having your virtual office address on your website will show that you have a credible company.

Secretary of state website:

When you file your incorporation, you have to give the secretary of state the address for your business. This address is public record. Do you want your home address to be listed as your business address on the internet? You want to separate your personal life from your business, and you don’t want anyone with access to the internet to find your home address. Having a business address to give the secretary of state for your business will provide you with confidence that your home life is separate from your business life.

While other places like business directories are important to add your address to, the locations listed above are the most visible to potential clients and partners. When someone looks you up or searches for your business, you want to be prepared to give an excellent first impression. Whether you have an office suite or a virtual office, getting your business address out there and into the world will fuel your business.

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Businesses Big and Small Use Virtual Offices

Office Ours, Inc. — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 17:21:50 +0000

A virtual office is a tool that any size business at any growth stage can use to accomplish different goals. Many businesses, large and small, have found that choosing a virtual office over a home address or P.O. Box is more professional with an actual commercial location and is more cost-effective than a physical office space. From startups to established companies looking to expand, virtual offices are beneficial to a wide range of businesses.

Here is a list of the stages of businesses that benefit from having virtual offices.

Freelancers, consultants, solopreneurs, and the self-employed:

For most single-person companies, working from home is one of the biggest perks. But how do you gain the credibility and professionalism of having an office without the expense? Potential clients will see your business as more credible if your address is a commercial building. Holding meetings in executive conference rooms will also raise your credibility. Local or toll-free numbers to an auto-attendant will also make your company appear like a large consultancy.

Startups:

For startups, virtual offices are just a stepping stone to world domination. You might be a one or two-person team today, but you intend on growing the team in the future. A virtual office can help you with providing the savings you need today but also has the upgrade path to right-size your facility needs as you grow. You can start with a virtual office and grow into a single office suite tomorrow. Soon after that, you may have multiple office suites. Eventually, you’ll need a whole top floor in a downtown highrise. Until then, a virtual office with access to conference rooms for interviews for your new employees is your place to start.

An established company entering new markets:

You have an established company that provides services in another part of North Carolina, the USA, or even another part of the world. The strategic direction of your company now is to set up shop in the Triangle region. Before signing up for an expensive office in Wake County that comes with a long-term lease, you will want to test the waters. A virtual office gives you the mailing address and meeting space. Then as your success grows, you can rent a few office suites. Only after you’ve fully established your business in the new region do you go and make a long-term, expensive commitment.

These are just a few examples of businesses of every size benefiting from having virtual offices. A virtual office has something to offer all types of business, whether you are just starting, growing by the day, or already established worldwide. Did your notice your business or industry listed above? It is time to consider how a virtual office might benefit you and your business.

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Top 9 Reasons a Business Should Use a Virtual Office

Office Ours, Inc. — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 13:48:28 +0000

Over the past few years, the office industry has evolved, making strides in providing new and improved products for small businesses. Of these products, virtual offices have conceived a new era of improved remote work, with all of the amenities and features of traditional office space without the overhead and expense. Each provider will differ slightly in their offerings of virtual offices, but generally, they will give you the foundational elements needed to run a professional business; a professional business address, mail services, professional meeting space, and access to other amenities and facilities. Virtual offices can provide businesses a professional and budget-conscious solution to the evolving workforce. Here are the top 9 reasons your business should utilize a virtual office:

Foundational Business Systems

A virtual office is not just a mailbox. Many services that are foundational to any business are typically included with a virtual office to save you time and effort:

Phone Systems – Many virtual offices come with phone services that will allow your clients and vendors to call a business number, not your personal number. This provides room for growth when you finally decide to hire a second employee, salesperson, or operations manager.
Copy Center– Having your own printer may have its benefits for small printing jobs, but having access to a professional copy center will win in the long run. No need to worry about buying ink or trying to solve printer drive issues all by yourself. Some virtual office offerings might even give you free printing.
Conference Rooms-Access to conference rooms is essential if you have a business that holds weekly or monthly meetings. Conference room access also opens up the ability to do sales meetings, trainings, interviews, and classes, all while you still run your business out of your home. Instead of meeting at a coffee shop or rushing to find a space to hold your last-minute meeting, conference room access with a virtual office will bring peace of mind.

Flexible Working-At Home or the Office

One of the many perks of owning a business is a flexible schedule. Recent trends in coworking and virtual offices have made it more and more efficient to work where you want when you want. Using a virtual office will give you access to office facilities where you can go and get away from barking dogs for a while and focus on your work. Many facilities will have access to the coworking or cubicle areas.

Privacy

Many businesses make a significant mistake when choosing a business address, such as using their home address, a P.O. box, or a retail storefront mailbox. Those options lack the professionalism and credibility of the business address provided by a virtual office in case your clients or vendors decide to look you up. When someone Googles your business address, you want them to see a commercial office building, not your personal residence. Business cards, your website, and business directories will all display your business address, so you want to make it a professional business address.

Compliance

When you choose to use your home address for your business, you may run into legal and contractual restrictions.

Does your city’s code prohibit or restrict you from running a business from your home?
Does your HOA have a restriction preventing you from doing business out of your home?
Would it be a material breach of your lease if you use your residence to conduct commercial operations?

Using a virtual office address will reassure you that you are complying with all of the legal and regulatory requirements that go into owning a business.

Professionalism

An excellent first impression with a client is essential. The main thing that makes your business appear to outsiders as being real is separating the business from your personal life. This is extremely hard for solopreneurs or companies just starting out. If your business address is separate from your personal address, it signifies your business is professional. If your meetings are in a different location than your local coffee shop, where everybody knows your name because it is a mile from your house, that is professional. If your business’s phone number is separate from your mobile number, it signifies your business’s professionalism. It is essential that the business appears to be more than just the owner that is starting it. The company is its own entity with its own resources and a separate identity.

Credibility

Credibility is your client’s, partner’s, and vendor’s perception of you. Does having no address on your business card communicate to a potential partner a lack of commitment to the business? Does a P.O. Box or a retail mailbox communicate to a potential customer you are not a fly by night operation? Does asking a potential employee to do the interview at the coffee shop signal your business is fully funded and can afford payroll? If your operation is run professionally, then it will be more likely to be perceived as credible.

Savings

What if your business isn’t ready for the expenses and overhead of a private office? What if your business plan is designed in such a way it might never need a private office? A virtual office gives you most of the benefits of a private office without the expense. Undoubtedly, businesses need to be as profitable as possible to grow effectively and intelligently. This means that budgeting, accounting, and profitability are among the most important factors to consider when operating a business. Many virtual office providers will be a one-stop-shop for business services, which can save you a big chunk of change in the long run.

Rightsize your Business

Your business is thriving, revenue is growing, you are hiring more employees, and it is time for a new office suite. Most business centers will have resources available when you decide to grow into an office suite, and many centers have multiple locations from which to choose. You can start with a virtual office, but then you can then conveniently move into an office. The flexibility and futureproofing of your business address are crucial to seamlessly expand or contract to your business needs while keeping costs in mind.

Confidence

Your business is powerful no matter where you work, where you meet, and what business address you use. However, business owners often need all the help they can get. Increased privacy, savings, credibility, and professionalism will only boost your confidence, which will help your business thrive. The belief that your business has its business infrastructure needs covered will free up your mind to focus on growing your business. In conclusion, virtual offices provide your business with a competitive advantage. Imagine you are at a business networking event, and a potential customer is roaming the crowd. Your competitor hands that potential customer a business card with no business address and asks for a meeting with that customer next week at the nearest coffee shop. Then you hand the customer your business card with a professional business address and ask for a meeting next week at “your office.” Who is most likely to win that business?

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Online Business Directories

Office Ours, Inc. — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:52:48 +0000

As a small business owner, you may have the feeling that larger businesses have an advantage over yours because of their professional business address. A business’s address is one of the most important identifiers to a business in addition to the business name, website URL, and phone number. Owning a virtual office allows you to proudly display your professional business address on creditable directories and websites like Facebook, Yelp, and Linkedin.

One of the first goals you will want to tackle is to make sure your business address is listed on major online directories. Adding your virtual office address to these directories will drive traffic to your website, and increase your business’s SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and will improve your business ranking in online search results. Your SEO improves when you do things like adding your business to online directories. As a business owner, you may already utilize platforms like Facebook, Yelp, and LinkedIn, but there may be some directories you have never heard of that can help your business.

Unfortunately, you cannot add a virtual office address on Google My Business, but there are many places you CAN use your virtual office address. Knowing where to add your business address can be difficult and you don’t want to waste your time with websites that rarely get clicks. We have compiled a list of reputable places online where you can list your business address. We built this checklist to make it easier for business owners to confirm they have added their virtual office address to all the free virtual directories listed. The more places you add your business information, the more valuable your virtual office address will be!

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