Working from home is a blessing, but it can also be a curse if you don’t have a good business address. Online, virtual, and home-based businesses are becoming more popular every day for their convenience and cost-effectiveness.
There are major companies, like Basecamp, for example, run completely from remote workers without an office.
It has made it to the point where e-commerce stores are quickly growing more successful than brick-and-mortar stores, Black Friday and its sky-rocket online sales are obvious proof of this.
Home-based or online business owners don’t need to go through the struggle of renting office space, looking for prime locations, or getting equipment for the office, most of their work is done through online tools without needing the space or commitment of an office.
But why isn’t a home address good for business, and how can a virtual address help?
What is a Virtual Address?
A virtual address is a physical address that individuals or businesses use as a mailing address and virtually have control over it.
They receive their postal mail and packages at this address and handle operations online, through their smartphones or computers, needing nothing but an internet connection. You don’t need to be at the address to enjoy its benefits!
A virtual address can be a real street address or a PO Box address, whichever you prefer. There are over 400+ U.S mailing addresses for you to choose from the most convenient.
With your virtual address, you can use it for personal or business mail. As a home business, there are multiple ways a virtual address would make all the difference for you.
What are the benefits of a Virtual Business Address – for a home-based business?
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Protect your home’s privacy and safety:
Working from home means your home automatically becomes your office, But even if it is your office, that doesn’t mean your customers, investors, or partners should all have your address.
- You can use your home address for business registration but when your customers do a Google search online, you don’t want your home to come up.
- Using a virtual business address means you can use it for business mail, and business anything. Keep your home address private and protected from the internet and customers.
- Your home and family deserve their privacy; protect their privacy by separating your business address from your home address.
Read more: How to get a physical address?
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Efficiently handle business mail:
When using your home address for business mail, your invoices or paperwork would come with your magazine subscriptions and holiday greetings.
At first, separating your personal and business mail doesn’t seem like a big deal. But when you lose an important document or misplace a contract, then you know it’s time for a change.
With a virtual mailing address, everyone will have a particular address to send concerns, paperwork, feedback, invoices, and everything business-related.
You’ll be able to log into your mailbox online and open & scan mail, forward packages to your home, shred & recycle sensitive mail, archive packages, and store mail online. You get instant notifications with any new mail or packages, and then you can log into your mailbox and send out handling requests.
Also, other cases when a virtual address would be a lifesaver is if you live in a remote area that doesn’t get the mail or only have a PO Box.
With a PO Box, you can only receive mail from USPS, no other mail carrier (DHL, UPS, FedEx, etc.) but with a virtual street address, you can freely receive packages from all mail carriers.
Never lose important business mail again by handling it virtually AND separately from your personal mail. Better mail handling will only reflect positively on your business and customer satisfaction.
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Professional image for your business:
Your business’s image is something you’ll always be working on improving and growing; using your home address for the business isn’t a step in that direction.
You may want to remove your address from your website or social media, assuming it’s alright not to use one at all.
But not having an address marketed would take down your business’s credibility. Customers feel like they can trust your business more, knowing that you have a dedicated address and aren’t some scam online.
You have multiple locations nationwide to choose from, whether in New York or Chicago! A non-commercial address wouldn’t look good for your business but a prestigious address in a big city can do wonders. Use your virtual business address on your website, social media, business card, etc. – it’s yours to use!
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Offers potential business growth:
A business address in a corporate, commercial location not only verifies your business to your current customers, but it provides a great start for potential customers.
You’re not tied down to your home address, and so, you can market to a broader audience in different regions. As your business grows, you’ll need a professional address to match this growth.
And even if you move around or travel, you can get your business mail and packages forwarded to you wherever you are, in any city or country.
Don’t limit your business’s potential and give it the marketing boost it needs with a new, corporate address.
5. Cost-Effective
One of the major benefits of a virtual address is that they are more cost-effective when compared to a traditional physical office. With a virtual address, you get to pay for a business address without paying huge rental fees that come with a traditional physical office.
This also allows you to keep your business expenses low as you reduce the cost of office equipment, transportation, workers’ salary, utilities, office maintenance, and more. With a virtual mailbox, you can save money and focus your limited resources on what matters most.
6.Easy Expansion
With a virtual address, you can expand your business without the need to move to a bigger office. This is a convenient and a cost-effective alternative to traditional expansion needs, which requires getting a bigger office and paying more for rent. Since your business is not limited by space, you can use a virtual address to create a business presence in a new area.
How to get a virtual business address online?
Getting your virtual business address can get done in three easy steps!
First, select a virtual professional address from the nationwide locations then you need to choose a payment plan, there are 3 flexible, cost-efficient options to choose from.
After you’re done, you’ll need to fill in a USPS Postal Consent Form to authorize a third party to receive your postal mail and get it notarized. Then lastly, apply for a change of address (temporarily or permanently) to start receiving your postal mail at your new address!
Other 3 Services to Efficiently Handle Your Home-based Business
1. Online Time Tracking
You’re probably working on your own, but that does not mean that you don’t need to track your time. Tracking your time keeps you organized as you shift from one task to the next, it calculates time spent which will eventually help you be aware of the time each and every task takes so whenever you do something similar, you know how long it will take. Clockin Portal is an online web-based time tracking system that is free for those working solo.
2. Getting Paid
After all the hard work, you expect to get paid without any inconvenience. There are many applications that you can use, depending on what is convenient for you and for your clients. And no matter where you clients are, you can receive your money instantly. Online applications for transferring and receiving money are Venmo, Square Cash and Google Wallet. For Google Wallet, you have to have a gmail account and it only works within the U.S. which won’t be convenient if you have clients overseas. As for Square Cash and Venmo, they are not limited to the U.S.
3. Cloud Storage
If you like to store work documents and records, the best way is to store them online. It’s convenient because you won’t have to backup your data fearing a likely computer crash. You can store your data on google drive. With Google, you can store up to 15 GB totally for free. You can also use Dropbox. Unfortunately, with Dropbox, you can store only up to 2 GB for free, but if you only store documents, then you’re good to go.
With all the online services available for free or for very reasonable prices, you can run your home-business smoothly and efficiently. The world is at your fingertips and you can make money using simple tools and services.
Photo by Jonathan Francisca on Unsplash
Check more about: Is Remote Work Considered a Cost-Effective Solution for Small Businesses?
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