How to Pick the Right Office Space for Your Company

Picking out the right office space is so important to the success of your business. The wrong location can cost you your business, the most talented employees and your clients. After completing your company registration in UAE, office location should be at the forefront of your mind as it significantly affects your ability to grow.

Marketing isn’t the only place where the 5 Ps are applicable.

Your decision when choosing your office should be led by the 5 Ps in order for you to make a choice without too much hassle.

Future Prospective

Business owners should analyse the office space and consider whether it is flexible enough to be expanded. When entering a lease, you are essentially fastening your business to that space. Over time, companies can change and many factors may change the space requirements.

Product

Once you have gone through company formation in UAE, you should consider your business model. The best way to do this is by going through the activity of your company. Does the office space you’re looking at have all the necessary requirements? For example, if you have a restaurant business, you will need to have a back door that has access to the kitchen, accessible parking, and a formal entrance. It is advisable to go through the daily activities of your business and think of all the requirements of your office/business premise. If you are missing electrical plugs and other structural changes, these can definitely be fixed - but will the property allow you to go ahead and fix them? Consideration for the rules and regulations of the office space should be kept in mind before you sign a lease.

Parking

In UAE, parking can be an issue in commercial zones. For your business to run as effectively as possible your clients should have a pleasant experience when visiting you and therefore parking availability at the proposed location is vital. Many employers tend to forget this key point and they therefore suffer a loss of business. If there is a lack of parking, then perhaps neighboring parking lots should be kept in mind that can host employees and clients.

Price

You should consider the daily expenses of your business and the ability for you to hit profits for a new office space. Expenses can include office furniture, ongoing costs such as utilities, and equipment. If you find yourself under a tight budget, a couple of options you could consider are:

·         Subletting - this is where you rent out a space from another company. This option is cost effective. However, the disadvantage of this option is the lack of control of the space and if there is business growth, you would need to find another premise. You will also need to ensure that the company is allowed to sublet.

·         Co-op - this is where several businesses rent out a large office and share common facilities such as the kitchen, meeting rooms and reception area. Renting out a large office with extended facilities can be extremely beneficial such as renting out a space with complementary businesses. Business owners can consider partnering with advertising or IT firm in order to increase business efficiency.

Place

The location of an office should be the base of your decision-making and consideration as to whether the location of the office is convenient for your employees should be a priority. A long drive or an inconvenient location may push away your key employees to choose to work elsewhere. Alongside your team, an emphasis should be on the clients to ensure that they can reach your location with ease. It is important to keep in mind the cost benefit analysis of price versus location. Some business owners may choose to locate on the outskirts of the city or in construction zones. However, would this suit your business or would it hinder it?

One thing that is of utmost importance is that your office space if the face of your business. It must reflect and fit your business model in order to bring success and more business. You should consider the above when selecting your office in order to help you make the best choice for your company.

Take your own first small step and contact the business setup specialist team at Elegant Business Services for more information: +971 6 740 4211 or email us on info@elegantbusienss.ae

How to start a new Business??

For those looking to start a business, there is a phrase that most of us have heard before: ‘I don’t have a unique idea that no one has thought of before.’

It has been discussed that in order to be financially successful when starting a company, you should focus on owning a company in a non-trendy business, where the competition is lower and therefore the chances of achieving financial success is greater. This ties into the idea that you do not need to have a unique, never heard of idea in order to build a business.

The majority of successful businesses started with the basics:

·                     First have a product, which isn’t necessarily new, or a service that people want to purchase.

·                     Sell it to consumers at a profit.

·                     Repeat and increase in size as desired and required in order to support the business.

Note that in the above, there is nothing in there about having something new that people haven’t seen before. With these basic steps, thousands of startups setup and flourish - these include online resellers, retail stores, professional service firms, etc. There are obvious contextual elements in each of these 3 statements that should be attended to and some business articles take these 3 steps and elaborate. So if these steps are so easy, why isn’t everyone successful? This is mainly because they neglect the details or ignore the basics.

We have heard from many people that come talk about an idea of the next generation of a solution that no one has ever heard of before, asking opinions as to whether they can form a business from it. The one question they should ask themselves is ‘who will pay for it?’ If you know the answer to that question and you can get the customers to write cheques in advance, then you have a start on step one. There are many other steps in step one to consider, such as customer identification, market analysis, an analysis of competitors, barriers to entry and so on. However, if you do not have customers that are willing to purchase your product or service, then you won’t have a business.

Step two affects lifestyle businesses due to the fact that they often try to minimize their profits or they have a lack of experience, or in some cases demand excessive profit and lose their customers. This becomes increasingly difficult as the business expands and there may be infrastructure costs that require a minimum amount of sales, which requires expanding the customer base through marketing and repeat sales. Failing to provide good customer service or a good product at this stage often results in a decrease in the customer base, forcing an entrepreneur back to step one - finding customers.

Step three is what turns a business into a real business. Many entrepreneurs start their businesses as an alternative to working for someone else. Others wish to conquer the world from day one by becoming number one in their industry. The rest of business owners fall somewhere between those two ends of the spectrum. Step three requires more than just understanding of what the business does. It also requires understanding what the business is and how to manage all aspects of it including sales, marketing, management, HR, etc. A successful entrepreneur is very good at one or more of these areas and gets up to speed with the rest or hires individuals that specialize in areas in which they lack the skills. Being able to manage issues personally or through good recruitment is the key to entrepreneurial success.

Starting a business does not require some world shattering idea or a genius IQ. So what is holding you back? Are you ready to get started?

Take your own first small step and contact the business setup specialist team at Elegant Business Services for more information: +971 6 740 4211  or email us on info@elegantbusienss.ae