One of the best things about starting a business that’s yours is the flexibility and freedom that you have to work your own hours from your own space. Most people who start their own businesses do so from the comfort of their own homes and it’s something new that they would never have considered before. If you’ve not yet capitalized on a full-time workspace, then you have to make do with your house as your business space, but the struggle isn’t making it as professional as possible.
You want to build a brand that is professional and that often means super sleek, which means that you need to know everything that you can about appearing more sophisticated no matter what. From ensuring that your business has a virtual address so that you are not using your home address on your paperwork with the help of websites such as https://www.physicaladdress.com, to ensuring that you have a virtual receptionist answering calls for you so that you sound like you are working from a professional office, there are plenty of ways that you can ensure that your business is going to be professional from the outset.
There are other ways that you can do it, too and we’ve got some of those ways listed for you below so that you can take some inspiration and make sure that your business looks professional from the moment it starts. Let’s take a look!
Invest in some professional identification.
Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean that you won’t be client-facing. Depending on the nature of your business, there is a good chance you’ll be going out to visit new people and take on new clients for your books and that means meeting people in person. To be able to present yourself in a way that is professional, it might help to have lanyards or professional identification badges.
These are low-cost and very effective way to make yourself feel more professional, and it also helps to make it look like you know what you’re doing. People see lanyards and they think of corporate offices or exhibitions, and it just means that putting one of these around your neck can get you into work mode.
It’s not just a mantra to say to dress for the job that you want, it’s about the effect that your appearance has on your mentality. Loungewear often feels good, but if you are suited, booted with a lanyard around your neck, and ready to visit a client, you feel ready and in that space to do so. It doesn’t just look good either, as they are cost-effective and customizable. Lanyards are a convenient option when it comes to promoting a professional image at trade shows, and other events. Launching your business when you are still working from home is not the easiest thing to do, but this simple change can really help.
Make sure you invest in a virtual office.
We’ve just mentioned this with the website we gave you above, but we want to expand on it a little bit more. A virtual office is a space in which you can present your business as based at this office. It gives you a business address that helps you to simplify your home and personal lives, and it ensures that your business looks more trustworthy. A fee for a virtual office can really help to fill those leads and drive your business forward because they often come with a virtual receptionist. If you really want to commit, consider investing in a virtual PA.
This answering service filters all those calls and gatekeeps without bothering you or wasting your time. Not only does this have a more corporate feel, but it gives you a chance to stop answering the phone when it’s ringing off the hook and make sure that you are investing yourself in the real work!
Don’t host meetings from your living room.
We talked about those lanyards earlier on, and they are going to come in handy when it comes to client-facing appointments. Mixing your commercial life with your domestic life can be very difficult and it’s very hard to put back to normal. Your colleagues and clients as well as potential investors don’t want to sit on your couch. They don’t want to be anywhere near your overflowing laundry basket or around the kids’ detritus of toys.
They want to know that they are engaging with somebody who knows what they are doing, and you have to prove that. You can hire meeting spaces, or you can make sure that you have a dedicated table at your local coffee shop that you can reserve. You just want to ensure that you are putting on that professional exterior every time you need to.
Being more professional when working from home is easy when you make the smallest of tweaks. Now that you know how to do it, what are you implementing to ensure that your home business is professional?
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