Here’s why low budget start-ups shouldn’t choose to pay for office space rather than build their business from that third bedroom.
Buyers have other priorities.
Many start-ups these days have no need for an official office space. A buyer’s main concern is not about where the company does it’s work — in a house or an office — it’s about whether or not he’ll get adequate support for the deliverable, should anything go wrong. The price to rent a square foot of space is high, and if you’re spending time worrying about getting enough clients booked because you can’t actually afford your office, your level of service is going to drop, giving your clients good reason to doubt your commitment to excellence.
You don’t need a business address when you’re starting out.
What an official office space conveys is that you’re willing to spend investors’ money on low-priority items. While legally you have to have a business address for your mail-outs, you can rent a mailbox address and put the money saved into marketing instead. As far as having an address on your business cards, these days almost everything is done electronically or in coffee shops. People tend to not “swing by” anymore.
Here’s how much your company could pay to rent office space (marketwatch.com)
Perhaps you have enough credit on your personal card to pay for three months of office space.
And after that? Far too many start-ups are going into debt for thousands of dollars for something they don’t initially need. Think of how long it will take you to pay that debt off once the money comes in — money you could be using to pay yourself a decent salary, for starters.
Some start-ups start out with really nice office buildings in the hip area of downtown.
Yes, they do, and they’re accruing debt like nobody’s business for no reason. Rent is higher, parking is expensive, and their space can fool people into thinking they’re successful. So maybe they got some great angel investor to give them money in exchange for 30 percent of the company … WHY WOULD YOU GIVE THAT AWAY?
Maybe that’s what you were planning on doing with that 50k….
Rethink this. Take that 50k and hone your prototypes; hire a salesman; invest in a solid marketing plan that gets results; build a website that is an amazing sales funnel — converting a high percentage of visitors to customers; create and solidify your visual identity; hire someone to promote your brand.
Putting money into renting office space has no ROI.
Here are some of our solid ROI numbers from clients investing smartly in their start-ups :
- Five times an increase in site traffic
- Appearing on the first page of Google for local searches
- Up to 26% of a click to conversion rate on ads
- An 75-80% reduction in marketing costs to get the same results
Compare the two images below to the two below them again.
You’re choosing to spend money on something that’ll come with time anyway, instead of making money with the money you have. Granted, a lot of entrepreneurs will disagree, but here at Startup Creatives, we believe more in the value we provide the consumer than in the building we work in.
So email us about that 50k you were about to drop on office space, and we’ll help you spend it on services that can help your start-up begin turning a profit quickly. 😀