38: Don't rent that office space!
Business is doing well. You’re growing it. It’s making money. Clients are happy. So you figure it’s time to start looking more pro. So you look into renting an office so you appear more legit. Wait. There is another way. This is Clickstarter, I’m Dante St James. This is episode 38, and Day 4 of my daily series, April Foolproof Your Business where this month, I’ll cover a bunch of quick, useful tools, strategies, marketing methods and ideas to give your small business a shot in the arm. Today… don’t rent that office! It can be so tempting when you have a service-based business to rent an office space, fit it out, fill it up and put fancy art and impressive signage everywhere. But do you even need it? This was what I asked myself late last year when it finally came time to take Clickstarter full time and get serious about building a real business. I initially looked at opening a shop front. After all, the foot traffic would be great, being amongst the people I wanted to serve in retail and hospitality would be convenient, and I’d finally have space to hold meetings, workshops and get on with the day to day running of this fledgling enterprise, Unfortunately having a shopfront in a shopping centre means you can’t close when the centre is open. You have to be open when they are - and close when they are. No weeknight workshops. No working late on a Sunday night. And no popping out for meetings because I was the only person holding the fort - so I was stuck there. Still not sure what I could have done if I needed a toilet break! Fast forward 6 months and I’m in a shared office space with a media company. They had spare room, I needed a space with air conditioning, lights and a meeting room. They had all three. So instead of renting out a space too big for my needs, I have just enough room to work, a meeting room to use and easy access to things like printers, a kitchen and visitor parking. And the difference in cost is huge. I pay less than one quarter of what I’d be paying if I rented my own office. But sharing with an existing company is only one option. Even in a place like Darwin we have share workspaces like the Darwin Innovation Hub, Rust 490 for creative businesses, Wirraway at the Airport, national office space sharing company Regus has a location in the big Paspaley building in the CBD and there’s Thinklab on NIghtcliff Road at Rapid Creek. They vary wildly with cost with Darwin Innovation Hub and Regus towards the top end of the market and Rust 490 towards the bottom end of the market. They also vary in their offerings of what you get. Some offer a clean meeting room. Others a shared desk space. Others again, offer business lounges for hosting small functions. Some you subscribe to, others you can use casually from visit to visit. Another option may be to enquire on Gumtree and the various business groups on Facebook, on who has space room in their home or workplace that is available to use casually. This can be a smart way to have access to a meeting room without needing to commit to monthly rent. It can also be a great way to casually use a space every now and then. There are some small businesses in Darwin that do have space to share and are willing to share it, but they don’t realise that they can. So reach out and ask - there’s bound to be someone who has a desk or some space they wouldn’t mind sharing for a small charge with another local small business. Got a topic this month to cover in these shorter, daily versions of the podcast? Email darwin@clickstarter.com.au or drop a message via facebook.com/clickstarter I’ll catch you tomorrow as we continue to help your small business to get known, get found and stay known.