So many businesses these days are conducted away from a dedicated place of work. Set-ups such as home working and mobile operators are becoming more common these days. Running this style of business does present a particular set of challenges. Here are our five top tips when starting a mobile or remote business.
How to Present Yourself
What sort of image are you looking to present for your new business? Working from home or on the move is feasible, but how will it look to the customers? It is possible to portray an image of a much larger organization. You can make a website give the impression of a bigger entity. But maybe this is not always the most useful strategy, as much as 90% of consumers prefer dealing with a small business. If convenience and price are good enough, the attention to detail and personal touch can be a big attraction to many.
Dealing with Clients & Customers
How do you interact with your customers? If you solely interact online and on the phone, this makes your set-up easy. There is nothing wrong with basing yourself in a home office from your spare room or garage. But if there is a need to meet customers physically then you need to have a facility or strategy for this. Many local business centers and hotels offer a meeting room and conference facilities, this can prove more cost-effective than having a permanent office, although may not seem as professional. There is always the alternative of offering to meet customers at their location, and this convenience could be a very attractive option for some.
Office & Admin
One significant challenge for the small operator is making do with a small or non-existent office space. You will need to make use of space where you can, and devices such as netbook PCs and portable scanners may be necessary. A lot of office functions such as book-keeping, and Microsoft Office tasks can be done on a smartphone or tablet these days.
Staff
You may get to a stage where you require help in the form of more people. But without a physical place of work is this even going to be possible? These days more than ever the answer is yes. More people than ever are working from home, and this opens up a worldwide pool of talent for your business. You can take people on part-time, temporary, or casual contracts, thus making the world of work more flexible than ever.
Communications
An important part of any business is communication. Once within the organization, you can use all manner of new technologies to achieve this remotely, such as Zoom meetings, or workflow apps like Slack. You also need to make sure that we keep customers in the loop as well. You can use your website to provide information, but to get the widest possible exposure you need to use social media to attract and keep new customers.
Check out my guide on how to start your business right with tons of useful tips I learned by successfully starting, building, and selling multiple companies.
