Be Productive and Achieve Significant Cost Savings With A Virtual Office

Posted by: Becky S.

 Working from home has many advantages: it beats the commute, it is good for the environment, it is a lot less expensive than renting an office, and it surely increases work productivity. But does it really?

 Six months ago, David Pearson and his partner Lizzie Gariani decided not to renew their office lease in Redwood City, CA. They would save on the $1,500/month rent for the 700 square foot office they shared in Redwood City, CA.

 “That office was bigger than what we needed” said David “but that’s all we could find when we signed the lease 3 years ago and we got lured by a below market deal”.

 Lizzie added: “The location downtown Redwood City was great, just about midpoint between my home and David’s, but I got tired of the half an hour commute twice a day.”

 That’s why they let the lease expire and decided to work from home to save on rent, save on gas, and to gain on more productive time. The idea was to reinvest the 2 hours a day of lost commute time between the two of them into their product design business. Because they bill customers $110/hour, the opportunity cost was substantial.

 “I really enjoyed our contribution to reducing bumper-to-bumper traffic on Highway 101, said Lizzie, and the flexibility to take more walks with the dog”,

 But working at home came with a subtle price: friends would ask Lizzie to pick up kids from school and drive them to baseball practice more often than before. She had more time working out, more flexibility to run errands, but staying disciplined and focused on work was harder than she expected. In the end, her billable hours stayed about the same, “I cherish the flexibility, said Lizzie, but ironically the demands on my life seem to have increased”  

 David, on the other hand, did manage to increase his billable time, but it is not clear that moving his office home was the main driver. “I found myself crashing often in someone else’s conference room. Fortunately, I have friendly clients with extra space who did not mind.” David found the client’s office environment more stimulating than his home, although doing work unrelated to his gracious hosts, in their facility, could feel a bit awkward at times. He added: “I do need quiet private time for creative work, but I also crave for feedback anytime I come up with a breakthrough idea. It’s kind of a hard thing to do with the postman. I know, I tried!” 

 Has working from home been a successful experience for David and Lizzie? “Overall, it worked out fine said Lizzie, but it is limiting in some ways. I do not believe I could raise my business to the next level if I keep working from home”. 

 Six months later, both decided to go back to an office environment, but this time close to their respective homes. “We learned that we don’t need to share the same office to work collaboratively, which was one of our original concerns” said Lizzie “but we both came to realize that we are more productive outside of the home”.

 David is now evaluation several co-working options, one of them hosted by Pacific Business Centers in its San Mateo location. Lizzie is evaluating an executive office with American Executive Center in Sunnyvale “It might be more expensive than a home office but I can get just the office I need… and with a month-to-month lease I can change my mind again anytime! 

*The characters in this story are fictitious but inspired from reality. The story is a compilation of actual comment received by Pacific Business Centers’ personnel. 

Kim Seipel is a Center Manager for Pacific Business Centers (PBC), the leading provider of On-demand and Virtual offices in Northern California. She helps Bay Area corporations, small businesses, and home-based entrepreneurs take advantage of the escalating demand for cost effective office space solutions. To learn more about Pacific Business Centers’ hosted office solutions, visit: http://www.PBCoffices.com .)

Last updated: 03.10.2009 03:13 PM