Working from home is still the great unknown for many, but in the recent years there has been an increasing number of people who have decided to try it. The fact is that working from home can minimize costs when starting a business, increase productivity and help in achieving business success.  Over the last few decades and especially today when we are witnessing how easy it is for changes to happen in all aspects of life, technology enables us to do our work from anywhere and at any time. With its development virtual offices have emerged that support work from home and provide all kind of services to companies and individuals.

Work from home with all benefits of a virtual office

The first step in establishing a company is to register its headquarter and also to find proper office space to perform its business. It’s in the interest of every entrepreneur to minimize costs in the early stages of starting a business. As every beginning draws a certain risk and the possibility that entrepreneurial idea may not come to life, it’s good to know how all potential failure can be minimized. Research has shown that more than 90% of startups fail within a very short time from being established.

Thanks to technology, today we can work from anywhere and at any time, without necessarily limiting ourselves to a few square meters of physical office space. Telework and telecommuting (e-commuting) are two similar work concepts which we can best describe as working from home. These are business arrangements where a person does business from home or some other location that is closest to home, using technology such as video conferencing (Skype), phone calls, e-mail, or group chat communication applications such as Google Hangouts, Viber or WhatsApp. The biggest difference between them is that telework implies that all the work is performed with the help of technology and with no need for renting an actual office space, while telecommuting refers to work that is also performed with the help of technology but is used by businesses and individuals that often also have an office space. They work from home 1-3 days per week, or from another location that is close to their home (coffee shop, library) in order to save commute time. These arrangements can be useful for companies that don’t require office space – numerous companies that provide intellectual services such as marketing, accounting, finance, design, programming, etc. Also, there are companies and individuals that are about to start their business and want to minimize initial cost as much as possible, considering that they are just entering a very competitive market. In these cases, technology helps a lot because work that is performed on a computer in a paid office can easily be replaced with work in front of a computer at home.

Virtual office services that everyone can use

Companies with a small number of employees will have the most benefit from working at home, as will startups, freelancers and everyone who don’t immediately require a physical office space. Virtual offices are an interesting solution for those who don’t require office space but require all the benefits it provides. A business address at a recognizable location, a PO box and a fixed telephone number are benefits that not only allow significant savings but will also improve the professional business image.

Many companies specialized in providing virtual office services are focused on methods that can provide development and business opportunities to all startups. Small and medium-sized enterprises often need help from virtual a assistant who works for them and perform various tasks instead of them, for example answering e-mails, organizing meetings and answering phone calls. Although they are called virtual offices, such companies include both physical offices where a meeting can be held (a conference room) and also a smaller office or a coworking space where people can occasionally work. The best part of them is that they are extremely flexible and are completely adaptive to the needs and possibilities of their clients.

When they organize their business this way, companies and individuals can start to develop a business from the place that suits them best.

How to be productive while working from home?

Today we have numerous software solutions available that help us be organized and efficient. Below we outline some of the basic tools that are necessarily for working from home.

1. Google Drive is an online service that provides storage, as well as creating and sharing different files. It can be accessed through a Google account on a computer, mobile phone or tablet. Anyone who has access can organize and create new documents. The best part is that it can be installed on any device and can be used freely even when there is no internet connection.
2. Dropbox is another online service for storing and sharing files. The main difference between it and Google Drive is that Dropbox shares its files through a desktop application, while files from Google Drive can only be shared via the Internet.
3. Bidsketch is software for making business proposals, regardless of business activities.
4. Wave App is an accounting software that helps manage revenue and expenses. Also, it can create invoices, track payments, send reminders for unpaid invoices and more. It is primarily designed for smaller businesses.
5. There are many communication programs today that can be used for anyone to stay connected. Skype is a well-known video conferencing tool. Its useful feature is that anyone can have their own personal number which can be dialed by a regular phone or mobile phone. It can also be used for voice calls or chat.
6. WhatsApp and Viber are applications that are most popular for group calls or text messaging.
7. Google Calendar is an application that can be accessed through a Google account and it is excellent for organization and scheduling various meetings and appointments.

The benefits of working from home

In short, virtual office services provide numerous benefits to everyone who works from home:

1. Significant monetary savings, especially when starting a business when there is no need for having an office space and paying utility bills. Instead this money can be invested in marketing and so forth. Business address lease at an attractive location costs far less than office space lease.
2. If it’s only one employee, when their business starts to develop it is very likely that they won’t be able to do it all by themselves. Hence, they have a virtual assistant at their disposal who can speak on behalf of the company, respond to e-mails, schedule meeting, etc.
3. It enables employment from different cities, even from different countries. Again this refers to those companies and businesses that can afford telework. In this case such companies can profit and choose between the best employees, without anyone having to move or have a long commute.
4. Common working hours of 9 to 5 do not suit everyone. Some people are more productive in early hours of the day, while some find it more convenient to start working in the late afternoon, as shown by research. It is important that employees don’t have to take days off if they have private appointments (doctor’s appointment, parents’ meetings), but can simply compensate for that by working earlier or later in the day.
5. Already mentioned telecommuting and all of its benefits.
6. Productivity at home. Employees can arrange their work space better. They can organize time for work and time for rest. It has been shown that people who work from home need less time to complete their tasks thanks to the fact that there are no distractions, such as office noise and other employees at the office space.

From everything above we can conclude that today we have all possible solutions at our disposal to run a successful business from home. When it comes to work that does not require more than a computer, a mobile phone and an internet connection, the benefits of working from home and using a virtual office are even evident. We are aware of the disadvantages which that kind of a business brings, most notably the missing social interaction, but this can be overcome. For now, all the arguments are in favor of working from home, which has been supported by different studies that confirmed all the benefits mentioned.