Scaling Your Business: Here’s How to Transition from Your Home to an Office

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It is a huge achievement to grow a business from the ground up in your own home, but there is no stopping there. You might find that you have built a business that you love, so you want to keep growing it to better serve your customers and reach more people. 

If this is your vision for your business, then the next logical step is to find a space where you can do this. Working from your home has many benefits, but when you can find a location that meets your needs, provides you with the space to work, and allows you to bring in a variety of people and skills, you will see your business skyrocket. 

The excellent thing about taking your business to the next level and getting an office space is that you make a long-term investment. You can bring people and skills together, and work cohesively on your business to grow it. 

Offices can make you and your newfound team work more productively and you can create the ideal company culture that you need to grow. It is an excellent way to collaborate on work together, communicate with each other, and support your brand image. 

To help you on your journey to creating the ideal office space for your growing business, here are some important things that you need to know. 

Review and update your business plan

Before you make any moves in your business, it is important to review your business plan. This is an important document that all businesses should have. If you don’t have one, this is the perfect opportunity to create one. If you have one, review your goals and plans for your business. Consider where you are now, where you need to update your business plan, or what steps you need to consider to move forward. 

This should help you to refine your goals and your values. This is a great place to start before you make any moves in your business to ensure you are going where you want to with your business, and it is a viable investment. 

Consider your financial situation

Finances are going to play the most important role in growing your business and opening an office space. You need to ensure you have the funds to invest in the new office space, the professionals required to get it to a working standard, equip it with everything you need, pay the utilities and bills, hire new staff, and more. The funds may differ significantly depending on whether you find a space to lease, purchase, or build from scratch.

You will also need an emergency fund, and the money to keep the rest of your business running. It is important to understand how your finances are going to look with this new investment and how you can keep your business afloat at the same time. You want to ensure that at some point, there will be a return on your investment in an office space. A professional accountant or business consultant will be able to help you map and forecast this to ensure you are in the best financial position to make the big business move. 

Seek a commercial designer

A commercial designer is someone who will be able to take your vision of an office space and where you want your business to go, and work with you to bring it to life. Depending on your needs and budget, a designer will be able to help you find the right office space in the right location. Designers are very good at what they do, and they will be able to help you source a building that will meet your needs and function for your business. They will be able to help with the design, to make it productive for your team, but also functional. A designer will know how to keep it legal and compliant. 

A designer will consider the customer journey, too. If your office is a space that will be seeing clients on a regular basis, they can map out the customer experience to ensure it is seamless and aligns with your brand. This has to be from the moment a customer walks up to the building. For a more high-end brand, they may opt for tall glass windows and commercial railing systems as your customers enter the building, leading through a corridor with the relevant branding and decor to invoke the relevant emotions. 

Hire professional contractors 

Contractors will be able to do all the practical work for you. If you are opting for a building that you are purchasing or leasing, then you will be able to take the blueprints from your designer and put up the relevant walls and structures you need. They can also help with the electrical wiring and plumbing, making everything safe to use. 

If you are building a space, then you will need more contractors and skills. They will be able to help build the structure to your specifications. 

Obtain the correct licenses and permits

It is really important to consider the licenses and permits that you need in place for your business. 

The licenses and permits will come much earlier on in the process, alongside your designer and contractors. You will need to ensure that in all the work you do on the space, whether it is aesthetic changes like moving walls and painting or big structural changes like extending or building a space, you have the correct permissions in place. If you don’t, then you will waste precious time and money, and may even be liable for fines.

Obtain insurance

Insurance is vital for your business. If you have been running your business from home, then you may already have some level of insurance. However, when you move out of your home and into an office, the level and type of insurance you need will change. You will be responsible for a building and all the individuals that enter the building, both employees and customers. Make sure you conduct thorough research to learn more about what insurance you need to run your business and be in an office space. This will differ depending on the industry and the type of business that you run.

Equip your office space

Once you have set up your office space, you can move on to the fun steps! You have an entire office that you can equip with everything you and your employees are going to need to do their job well. These will need to be practical things, such as computers, desks, chairs, software, machines, and more. But it also means more creative things, such as furniture, decor, artwork, plants, and more. You want to make the space fun and inspiring, so that your employees are motivated when they come into the office, and more importantly, want to come into the office. Your team will be spending their time here, so it is important to make it a place they like to spend time. Many modern offices are now considering how their well-being is impacted by the office space, and ensuring the colors are mood-boosting, there is the relevant equipment and resources to do their jobs productively, their workstations are pleasant places to be, and they have an area where they can step away from their desk for a break. 

Fill it with your team 

The next piece to the puzzle of building your office is building the right team. This can be a long and drawn-out process if you want to do it right. You should consider when the best time for your business is to start this process. Some people like to do this before they have finished opening their office space so that when it opens, they can bring their new employees in straight away. It is also important to consider your financial and business plan, as you don’t necessarily need to fill the whole building with a team to start with. It might be that you hire a few people to start with, and space out your onboarding to ensure you make the right investments at the right time. Consider what skills are going to benefit your business the most, and advertise for them. You want to make sure that someone not only has the right skills and experience but will fit into the culture you want to create at your growing business. This will make a huge difference to your business success and how the rest of your employees act. This factor should always be non-negotiable. Even if that means you hire someone without the skills, that you can train for the positions you need. The best positions to consider when you are trying to grow your business are those in customer service, product or service delivery, and marketing. 

Scaling your business and opening your first office is going to be a challenge. With the right strategy in place, you will be able to get your business where you want to be and bring your vision to life.