Office Solutions for People Not Ready to Rent Space
Do you see clients in person to
provide your services? Some people are comfortable meeting clients in their
home. Others find this awkward or inappropriate for a variety of reasons:
- Children at home
- Pets at home
- Stress of housekeeping perfection
- Decorating needs updating
- Noisy neighborhood
- Not the right space
- Not professional looking
- Invades your privacy
- Inconvenient location
- Parking issues
- Pets at home
- Stress of housekeeping perfection
- Decorating needs updating
- Noisy neighborhood
- Not the right space
- Not professional looking
- Invades your privacy
- Inconvenient location
- Parking issues
So where can you meet your
clients if you aren't ready to officially rent space or use your home? There
are several alternatives worth investigating.
Free Public Options
- Many public libraries have
small rooms with doors where you can meet clients
- Starbucks and other coffee shops are great public spaces depending on the service you provide
- Some Barnes and Noble bookstores have coffee shops too (usually a version of Starbucks)
- Panera Bread shops are also great meeting places and there are other more upscale fast food places where you can conduct meetings
- If you are a Chamber of Commerce member, sometimes they have rooms available - for free (or a fee)
Friends/Colleagues
- People you know may have
conference rooms that are often empty. They might allow you to use the space on
an "as-needed" basis when available at no charge. These could be
within corporations or small businesses like law offices, accountants, etc.
- Think of the professionals you know who might have unused office space they would be willing to offer you on a temporary basis until you build up a clientele.
Part Time Office Options
- Depending on your business, you
may know other professionals who have extra space in their office. For example,
if you are a health-related practitioner, you might ask your chiropractor,
acupuncturist, nutritionist, even day spas, if they have a space you could use
temporarily. Often you can pay by the hour or share a portion of your fee with
them.
- Office co-ops are springing up
all over as they become more popular. They provide office space and conference
rooms on a part time basis. You can usually get space whenever you need it or
pay a regular but small fee to have a space always available.
Switch to "Phone-Only"
Service
In addition to all of these options,
you can also just decide to begin doing your sessions completely over the
phone. There was a point I was doing everything in-person and had a big fear
that switching over to the phone would make my clients not want to work with
me. I did not find that to be the case at all. This is especially true for new
clients who didn't know that I'd ever offered in-person sessions.
Your Client Attraction Assignment
Are you looking for office space
on a tight or non-existent budget? If so, think about all the professionals you
know who might have a conference room or extra office space not currently being
used who you can approach.
In addition, this is a great
request for your BNI group. Be sure to leverage your networking to find a
solution. You will likely be very surprised at how many options you turn up
when you reach out to people.
By Fabienne Frederickson
Image by Martin Boulanger
Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client
Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System, the proven
step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in
record time... guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive
her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more
high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income, visit http://www.attractclients.com
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I find coffee shops a really great place to meet clients. They are usually never too busy, and generally have more secluded areas where you can chat with more privacy. Another option of course is video conferencing.
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