Although you may enjoy working from your home office, you know that it comes with associated stigmas. Some of your clients may frown on working with someone who doesn’t work in a corporate office. To them, this may seem unprofessional.
Even though having a home-based business definitely has its perks, you can have the best of both worlds. Don’t give up your home business. Just add some extra flavor to it so you stand out as business-savvy and corporate-professional. Here are some tips to get you started.
1. Design a Great Logo
The logo you choose for your business becomes your company’s personality. It is identifiable to your clients, and they recognize it anywhere it’s shared, and they can even feel an emotional connection to it.
The logo is extremely important and should be given much thought. A logo carries a lot of power. It can sell your brand. It can make you stand out, and it can make you look edgy and successful.
Without a logo, the question becomes, “Who are you?” Obviously, you’re not large enough to have a logo, so why should a client choose you?
Before you do anything else, set your business up with a great logo. It creates consistency across brand materials and messaging and when done right, can make you look like a million bucks.
2. Have a Strong Web Presence
Big corporations have a lot of advantages over smaller businesses, including larger budgets. But there are a lot of areas where you have equal footing, including the internet. Marketing on the internet is extremely affordable. Anyone can have a web page, and anyone can have several social media accounts.
You just need to make sure you’re easy to find. You can have the most hilarious social media account out there, but it’s not going to do any good if your target audience can’t locate you. Use keywords and SEO marketing techniques to draw your target audience to your website. Once they have a name, they can find you everywhere you’re sharing your brand with the world.
3. Purchase a Business Address
Perhaps one of the downsides to operating a home business is there’s a blurry line between what’s business and what’s home. Where is the divide? And are your clients going to show up at your home?
Subscribing to a business address can protect you from unwanted intrusion. Your home must remain your home, especially if you have a family.
A P.O. Box is not the answer, because any business hiding behind a P.O. Box definitely looks shady, and you want to build trust. There are businesses that can collect your mail and offer you a business address. The UPS store is one.
4. Have a Dedicated Business Line
Having a dedicated business line has many great benefits, including only answering it during office hours. When you get a business phone number, don’t use a landline.
Newer services offer digital lines that can be answered from anywhere you are in the field from your favorite device. Even better, if you have associates working with you, you can forward calls between one another, which really looks professional.
5. Use a Co-Working Office
A co-working space offers you an address, which also solves problem number 3 above, but also it gives you a more professional image. If you need to meet clients, you don’t want to meet them at your home.
It’s so much less stressful to give them an address to a professional workspace that is professionally cleaned and offers a meeting space with the latest technology. Another great benefit to a co-working space is you get an office you can retreat to when you’ve got a tight deadline and really need time alone to focus.
Many people will never understand how great it is to work from home, especially those days when you can stay in your pjs. That’s okay. You don’t have to give that up. You have all the tools at your fingertips to make your home business look like you fit in with the corporate giants. There’s no reason for a small business to not have great success while operating out of the comfort of the home.
