Avoid These Common Mistakes When Setting Up Your First Office Overseas

If you're starting a new business overseas, or your existing business is doing well enough that you are ready to expand, then it's time to do your research. As eager as you may be to get started, be careful not to make these common mistakes.

A Fully-Loaded Office Without Enough Capital

Starting up a business on the other side of the world can sometimes require more capital than anticipated, and a new international office without sufficient capital to back it up is like a camel without a hump. New business owners all too often become overly excited about taking the big leap before they are firmly established. This becomes a catch-22—they want to look professional so they can attract clients, but they can't look professional unless they attract clients, perhaps with a nice lounge, a furnished office, artwork, etc. It all comes down to dollars and cents. As a business owner opening a new office, you need to plan for those additional expenses that frequently accumulate while waiting around for your office to become fully functional. Don't spend months caught up in a hotel room overseas. At City Office, we make those expenses unnecessary with our low-cost office space and virtual office services. These allow you to get your international business up and running without having to save up a ton of capital.

Don't Pay a Fortune for an Address

For many business owners, their office is simply the place they go to perform solitary work. They sign on for an expensive commercial lease, not realizing that all they really needed was the address on their letterheads. It doesn't seem worth it. But they are right; no client wants to look up the address of the company they're doing business with on Google, only to find that it is being run out of a home in the suburbs. Customers can quickly lose faith in a company's ability to do the job. If you're expanding your business over to the other side of the ocean, you will likely no longer have the luxury of using a home address anyway. The solution is City Office's low cost, prestigious, virtual business addresses that you can call your own in many countries around the world. We create a level of trust, allowing prospective clients to see your company in a good light before they even decide to do business with you.

Lengthy Commercial Leases and Scams

Even if a physical office overseas is absolutely necessary, it is still impractical for an owner to fly internationally every time they'd like to view an office to lease. As such, they should be wary of committing to lengthy leases from potentially disreputable companies via the Internet if they are unable to go and see the building for themselves. Besides the obvious Internet scams hindering you, commercial leases are a veritable minefield, and while new business owners are often eager to get things moving, this is the time to be picky. Though government legislation typically protects residential tenants, there isn't much they can do to save commercial tenants from the fine print. Estate agents offering five to ten year leases on venues for your business want your money, and will tell you whatever you want to hear as long as you sign their contract, at which point they own you. We provide a uniquely inexpensive, professional alternative to renting physical office space, without all the risk of signing a long lease. Our virtual offices are commitment-free, and provide flexible, short-term rentals that share resources such as equipment, cleaners, and security, with some locations including conference rooms, and even reception services. These services create the lasting impression of having your own professional office overseas, even though you’re only paying a fraction of the cost, thus greatly minimizing overhead and shortening the time it takes for a new venture to pay itself off. That's what makes City Office so popular with start-up and small-scale companies that often struggle with day-to-day survival.