In business appearance unfortunately matters…rather unfortunate isn’t it? Whether you have offices plays a huge part in your business. If you are a first timer or a novice entrepreneur then you have to invest heavily in a professional presence…an office, a landline, a bank account…all of these are silent issues that helps to project your business as someone who is professional and can therefore be trusted with business.
Business and Trust.
The word business goes hand in glove with trust. Where there is no trust there is no business, where there is business it means someone somewhere has trust in it. The most important aspect in business after registration is where are you based? It can be a debatable issue with some arguing that what is more important is your business idea but the other side of the argument is as you start your business, the issue of credibility is of utmost importance. Bank application forms need the address of the business, clients want a physical presence, suppliers are not willing to supply goods on credit to someone with no physical address.
When you are new in business-you have the world against you and you have to prove your worth. You see—the world of business is highly competitive and when you mention that you operate at home, then clients move to your next competitors.
Visitors to your office will be subconsciously assessing your offices and making a judgement whether they want to do business with you or not. Some inorder to check on your credibility may decide to phone you on your landline…Yes a landline shows that someone is serious about business. TelOne hardly gives land lines to fly by night business people. So some conduct the landline credibility test, follow this by a physical premises verification and then ask for your bank account inorder to pay monies. Coming up with excuses to say you do not have a company bank account but you are using a personal account does not earn you credibility marks.
So how do you get offices or Premises?
Not easy to get offices, they are in most cases expensive…it may be an extra cost you cannot afford. As a start up entrepreneur your costs are likely to be higher during the first months and an extra burden of rental costs can be too much.
Various options exist such as office sharing with peers, a number of hubs exist in town where you can pay on rent as you use basis. So get a physical presence this year…brainstorm on how to cut on rental costs. Operating from your home will not grow your business. Tu office twekuti unopfuura nekuseri kwevanhu varikugerwa not too good either.
Get registered, get an office, get a landline, get business cards, get a website, get a professional email address and then excel at your line of business.
