Published on: 17 May 2016
Last Updated on: 04 September 2024
There are a number of different office spaces to choose from these days, each offering different amenities that appeal to different industries and businesses and their specific wants and needs. But how do you know what office space or business centre would be right for you and your business? We are here to help!
In this article we are going to look at three different office space options, what size businesses they are most likely appeal to, and what they have to offer the businesses that could potentially occupy them:
Traditional Office Space
The traditional office space is the perfect option for larger and more established businesses who have the adequate cash flow available in order to pay for the large overhead expenses that usually come with these kinds of pricy spaces. Some of those overhead expenses would include insurance, rent, telephone bills, and utilities, to name a few. Perfect for larger teams who need the space, traditional office spaces provide businesses with the resources they may need to hold meetings, conferences, and creative planning sessions where employees need to come together to plan or discuss business, as well as a staff room, kitchen, and other luxuries. A traditional office space, because of its costly overhead, it is not the ideal option for small businesses or start-ups.
A shared workspace usually comes about when a business who is set up in too large a space, rents out a portion of it to another company or business who is not in the same field as they are or a direct competitor. By renting out a portion of the large office space it helps to lower the amount of money the original business is paying for its rent and utilities, all while being able to keep the space they want and avoid moving. This type of working space is ideal for companies who are looking to save a little extra cash on rent and utilities and don’t mind sharing a working space with another company.
A co-working space is ideal for small businesses or start-ups that only have one or two employees working for them and do not have the cash flow to invest in their own permanent space and all of the necessary equipment that they would need (for example desks and chairs). Co-working spaces come fully kitted out with internet, furniture, printing services, and more, and some even include the likes of conference rooms that can be booked on a daily basis and utilized by everyone.
Home-Based Office Space
An advantageous option for both new businesses and small businesses alike, home-based office spaces have become increasingly popular over the last couple of years – and quite rightly so. With the prices of private office spaces soaring and the need for a more cost-effective option, home-based office spaces have become the choice for many small or start-up businesses who are looking to save on costs for both rental and utilities. However, there are a few downsides to working from a home-based office space, including that there is nowhere to meet with clients, and maybe some employees would not feel comfortable working from your home. However, there is always the option of meeting clients at a restaurant or coffee shop, and taking the time and effort to find the perfect employees who understand the vision you have for your business. These negative points can be worked around in order to get a start-up or small business off the ground and on to bigger and better things.
By following the guidelines mentioned above you should find the ideal office space for you and your business, ensuring that you make the right decision and get value for your money.
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An investment can yield fruits or fail. There are so many risks involved when starting businesses and investors will always wish for the best. Small business startup loans are essential for your business to grow smoothly. However, where there is a less risky option, no one would hesitate to consider it. This is especially the case when it comes to financing startups.
Small business investors may be reluctant to review the loan options for good reasons. For example, a loan is an obligation that has to be obeyed. If the investment does not yield profits, the owner must repay using other alternatives. In many cases, these loans have very high interest rates, and the total cost of borrowing may be too expensive for small investors.
It is imperative to reduce the risks involved in borrowing funds, especially for startups. You come to think of the adverse effects a loan may have on your financial profile, and it becomes necessary to consider alternative options for financing your venture.
Let us examine the scenario portrayed earlier. If the investment fails to be successful, it means the business cannot repay the loan. If you do not have alternative ways of settling the debt, you will default.
As a result, your credit score will be negatively affected, and this reduces the chances of securing other loans in the future. Suppose you do not default but repay late, your credit history will still be damaged. Because of all these risks, it is important to consider alternatives for small business startup loans.
Alternatives for Small Business Startup Loans:
Alternative small business loans are more flexible with good credit requirements. Statistics show many small businesses are turning to alternative financing. As a business person, you will be confronted by situations that demand instant funding.
Even though bank loans are perceived as the best solution in such cases, the truth is banks are often unwilling to offer loans to startups. That is why many are checking legit online loans like Instant Loan for fast-approval financial loans.
Still, your venture might not meet the conditions required by banks, and if you are not careful, you may not salvage your business situation. You can turn to your retirement funds, dispose of a personal asset, or use your credit cards. Develop proper plans that can work well in your favor.
While these options may help, several alternative funding options salvage the conditions in the best way ever. The following are some of the best alternative options for startups:
Asset-based lending:
In this arrangement, the asset you intend to purchase is held as collateral for the funds borrowed. Put differently; the lender becomes the owner of the asset until you repay the final payment. The two standard options in this category of financing include leasing and hire purchase.
Business Angels:
These are very wealthy and experienced individuals in the community who are often willing to invest in new businesses. They usually have prior understanding of how the industry operates and this is a significant factor in their decisions to invest in new ventures.
The main problem with this type of financing is matching investors with small business owners seeking finances. The only ways the two can connect is through friends, family members, and business networks. The best thing with business angels is that they never seek control or management positions in the firm. They only perform advisory roles, and it is expected that they are consulted.
Venture capitalists:
If the risks involved are too high, the best alternative financing option is venture capital. It is always perceived as early phase sponsoring of new and young firms with the potential of growing quickly.
Unlike business angels, venture capitalists are supposed to be involved in the management of the business. They always take some shares in the business. Their primary interest, though, is on the business growth and would be glad to see new small firms grow and become large. Nevertheless, venture capitalists do not finance all small businesses. They have criteria for determining which firm to fund.
The following are some of the things they look for in a business before funding it:
The quality of management
Efficient corporate management
Suitable investment structured.
Venture capital can be the best way of financing startups. However, it comes at a cost because new investments always have high risks. If you do not want to lose part of your independence or shares in the business, then do not consider this option.
Venture capitalists always aim at harvesting long-term financial gains. They may opt to harvest after a period of 5-10 years after making the original investment. Small business startup loans can make things complicated for your business.
Family and friends:
If other options are not applicable, you can always turn to family members and friends. Your parents brought you up and seeing you successful will make them happy. If your business is worth their trust, they can willingly invest in it. The good thing here is that parents will not push you the same way bank will if you delay payments.
However, to maintain a healthy family relationship, respect your obligation and try to repay the loan on time. Do not put your family and friends into too many risks. Let them know all the risks the business faces before they decide to invest in it. The major problem with this option is that parents and friends will always feel they have to be consulted when it comes to spending because they loaned you.
Crowdfunding:
This is one of the best and common way of financing new ventures. It involves sourcing funds from friends, clients, family, and personal investors through an online platform. You give your idea to a large number of people, and you will probably find someone willing to finance your venture. It is often referred to as online fundraising and has helped many startups successfully. Small business Startup loans can make things easier for your business.
Grants:
Although it is hard to qualify for these types of funding, they are very beneficial because one will not have to repay them. They are usually provided by the government, though recently some small business associations provide individual grants.
Conclusion:
These six alternatives for small business startup loans discussed in this blog. Consider first the options that you will not be required to repay such as grants. If you need a substantial initial capital, you can go for venture capital and business angels. Whichever option you take, you will be better off than someone using bank loan options.
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Are you struggling to keep pace with the ever-evolving demands of your Agile projects? In today's fast-paced development environment, scaling your team efficiently is not just an option; it's a necessity. Therefore, you must use staff augmentation, a strategic solution that can rapidly accelerate your Agile project delivery.
Discover how integrating skilled professionals into your team can bring unparalleled flexibility and expertise, significantly boosting your project's efficiency.
We'll explore the tangible benefits, practical strategies, and insightful best practices to help you effectively scale your Agile team through staff augmentation.
Get ready to transform the way you manage your projects and achieve remarkable results.
Understanding Staff Augmentation: A Quick Primer
Staff augmentation is a flexible strategy for outsourcing the right talent for the right job. This strategy is followed by big firms globally for managing augmented teams.
Unlike conventional hiring, which often involves a lengthy recruitment process and long-term commitments, staff augmentation offers a nimble approach to scaling teams.
This strategy is particularly beneficial for businesses needing specialized skills for short-term projects or to fill temporary skill gaps.
Here’s a breakdown of how staff augmentation differs from traditional hiring:
Time Efficiency: Staff augmentation services enable quick onboarding of skilled professionals, reducing the time-to-hire significantly compared to the traditional recruitment process.
Cost-Effectiveness: It eliminates many overhead costs associated with full-time employees, such as benefits, office space, and long-term contracts.
Flexibility and Scalability: Companies can scale their teams up or down based on project requirements without the long-term commitment of a full-time hire.
Types Of Staff Augmentation
There are three main types of staff augmentation, which are:
Short-term: Typically used for specific projects with tight deadlines or to cover temporary absences.
Long-term: Ideal for extended projects where ongoing support is required.
Specialized: Focuses on providing experts in niche areas or new technologies that are not present in-house.
Understanding these distinctions and the types of staff augmentation available helps businesses make informed decisions about how to effectively scale their teams and meet project demands.
This approach is increasingly popular in Agile environments, where adaptability and speed are key.
The Role Of Staff Augmentation In Agile Project Management
Integrating augmented staff into Agile teams can significantly enhance project management efficiency.
In Agile environments, where adaptability and rapid iteration are paramount, augmented staff provides the necessary skills and manpower to meet fluctuating project demands.
Impact on Agile Processes and Workflows:
Enhanced Skill Set: Augmented staff bring specialized skills that might be lacking in the current team, facilitating more diverse and innovative approaches to problem-solving.
Increased Flexibility: They allow Agile teams to quickly adapt to changing project requirements, ensuring that deadlines are met without compromising on quality.
Improved Productivity: With more hands on deck, teams can manage larger workloads more efficiently, accelerating project timelines.
A practical example of successful integration can be seen in a tech startup that leveraged professional IT staff augmentation to speed up the development of a new software product.
Facing a tight deadline, the startup augmented its existing team with skilled developers who specialized in the required technology stack.
This integration allowed the team to maintain Agile methodologies, like daily stand-ups and sprint planning, while effectively managing the increased workload.
As a result, the product was developed and launched within the desired timeframe, demonstrating the effectiveness of staff augmentation in Agile project management.
The key to success in such integration lies in ensuring that the augmented staff are not only skilled but also align with the company's Agile culture and practices.
This alignment ensures seamless collaboration and optimal results.
Benefits Of Staff Augmentation For Agile Teams
Staff augmentation offers a myriad of benefits to Agile teams, enabling them to tackle projects more effectively and efficiently. Here are some of the key advantages:
1. Access To Specialized Skills And Expertise
Staff augmentation allows Agile teams to bring in professionals with specific skill sets that may be lacking internally.
This is especially valuable for projects requiring niche expertise or for navigating emerging technologies.
2. Flexibility And Scalability
Agile projects often fluctuate in scope and scale, necessitating a flexible workforce.
Staff augmentation provides the ability to scale the team size up or down based on the current needs of the project, ensuring that resources are optimally utilized.
3. Cost-Effectiveness And Efficiency
By augmenting staff, companies can avoid the long-term costs associated with permanent hires, such as benefits, training, and other overheads.
This approach is also efficient in reducing recruitment time, enabling teams to focus more on project delivery rather than on lengthy hiring processes.
4. Enhanced Productivity
With additional skilled resources, Agile teams can manage workloads more effectively, leading to increased productivity.
This also allows for faster turnaround times on projects, as tasks can be distributed more evenly and handled more competently.
5. Focus On Core Business
Augmentation frees up internal resources, allowing teams to focus on core business activities.
This is particularly beneficial for smaller teams or startups, where internal resources are often stretched thin.
Overcoming Common Challenges In Staff Augmentation
While staff augmentation offers significant benefits to Agile teams, it also comes with its own set of challenges.
Addressing these effectively is key to leveraging the full potential of this strategy.
1. Addressing Skill Gaps And Training Needs
One of the primary challenges is ensuring that augmented staff possess the right skill sets and are up to date with the latest technologies.
Regular training and professional development opportunities are essential to bridge any skill gaps.
2. Navigating Administrative And Legal Considerations
Augmenting staff often involves dealing with contracts, legal compliance, and administrative tasks, especially when hiring internationally.
It's important to have a clear understanding of these aspects or work with a partner who can manage them.
3. Ensuring Quality And Performance
Maintaining the quality of work and ensuring the performance of augmented staff can be challenging.
Setting up key performance indicators (KPIs), regular performance reviews, and continuous feedback mechanisms can help in monitoring and maintaining work standards.
4. Cultural And Communication Barriers
Augmented teams might face challenges due to cultural differences and communication barriers, especially in a remote working environment.
Encouraging open communication, cultural sensitivity training, and team-building activities can mitigate these issues.
5. Integration With Existing Teams
Ensuring seamless integration of augmented staff with existing teams is critical.
This requires clear communication of roles, responsibilities, and project goals, along with fostering a collaborative team culture.
The Best Staff Augmentation Practices In 2024
If you want to make the most of staff augmentation for agile project management, here are some necessary practices that you must inculcate:
1. Maintaining Clear Communication
If you wish to have a strong team that gets theory work done on time with zero errors, having clear and open communication channels is a necessity.
Having proper communication between all the members of the team is necessary for development. This is because it facilitates everyone in the team to work together and solve any issues that may crop up.
Moreover, open communication improves team bonding, which is crucial for all team members to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This helps the team leaders to make better decisions regarding the allocation of work according to everyone's strengths and expertise.
Therefore, use team communication tools like Slack, Asana, Trello, Skype, and Microsoft Teams.
2. Clearly Define Job Roles
To get the most out of staff augmentation, you must define everyone’s job roles. If all members of your team know what they must do - and what they shouldn’t do - to get the job done, it prevents chaos and conflicts between your team members.
Moreover, having clear job roles will make everyone's daily tasks clear. In addition, having a job role comes with various expectations. Therefore, it will help team leaders better measure the performance and efficacy of team members.
3. Learn How To Use Project Management Tools
If you want to lead a project from initiation to its completion, you and your staff must use the best project management tools in 2024.
Project management tools provide better documentation and storage of all work done by your team. Moreover, this helps in staff augmentation since many outsourced employees might be from other countries. Therefore, giving them limited access to to your sheets will help you better track and manage their work.
The best project management tools in 2024 are Trello, Jira, and Microsoft Office 365.
4. Encourage Documentation-Driven Development
How do you know that an outsourced staff member has done their work? No word of mouth will be tolerated here. The only permissible proof is proper documentation of your work.
Therefore, team leaders and managers should encourage a work culture where all staff members (especially augmented staff members) must have proper and updated documentation of their daily work.
This will help you keep track of everyone’s work and help you asses future actions and strategies.
Conclusion: Scale Your Agile Team with Staff Augmentation
In conclusion, staff augmentation emerges as a powerful strategy for scaling Agile teams, addressing skill gaps, and enhancing project delivery efficiency.
This approach provides a pragmatic solution to the dynamic challenges of modern project management, offering flexibility, specialized expertise, and cost-effectiveness.
To recap the key benefits:
Access to a global talent pool for specialized skills.
Scalability to meet fluctuating project demands.
Cost savings compared to traditional hiring.
Increased productivity and efficiency.
However, it's important to approach staff augmentation with a strategic mindset.
Choosing the right partner, ensuring cultural and process alignment, and effectively managing augmented staff are crucial steps towards success.
Additionally, overcoming challenges like administrative hurdles, quality assurance, and team integration is essential for a seamless experience.
Moreover, following the best staff augmentation practices will help you manage and track everyone’s work. In addition, it also facilitates clearer communication with outsourced staff members as well.
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Which Marketing Mix Element Deals Specifically With Retailing And Marketing Channel
Big cities tend to have a highly competitive market base. As such, small businesses based in large cities like New York might find themselves at a loss when trying to develop a marketing strategy to engage a large audience with a relatively unknown brand. Market a Small Business in a large city like NYC requires a multi-faceted approach, and your plan should not merely emulate that of larger brands that may have much larger budgets.
There are plenty of effective marketing strategies available for every budget. Working with a professional digital marketing agency will give you an excellent return on your investment if you have a limited budget. If your business is based in the Big Apple, you may want to consider having a New York digital marketing company help you perfect these strategies as they know how to serve the market best.
1. Research
Conducting thorough and comprehensive market research services in Singapore should be the first step in your marketing campaign. The data you collect reveals vital information about your potential consumer base as well as your competitors. You can then use this information to tailor your marketing strategies to reach your audience best and stand out amongst the crowd.
Here are some of the objectives that market research aims to achieve:
Know Your Audience
This involves general information about your target audience—their demographic information, location, what they do, what they like, how they act, etc.
Identify Your Competitors
Knowing who your competitors are is vital to building brand awareness. Knowing your competitors means knowing what products/services they sell, their marketing strategies, and what kind of audience they target.
Spot Emerging Market Trends
Stay up-to-date about your target consumer base’s latest developments and mold your marketing campaign to remain on-track with those developments.
2. Create Quality Content
Content marketing is the strategic use of high-quality, relevant, and on-brand content like blogs, videos, or articles to market your brand or a product to a well-defined audience. Typical content marketing strategies include, but are not limited to:
Social Media Content Marketing
This involves the consistent uploading of a relevant content on various social media platforms. This content can include images, videos, animations, stories, or even live customer service videos.
Blogs
Blogs are one of the easiest and cheapest ways to produce content on the web. It is essential that your blogs are creative, engaging, and contain original copy, not plagiarized from other websites. They should be well-researched and tailored to the specific audience that your brand is targeting.
Paid Advertisements
Sponsored ads require financial investment, but they can be a great way to reach a broader audience and ensure that your brand remains visible and relevant on the web.
Content marketing is an excellent way for small businesses to market their brand or product with a minimal investment.
3. Leverage SEO
Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is another vital aspect to consider when developing your digital marketing strategy. SEO involves curating your website and its content to rank higher in a search page result. With more and more businesses developing a web presence, having good SEO scores should be high on your marketing strategy’s priority list.
SEO isn’t always cost-prohibitive; the price for SEO implementation depends on who is setting it up and working on it. The initial investment can range from cheap to spendy, depending on what level of ranking you desire for your site.
If you decide to do SEO yourself, start by researching relevant terms and keywords for your industry. You can then add internal links and secure backlinks (another facet of content marketing), produce quality, highly-legible copy, write blog posts with numbered lists, and add relevant keywords throughout your website. Properly implementing SEO will establish your site as an authority and drive more traffic directly to you.
4. Have a Strong Digital Presence
When digital ads account for half of all ad spend, developing and maintaining a strong web presence is imperative for any serious small business. A robust online footprint includes both your business website as well as social media pages. It is a cost-effective way of building brand awareness in your target market base.
Developing and maintaining a business website should always be one of the top priorities of your marketing campaign. Your site will serve as the primary representation for your brand on the internet, which is crucial in building consumer loyalty and brand reputation.
For top-notch website creation, there are several options for you to consider. The first one is using CMS like WordPress. The second one is custom web development. For this, you can hire RoR developers, a UX/UI designer, and a project manager.
Additionally, social media can serve as an excellent digital marketing tool to reach a broader or more specific target audience. Social media serves as the vehicle to transport your brand to the masses and increase its visibility.
5. Generate Leads
When your marketing campaign loses its potency on a specific target audience, you’ll need to generate new leads that you can then use to either find a new audience or expand the one that you’re already targeting. Here are some ways to generate new leads:
Optimizing Your Landing Page
Use landing page strategies like implementing Call-To-Actions and write compelling headlines to improve your website’s traffic and conversion rates.
Lead Generation Software
As the name suggests, this software identifies and collects new leads from multiple sources. With the right software, you can generate quality leads that significantly boost your conversion rates and sales.
Data Validation Software
This is similar to lead generation software, but instead of crawling the internet for leads, it validates the information you already have. It works in one of two ways; it can either complete a batch validation analysis of a lead data spreadsheet or live as an API on your site’s contact forms and checks the data’s accuracy in real-time as forms are submitted. This can save time and effort when pursuing new leads.
Email Marketing
Email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective ways to generate brand awareness and boost sales. These include implementing newsletters, sign-me-up forms, or generating automated email ads for specific audiences.
Budget As a Tool, Not a Barrier
Small businesses should develop a very different marketing strategy than large corporations in a big city like NYC. Approaching marketing from a small business perspective is the best way to ensure the most effective use of limited budgets and resources. Your finances should never be a hindrance to achieving your marketing goals. With proper strategies and a bit of creativity, your marketing campaign can be just as impactful as your competitors'.
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