Business Address Rentals: What Are Your Options?

Q: What kind of business address should I use for my business? Do I need to find traditional office space, or is my home adequate?

A: The best kind of business address is one that is tied to physical space while presenting a prestigious impression to anyone interested in your company. Rather than a traditional space or your home, you should consider a Virtual Office.

Finding the right business address rental is a bit more convoluted than it was before the pandemic.

Before Covid-19, entrepreneurs and business owners used traditional office space, with occasional exceptions, and thought nothing of more cost-effective alternatives.

Now, the market has changed.

Convenience is everything, and ecommerce is on track to do well over $1 trillion in the US alone.

According to Pew Research, consumers are using smartphones to shop more than ever. A surprising 76% of American adults claim to buy things online with their phones more than tablets and computers.

As these numbers continue to rise, many new entrepreneurs and existing business owners are curious about how to create healthy and robust ecommerce operations to capture some of the increasing market share.

Some business owners enjoy using a traditional business address rental, some enjoy using a PO box, and others prefer a middle ground.

In this article, we’ll be discussing when a traditional business address rental is a good choice, whether you should rent a PO box, the middle ground, and finally, we’ll look at Alliance’s Virtual Office business address rental options.

So, if you’re looking for a company address rental to help your brand take off or googled “business address rental near me” – you’re in the right place. Keep reading for more!

When is a traditional business address rental a good choice?
Should you rent a PO box?
Is there a middle ground?
Alliance’s business address rental

Traditional business address

In the aftermath of the pandemic, one of the best ways to prepare your business for long-term success without compromising your core operations is flexibility.

This means flexibility in your workstyle, flexibility in your operations, and most importantly, flexibility in your decision-making.

All too often, the modern market is challenging what business owners thought they knew.

Whether it’s commercial leases becoming less affordable and making less sense than their digital counterparts or remote work becoming exponentially more popular than traditional work, the key to success in this constantly shifting market is the ability to react quickly to change.

Business address rentals require the same flexibility.

For some businesses, traditional space is necessary. For others, this isn’t the case.

To be successful, you need to identify your business’s exact needs and use this information to determine what kind of address you plan on securing.

To streamline the decision-making process, we’ve compiled a list of reasons a small business may want to rent a traditional office or storefront.

Professional image
- A traditional office or storefront can provide a professional image for a small business, which can help establish credibility with clients and customers.
- Sure, there are ways to get that same professionality elsewhere, but if you’re focused exclusively on high-value clients and are in an industry that requires trust, like finance, it may benefit your company to secure professional, physical space in an attempt to show your potential clients how serious you are about the future of your company.

Access to amenities
- Traditional office spaces often come with amenities such as conference rooms, internet access, and reception areas, which can help a small business operate more efficiently and effectively.
- Again, these amenities can often be found in other avenues, but if you need regular access to these amenities and can’t go without them for even a day, you may consider using a traditional office.
- The only danger of securing a traditional office to gain access to unlimited amenities is the possibility of renting space that doesn’t provide the amenities you’re hoping for.
- With a good real estate agent and adequate due diligence, this shouldn’t be the case, but thanks to the worsening commercial real estate market, countless spaces provide business owners with next to nothing.

Central location
- Renting a traditional office or storefront in a central location can provide easy access to customers and suppliers, and help attract new customers.
- There’s no denying that foot traffic is an appealing and effective way to find new customers, so securing a central location that sees ample passersby makes sense for some companies.
- A location in the heart of a central business district may be pricey, but with the right advertisements and other marketing initiatives, some companies will get more out of a location like this than anywhere else.

Team building
- Traditional office space can help facilitate team building and collaboration among employees, which can improve productivity and foster a positive company culture.
- Sure, other avenues can boost team collaboration and create a vibrant company culture, but some business owners are under the impression that physical workspace is the only way to ensure this happens organically.
- Businesses that use traditional office space solely for team building need to keep in mind the possible ramifications of requiring in-person work.
- Unsurprisingly, after the pandemic, working exclusively in-office is the least popular workstyle. If you insist on bringing your employees to the office daily, you need proper incentivization or a genuine reason for doing so. Otherwise, your employee retention will struggle.

In-person work required
- Some businesses simply cannot work remotely.
- If you need a lot of storage space, an office address rental may be your best bet rather than using an alternative address and paying for extra storage.
- Similarly, if your business is in the healthcare, construction, or food service industries, you’ll be hard-pressed to handle your business remotely.
- A company that requires constant in-person work for core aspects of its operations will be nearly impossible to run from anywhere but in a traditional space.
- Simultaneously, if your business focuses on confidentiality or relies entirely on face-to-face interactions, you’ll need traditional space.

The benefits of using traditional space are hyper-specific and don’t apply to most businesses, but what about reasons to avoid traditional business address hires?

High cost
- Traditional office spaces can be expensive to rent, especially in prime locations. This can be a significant financial burden for a small business, especially in the early stages.
- Outside of the high cost, you’re typically locked into a commercial lease that lasts anywhere between 3-5 years. This makes it difficult if you find yourself in a situation where things aren’t going as planned, but you still must make regular payments to keep the space.

Maintenance and upkeep
- Renting a traditional office or storefront also comes with the responsibility of maintaining and keeping the space in good condition. This can be time-consuming and costly, particularly for companies with limited resources.
- Maintenance also requires a lot of time. If you encounter an issue inside your building, you may have to wait until the maintenance team is available to fix the issue, especially if it’s just inconvenient rather than harmful.

Limited flexibility
- A traditional office or storefront may require a long-term lease commitment, limiting a small business’s ability to adapt and grow in the future.
- Changing the address for your LLC is already a convoluted process. Adding traditional office space to the mix makes it considerably more difficult.

Remote work capabilities
- In the era of remote work, some small businesses may find that they don’t need a physical office or storefront to operate effectively. With the right technology, communication tools, and online presence, a small business can thrive without a traditional office space.
- Even better, some of these nontraditional offices provide business owners with access to easily reservable meeting rooms and coworking spaces.

Opportunity costs
- The opportunity costs of being cooped up in an office for 3-5 years are crushing. Putting so much capital into one space may leave you and your business in a position where you’re spending money as fast as you can make it in an attempt to save the office space you’ve grown attached to.

As you can see, some great qualities are associated with using traditional office space, but doing so causes more issues in the future unless you’re a business specifically designed with traditional space in mind.

Some existing companies choose to use traditional office space as satellite offices in an attempt to expand their customer base while reaching new markets.

Fortunately, there’s a better way to set up a satellite office than simply spending the capital on traditional space.

PO boxes

PO boxes aren’t seen as professional as some of the other options, but that doesn’t mean they’re totally without merit.

Here are some reasons why a small business may want to rent a mailbox for business address.

Privacy and security
Cost-effective
Convenience

Privacy and security

A PO box can provide a secure and private mailing address rental for a small business, which can be especially important for businesses that operate from home or online.

Even if a PO box isn’t the premiere business address rental, it’s still a better idea than registering with your home address.

Cost-effective

Renting a PO box can be a cost-effective alternative to renting traditional office space or storefronts, as the rental fees are generally much lower.

Keep in mind, just because something is cheaper doesn’t mean it’s a better deal. As an entrepreneur, you should seek ways to get the absolute most out of every dollar you spend.

Convenience

A PO box is accessible 24/7, which can be convenient for businesses receiving mail or packages outside regular business hours.

That said, convenience comes at a price.

If these reasons don’t sound too convincing, that’s because they aren’t. We also have a list of some reasons a business may want to avoid a PO box here.

Limited space
Limited services
No physical presence

Limited space

A PO box may not provide enough space to receive large packages or volumes of mail, which can be a challenge for businesses that receive a lot of physical mail.

The best business address rental will provide your company with access to easy-to-use mail forwarding.

Limited services

PO boxes typically do not offer additional services such as fax or phone services, which is likely important for most small businesses. You want a business address rental that provides you and your business with countless amenities and the ability to customize your existing plan.

No physical presence

Renting a PO box doesn’t provide a physical presence or storefront for a small business, which can be a disadvantage for businesses that rely on walk-in traffic or a physical location.

So, if there are plenty of reasons to avoid traditional space and PO boxes, what should you use instead?

Virtual Offices

Rather than falling into the trap of forcing yourself and your business into a 3-year lease or the trap of using a PO box that you may be unable to register your business with, you should consider the benefits of a Virtual Office.

A Virtual Office is a service that provides entrepreneurs, business owners, and individuals alike with access to prestigious real-world physical addresses to be used for business registration without making these entities secure physical space.

We’ve put together a final list of why an Alliance Virtual Office is a better choice than any of the traditional kinds of space listed above.

Professional image
Cost-effective
Flexibility
Business support services
Access to a wider market
Mail forwarding

Professional image

Renting a Virtual Office provides a professional business address and phone number, which can help establish credibility and legitimacy for a small business. This can be particularly important for businesses that operate primarily online or from home.

In our attention-driven economy, you want as many eyes on your business as possible.

If you’re using a low-quality address or another unfamiliar business address rental, there’s a great chance that you’ll struggle to market the company to new consumers.

Cost-effective

Virtual Offices are often more cost-effective than traditional offices as they don’t require a long-term lease commitment or the cost of maintaining and furnishing a physical space.

Compared to the extensive capital requirements of traditional space, Virtual Offices are just a drop in the bucket.

At Alliance, you can get plans as low as $49 per month with an easy-to-manage 6-month minimum for your plan length.

Flexibility

A Virtual Office provides flexibility for businesses to work from anywhere while maintaining a professional image.

This can be particularly advantageous for businesses operating remotely or with employees in different locations.

In the modern labor market, workers feel freer when they’re working remotely. By providing these workers with a way to work remotely and a way to enjoy hybrid workstyles, you’re bolstering your company’s culture and improving the working environment.

Business support services

A Virtual Office can provide access to a range of business support services, such as receptionist services, meeting rooms, and administrative support. This can help small businesses save time and resources while focusing on core business activities.

With a Live Receptionist, you don’t have to worry about answering all of your business’s calls while simultaneously handling the tasks that keep your company afloat. Instead, you can have our friendly and professional receptionists screen and answer every call.

Alliance’s Virtual Offices provide easy reservations for meeting rooms and coworking spaces with any plan you choose.

Working remotely, while productive, can get isolating and frustrating, which quickly leads to burnout. With coworking spaces, you have a perfect location to use to break the monotony of your daily routine without breaking the bank.

Our meeting rooms provide a similar reprieve.

Rather than stressing about where to host your meetings, virtual or otherwise, you can use our variously sized meeting rooms to handle as many guests as necessary.

This allows you to make a good impression on potential clients, investors, and partners alike.

Alliance’s onsite and offsite support are great benefits too.

Setting up your Virtual Office isn’t difficult, but it’s nice to know you have access to helpful professionals who will walk you through the process if necessary.

In addition, we have phone and email support to help with any offsite questions you may encounter.

Mail forwarding

Some virtual office providers try and force you to pay for mail forwarding regardless of whether you want the service.

At Alliance, we approach mail forwarding differently.

Instead of creating a flat-rate price that includes the service, we leave it up to the individual.

Even better, we’ve created four separate mail forwarding tiers designed for businesses that are slowly or quickly expanding. Keep in mind that these prices may vary slightly by location.

Monthly mail forwarding for $10 per month
Biweekly mail forwarding for $20 per month
Weekly mail forwarding for $30 per month
Daily mail forwarding for $70 per month

As you can see, these tiers are designed to help you accommodate any incoming mail you may receive.

When you want to switch, you can do so with ease.

Virtual Offices are a better solution than PO boxes and traditional business address rentals because they provide the amenities of traditional space with the flexibility and freedom of a PO box.

Alliance’s business address rental

There are many different options for business address rentals; ultimately, the right one depends on your situation.

That said, a Virtual Office offers almost all business owners many unique benefits.

Alliance’s Virtual Offices allow business owners to fully customize their offices to ensure that our partners get the most out of their space and prestigious address.

Further reading

Alliance Virtual Offices provides Virtual Office services and a slew of other digital tools and services to established entrepreneurs, new business owners, and everyone in between.

Don’t rush to use a traditional business address rental. Take the time to ensure you’re getting the most value for your hard-earned money.

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