Home-based small businesses enjoy many advantages, from lower costs to a great commute. However, when it comes to giving clients your business address, working from home can present some problems.

Virtual offices can help. A virtual office is a real address in a real office building. Often, virtual offices also include access to meeting rooms, front-desk services to handle mail and greet clients, and other perks.

With a virtual office in the RGV, you can keep most of your small business operations at home, while enjoying many of the advantages of a professional office space. Here is a look at some of the reasons to choose a virtual office address over a home address for your business.

Use a virtual office address when you want privacy.

Your small business needs to be out there to get attention and earn customers, but that does not mean you want your personal home address available to anyone online.

If you use your home address for your business address, your home address becomes easily Googled by any curious individual. Even keeping your address off the Internet cannot guarantee privacy: Publicly-available business records will require, and include, your business address.

A virtual office address, however, makes it easy to protect your home and family from the prying eyes of the general public. You can legally include that address as your business address on any paperwork, records, or advertising, keeping your home address as your own private information.

Use a virtual office address for a professional appearance.

You want customers to respect your business. That respect becomes harder to earn when your address is located in a residential neighborhood.

Presenting a polished and professional appearance to your customers is easier, however, when you use a virtual office address vs. a home address. Virtual offices are usually located in office buildings in professional areas of town, such as the Arts District in McAllen.

That means that customers who pick up your business card or look you up online see that your business is located in a desirable part of town, and that makes your business appear more trustworthy, professional, and put-together than a business that operates out of a house.

Use a virtual office address for professional meeting space.

Working out of your home may be convenient and cost-effective, but when you need to meet with customers, it may become uncomfortable. Not only do you need to give clients your personal address, but you risk losing their respect, and their business, by welcoming them into a residential home instead of a professional office space.

Using a virtual office address instead of a home address gives you the opportunity to access professional meeting space as well. Many virtual office providers in the RGV, such as Via Executive Suites, include meeting spaces in their virtual office offerings.

Whether you need to reserve the space ahead of time, or get access to space as part of your virtual office package, this ability to meet with clients at a professional location, in a professional space, makes it easier for you to impress investors, put together a great board meeting, or earn more business.

Use a virtual office address to protect your LLC.

Limited liability corporations, called LLCs, offer protection to the small business owner. Business debts and liabilities are, as the name implies, limited, which keeps the business owner from losing their personal property or savings because of their business.

However, by using a home address for your LLC, you risk blurring the lines between your personal life and your professional life. As a result, your LLC protections may not keep you safe from personal liability for business debts.

Using a virtual office address, however, maintains the separation between your personal life and your business. That means that you can enjoy the full advantages of your LLC and protect yourself from financial trouble in the event that your business faces serious debt or other financial issues.

Use a virtual office address to comply with lease and HOA regulations.

Sometimes, running a business out of your home is not allowed according to the terms of your lease or the rules of your HOA.

In these cases, you can avoid landlord conflicts and consequences from your HOA by using a virtual office. With a virtual office address, the headquarters of your business move from your home to a professional office building.

That can bring your business into alignment with relevant regulations and ease your relationships with your landlord or HOA.

Use a virtual office address if you want to avoid moving issues.

If you anticipate moving more frequently than your business, say from Edinburg to McAllen or McAllen to Pharr, you may want a virtual office address. Every time you move, you will need to change the address of your business as well if you are working out of your home.

That makes it more likely that important mail will be left behind at your old location. In addition, you will face the time-consuming inconvenience of updating records, alerting clients, changing business cards, updating your website, and more.

With a virtual business address, you can keep the same address even when you personally relocate. That stability is better for you and for your customers.

If you are looking to improve your company’s professional appearance, and make life easier on yourself, you may want to consider a virtual office with Via Executive Suites. We provide virtual offices across four locations in the RGV. These offices make it easy for small businesses to cost-effectively and conveniently maintain a professional address and amenities while still running their business primarily out of their home.