In the United States, there are more than 40 million home-based businesses where a few of the owners are retailers or online artists. On the other hand, there are others who offer many freelance services or specialty services. All these businesses do not really require a storefront for doing the business. They just need a virtual business address on which the company is registered. After that, the person can work from home by offering the services for which they registered the company.

Other than that, the small business owners or the solopreneurs who usually offer services in their business, face a lot of challenges as their company grows. The addresses that these businesses use are usually not the permanent one where the business would stay and grow. At times, they just pick up a small office nearby or give their home address instead when registering their company with the government.

For those who pick up their home address, it seems like an easy job since they do not have to pay extra or spend the time to look for a place. And it makes sense for them since most of these owners have home-based businesses, regardless of it is an office room in their house or just a desk in the living room. Moreover, there are a few people who normally just use a P.O. box instead. All these things can create issues for the business in the future.

But with the use of the virtual business address, the company would have much more credibility and the customers and clients would trust the business. As a matter of fact, this option is also an affordable one where you would just have to pay a small monthly fee for it.

Still don’t feel that you need a virtual business address? Well, the below explanation of the downside of using home addresses and the upside of using a virtual address might change your mind.

Legal Downsides of Home Addresses

Even though it might not seem like there are bad points, but there are a few downsides of even legal issues that come up when a business owner uses their home address as their company’s official address. To understand the notable risks, some points have been shared below:

1. Lease and HOA rules

There are always some home addresses that cannot be used as a business address for your company. This is mostly true when talking about the condo complexes and apartments that restricts the ability of residents in operating a business from their home. Moreover, there are also some homes which have the rules of the HOA (homeowners’ association) which have restrictions as well.

2. Zoning restrictions

A few of the cities in the world have some municipality codes which prohibit or restrict the homeowners from operating any commercial operation from their house. There are some examples where there are only a few types of businesses that can be prohibited. But it is still always better to get a virtual business address instead of taking the risk.

3. Privacy concerns

The business owners mingle their professional and personal lives as soon as they register their company under their home address. This address is then put in the public and given to the customers for legal contracts and various other things. All of sudden, these people then find their privacy compromised as customers tend to show up at the house every time and unexpectedly.

Other than the potential privacy and legal challenges when a person uses their home address for their business, there are als many opportunities that are missed out which can make the business grow. Moreover, if these people look for loan, it is close to impossible for them to get the loan. The credibility is also low where you would not be able to get many new customers or clients.

On the other hand, getting a virtual business address means that you would be able to enjoy many advantages and easily work towards growing your business perfectly. The next section would explain all about the benefits of using a virtual office address instead of your home address when registering your company.

Business Advantages of Virtual Office Addresses

Instead of using your home address, you can always opt for using the virtual office and business address by hiring the company that offers these services. Under this service, there are other additional services that includes a live receptionist, a lobby directory listing, mail receipt and forwarding along with a virtual office address that is of a high-class location.

Some of the companies offering these services also offer business services, conference rooms, and an individual office space. You get all this for just a little monthly subscription. But that is not all, there are many other advantages of using the virtual business address that includes:

1. Professional presence and trust

If you use your home address on the contracts, invoices, or statements of work, your customers would see a home or an apartment address. And by seeing this, they would not get a feeling of professional presence or trust. Moreover, a business address always plays a huge and important role in building trust with customers and prospects.

Other than that, a virtual business address would also give you a local professional presence. This is very important when you want to grow your business and think about the long term of the business.

2. Meeting location

Having a home address means that you would have to have your meeting at your house, which might not be a good idea always. Moreover, if you choose to have meetings in a hotel, you would have to spend a lot of money. It would cost you twice the amount that you could pay for a rented meeting room space.

On the other hand, having a meeting in the coffee shop would not give you enough of privacy and confidentiality that you need for your meetings. But if you get a virtual business address, the company offering you with the address would also have the facility of a meeting room. You can use that space instead and keep your business professional.

3. Business expansion

Also with a home business address, you can go only to a limit when expanding. For instance, if you are planning to expand your business to new locations, you would need local addresses then. And your home address would not work for it. With a virtual business address, you would be able to get various virtual addresses in the places you want to expand to. Other than the address service, you would also be able to enjoy a great meeting location for your partners and clients.

4. Privacy

It is obvious that when you start a business, you would use the internet to market about it. And for that you would create a company website and use your address (home address) on it. Well, now imagine a new customer coming over to your place just to have a word with you unexpectedly. You wouldn’t want this happening, right? At your home, you are living with your family and if you have kids, you would not want your privacy disturbed by your business. This is also why you need a virtual business address.

5. Fixed Address

Let us say that you are using your home address as your business address, and you plan to move your home to somewhere new. In this case, your business address would change as well. Other than giving a unprofessional feel, this would cause a lot of confusion and mix-up for your customers and clients.

But with a virtual business address, you would have a continuity for the physical location of your business. This would also offer a much more trustworthy and professional demeanor for your company. In short, the clients and customers would feel more confident and would find it comfortable to send payments to a physical address that has been the same for a long time.

No one would trust the company where the address keeps on changing. This is the reason why it is better to keep a virtual business address where you would not have to change it again and again.

6. Online Search Purposes

Other than owning a business, there are many other ways of letting people know about your business in the online world. Business descriptions and postings in various directories online help in spreading the awareness about your business and what it has to offer. Moreover, the search engines too are a way of taking your business ahead and bringing in leads to your business. These days, people believe what Google Local Maps show and the reviews it has.

But for your business to be there, you would need a business address. Adding your home address instead of a business address would not help you at all. This is because you would not be able to use a same physical address for two things online – your house address and the business address. That is where the virtual business address would come in and help, even though you do not do business in that location.

7. Convenience

Let us take another example where you use your home address and get mails at your home everyday. If you are out of your house and mails are kept on your doorstep (obviously), anyone can come and steal it. You can lose important papers or things like this which might get your in trouble at the court or make you lose a lot of money. Now you wouldn’t want that, right?

With a virtual business address, all your mails would go to the address (which is normally the address that the company has given you to use as your virtual business address). For every mail that reaches there, you can have all or some selected mails scanned and sent to you.

And depending on the document scans you recieved, you can choose the packages that you want delivered to you. All these can then be sent to your home address or to any other address where you want it and are available. Other than that, you would also have the choice to decide if you want the items stored or shredded for you.

Conclusion

Being a business owner isn’t something easy and it is obvious that you would have many things to take care. And if you have to spend time worrying about your business address and where your mails are going, you would not be able to help your company grow. By opting for the infrastructure and administrative services from companies like PO BOX Zone, you would be able to focus on much more important things.

Yes, you would have to pay a little for this. But it is better to pay a little than to spend a lot on unnecessary things when you can spend the money in growing your business instead. So, if you are thinking about opening a home-based business, then you need a virtual business address that would help your business much better than using your home address instead.

How can PO BOX Zone help you?

PO BOX Zone is a company in the USA that offers the virtual business address in Nevada and Wyoming. The plan starts from $99 a year to about $250 a year. If you are person who would get just a few mails, the $99 plan would be perfect for you. And if you are company that gets unlimited number of mails, then the $250 plan is the right choice. Isn’t the price highly affordable? Contact PO BOX Zone for more details!