Mini-Offices: Home for Start-Ups

The primary reason businesses start at home, or with a meager P.O. Box is because, renting an office can be very expensive.

On top of your basic rental, you will have to worry about buying and setting up tables and chairs, and bother yourself with a lot of moving-in blues when you should actually be concentrating on one thing: Making Money.

Therefore, for many start-ups, the kitchen table offers a "ready-to-go" alternative which is also rent-free. But what if there's an office "Cube" with a desk, a phone, access to a copy machine and a fax machine?

What if it has a common secretary receptionist who can type your letter and charge you only based on the amount of work done? What if this office were to rent out at $200 a month? Would you take it?

Incubator

Many profitable businesses are born and raised in incubator situations. A mini office is just that - a slightly bigger mailbox where you can physically show up and do your work.

It's an ideal breeding ground for start-ups with limited capital, yet need legitimate workspace that neither the kitchen or a mailbox can offer. This is where you come in.

The Layout

Picture this mini office in a middle-range commercial location. The ideal space for you to rent would be around 1,800 square feet. You can build wall-to-wall cubicles that are about 5 x 5 each. Including common areas and a small corner for your secretary, fax and copy machines, you can have 30 Cubes that can each rent out for $200 a month.

If all your cubes are rented out, this will give $6,000 in gross rental revenues. If you can lease your space for around $0.75 per square foot, your 1,800 sqft. space will cost you $1,350 a month.

Add to this the salary of the secretary, and your margin can still be at around 50% of your gross rental revenue, or roughly $3000. In addition to your rental revenues, you will also make money on copies, faxes and secretarial functions.

Bigger Spaces

The "office cube" concept can be applied to nearly any combination of size and location and the extent of service you want to offer your tenants. In this age of entrepreneurship, the one-person business is very common, so it will not be difficult to find start-ups looking for an office situation like yours.


Related Articles

DOL Small Business Handbook

This Handbook on the basic regulations and related services administered by the Department of Labor (DOL) is designed primarily for small businesses in general industry. It begins with a general overview of DOL requirements.

Starting and Managing a Business from Your Home

The cottage industry, an old-fashioned enterprise, is enjoying a revival so strong that it's difficult to find out just how many Americans are now working at home. Estimates range from two to five million and the numbers may double by 1990.

The ABC's of Borrowing

Some small business persons cannot understand why a lending institution refused to lend them money. Others have no trouble getting funds, but they are surprised to find strings attached to their loans.

How to Prepare a Business Plan that Guarantees Big Profits

Success in business comes as a result of planning. You have to have a detailed, written plan that shows you what the ultimate goal is, the reason for the goal, and each milestone that must be passed in order to reach your goal.

21 Steps to Home Business Success

Twenty million home-based businesses will be in operation by 1999, according to Link Resource's 1995 National Work-at Home Survey. All around the country, people who want more control over their lives are starting home businesses

Home-Based Businesses for Fun and Profit

Your Guide to Setting Up Your Own Business at Home

How to Get Free Medical (and Dental) Care

Once you have formed your own non-profit organization, you merely place in your corporate charter the provision that medical care be paid by the organization of which you are a member.

Own Your Own Million Dollar Corporation in as Little as 4 Weeks

Here again, it is helpful to form your corporation in Delaware. In this state the law allows you to assign any "par-value" to your stock as you like - even though there are no assets to back up your valuation.

How to Start a Profitable Home-Based Business

In these days, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet with just one source of income. Thus, more and more people are investigating the possibilities of starting their own extra-income business.

A Basic Guide on Trademarks

A trademark may be a word, symbol, design or combination word and design, a slogan or even a distinctive sound which identifies and distinguishes the goods or services of one party from those of another.