Written by Liam Murphy | 28 April 2010

I remember the days when I actually got to fly to other countries for meetings, but now with budget cutbacks and new enabling technologies, many of them are largely unnecessary. There's no doubt that technology has changed the way that we work.

So now, most of the meetings I go to (or should I say "attend") are in front of my computer. In these meetings, I'm usually looking at someone else's desktop and trying not to cut someone off mid-sentence when I want to say something. Although I've found the technology that allows you to have virtual meetings with people all over the world invaluable, I sometimes find it equally frustrating.

I've also found that people make the same mistakes when holding these meetings; mistakes that can be easily avoided.

Mistake 1: Anyone heard of mute?

I've lost count of the number of times that I've been in a virtual meeting when I either hear a participant talking to someone else that isn't in the meeting, or keys tapping as an attendee is secretly answering emails, or sometimes just annoying feedback (especially if there are multiple participants sitting next to each other with their phones on speaker). Please, make sure you've muted your phone if you don't need to speak.

Written by Liam Murphy | 23 March 2010

Once you're armed with a virtual office, you will have a prime business address, a local phone number with a sultry toned receptionist to answer your calls and meeting rooms that look sharp with every piece of technology you need. To your prospects, clients and partners, you will look like a business that's going places, and a company that's in control. However, before you pat yourself on the back too quickly, there may be something that you've overlooked. Your website!

For a large number of businesses, their clients will come across their website at some point in time. For a large proportion of them, it may even be their first contact with that company. Think about that. The first impression of your business by your clients could be formed through your website. That makes your website very important.

Depending on what business you're in, your website could also become a channel that you can get enquiries from or even make sales. By having a well optimized, usable and professional looking website, it can work like another member of your sales team, or even the top performing member of your sales team.

If you're starting a new business, you might not even have a website yet; or you may have a website that's just not quite right. Not to worry, here are some tips for creating a website that reflects the same professionalism of your business that your virtual office does.

Written by Liam Murphy | 09 March 2010

It's tempting to go down the path of a makeshift virtual office that you create yourself out of a number of disparate online systems and services to save on cost. For example, you can get a PO box for your address, a Skype phone number attached to a voicemail box and have your meetings at your client's offices (or Starbucks). If this sounds like your virtual office, you could be damaging your business and ultimately, selling yourself short.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be on a budget when looking for a virtual office, especially when you're starting a new business. However, there are a few things you can look at to save on your virtual office, but overall, you might be surprised at how inexpensive a professional virtual office can be.

The importance of your business address depends on your business type and you can find a wide range of addresses in our directory, which vary in price. If you don't necessarily need a prime CBD location, you might want to opt for a less expensive address in the outskirts of a city. Just remember that the address you're at contributes to the image that your business projects.

Written by Liam Murphy | 16 February 2010

A virtual office can be the support and infrastructure that you need for your business but choosing the wrong one can end up being a hindrance rather than a blessing. Your needs for a virtual office can differ dramatically from the next persons, especially with the broad range of services that are now available under the term 'virtual office.

The first step in choosing the right virtual office for you is to understand and identify your need. What are the services that would support your business? You should ask questions like;

Is making a good first impression critical for your business?

Do you need to have client meetings at the virtual office location?

Do you need to work at the virtual office location?

What do you need from your receptionist?

Once you have an idea of what kind of services that you're looking for, when searching for your virtual office, here are some points that you should think about.

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Written by Liam Murphy | 11 February 2010

Virtual Offices is a relatively new concept which is enabled through modern technology allowing companies to keep costs down without affecting public perception of their business and their brand. Virtual Offices have also allowed small start-ups to appear as though they are a big business, which gives the small business owner a helping hand in starting their company and making it successful.

1. Low Cost

One of the greatest benefits of using a virtual office is the low-cost nature of the service. In a time when real estate costs are soaring, a virtual office gives an alternative allowing a company to have a prime address in the CBD without any of the overheads and costs.

2. Prestigious Address

The ability to have a prestigious address leads onto a second benefit, which is the perception that your company isn't just a one horse show and has the funds to be located at a great address. Client's will perceive that your company is a highly successful business and will be more likely to want to do business with you.

Written by Liam Murphy | 07 February 2010

It can be challenging to work together while being physically in different continents, but it has become more and more popular to use virtual teams, where everyone is in their own virtual office, no matter what type of organization you’re either running or work for. It isn’t necessary any more for colleagues to all sit in the same place.

To be successful cultivating your virtual team, you and every person in the team needs to understand that they are there to fulfill a requirement, meet a target and reach a goal. They all should have a purpose. At the same time, like in a normal office, team members need to build relationships with one another. Even if they’re not together physically you still should have meetings. Just have them over the phone or with web conferencing tools. Share your desktop so that everyone is looking at the same notes, documents or presentation. Give everyone the opportunity to participate.

With virtual teams, its easy for individual team members to feel isolated since they may be on their own anyway, working from home. To minimize this, you should make sure that the team is interacting with one another on a regular basis. Give them shared goals and targets that they need to work as a team to achieve. Make sure that you give them deadlines as well. It’s easy not to feel pressure when you’re working on your own at home, but with some tight deadlines you can give a healthy amount of pressure for them to achieve.

Written by Liam Murphy | 01 February 2010

Starting a new business without any resources or employees doesn’t mean that you need to do everything yourself. There are lots of people out there that you can utilize for any type of project and you can get them at great rates. In fact, there are a lot of benefits to using freelancers to complete your projects as you get a level of flexibility that you wouldn’t get if you were to hire full-time resources. This means that you can get the right skills for particular projects or tasks without the overhead.

You may be thinking that it’s going to be a hassle finding these freelancers but you’d be surprised how easy it is. The Internet has made it easy and it’s become even easier with the introduction of new sites that give you the tools to advertise your project or job, interview, engage and track freelancers.

Originally, when looking for this type of resource on the web, I would scour relevant forums, which would usually have a section for people offering their services. An example of this is Digital Point Forums, where you can find people to help you with your website marketing. You would then contact them through the forum using a private message and pay them using Paypal. However, there is no protection for the employer or employee.

Written by Liam Murphy | 20 January 2010

So you're starting a new business. You have a business plan (or maybe just an idea) , the motivation and maybe even some capital. You don't really want to spend lots of money renting office space and you don't think you need it just yet, but at the same time you still want to look professional to your potential clients.

A virtual office can mean different things to different people depending on what requirements they may have. With a virtual office, technically, the actual office is wherever you are and with the ever evolving new technology that is available now, you can run your business from just about anywhere. So your office can be your house, car, in an airport, by the swimming pool or at the beach.

Usually, your office would be based at home and so to make this work you need to have a great environment set up. This could be a quiet study or room where you aren't distracted. I used to work at home on a regular basis and I would tell people that the decisions I made ended up being whether to watch television or play Playstation. Needless to say, I didn't have a good environment that was conducive to work.