The concept of a virtual laboratory dates back at least as far as Albert (“My mind is my laboratory”) Einstein.
Transitional Entrepreneurs make use of home offices. Service Consultants make use of executive office services.
But at least one Toronto Enterprise, while embracing the concept of the Virtual office, is crouching flatter than a Microsoft bug fix.
When the lease came up for renewal, the partners marshaled the facts and decided that three client visits to their bricks-and-mortar rental over the past twelve months did not warrant the dollars for overhead space.
Five home offices, linked by current telephone technology (“We just pick up the phone and dial an extension”) bring all the benefits you would expect.
However, the partners were canny enough to ask their clients what they thought of the idea.
The older established clients didn’t like the idea of no bricks-and-mortar office; they wanted to continue doing business with a real business! Despite the fact those clients rarely visited the corporate office.
The Solution?
A virtual office, with a rented mailbox for a postal address, and no one is telling the clients that all the partners work from home.
I corroborated the story with one of the partners while he was walking to an appointment. I’d not have known he was walking to an appointment had he not told me.
They are not lying – but are lying low!
