Making a good impression with your business is the key to attracting clients and retaining them. But how do you do that if your business is barely getting off the ground, you don’t have a DC office space where you can meet clients, and you find yourself needing a lot of administrative help?

Well, you can easily convey success by following these tips:

Have a business address and private office. Working from home is definitely the new norm, as is having meetings at your closest Starbucks. But when trying to convey an image of success, it’s imperative that you have a prestigious address not only for your business cards, but so when your clients come, they take note of your appearance of success. You can get a Washington DC office space with Metro Offices for this very purpose. You can have an office in a beautiful Class A building with a view of the White House, a receptionist to welcome your guests (and also answer all your phone calls), and meeting rooms outfitted with the latest in video conferencing equipment.

Have a professional web presence. It’s pretty much unheard of for a company to not have a website. Everyone searches online. So it’s crucial that when your visitors land on your page, they are impressed with what they see. WordPress is an excellent platform for creating a website, and their templates are very user friendly. It’s also a good idea to make sure your site is compatible with mobile devices since the majority of internet searches done now are through smart phones. If your site isn’t easily accessible from a mobile device, it could cost you those clients!

Have testimonials. Testimonials are a fantastic way to boost your reputation with clients. They help elicit trust with customers you don’t have yet. If you’re just starting out, you may have to offer some services for free in order to get feedback, but trust me – it’s worth it. Testimonials tell an authentic story about your business from the perspective of a third party.

It’s a good idea to work on gathering testimonials for your business on a regular basis, so be sure to create a process for capturing those. As far as displaying them, you can create a “Testimonials” section on your website, include them in brochures, or in other marketing materials.

Say thank you. Send a thank you note for a productive meeting or for a business transaction. It may seem unnecessary when you can just fire off an email that will say the same thing, but the point is that you want your company to stand out among the competition. To do that, you need to do something unique that no one else is doing. Your thoughtfulness will go quite a long way and give a very good impression to your clients, creating a long lasting business relationship.

Do you have any tips to contribute to making a good first impression with your business? We’d love to hear your comments below!

For more information about office space for rent in Washington DC, please contact us here.

Let’s say you work from home, and you have a really nice office set up for yourself. You set your own hours and you can work as much or as little as you want. But then what happens when your business begins to grow, and you decide you need a business address for your business cards? What if your admin needs grow, and you don’t have the time or the knowledge to keep up with what your company needs to keep running smoothly?

Consider Metro Office Access.

It’s perfect for those of you who don’t need a permanent office space. But perhaps you DO need access to an office space every now and then, for working in a private office space, conducting meetings, or getting some admin help like scanning, printing, GBC binding and much more.

Not only will you have access to everything I just mentioned, but Metro Offices has private meeting rooms outfitted with state of the art video conferencing equipment. That means you have access to these rooms if you need to conduct a meeting with a client in a different part of the country. Your client will never know you are just renting the space!

To make it even easier, this package allows you to use any Metro Office location, and there are 9 different ones to choose from in DC, Virginia, and Maryland. No need to drive all over the Metro area – just pick the location most convenient to you!

You can get the entire Metro Office Access package for less than $3 a day!

Contact us here to find out more information about a temporary office space in Washington DC.

The freelancer today varies from anyone looking for an “in” to a company and will take a gig for that very reason, to someone who just enjoys having flexibility and control over his work life, to the entrepreneur who feels he can be more successful with his startup.

With the workforce becoming more globalized and more remote, employers have a wider pool of skills to choose from since freelancers work remotely and can be based out of any geographic location.

If you are a freelancer chasing success this year, keep the following tips in mind:

CREATE GOALS: Long term and short term. So think of things like how many hours you want to work, if you have enough savings to get you through low periods, and what kind of projects you want to work on. If one of your goals is to portray a professional image while keeping overhead costs low, you can easily achieve that through having a temporary office space in Washington DC that boasts a prestigious address. But it’s very important to have these goals documented so you can assess them weekly and change as needed.

NETWORK: If you’re a freelancer, you are responsible for getting your name out there. More than likely you work from home, so it’s important to place a high priority on gaining visibility. Use social media networks and LinkedIn to market your skills. You could also start a blog that showcases said skills – whatever those may be. Your blog can act like a portfolio of past work as well. You might want to visit a business center once or twice a week in order to make connections. Having a Washington DC virtual office means access to our Business Lounges and Executive Cafes where you can spend time catching up on the news and make important business contacts.  The water cooler is a great place to strike up a relationship!

STICK TO A ROUTINE: Self-discipline is crucial for this lifestyle. There is no one micromanaging you, so it can be very tempting to take the day off or spend the afternoon catching up on your favorite TV shows. Create a structure for yourself that you stick to. You want it to be flexible enough that you can get your work done, and not so rigid that you set yourself up for failure and cease to be productive. One of the most important things you can do to protect your schedule is to set boundaries with friends and family. Make sure they understand that just because you are “at home” doesn’t necessarily mean that you can be interrupted at any time. Set some ground rules that everyone can understand and follow.

If you’re just starting out in the freelancing world, then best of luck to you! I hope these tips will serve as an anchor to keep you grounded, but give you the flexibility for your business to really flourish.

Burnout: Multiple, chronic stressors over an extended period of time that will leave you totally drained and no longer performing at your best. (source)

Let’s not let it get to that point. Here are the signs you need to look for when it comes to burnout:

• Exhaustion (can be emotional, physical and mental)
• Lack of motivation
• Frustration and other negative emotions concerning everything in your life
• Lack of concentration (you can’t solve problems/make decisions/are forgetful)
• Decrease in job performance
• Increase in conflicts with work colleagues and family
• Decrease in health (eating poorly, drinking too much, not getting enough sleep)
• Stressing about work while not at work
• Decrease in satisfaction of life in general
• Health problems (due to chronic stress)

So, what do you do if you are experiencing the above stressors? First, schedule relaxation time into your schedule and take it seriously! This can be in the form of meditation, taking a walk, coffee with friends, or reading a book in the park. It’s also important that you develop a life outside of work – like a hobby or fitness routine. Find something that you are interested in that cultivates the artist in you so you can unleash your creativity. Start exercising, and get enough sleep. Eat more vegetables. It’s important to be proactive when it comes to burnout, because the consequences your body suffers can sometimes take months to recover from.

What other suggestions do you have for reducing stressors? We’d love to hear your comments below!

If you have any questions about office space for rent in Washington DC, please give us a call.

There could be a couple reasons that scaling doesn’t seem to be happening for you, and according to this Inc. article, the problem usually lies with the founder or CEO.

• You keep yourself in the spotlight – Sure, it’s easy to get caught up in the waves of personal achievement as your company thrives, but take caution to not tie your personal worth into the growth of your business. That can cause a barrier for scaling. The best thing to do is separate the two and release your business to grow on its own.
• You don’t follow the process – It’s very normal in the beginning stages of a company to intuit your way into growth. You base decisions on how you feel instead of using a system. But once you start to scale, a system of processes must be set in place to give structure to your company. Continuing to rely on “feelings” will only result in chaos and uncertainty, because there will be no clear path to follow.

Do you recognize yourself in these two possibilities? If so, there are so solutions!

• The main thing you need to do is get out of your own way. If you notice that you are hindering the growth of your company, it may be time to step back. Entrepreneurs are wonderful with bringing visions to life, but sometimes passion can work against scaling a company. It would be in your best interest to hire someone else to hand the reins to, so you can step back and give your business room to scale.
• Along the same vein, if you want your company to grow, the best place to start is with developing your own leadership skills first. A great way to go about this is to find a mentor who has already been where you desire to go. Ask for their guidance in refining you to be the leader you need to scale your business.

For more information about DC office spaces, contact us here or leave a comment below!

Have a wonderful Memorial weekend everyone!!

Scheduling some “down time” to think is crucial when it comes to making important decisions about your business. Plus, it’s good to give yourself a break from daily tasks that require much of your concentration. But where is the busy executive supposed to find time to do this? Believe it or not, you probably already have time worked into your schedule – you just aren’t aware of it yet.

Find time to think when you:

Commute to the office. Driving a familiar route means that you are following muscle memory and your body basically goes on auto-pilot, giving your brain a chance to ponder what is on your mind.

Walk your dog. The same benefits as your daily commute, only greener and safer!

Take a long shower. Another chance for your body to go on auto-pilot. Plus, you’re in a quiet environment that can allow space for you to work out something that may be troubling you.

Staring out the window. Be it the plane, a train or a car – this down time gives your brain a chance for serious reflection.

For the next week, be aware of these “down times” you have in your schedule for thinking and see if you can use these opportunities to foster creativity and solutions for your business.

For information about a Washington DC virtual office, please give us a call or leave a comment below!

I’m sure most of you have implemented these, and countless others in an attempt to be more productive in your workday. But I have other, more subtle techniques you may not know about!

3 Unique Tips for Productivity:

Bad Weather: Turns out, bad weather is great for productivity. Why? Because good weather causes employees to daydream about endless possibilities to enjoy said weather. Try facing desks away from windows, or offering to let employees clock out early on great weather days, in exchange for longer hours when the weather is bad.

View Cute Images: It may sound silly, but those “inspiration” posters of puppies and kittens playing with each other actually boost productivity, according to several recent studies. Apparently cute imagery enhances mental focus and dexterity. So pin up a couple on your wall and watch your output increase!

Raise the Temperature: Higher office temperatures show a massive surge in productivity .“A study of office workers at a Florida insurance company, conducted by Cornell’s Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory, found that as office temperatures increased from 68 degrees to 77 degrees, typing errors decreased 44 percent. Meanwhile, typing output improved a whopping 150 percent.” (source)

What about you? Do you have any unique tips to share that have proven to help your productivity? We’d love to hear them in the comments section below!

If you’d like information about a temporary office space in Washington DC, please contact us here.

First of all, the building alone is impressive – there is no better location to set up your temporary office space in Washington DC. We are located two blocks from the White House and the K Street corridor. We also have a 75-person conference center if you wanted to host a meeting. Are you drawn more to aesthetics? The building has floor to ceiling marbled walls, a stunning waterfall, and a pristine roof top terrace!

We wanted our office spaces to reflect the same luxury our Farragut office provides. Click the link below to see what we’ve done with the place!

New Farragut Office

Do happy employees work harder? That’s what Gallup researcher James Harter finds to be true. Harter conducted a study that shows the link between employee feelings and corporate results, and how unhappy employees contribute to a lost productivity value of $300 billion in the US annually.

Besides the monetary consequences, it should be noted that happy employees are more creative and productive. On the flip side, unhappy employees show more inconsistency and produce low quality work.

If that’s the case, then managers should definitely focus on the well being of their employees. But how do you do that? First, you must understand what drives worker happiness.

The first thing that drives happiness is having fulfillment in the job. Naturally, fulfillment can vary from company to company, but the overall goal is the same: to take great value in what you do. The second component of happiness is to be appreciated. Workers need to know that their time and efforts are valued. They desire to receive recognition for a job well done. Lastly, happiness hinges on being able to share your successes with colleagues and customers. Success means nothing if it can’t be shared.

You know what component rarely makes the top three? Money. That may come as a surprise, but most people place higher value on being appreciated and enjoying their contributions with others than on making a lot of money.

As an employer, what can you do to facilitate happiness in your employees?

TRUST
If your employees trust you as a leader who will guide them with only everyone’s best interest in mind, they will be completely devoted to you. They will feel comfortable in their communication with you and be honest in their work ethic.

COMPANY VALUES
Take the time to make sure your employees understand your company’s values and mission statement. Be clear about the direction the business is headed, and check to see if everyone is on board with that direction.

FREEDOM
Give them space to do their job – don’t micromanage your employees.

RECOGNIZE STRESS AND WORK TO ALLEVIATE IT
Do your part to recognize when an employee may be struggling with something work or home related. Provide a safe space for them to communicate any problems they may be having, and create opportunities for them to relieve that stress. Maybe lightening up a work load for a short time, or giving a couple of extra days of vacation. This approach has a powerful impact because your employees see that they work in a supportive environment conducive to their well being, which facilitates fulfillment on the job.

Industries that tend to have the happiest people:

• Education (real sense of making a difference in children’s lives)
• Construction (can share the success of a completed project with others)

Industries that tend to have the unhappiest people:

• Entertainment (gap in level of success)
• Retail (no significant impact on customer)
• Toll booth workers (this job lacks all three components of happiness)

Where does your company fall on the happiness scale? Have you taken into account the above points to ensure a happier workplace? We’d love to hear your comments below!

For information about a Washington DC Virtual Office, click here!

Metro Offices Virtual Office plan may be perfect for you! With our plan, you get the following:

• A receptionist to answer your phone calls
• A prestigious address close to the White House (put this address on your business cards and have your mail sent here!)
• Several conference rooms and private meeting rooms available on demand for client meetings

This virtual office space in Washington DC plan is also a great workplace solution for those of you who find yourselves away from your regular office but need a practical solution for being productive when “on the road” or away from your desk. Not only do we provide fully equipped offices and conference rooms with video conferencing equipment, but you also have access to our business lounges (have a cup of coffee and use our high speed Internet) or take advantage of our business services center where our friendly staff can help you with any administrative tasks you need accomplished – copying, printing, binding, etc!

The goal at Metro Offices is to help your business put forth the most professional face possible, while maximizing your productivity. We will ensure your company stays competitive in this global market!

For more information about securing a virtual office with Metro Offices, leave a comment or contact us here!