Starting out - office or no?

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#1
migbike  
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For those of you without an office, do you meet clients in person? Do you go to them? Invite them into your house?

Does not having an office seem to turn certain prospects away?

I'm building up a client base on the side, and I've had luck meeting people at Starbucks or their shops or wherever, but it doesn't seem sustainable driving all over town as my client base grows. Especially not for some of the random $150 basic returns I mistakenly took on. :lol:
 

#2
irc162  
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You need to begin and you mean to go on. Try not to meet with clients at all. A lot of folks like to chat and "visit". Some clients consider the tax meeting as a kind of therapy session. They will want to talk about all kinds of things that are not tax related. If you bill them for this time, they will take it badly.

If you allow clients to have an extended meeting at the beginning of your relationship, they will expect this going forward. The other problem with meetings is that clients don't always remember what you tell them during the meeting or think they gave you some info when they didn't. So if you have a substantive "live" meeting with a client, it ia always best to send an email or some type of written follow up to confirm what you discussed.

Consider carefully before allowing clients to come to your home. I started out working from home. I had clients show up without warning at 11:30 at night or at 6AM on a Sunday moringt to "drop something off". Often, when they say the just want to "drop something off", they want to come in and chat for a hour. If you are meeting with another client at the time, that can really be a problem. If you work from home, clients will expect you to be available to them at your home 24/7.
 

#3
sjrcpa  
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COVID is a perfect excuse not to have in person meetings.
 

#4
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When I started doing work on the side, my wife forbade me from having clients come to our home. I am glad she did. I met with clients in Starbucks etc and it worked for the dozen or so clients I had. When I acquired a book of business, I rented an office in a Regus center. I go back and forth on whether I should have gone for a full-time office or rented a set number of days per month and done my work from home. I do like the idea of going to work every day. It would have been cheaper to rent by the month and have limited days, but if I needed a printer whilst meeting with a client, it would be a pain.
 

#5
novacpa  
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Florida is a real tough market, in my view. I have a Florida License, and hang on to it, but the market
is very difficult to get a good stable group of businesses together. Sitting in an empty office is a dismal
prospect I wouldn't want to do.
 

#6
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I started out meeting clients wherever I could but that got old quickly. Most of my clients are remote work but I rented a room in an office building just to meet clients. Desk, a few chairs, diploma and certs framed on the wall. A monitor and printer to look official. Putter and golf balls in the corner to kill time.

All my work is done in my home office but I won't have clients in my home.
 

#7
smtcpa  
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I started out with an office. After almost 20 years of renting space, I realized my clients came to me less and less. In October 2019 I went 100% virtual, except I maintained a Regus office space for meetings for clients that insisted. But that was meant to be transitional as I did not want to do that long-term. Then Covid hit and I stopped seeing clients altogether. I saw one client in early March last year and none since. My website states we don't meet with clients except via zoom or phone. New prospects get it and totally embrace it.

If you are starting out, definitely don't meet with clients unless that is the vision of your business model. Do it right the first time and don't set the wrong expectations for new clients; otherwise, you'll be starting over once you change your business practice.
 

#8
novacpa  
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I hate waiting for clients who can't find parking, or are late - so I agree to meet them at a high end restaurant nearby, I get there early and have a glass of Johnny Walker Black Label before me and a lobster roll to munch on while they
arrive - yeah take your time, I get a re-fill.
They always pick up the tab.
 

#9
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I have not had an office since starting my firm. I have a diverse client base and none of them care that I do not have a commercial office, perhaps because many of them that are self-employed work from home, too.

Realistically, a client just views an office as additional overhead and thus higher fees. I do not allow clients to visit my house. I go to them for everything, though due to COVID, I have been able to get clients to electronically send me their documents where in prior years, they wanted to have me pick up. It has helped me become basically 100% virtual, which also means I have a portable client base regardless of where travels or where I choose to live.

My guess is within 10 years, almost no CPA firms will have offices they actually work out of.
 

#10
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novacpa wrote:I hate waiting for clients who can't find parking, or are late - so I agree to meet them at a high end restaurant nearby, I get there early and have a glass of Johnny Walker Black Label before me and a lobster roll to munch on while they
arrive - yeah take your time, I get a re-fill.
They always pick up the tab.


And let me guess, you bill for time used the following day?
 

#11
novacpa  
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You are so right - I send a PayPal Invoice - after the meet, while they are still "under the ether".
And say, "use a bank card that pays you 2% cash back".
They do it.
Turn a lemon meeting into sweet lemonade.
 

#12
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Don't forget to add in the time spent preparing and sending the invoice. Capture all of that value.
 

#13
MWEA  
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One dissenting opinion - I have found my office to be worth keeping. While not low cost, it’s less than 5% of our operating revenue. Class B space, but done professionally. I found I grew much faster and gained credibility faster having professional space.

Ironically, we are 85% Zoom. But we often meet business clients the first time at our office. I look at it more as part of our advertising budget than critical for client delivery.

I know it would be completely possible to start 100% virtual and build a nice practice. For me, I feel it helps me get there faster.
 

#14
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MWEA wrote:One dissenting opinion - I have found my office to be worth keeping. While not low cost, it’s less than 5% of our operating revenue. Class B space, but done professionally. I found I grew much faster and gained credibility faster having professional space.

Ironically, we are 85% Zoom. But we often meet business clients the first time at our office. I look at it more as part of our advertising budget than critical for client delivery.

I know it would be completely possible to start 100% virtual and build a nice practice. For me, I feel it helps me get there faster.


Im sort of with you. I've always read books on leadership, business, self help and I believe in "Do what the leaders" do. PWC doesn't work from home. I have been in B+ space paying $18 a foot for 20 years. My rent is about $24,000 a year BUT I am in a very nice business area of Charlotte. I have picked up over the years at least 20K a year of on going revenue from companies in this building ... I do a law firm with billings of about 12K a year for example.

I do recognize that times are changing but for me, the 24K in annual cost is very bearable based on my revenue.
 

#15
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I think this is something where there can be a lot of differing opinions. There are still some positives to offices, but there has definitely been a sea change where it's a lot more acceptable to not have an office open to the public.

I meet some clients in my home, but I acknowledge that I live in a small city in an area of the country where this is a little more normal and even appreciated. Some times I feel that my clients have annual appointments simply to play with my cats and otherwise would mail or scan in their documents to me. Oh well -- if that's the worst thing going on with my firm, I'll consider it a success.

I have very strict limits on clients dropping things off, and they have always been good about it. Again, this might be specific to my situation.

At some point I will probably have to reconsider it, but the nice part of it is that if I do need a separate office to meet clients in, I'm in a place where it's not going to cost an arm and a leg.
 

#16
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I can see where in a large city, having a commercial office could be of benefit, though I still firmly believe that already is and will continue fading away. I'll say the first firm I worked at, the third office we worked out of (grew too quickly) was prime space--fully renovated, centrally located for everyone, large (each person had their own 12x12'' office, minimum), in a bank with high traffic and other professionals. We never gained "good" clients by having that premium space. Instead, they just ended up being lower end clients where we had trouble collecting payment, obtaining information, getting them to do things correctly, etc.

Fortunately for me, I absolutely hate large cities. I start feeling uncomfortable being in an area with more than 100k population. My area is small (island is 40k full-time residents, mainland has about 60k residents) but has a lot of economic opportunity (well, for the self-employed, at least). My next area is looking to be Traverse City, MI and at this time, I do not plan on having a commercial office there, either, while maintaining clients (and home offices) in both MI and SC.

southpark, I know where your office is located and know the area fairly well. $24k/year sounds like a bargain.
 

#17
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Even in a large city, there will be affordable options.

I've had my eye on some very nice B+ buildings in Atlanta that rent out at $20-25 per sqft per year. They aren't in the city core, but are nice buildings with close interstate access and lots of lunch options.
 

#18
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I am in a Regus office center in a heavily Democratic city in NC. The number of tenants moving in has exploded this week. We have gone from about 10% capacity to about 50% capacity in the last couple of weeks. I think people are ready to work from somewhere other than home, even in a city that has been reasonably cautious with COVID-19.
 

#19
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Question...are there higher data security risks for a "virtual" office in which everyone works from home versus a traditional office?

I imagine there would be as it comes down to everyone's individual home network security and practices?
 

#20
novacpa  
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My next area is looking to be Traverse City, MI and at this time, I do not plan on having a commercial office there, either, while maintaining clients (and home offices) in both MI and SC.
I was in Traverse City Michigan - actually Frankfurt - by invitation to play a round of Golf at the famed
Crystal Downs Country Club, hosted by the President of the Club and the Western Amatuer Director.
For those golfers, Crystal Downs has been ranked as high as 5th in the World Rankings by Golf Digest.
The golf course winds through a mountain range where you see views both East and West of the Great Lakes,
absolutely stunning. The very reason famed designed Dr Alister McKenzie took the assignment to build the
golf course. McKenzie also designed Augusta National and Cypress Point Club (Pebble Beach).
That area is marvelous, although I was there only once - it holds a special place in my heart.
I hope you get a Michigan CPA License and acquire a good collection of clients, loads of money there,
Best of Luck.
 

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