Office Space

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awalker19

awalker19

DJ Extraordinaire
Oct 17, 2016
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I was reading an article that talked about businesses like ours and looking more professional. One of the tips was to stop using coffee houses as meeting places as you wouldn't meet your doctor or tax adviser at a Tim Hortons.

Aside from the discussion of if its professional to meet clients at a coffee shop or diner, which does have its down and up sides. I was wondering what you use? I was doing some googling and some ideas were a church conference room, hotel lobby, large multi-office building lobby, Chamber of Commerce room, convention center meeting areas, piggybacking off a friends business, SBDC or even doing a "rent by the hour" office space.

I have had a couple clients ask to just meet at my office, which I don't have and have been thinking about better ways to meet with people.
 
rickryan.com said:
I've been looking at spaces myself. While it's still questionable whether an office is really needed, still the nagging feeling persists that a dedicated office space will help support the perception that we're worth a higher price tag.
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For photography it helps .. you can hang large examples of your best work.
 
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If you meet with the majority of your clients in person, an office simply buys you more time. Image aside, save the drive time & wait time & let the clients come to you. Not only can they pop in with a question or form or payment which legitimizes you, but you can spend that driving time & sitting waiting time being productive. Also you can answer pretty much any question without any "I'll get back to you". If you do weddings and meet in your office the client/couple is more likely to bring along their MOH & other friends, who then meet you and know where to find you later on even when they don't remember your name.

Other benefits to having an office are establishing regular business hours...not that you can't address after hours calls, but the expectation migrates more towards the 9-5 standard. Clients feel less intrusive when they come up with a little question or additional request when they can just pop in or call and know it's a business line and business hours. Signage is always a good thing if you get any with your location. Generally it's easier to upsell using your in-office displays then sharing pictures on an ipad. Clients can feel pressured to a shorter meeting when in a public location where they aren't likely to in the atmosphere of your office.

Do you need an office? Not at all. Is it a benefit? It sure can be if your clientele is within a local radius.
 
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rickryan.com said:
I've been looking at spaces myself. While it's still questionable whether an office is really needed, still the nagging feeling persists that a dedicated office space will help support the perception that we're worth a higher price tag.
Click to expand...

My question to you would be - What's the point if you are already working at a job Monday thru Friday up until 5 pm?

I don't see a office space worth while unless you actually go to the office on a daily basis at least 4 days a week, and conduct business there with set business office hours.

The talent agency I work with has an office space. However, they put out over 1500 contracts a year. They open up Monday through Friday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (They usually cut out by 4:30 on Fridays though).
 
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Having an office is great. There are major factors that need to considered before getting an office. How will charge to justify and keep the office open? Not to mention how much profit will you make so that you get to put some money back in your pocket as well.

What things will you have in your office so it looks professional? Also who will be your target for clients once the office is open? Location is very important as well. Hopefully you find a place that either has a parking lot you can use or plenty of parking near by. How big or how small will you want the office to be? The one big thing is having a ceiling as far as how much you plan for the rent on this office each month. Most places will want you to sign a lease for a year or more. Can your business stand all of those things or is it best to keep doing what you've been doing?
 
I think having a legit office space would have been much more valuable 10 or more years ago. Prior to the internet changing things. I literally have met with 1 couple for 2017 weddings. Every other client has been talked with just over the phone, and no in person meetings. A few Skype video meetings. Today's brides/grooms generally shop for their wedding vendors way differently than a generation ago.

If I were to have a retail/commercial office space, one of the big reasons I would have one is for EQUIPMENT STORAGE. Instead of using a storage facility, I would keep everything in a room at the office. An office would provide a un interuppted environment to also conduct business. In a legit office, I could do so much more with my time, and focus on booking clients more than I would at home. At home I have other things that go on. Other people are here, and my attention can easily be taken away from running my business through out the day.

Another great part about having an office is you could set up lighting around in a room to show clients what Up lighting would look like right in your office. There's lots you could do with an office that is beneficial. You could also run a equipment rental business out of it along with DJ Services. Advertise equipment and lighting rentals, and customers come to your office to pick the rentals up through out the week. You could advertise Custom Sound Production if you get into the production side of the business. Maybe even get into cutting commercials or voice overs for other business customers with a in office studio that you put together. ...These are all ideas that have been in my brain for years, LOL. I would love to implement them if I had the capitol to do so.
 
If all you're looking for is a professional looking office space with meeting rooms, a growing trend is the “virtual office.” The term usually describes situations in which entrepreneurs work mainly from home, using the shared office only for its receptionist, who forwards calls to the client’s home or mobile phone, as well as its mailing address and access to conference room facilities.

I hear commercials on the radio all the time for these kinds of shared office spaces. I have no idea what they cost, but they have to be more economical than renting dedicated office space.
Most of my clients have their own offices, so I usually meet them in their office, or I meet the clients at their home. An office, dedicated or shared, would be a waste for me.


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Most of my clients book over a phone call, not needing a meeting. And then for the planning meeting, they are thrilled if I'm willing to meet somewhere convenient near their home or work.

But, if I needed an office space, I'd use a leased space option like Regus. You can basically rent a certain amount of time of private office usage. And you can bounce between their locations, as I understand it. There are LOTS of these facilities around here, and I'm sure I could find multiple convenient places to meet clients without having to take out a full time lease.

If my inventory of gear ever got too big for my home and I needed a warehouse, I'd consider building an office into it. But I bet there are far less expensive options up to that point.
 
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When I was doing weddings in the 90's I had a home office/media room where I would meet the clients. What made this great besides the TV, the room was equipped with the pulldown 10 foot projection video screen. So after some discussion and going over their event I would pull down the screen and show them our video promo and any footage the clients wanted to see played off a desktop computer. Closing rate at my home office/media room was 100%. For clients in NYC or ones without cars I would have to take the trip to their location or a suitable spot like Starbucks. Also making them at the venue at times. I also had quite a few clients from outside the area which I never met beforehand, everything was handled over the phone. I considered the rent by the hr room but that too only works if your clients are located near it. Most clients are not going to drive over an hour to meet with you. If you do have an office outside the home you better have enough volume to justify the cost of the office rent and your time you'll need to spend there.
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
My question to you would be - What's the point if you are already working at a job Monday thru Friday up until 5 pm?

I don't see a office space worth while unless you actually go to the office on a daily basis at least 4 days a week, and conduct business there with set business office hours.

The talent agency I work with has an office space. However, they put out over 1500 contracts a year. They open up Monday through Friday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (They usually cut out by 4:30 on Fridays though).
Click to expand...
My wife can shoot headshots
 
My Dj office space was aquired by accident a local resident was selling an older service station on the corner of two busy hiways the deal was to good to pass up as I kind of needed the space for storage at the time and with two service bays it was perfect took me a while but I converted the former office / cashier station into a nice little office
 
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tunes4046 said:
My Dj office space was aquired by accident a local resident was selling an older service station on the corner of two busy hiways the deal was to good to pass up as I kind of needed the space for storage at the time and with two service bays it was perfect took me a while but I converted the former office / cashier station into a nice little office
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Man, I would love to run into something like that. I'm currently paying $185/month for a storage unit. Would much rather roll that into an office/storage space where we could better up-sell higher end photography/DJ services, as well as having a studio where we could shoot portraits.
 
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tunes4046 said:
My Dj office space was aquired by accident a local resident was selling an older service station on the corner of two busy hiways the deal was to good to pass up as I kind of needed the space for storage at the time and with two service bays it was perfect took me a while but I converted the former office / cashier station into a nice little office
Click to expand...
You're going to own half the town soon ....
 
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an office has benefits - time, efficiency, organization, etc. And you can set it up to sell YOU and YOUR service - a coffee shop is great at selling..COFFEE!

You can always go to them - life insurance guys do this, as do all home improvement folks, landscapers, etc.

Meet them at the venue or church they're using. Free, very productive, they feel comfortable there (as they do in their own house). Works well for sales.

With all that said, when I remodeled a room in my house for meeting brides (photography only then) closing rates went from 50% to 90% instantly.

With DJ though, many don't want to meet - with photo I rarely go 1/2 hour from home base..DJ..an hour to 90 minutes isn't uncommon - as DJ Ricky B brought up in another thread about market area.

For photography you can entice them with 'come see samples, albums, etc' but DJ.."come see my MP3 collection!! My new lights and speakers! OOOH!"...just doesn't seem to go over the same way
 
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Most guys I know who have an "office" just work out of their home.
Some have converted their garage.
I guess no one (locally) makes enough money to warrant an actual, separate building.
We mostly meet with clients at a nearby eatery. (nearby to both of us)
 
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I thought about getting a office space somewhere a while ago. I just couldn't see me pulling it off. I wasn't staying that busy with people paying enough money to justify me opening an office somewhere. That was just my ego and wanting to show off that had me thinking that way.
 
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Little story. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, I had clients come to my home to meet, receive the retainer and sign contract. Subsequent meetings there were for Reception program planning, checking out music for special dances, etc. However, if it was just a party I'd meet somewhere else...coffee shop, etc. My house in Maine had a full basement that ran the entire length of the house (70 feet) and 15' wide; one side had pool table and sound system, other side was family room with Jukebox (45's). Separating the two rooms was a 7-ft. bar with 4 hi-back chairs, wet sink, and bar glass cabinet.

I only invited wedding couples to the house for meetings, other events I usually met at coffee shop/bookstore to sign Contract.
The space was quite something to behold. I can't recall the number of couples where the bride would comment to the groom, "Honey, now this is the kind of house I would love to have." They would return later for program finalization and to hear sample of special dance music. It was a special doing weddings in Maine...if you didn't mind the snow and ice. I remember coming home from a New Year's Eve dance and the roads were like a sheet of ice. Came up the street to my house and found the driveway was a sheet of ice. Driveway had a pretty decent incline. No traction to make it up and into the garage. Backed it up the street to a neighbor's house that had a flat driveway. They were out of town that week so only a crust of ice on top of 4-6 inches of snow. Backed in, parked the car and walked back up the street to my house. Once I left Maine (2005) and came South, I met at the venue or coffee shop.
 
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