Is a Virtual Office a Real Office?

 

                       

I like the definition of the word, "virtual" in the Merriam-Webster Learners Dictionary. It defines it as "very close to being something without actually being it." That, in essence, is the definition of a virtual office. A virtual office is something very close to being an office, without actually being one.

It's not something ethereal or intangible like the concept of virtual reality. We don't put you to sleep and plant a subliminal notion in your mind that you have an office, where you can hang out at the water cooler with gorgeous members of the opposite sex. There are things that are real and there are things belong in the realm of fantasy. We're talking about something real, functional, and utterly practical.

At the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows, located in Queens NY, a virtual office is an office that you can use on on as-need basis. It's not an office that you can move in to and decorate. The offices are already decorated. You can bring a picture of your family, and place it on the desk while you work, if you like. You can use one of our offices for an hour, for a day, for a week - whatever you need - and pay for it by the hour. Prospective tenants of the Executive Office Center have a range of virtual office service packages to choose from, as well. You can see them online at: http://executiveofficefm.com/virtual.htm.

Most of our tenants use our office suites as a place to meet clients. These rooms are usually used for meetings with individuals or two to three people. If you need to meet with a larger group,  you can use the Executive Conference Room, which seats twelve around the table. We have about forty attorneys who regularly use our offices, and nearly ten psychotherapists, as well. The other tenants of the Executive Office Center are mostly small businesses and non-profit organizations. All of our tenants are featured on our consumer website:  http://everythingunder1roof.com/

Can you use the Executive Office Center as a regular business address? Of course. A listing of your business is placed in the lobby, along with other tenants and virtual tenants of the office building. You can use the address on your stationary, and as a reference location for Google and other search engines.

Can you use the office to receive mail? Yes. At the Executive Office Center, you get your own secure mailbox. Even better than that, we'll receive your packages, Fed Ex envelopes, and even call you if it looks like something important.

Having a virtual office (or a serviced office suite) at the Executive Office Center is better than having a regular office in a lot of ways. You don't have the burdensome fixed costs associated with a traditional office space. You also don't pay for for internet service or telephone use. At the Executive Office Center, it's on the house.

And there are other significant benefits as well. We have a receptionist who can provide you with personalized telephone answering. You have to pay for it, of course - but not much. One thing for certain is that it's much less expensive than hiring a personal receptionist. Our receptionist also courteously greets your clients when they come into the office building.

Additionally, there is a beautiful cafeteria, where you can have lunch, watch TV, grab a cup of coffee, or enjoy a snack or a can of soda from one of the vending machines.

And let me add one more thing about the aforementioned Executive Conference Room. It is equipped with a 46" wide screen HDTV, ideal for videoconferencing and/or business presentations.  

So, is a virtual office a real office? It's real, alright.  In many ways, it's better than a real office. And it's a real deal for anyone who comprehends its exceptional value.

Virtual Offices are Unfair to Commercial Building Owners

The Executive Office Center Discourse on Business invites blog post contributions from members of the business community.  This anonymous writer has a grievance against virtual office services.

I’m not a person who likes to complain, but I think that virtual office centers like this new company, the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows are unfair to commercial landlords.  I own an office building around the corner.  It’s always been full.  Now I have a 30% vacancy rate because of these guys.

Why?  What did they do to you?

It’s not what they did.  It’s what they do.

These guys give you everything.

They give you furniture.

They give you telephone service.

They give you internet service.

They pay for your gas and electric.

They pay for your cleaning.

They pay for everything!

I mean they even have a secretary who answers your phones.

Now, how can I compete with that?  I got a regular office building.

Well, it’s not their fault, really.  That’s the type of building it is.  That’s how they operate.

You think having a cafeteria in their building is fair?  You think it’s fair to have a beautiful conference room for all the tenants to use?

Do you know that you can rent Queens office space in here on a part-time basis?  You think that helps me?  I mean, you don’t even have to sign a long term lease with these guys.  They just let you use an office whenever you want one. 

Now is that fair?  I’m asking you.  That’s why I am protesting against this injustice to regular commercial building owners.http://www.executiveofficefm.com/

Virtual Office Business Model Becoming an Attractive Alternative to Traditional Office Space in Queens NY

Virtual office services and serviced office space are quickly becoming a favored alternative to traditional office space in Queens, New York.

The Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows , which opened in October of 2011, is the first such office center to open in the borough of Queens, and has already attracted over one hundred tenants and virtual tenants!

I am a personal believer in the virtual office business model for small businesses.  It’s such a practical and cost-effective alternative to traditional office space, it is just a matter of time before it changes the office rental marketplace forever.

The borough of Queens, NY, is a latecomer to the virtual office concept.  It's somewhat surprising, considering the fact that the idea has been around for a while, and that it's such an important component of the marketplace for office space in Manhattan. I believe that the economy of Queens, which consists primarily of small businesses, makes the virtual office model particularly relevant.

Over 100 companies have joined the Queens Executive Office Center since it opened last year. Nearly 40% of the firms are attorneys.  They are the ideal candidates for this type of office space. A lot of them don't really need full time office space, just a place to meet an occasional client. We have quite a few social workers and accountants, as well. But the rest of the companies span the professional and entrepreneurial spectrum from environmental consultants to real estate brokers.

This past week, the Executive Office Center was joined by the Law offices of Heath Goldstein & Caitlin Donahue, Expert Elevator Corp, Best Senior Home Care, the Eilav Law Firm and Lynx Electrical Corp.

When I started out in business 35 years ago, I wish I could have opened an office in Queens for $39/month and look like the consummate professional! With the advent of virtual offices, you can make it appear as if you have already conquered the world!

Why is this man upset with the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows?

Make It A December to Remember!

                 

Once First Choice Real Estate reigned as the top residential real estate brokerage in Queens County, NY.  Realtors believe, self-fulfillingly, that the beginning of the Christmas shopping season ends all commerce except for retail.  Knowing that our competitors in the real estate industry usually began to surrender this time of year, we always tried to animate our sales force in December with motivational speakers and events.  December was often one of our best months!

Your perceptions – not the state of the economy, the time of year, or any other external factor – can be the greatest barrier to your success. Think that you can, not that you can not, and make it a December to remember!

One Queens Office Building Does More Than Offer Space For Rent. It Offers To Help Its Tenants Make More Money.

Executive Office Center owners, Steven and Jack Blumner may have hit upon a novel idea when they opened their state-of-the-art business center in the fall. The brothers, former owners of First Choice Real Estate, once the top selling residential brokerage in Queens, are not merely landlords.  They are actively engaged in helping their tenants make more money.

Since opening in October, the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows has attracted 50 tenants and virtual tenants, including seventeen attorneys.  “We’re right on schedule,” says Executive Director Jack Blumner, who expects that number to double by the end of the year.

The Executive Office Center, offering serviced office suites and Queens virtual office services, is the first such business center to open in the borough of Queens.  There are scores of executive suite office centers in Manhattan and Long Island, but none until now in the densely populated borough of Queens.

Executive suite centers typically offer a menu of administrative services to their tenants, but supplementing these services with marketing support elevates the concept of serviced office space to a new level.  

Jack and Steven Blumner are no strangers to marketing.  In the 1990s they made their company, First Choice Real Estate, a household name in Queens by sending out millions of pieces direct mail to homeowners in the borough.  Now they are using the World Wide Web to help accomplish their objectives. 

     What they have done is to develop two consumer websites to help promote and facilitate business for their tenants, as a value added benefit.  The two websites are www.everythingunder1roof.com and www.queensforless.com. 

·         www.everythingunder1roof.com is a business directory of the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows tenants that shortcuts the customer’s hunt for business and professional services in Queens.   There are presently 50 companies affiliated with the office center.  In time, there will be several hundred, says Mr. Blumner, “and we want Queens consumers to know that they can find virtually everything they need right here under one roof.”

·         www.queensforless.com offers coupon discounts for Queens neighborhood stores and restaurants, while featuring the professional and business services of the Executive Office Center’s tenants.   Consumers are lured to the website by attractive retail discounts.  Once there, they also find the many different professional and business services offered by tenants of the Executive Office Center.

   
Tenants of the Executive Office Center are also featured on the 16 foot LED display that faces the busy parking lot of the Fresh Meadows shopping center. 
    
The Executive Office Center is the perfect place for attorneys and other solo professionals and small companies doing business in the borough of Queens.  It is ideal for companies that need a branch or satellite office in the borough.  The Executive Office Center is also the closest office business center to JFK and LaGuardia airports.  Business travelers to New York may wish to take advantage of the building’s close proximity to the airports.  Day suites and conference rooms are available at hourly, daily and weekly rates. 

    

The Value of Having a Branch Office

It has been more than thirty years since First Choice Real Estate was founded by Steven Blumner on Main St., in Flushing, New York.  I joined my brother in business in the fall of 1983, opening a small branch office on Utopia Parkway at the other end of Flushing.  By 2004, First Choice had become the top selling residential real estate company in the borough of Queens, and was sold in November of that year.  The buyer was NRT, Inc., a name unknown to most consumers, but at the time, the largest real estate company in the world.

I believe that one of the key steps that led to the success and growth of First Choice Real Estate was the establishment of that tiny branch office on Utopia Parkway.  That office, now the site of small nail salon, had room for only five desks, but the power that it gave us was a new identity as a multiple office operation.  In the mind of the consumer, a branch office signifies growth and ambition, and is perceived as a testament to the company’s success.  In a market crowded with competition, it singled us out as a company of distinction. 

I remember the delicious feeling of having two addresses on my business card and on our company stationary.  I published a monthly newsletter at the time, called the Flushing Homeowner, which listed the Main St. office as our “Headquarters,” and our little office on Utopia as the “Branch Office.”  Once a customer called our office, and apologized:  “I’m sorry,” he said.  “I meant to call your headquarters.”  I oozed with pleasure as I hung up the phone. 

Today the former First Choice Real Estate Building on 186^th Street in Fresh Meadows is now the home of the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows, an office building offering full service, furnished and equipped offices and virtual office solutions.

The Executive Office Center offers companies an opportunity to take the same strategic step we took in 1983 -- but at a comparatively insignificant cost.   You can open a “Queens branch office” at the Executive Office Center for a mere $39 per month.   A virtual office at the Executive Office Center gives customers the appearance of an actual office.

A number of well established attorneys have signed on at the Executive Office Center as virtual tenants.   Most have offices outside the borough, and are seeking local market penetration.  A virtual office at the Executive Office Center gives customers the appearance of an actual office, and their new Queens address broadcasts the same powerful message that conveyed with the opening of our branch office.  “We are an ambitious company.  We are confident and competent.  We are a company with whom you want to do business.