Starting a small business today does not need to be expensive.  It has always been expected that you must have a limited company name and head office to be a "real" company. However with the advent of so many Internet businesses it is now more acceptable that ever to be working from home or even to have a disparate team of home workers to call upon as required.

While home workers have generally been associated with "get rich quick schemes", envelope stuffing and multi level marketing there is a new trend of bespoke companies being developed that now work from home.

A flash head office has now been replaced with a smart and commercially confident website. Business online is being transacted faster than ever and we now live in a culture that is more concerned with results than image. Large image based media related agencies in London are now reducing their overheads and staff pressures by outsourcing work to efficient designers, copywriters and highly qualified staff that work to tight deadlines.

Clients are still however not comfortable with suppliers who are hard to get hold of, unreliable or simply not available to talk until the baby is asleep. Working from home is only acceptable to a growing client base when you have the ability to effectively get work done to deadline and have the dedicated space to personally address a clients needs via email, online chat or telephone conversations.

So, consider these issues when starting your new small business and see if you need to go to the expense and risk of signing yourself into lengthy, expensive lease contracts for office space, or if a garden office could make your first and crucial year a lot less expensive...

• Will your target clients be expecting corporate head offices
• Will your target clients be visiting your offices at all
• How much will you pay in office lease charges
• How much will office rates be
• Does the office space available have parking
• How could savings in commuting time be better spent