Whether you're looking for a commercial address, a business incubator or your own home, there's no shortage of alternatives to support your company's growth.
The often high cost of renting commercial premises prompts many entrepreneurs to consider alternative solutions for housing their business.
For young, fast-growing companies, the rate of effort is often very high, to the detriment of their ability to make productive investments.
The choice of business premises raises a number of crucial issues: separation of head office and workplace, protection of privacy, contact with other entrepreneurs, ancillary services to facilitate day-to-day work, and so on.
In addition to being expensive, owning your own commercial premises isn't necessarily the best way to encourage your company's growth. A number of solutions have been developed over the last few years across the country to help entrepreneurs succeed.
An overview of the alternatives available to you
Commercial domiciliation enables a company toobtain a registered office address through a domiciliation company.
Any company, liberal profession, association or self-employed entrepreneur can use it.
This is one of the first questions to ask when setting up a company, because of the many advantages of this alternative.
Domiciliary companies take care of many of the tasks involved in employees' daily lives , such as receiving, processing, scanning and forwarding mail.
You can also take advantage of administrative and legal assistance, a telephone line with call forwarding, and meeting rooms to organize meetings with your business partners.
This alternative allows you to set up your business at a lower cost, since the services of a domiciliation company are available for as little as a few dozen euros a month- far less than the cost of renting a commercial lease!
Domiciliary companies' offers are adjustable and adaptable to the needs of each company, offering tailor-made services.
Finally, having a prestigious address directly enhances your credibility with customers, prospects and business partners.
By forgetting the small, time-consuming and redundant tasks, you can concentrate on the essentials: growing your business.
Visit business incubatorsalso known as "beehives" or "incubators", are structures that welcome, house and support new businesses.
They first appeared in the 1980s, and have experienced particularly strong growth with the development of start-ups.
Business incubators offer entrepreneurs support for the development of their business, albeit on a short-term basis.
This solution has the disadvantage of not lasting more than 2 or 3 years, unlike company domiciliation, which hampers its long-term stability.
The company then has premises of variable size, and saves money by pooling resources, equipment and services.
Nurseries also offer personalized support based on advice from professionals.
The aim is to promote the success of the project by evolving in a dynamic and innovative community, and by reducing the obstacles to the smooth running of the project.
There are several types of business incubator:
- For generalist companies : they bring together entrepreneurs operating in a wide range of sectors;
- For a specific business sector;
- For innovative companies: technological innovation is a key criterion for integration into this type of incubator.
It's a seemingly simple solution. Yet it has many hidden disadvantages that directly or indirectly hinder the growth of your business.
Working from home is isolating, and often leads the entrepreneur to lose touch with the economic environment. The atmosphere is not conducive to exchange and innovation.
Above all, confusing your registered office with your home address obliges you to make your personal address public, since the registered office is a mandatory requirement on all official company documents.
If a customer is unhappy, he's likely to come and bother you at home - a situation we'd prefer to avoid...
Finally, not all private rental contracts allow you to domicile your business in your own home. In some cases, co-ownership regulations prohibit this.
If there is nothing to prevent you from doing so, you must inform your lessor when you set up the business.
Also, it is not possible to domicile your business at home for more than 5 years for company-type legal forms.
Renting commercial premises doesn't have to be a necessity, and it certainly doesn't have to be a foregone conclusion. There are plenty of alternatives for young companies.
Make your choice according to your needs, and the support you deem useful for the development of your business.
Whereas business incubators and personal residences are limited in time and have a number of disadvantages, domiciliation companies offer the advantage of a wide range of low-cost, tailor-made services.
Above all, they can be added or removed as your business grows - a flexibility and adaptability often prized by business owners!
Written by our expert Paul LASBARRERES-CANDAU
March 23, 2018
