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How can a Virtual Office help you?

Case Study: James
Type of Business: Attorney
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Services: New York Virtual Office, Meeting Room Usage

James worked for a prestigious law firm in Midtown Manhattan – all day, early mornings, late nights, all nighters… He had enough!; enough of the schlep, enough of the commute and most of all, enough of the suit and tie! James HATED the suit and tie. He was ready to break away and start his own law firm and hit the ground running. He gave his 2-week notice and left his position at this dreadful law firm.

He immediately started preparations to go out on his own. Purposefully having no Plan B, he was going to make this work, he had to. He quickly realized that he would need, first and foremost, an office. Being on a limited budget, he knew that he would not be able to afford renting his own brick and mortar office, not to mention all the associated costs that go along with renting an office: electric, furniture, insurance, staff, supplies, etc…

James recalled that one of his former colleagues, Bruce, left the same midtown law firm a few months before he did. James contacted Bruce to touch base and see how independent life was treating him… and to possibly get some guidance. Bruce told James about the services he was utilizing along with services offered by VH International Business Solutions. James was intrigued about the quality and affordability of the services recommended by Bruce, this is just what he needed.

James contacted VH International Business Solutions to open his own New York office. James initially subscribed to our physical office address rental (virtual office) service. He needed to receive paperwork, correspondence, legal documents, and service of process at our offices. Any items received in his new law firm’s name would need to be overnighted to his Brooklyn home address. James was quickly tying all those loose ends, it was coming together for him.

James was ready and excited to finally be able to work from home. His office was all set up with VH International Business Solutions in Manhattan. He got his website domain name, business cards, and placed a few ads.

Today, James wakes up bright and early, showers, and puts on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and works in his home office all day. He takes a quick break in the morning and afternoon to walk his dog. By late afternoon he receives any paperwork that has been overnighted from the office. He works with clients via phone and email during the week. James rents the available office meeting room for 4 hours every two weeks or so from 12-4pm. He schedules all his client consultations during this time period, one every 30 minutes.

When client consultation day arrives, James gets to the office in the dreaded suit and tie, with his Fiji water in hand, sets up his laptop and is ready within seconds for his first guest. He leaves a list of his appointments with the receptionist and she greets and announces each client. If James needs copies of legal documents or ID’s, he gives them to the receptionist to make. After his last appointment, he leaves the office at 4pm and is back home in Brooklyn before the 5pm rush.

James is a pleasure to have as a client. He loves his virtual work life and more so since our services enable him to have the freedom he wants by providing the physical presence he requires. And most of all he loves only having to put on his “Monkey Suit” (and tie) every couple of weeks!

Additional Client Case Studies:

• Sela the Graphic Artist and a New York Virtual Office
• Case Study: Donald, His Publishing Company and a Manhattan Virtual Office
• Doug the Day Trader and a NYC Virtual Office
• Ken the CPA and a NYC Virtual Office
• Leonard, Kiara, Their Medical Placement Agency and a NYC Virtual Office
• Siobhanne, Her Talent Agency and a NYC Virtual Office
• James, His Law Firm and a NYC Virtual Office
• Kris, Erica, Their Artist Management Firm and a NY Virtual Office

Click here to chat with a Virtual Office Expert

How can VH International Business Solutions help you?

Website: Manhattan Virtual Office
Tel: 1.212.627.8900
Fax: 1.646.861.6610

Since 1990.

VH International Business Solutions, Inc.
Follow us on Twitter: @ManhattanOffice

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How can a Virtual Office help you?

Case Study: Doug
Type of Business: Day Trader
Location: Usually South America
Services: Virtual Office Business Address, Mail Forwarding, Voice Mail with Email Forwarding

Doug is a day trader and an avid traveler. He grew up with dreams of traveling the world and knew that’s what he was destined to do. Question was – how could he do it? Turns out he had a knack for the Financial Markets.

Knowing that with a good internet connection and professional trading program he could trade from virtually anywhere, he left his home in California and hit the road. For a few years now Doug has been living in long-term hotels/apartments around the world. Last month he was in Bogota, Colombia, and in a couple of weeks, he’ll be in Quito, Ecuador for about a month.

Since he was never in one place for more than several weeks at a time, and only came back to the US every few months, he needed to maintain a home base, an address within the United States. At first, though he realized this would burden his mother, Doug would have his mail sent to his mother’s house – he especially hated her having to go to the post office to forward his mail internationally. Doug knew it was time to get a professional solution.

Doug subscribed to VH International Business Solutions’ virtual office business address, mail forwarding, and NYC voice mail with email forwarding of messages. He would have his mail forwarded on a monthly basis to his current destination. Being that he was never in one place for more than a month, VH International Business Solutions would be forwarding his mail to a different destination on a monthly basis: Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Barranquilla, Guayaquil, Santiago – Doug sure got around

Having a local number in the US was also a necessity for him. He always has a US mobile phone on hand, but often finds himself in an out of service area and needs to use a mobile phone with local service – and that means another phone number. He uses his NYC 212 voice mail number from VH International Business Solutions as a main contact number to centralize his messages. All messages are sent as a .wav file to his email address and Doug listens to them on his laptop.

Day trading is how Doug makes his living, but he also is an avid traveler and posts all his travel musings, recommendations and tips to his travel website. He is using the virtual office address as a contact for his travel website which is starting to turn a profit. Doug is now nurturing what is becoming an unintentional side business – which could ultimately give him all the freedom he desires. He is currently in plans to write a travel guide.

We are proud to have Doug as one of our esteemed virtual office clients.

Click here to chat with a Virtual Office Expert

How can VH International Business Solutions help you?

Website: Manhattan Virtual Office

Tel: 1.212.627.8900

Fax: 1.646.861.6610

Since 1990.

VH International Business Solutions, Inc.

Continue reading »]]>

Photo by Julikeishon

How can a Virtual Office help you?

Case Study: Carlos
Type of Business: Translator
Location: Formerly Manhattan, Currently Buenos Aires, Argentina
Services: New York Virtual Office Business Address Rental, Meeting Room Usage, Mail Handling, Mail Forwarding

After completing his degree in language studies, Carlos, a native of Argentina, worked as a translator in the marking department of a fortune 100 company in New York.

He freelanced during his free time, evenings and weekends for an international translating company, only taking assignments he knew he could finish quickly without interfering too much with his free time or his hectic daytime workload.

Seeing how easy it was to do a little work on the side, Carlos tinkered with the idea of starting his own translation service. He also missed his hometown and loved the idea of returning to Argentina to spend more time with his family and friends; he knew that starting his own business would be the only way to have freedom and financial independence. Carlos hated the idea of debt and didn’t want to make any large upfront investments in this new venture, he figured the best way would be to use money generated by his moonlighting efforts to grow his business. He started a small website, noting all of his credentials and within a few months he started to get small translation jobs: letters, documents, contracts etc.

Any new income was immediately returned and reinvested into his new business. His translation service was starting to slowly and little by little, generate some profits. Carlos would be the first person to tell you that it took time; time to get picked-up in search engines and time to grow his client base, but he was determined not to in-debt himself by taking any up-front high interest loans to grow his business. He would do it himself, no loans.

After about a year, he started to get jobs where his larger corporate clients wanted to pay him with checks; he normally accepted Paypal payments for jobs. The problem now was: Where should his big corporate clients mail these checks to? He couldn’t have them sent to his day job… and definitely not to his home address. Not aware that he had any options, Carlos would visit the client’s office and pickup his checks personally. He couldn’t keep running around the city for checks, this was taking way too much time, not to mention it being exhausting. Another bump in the road came when a client wanted Carlos to translate audio documents; the client wanted to mail him CD’s with audio files and not email them because the files were too large. Carlos realized he needed a professional business address for sure and fast.

After learning about virtual offices, he started searching and comparing services online; he chose New York’s premier service, VH International Business Solutions. Carlos opened his New York virtual office with VH International Business Solutions, including rental of a physical office space. He finally had a company to run his New York business presence while still working and maintaining his day job. He was able to receive all his documents and correspondence at his New York virtual office and then have everything forwarded directly to his home. Every piece of mail he was receiving was either a check or an income generating project, so as far as Carlos was concerned, every piece of mail was paying for itself!

His translation company was surely growing. He was finally starting to get overwhelmed and began outsourcing some of his projects to peers. Who can’t use a little extra income?

Then the unexpected happened, Carlos’ day job announced they were downsizing several departments, his was one of them. This wasn’t good news. Even though he had worked there for a few years, he was still one of the most recent team members; his department was barely holding their head above water. Carlos had an idea and approached his immediate supervisor who, in turn, took his idea to the higher-ups: If Carlos accepted a layoff, would they consider outsourcing work to his translation company? After all, outsourcing is much more cost effective than keeping a full-time staff member. It was a far out idea but, it worked! They accepted!

Carlos is now happily not only back in his beloved hometown in Argentina, but he also remotely works from there! The best thing is, his clients don’t know he’s there – they think he’s working out of New York, NY. Even though he’s over 5300 miles away he does, after all, have a New York City business presence. The peace of mind, freedom and convenience offered by a virtual office service from reputable company is not only essential for Carlos, but priceless.

Carlos does come to New York about four times a year to meet with clients and to conduct interviews with potential freelancer translators in his New York virtual office.

We are proud to still call Carlos one of our valued clients – and congratulate his success.

Previous Virtual Office Case Studies:
Case Study: Ken the CPA and a NYC Virtual Office
Case Study: Siobhanne, Her Talent Agency and a NYC Virtual Office
Case Study: James, His Law Firm and a NYC Virtual Office
Case Study: Donald, His Publishing Company and a NY Virtual Office
Case Study: Kris, Erica and a NY Virtual Office
Case Study: Sela the Graphic Artist and a New York Virtual Office
Case Study: Leonard, Kiara, Their Medical Placement Agency and a NYC Virtual Office

How can VH International Business Solutions help you?

Website: Manhattan Virtual Office
Tel: 1.212.627.8900
Fax: 1.646.861.6610

Since 1990.

VH International Business Solutions, Inc.
Follow us on Twitter: @ManhattanOffice

Continue reading »]]>

Photo by liquene

How can a Virtual Office help you?

Case Study: Sela
Type of Business: Graphic Designer
Location: Long Island City, New York
Services: NY Company Formation, NYC Virtual Office, Mail Handling, and New York Registered Agent

A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Sela, an only child from a single parent home, moved to Long Island City while attending a famous NYC design school. It broke her heart to leave her mother alone, but they both knew it was for the best.

After obtaining her degree, Sela was immediately hired as a graphic artist at a local Silicon Alley company. After a few years, she was heading up the same department with a promising future with the company. However, her Silicon Alley employer was not doing well in the current economic climate and the company was heading towards closing their New York location. They offered certain employees the opportunity to relocate to their headquarters in San Francisco – Sela was on board.

Unfortunately, right before her big move to San Francisco, tragedy struck. Her Mother, out for a leisurely evening walk, was struck by a car; Sela left New York immediately. Her mother had a compound fracture in her right leg and it was going to take a long time to heal. Sela, a self-professed “Momma’s Girl”, knew that she was going to be in Jackson for quite some time. Sela’s employer gave her her remaining vacation and banked days. In the meantime, she started to wrap-up her New York life from a distance.

Her employer did not want to loose her – Sela was way too talented. They worked out a deal where they would hire Sela as a freelance graphic designer, Sela agreed. She would be able to work from a distance without a problem. She always wanted to start her own firm, needed to take care of her mother, and saw this as her golden opportunity to be her own boss!

Sela searched online for a way to make her situation work. She realized that forming her company and renting a business address with mail forwarding would work perfectly for her. During her searches she found VH International Business Solutions’ office perfectly situated just a few blocks from her former Silicon Alley office – She loved the neighborhood!

Sela hired VH International Business Solutions to establish her New York business presence. She formed her LLC in New York, opened her virtual office, and selected VH International Business Solutions as her Registered Agent.

During the transition period from New York to Mississippi, Sela flew back and forth several times to vacate her apartment and put her furniture and belongings up for sale on Craigslist – with the help of friends. Sela had her mail from her Long Island City home forwarded to VH International Business Solutions office in Manhattan. We would then forward her personal mail, along with any business mail to her mother’s home in Jackson.

Within a month from her mother’s accident, Sela was back in Mississippi, full-time, tending to her mother’s every need. While her Silicon Alley former employer continued referring her with new freelance jobs, Sela worked on growing her own client base to supplement her income. She found it simple and convenient to work from Mississippi with a New York business presence.

Thankfully Sela’s mother’s recovery time was better than expected. Even though her business was growing every day, Sela wasn’t about to leave home anytime soon. She was going to stay home, close to her “Momma” and let VH International Business Solutions run her New York business presence for her.

We are proud to still call Sela one of our valued clients – and congratulate her success.

Previous Case Studies:
Case Study: Ken the CPA and a NYC Virtual Office
Case Study: Siobhanne, Her Talent Agency and a NYC Virtual Office
Case Study: James, His Law Firm and a NYC Virtual Office
Case Study: Donald, His Publishing Company and a NY Virtual Office
Case Study: Kris, Erica and a NY Virtual Office
Case Study: Leonard, Kiara, Their Medical Placement Agency and a NYC Virtual Office

How can VH International Business Solutions help you?

Website: Manhattan Virtual Office
Tel: 1.212.627.8900
Fax: 1.646.861.6610

Since 1990.

VH International Business Solutions, Inc.
Follow us on Twitter: @ManhattanOffice

Continue reading »]]>

Photo by denniswong

How can a Virtual Office help you?

Case Study: Ken
Type of Business: CPA
Location: Upper East Side, NY
Services: New York Virtual Office, Meeting Room Usage, Voice Mail with Email Notification.

Ken was a CPA employed by a major accounting firm in New York. His story is similar to a lot of our clients – he worked 9-5 at the accounting firm while running his own small tax advisory business on the side.

He never intended on starting his own firm, it sort of just happened. He first started doing taxes for his family-gratis. His family started recommending Ken to their friends allowing Ken to start pulling-in extra money on the side… Ken eventually got super busy, especially around tax time. After several years he decided it was time to open his own firm.

He didn’t want unnecessary high overhead costs since he was only busy during tax time. Ken also didn’t want to rent just a PO Box or basic mailbox service, so he decided that a NYC virtual office was the way to go. After researching several companies, he selected VH International Business Solutions to manage his New York business presence because of the Company’s experience and professionalism.

For starters, Ken subscribed to our business address rental (virtual office) and 212 Manhattan voice mail service.

With his virtual office up and running, Ken worked steadfastly on growing his small firm. Tax time referrals were great, but he knew he needed more than just seasonal work if his firm was to survive. In order to do that he needed steady year round work. The ideas of bookkeeping and payroll services were on his agenda, he knew that that would provide steady year-round income.

He started advertising his small firm using his NYC virtual office address and phone number provided by VH International Business Solutions; inquiries started to pour in bit by bit. Ken would usually visit his prospective clients at their place of business as this was their preference, but he knew that he could always rent the available meeting space on an as needed basis at his Manhattan virtual office.

Ken uses the meeting room regularly and often during tax time. For the past several years, especially from January through April, Ken is at the office so often it’s almost like he’s one of the staff. He meets with his tax clients in the office for consultations and to review all of their filing information. He comes prepared with his cup of coffee, laptop, the client’s records, details and collects their paperwork; Ken works on the actual filings in his home office.

If a client stops into the office without an appointment to drop off any paperwork, our receptionist accepts their documents. Ken arranges to pick these up during his meeting room visits.

He receives all his business correspondence, including payments, at his New York City virtual office; and depending on Ken’s schedule, we either hold his mail for pickup or forward it on a daily basis during his busy season and on a monthly basis during his down time.

Messages left on Ken’s 212 phone number with voice mail provided by VH International Business Solutions are forwarded to his email; he also receives a text message alerting him to check messages. He just advised us that starting in January 2010, he will be upgrading his phone service to include call forwarding. Hence, he can answer his incoming calls directly, all calls would be forwarded straight to his cell phone.

We are proud to have Ken and his CPA firm as one of our valued clients and we’re enjoying watching his firm grow!

Previous Case Studies:
Case Study: Leonard, Kiara, Their Medical Placement Agency and a NYC Virtual Office
Case Study: Siobhanne, Her Talent Agency and a NYC Virtual Office
Case Study: James, His Law Firm and a NYC Virtual Office
Case Study: Donald, His Publishing Company and a NY Virtual Office
Case Study: Kris, Erica and a NY Virtual Office

How can VH International Business Solutions help you?

Website: Manhattan Virtual Office
Tel: 1.212.627.8900
Fax: 1.646.861.6610

Since 1990.

VH International Business Solutions, Inc.
Follow us on Twitter: @ManhattanOffice