Virtual Business Advice Lutherville Timonium MD

Dear StartupNation : For months I’ve been fine-tuning plans for my new business. Considering available funds (modest), time (don’t have much) and talent (spread around), the model most likely to work is to operate as a “virtual business.” In other words, everyone will work from their own space and we will use technology to link up. Where can I find support services for a virtual venture?

The virtual business phenomenon, pioneered by entrepreneurs like you, is transforming how millions of small, successful firms operate . Under the virtual model, business owners outsource nearly everything - including people and partners who may be anywhere - to start a business.

The technologies and services to tie it all together are becoming more sophisticated, but less expensive all the time, helping fuel the move to virtual existence.

After eight years working for other public relations agencies, John Jordan launched his own Washington, DC-based firm, Principor Communications, as a virtual business in 2002. His main reason: to kill the high cost of office space and everything associated with it. His biggest savings, however, have been on labor. “The skilled, experienced professionals who staff my agency are all independent contractors,” he says, “including women at home raising young children.”

But while the absence of a traditional office might change how you manage people, it doesn’t eliminate the need for doing so effectively, notes Jordan.

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