Everyday, people pay for things they don't need. Sometimes those people (okay, us) just shrug and think, "Oh, well." And other times they stop, look around, and think, "Hey! That's dumb!"
We've been using a loft downtown as our physical office for a while now, but the thing is, we don't actually need it. Sure, a bricks and mortar structure is necessary for a lot of businesses. But we do almost all of our work, project management and administration online. We’ve been working virtually, in a sense, for a long time.
One of the primary reasons for that is our staff. Most of our employees are located in other cities across the country. Having the flexibility of a "virtual office" has allowed Parker Smith to move beyond the limits of a physical location and to expand our hiring choices. Sometimes you meet people who would make model employees, but they live hundreds of miles away and have no desire to move. For us, that's okay. When we hire someone, talent and skills are key, not location.
Our virtual business style also increases the productivity of our staff because time is saved from zero commuting. And our employees are happy working at home, not having to sit in traffic or dress up.
We utilize the many wonders of modern technology to conduct our business virtually - video chatting, instant messaging, you name it. We may not sit right next to them, but we are in constant contact with all of our employees.
When we acquired the loft downtown, we thought it was necessary because we expected to host client meetings there. But in reality, we nearly always travel to our client's place of business. It's easier for them, and it allows us to fully understand their company culture and operations.
And so, we recently found ourselves looking around our neat yet sparse office, and thought, "Hey! This is dumb!" So we ditched it.
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