Grow your business with Cape Town Office

Where are we?

Now that the South African budget for 2020 has been delivered, we can all stop speculating about what might happen. Let’s focus on what is and how we can grow. It’s not a rosy picture by any stretch, but the plans in place look to be solid compared to previous years.

My takeaways from the speech:

• A 1.5% drop in income tax for individuals earning R100 000 per month
• A review will be undertaken of small business tax, VAT registration and the threshold
• Reduced transfer duties on the sale of properties valued at R1million or less

There is a long road ahead and the pressure on small businesses is significant. For the full Budget 2020 breakdown and information, head to the Treasury website, http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/National%20Budget/2020/

Growth

Scaling up is one of the hardest things to do, for lots of reasons, so I’ll not bore you with what you already know. For example, having to keep your eye on the ball and continue the exceptional quality of service your clients have come to associate with your brand, whilst hunting for new business and building that all important pipeline.

Risks

With growth, inevitably comes with higher costs and overheads. Risk of expanding too quickly and making long term commitments that might not be sustainable. A great example of this, and I speak of firsthand experience, is office costs.

The irony of course is that in your business you need to be agile, adaptable and responsive which are 3 words that are rarely associated with traditional office rental agreements. Yet, the landlord or agent you’re dealing with will ask you to commit to 12, 24 or even 36 months and show very little flexibility if any.

It doesn’t matter to the landlord whether you need all that space you’re renting, the rent will be due at the end of the month, and the lease agreement stands.

No ifs, buts or maybes.

There are no long term commitments at Cape Town Office, all our members are on a month to month membership. More here, https://capetownoffice.com/#pricing

Load Shedding

Yes, I gave it a heading of its own because it’s deserving of one. It greatly affects all of us, at home and at work. Sitting around by candlelight in the evenings can be a very romantic way to spend your evening, but let’s face it, the frustration of not having power when you have work to do, is big.

While government focusses on the plan to turn Eskom around, small businesses need to plan which is exactly what we did.

Our coworking space now has a full inverter backup system in place providing 4.8kw of power to the office during power cuts. That means we can keep our internet and a few lights up for up to two cuts in a day. We’ve spent the money, so you don’t have to.

But what if I told you that it doesn’t have to be that way. What if I told you that looking at making use of a coworking space is not a step down, but a step up. What if I told you that some of the biggest companies in the world make use of coworking spaces?

Reduce the risk

It’s well publicized that companies like Salesforce, Facebook and Apple use coworking spaces around the world even though they can afford an office of their own, anywhere.

I’ll list some of the key reasons why they do.

• Talent acquisition – coworking spaces are a hive of highly skilled and talented people who might just be ready to join your team
• Flexibility – you pay for what you need and use, so as the work increases you can take more space and / or during quiet spells take less
• Infrastructure – coworking spaces, at least good ones, will have fast dedicated fibre and all the other trimmings such as printing, technical support, meeting rooms, phones etc.
• Reduced Risk – there’s no lease agreement, so when you need to cancel you simply end the membership, no ifs buts or maybes.

Be our guest

We’d like to invite you and the team to come and spend the day at Cape Town Office, any time, as our guest. Zero cost and zero strings attached. That way you can get a proper understanding of how we work and assess how well that works for you.

Book directly via our website & we look forward to meeting you and the team at CTO!

https://capetownoffice.com/book-free-day/