Using a virtual address for business

About half of businesses in the United States operate from people’s homes. Even more startups - 69% of them— are home-based businesses, a number growing with the effects of the pandemic on small businesses. 

Those remote businesses may not need an office, but they do need a mailing address to list on legal paperwork, business banking accounts, business cards and marketing emails. Many people resort to using their home address for their business. But should you?

Should you use your home address as your business address? 

When you use your home address as your business address, it jeopardizes your privacy and safety. Your business mailing address becomes part of the information associated with your company. It will be listed on the Secretary of State’s website and sold to marketers and other companies that purchase lists of new businesses. Besides your business mail, your home mailbox will get full of more junk mail and your home address becomes publicly associated with your company. 

If you use your home address for your business, expect to blur the lines between your work and personal lives.

A home address will hurt your public image if you want your business to appear large or more established. It could also invite work home more than you bargained for even while working from home. You likely don’t want clients or customers showing up at your house, especially anyone upset or angry.

Business addresses on emails

In 2003, a law passed limiting spam emails. One rule it added requires every email sent by businesses to include a postal address.

If you plan to send marketing emails, you probably don’t want to advertise where you live to your entire list of potential customers.

Your business address privacy

What address should you use to register your business when you don’t want to use your home address? A virtual address gives you an actual street address without spending money on office rent. It will also keep your home address private and your personal life separate.

As a business owner, you’re expected to provide your mailing address on many items, including invoices, email signatures, contracts, social media address listings, and marketing materials such as business cards, brochures, websites, and flyers. 

Do I need a street address for my business? 

For many businesses. you don’t need office space, just the physical mailing address. As a business owner, you can use a virtual mailbox in the place of a traditional P.O. Box or physical location. 

What is a virtual mailbox? A virtual mailbox and virtual address provider will digitize your mail so you can access mail and your important documents online from anywhere. Virtual addresses are real street addresses, but your company just does not occupy the address space. 

What should you use for your business mailing address

Resist the urge to list your home address and instead consider using a virtual mailbox service. Virtual addresses give your company a public address without the overhead costs of an office building. 

When you list a virtual address, you’re not only protecting yourself and your personal information, you also give your business a more professional image. 

P.O. box vs. a virtual mailbox

A P.O. Box will give you an address, but you will still need to make trips to your postal office to pick up your mail.  As a business owner, who has the time for tedious tasks like that, especially if you go by only to find it empty? 

 A virtual business address solves the problem of needing a physical street address. Your incoming mail will be scanned and sent to you via email or available to check in an app. When you need a hard copy of an important document, you just request it. Plus, you’ll have unlimited cloud storage of all your documents, synced with the web storage service of your choice, making keeping track of your important business documents easier. 

How to get a virtual business address?

It’s simple. Once you’ve decided on your preferred virtual mailbox and address provider, you can sign up for a location of your choosing. Earth Class Mail offers 80+ premier addresses in all 50 U.S. states.

Sign up for a virtual address or mailbox today with Earth Class Mail!