Skip to content
Tweak Your Biz home.
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Reviews
    • Business
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Growth
    • Sales
    • Marketing
    • Management
  • Who We Are

The Virtual Office Is A Business Lifesaver: Interview With Samantha Clooney

By Christina Giliberti Published July 23, 2014 Updated December 1, 2022

Every business owner or sole trader will know only too well how difficult it is to keep your head above water. Each new day brings a new cost or task, and it’s the toughest decision in the world, choosing where to spend your ever-depleting time. It is for that reason that

Yes it was quite tough at the beginning, I was very lucky though in that I got involved in a good network and I had some amazing support to begin with. It was also difficult from the point of view that we had not found our Niche to begin with and as a result we were trying to be everything to everybody, which was quite difficult at times. However, we learned quite quickly that our Niche Market was small micro businesses, the one man shows, and small to medium family run businesses. Because of this, we really get to know our clients customers and they get to know us, it allows for a more personal service to our clients.

The concept of virtual is taking hold, but have you discovered any issues in regards perception? Do companies like to ‘see’ an office?

Yes, the perception of a virtual office was very hard to get across to Irish people; it still is to a point. Some people get it immediately and think ‘wow’ that’s a great idea and others need a bit more in-depth explanation. The other difficult aspect for people to get past is the trust element which is completely understandable. It’s hard for a business owner to relinquish trust to someone they don’t know. At the end of the day as a virtual office you are the first point of contact for the company. It’s important for our clients to know that their business is in the right hands, we take a ‘plug in’ approach where we work side by side with the business, we do what they need us to do and when. The motto we live by is that we treat your business as if it were our own. Thankfully I’m proud to say that all our clients stay with us for years as a result, and, they will readily refer others onto us.

You are making a nice name for yourself in the global marketplace (wonderful to see), but was it difficult gaining those clients and are their expectations different to your ‘local’ clients?

Most of our international clients are with us through word of mouth referrals I think because there is a certain trust already there. However, we don’t usually deal with them any differently than our Irish customers because at the end of the day our service levels are quite high and that’s the most important aspect to all our customers – everyone gets the same high level of standard.

I love your business start-up package, would you see a high volume of start-ups?

Our start-up package is a wonderful way for a new business to portray a very professional image which will always lead to good credibility in their particular industry, plus in addition to the service they always get some additional mentoring and support from me along the way.

We do see a lot of start-ups in our business (which is lovely to see) but in some cases people start a business without realising the amount of work involved. Some decide to persevere and are successful businesses today. Others decide the amount of work involved isn’t what they expected and decide to wind up their business. I think this is the nature of start-ups, people don’t realise the amount of work that’s involved or indeed the fact that on certain months there might not be a pay packet there for them by the time the bills and staff are paid.

In terms of expansion, how do you cope with a burgeoning workload?

With regards to our expanding workload, there are three of us who deal with the workload, together. Each one of us is trained to the same standards. We work well as a team to get through what has to be done on a daily basis and at peak times we prioritise jobs and divide and conquer so to speak. However, one of the most important aspects of business that I have learned, which I’m sure many business owners out there will agree with me, is the ability to say No. If I find that we have a large work load at a given time I won’t take on extra work as it means that our service levels could drop and we can’t guarantee the same care to our customers. We will always endeavour to get the work done, but, if we are exceptionally busy then we have to say no. However, in that case we always try to refer them on to another business that may be able to help them out, but only ones that we would work with ourselves.

We are increasingly moving away from a physically-connected work environment in favour of a more flexible virtual work situation. Even socially, we are more comfortable online. Any thoughts on where this will lead?

Since as far back as we can remember, social gatherings have been the core of our existence. What I have seen over the last few years has been a significant transfer of traditional social and business gatherings online. Social will continue to expand and grow. I think it has become an accepted, even an expected functionality on the web. But, I still think we’re in the infancy of social media. What’s hit a saturation point however is talking about it. It’s just media now, and all media is social. No company can afford to ignore social media if it wants customers.

Thanks to Samantha for giving us an insight into virtual office solutions, and being such an inspiring interviewee!

And so to the future – what’s the next step for the Virtual Office?

______________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Tweak Your Biz:

                     

Would you like to write for Tweak Your Biz?

Tweak Your Biz is an international, business advice community and online publication. Today it is read by over 140,000 business people each month (unique visitors, Google Analytics, December, 2013). See our review of 2013 for more information. 

An outstanding title can increase tweets, Facebook Likes, and visitor traffic by 50% or more. Generate great titles for your articles and blog posts with the Tweak Your Biz Title Generator.

Posted in Management

Enjoy the article? Share it:

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on X
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Email

Christina Giliberti

Christina is a complete geek, hence a perfect web + online marketing consultant. After ten years working with Premier Recruitment Group, LA Fitness, Monarch Airlines, Thomson Travel and a host of other companies, she now owns CG Online Marketing (www.cgonlinemarketing.com) in Ireland and is an associate of the Ahain Group.

She's qualified in most things online such as web server management, digital design, Google Analytics and SEO.

Specialties: Social Media Marketing, SEO / PPC,Google analytics (qualified in GA IQ) Web trends + insights, Data segmentation and targeting, Customer Behavior analysis, Digital design, Writing, Ethical marketing Green marketing / Sustainable tourism and Hotel + travel online marketing

Visit author twitter pageContact author via email

View all posts by Christina Giliberti

Signup for the newsletter

Sign For Our Newsletter To Get Actionable Business Advice

* indicates required
Contents
The concept of virtual is taking hold, but have you discovered any issues in regards perception? Do companies like to ‘see’ an office?
You are making a nice name for yourself in the global marketplace (wonderful to see), but was it difficult gaining those clients and are their expectations different to your ‘local’ clients?
I love your business start-up package, would you see a high volume of start-ups?
In terms of expansion, how do you cope with a burgeoning workload?
We are increasingly moving away from a physically-connected work environment in favour of a more flexible virtual work situation. Even socially, we are more comfortable online. Any thoughts on where this will lead?
Connect with Tweak Your Biz:

Related Articles

Business
Management

Best 12 LMS Features for Restaurants Staff Training That Reduces Turnover

Andrew Larson August 14, 2025
Business
Management

BetterHelp Therapist Licensing Verification: How the Platform Ensures Professional Standards Across All 50 States

Hanna Kim August 12, 2025
Business
Management

Risk Management 101: The Key to Effective Project Management

Ernest Ragsdill August 11, 2025

Footer

Tweak Your Biz
Visit us on Facebook Visit us on X Visit us on LinkedIn

Privacy Settings

Company

  • Contact
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Statement
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Sitemap

Signup for the newsletter

Sign For Our Newsletter To Get Actionable Business Advice

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved. Tweak Your Biz.

Disclaimer: If you click on some of the links throughout our website and decide to make a purchase, Tweak Your Biz may receive compensation. These are products that we have used ourselves and recommend wholeheartedly. Please note that this site is for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to provide financial advice. You can read our complete disclosure statement regarding affiliates in our privacy policy. Cookie Policy.

Tweak Your Biz
Sign For Our Newsletter To Get Actionable Business Advice
[email protected]