Commercial Subleasing - Pros and Cons of Subleasing Commercial Spaces

By Lahle Wolfe

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy 

Cons of Subleasing Commercial Spaces

The disadvantages of subleasing are mostly logistical (how you can use the property may be limited) and legal disadvantages if you do have problems with either the sublessor or the sublessor’s landlord. To minimize your own legal exposure, and protect rights as a sublessee, be sure to have an attorney review your sublease and the original lease before signing anything.

1. Unfavorable Lease Terms Can Be Passed Along to You: If the sublessor negotiated a “bad” deal with their landlord, they may try to pass certain fees and higher rent along to you. Be sure to read both the sublease and original lease and compare your sublease terms to other comparable rents and offers in similar spaces. (This is one reason why you should look at as many other spaces as possible before deciding on any particular space).
2. Default by Sublessor: If your sublessor defaults, it could affect your sublease as well. You can address this by including in your sublease, rights to recover costs and damages if you are evicted because of the sublessor defaulting (for example, you pay the sublessor rent, but the sublessor does not pay their landlord).
3. Not Your Own Private Space: This could affect exterior and interior signs, advertising, or present a “smaller business” feel to clients who come to your office. For this reason, it is helpful to sublease from someone in the same profession. For example, an attorney should first seek to sublease from another attorney if they are sharing space. By teaming with other similar professions, it can help dispel the small business atmosphere.
4. Delays in Maintenance Services: If you need repairs to the property, or other services provided by the landlord, you may still have to go through the sublessor for remedy. This can cause delays and headaches in problems being addressed and can complicate legal remedies for unresolved problems.
5. Limited "Nesting" Options: You are at the mercy and decorating tastes of your sublessor.

Small Business Attire for Women

By Lahle Wolfe

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy 

Working from home allows women to attend conference calls in sweats and send emails at 2 a.m. in pajamas. But at some point you will have meetings with clients, investors, donors, or other business professionals.

Competing in small business requires many skills, but knowing how to dress for a business situation can help you seal the deal in face-to-face meetings. In certain industries, how you dress is critical.

For example, if you design and sell clothing to women’s specialty stores, showing up wearing something from your own product line may sound like a good idea, but the wrong outfit will cost you the contract. It is better to bring product samples than to serve as a model for your own clothing.

Your attire should not upstage an event or the person you are meeting with. You want to be remembered for your business sense and not for a see-through lacy top or stilettos. Dressing to show off will not impress business men or women, and will hurt your professional image.

International Standard Business Attire

The standard suit and tie for men and women still has a strong place in the professional world. Tailored dresses, as well as skirts with a blouse and jacket, can also serve as standard business attire for women. Standard business attire is more polished and professional-looking than casual dress. When in doubt, stick with standard business attire to be safe.

Business Casual

The term “business casual” means different things to different companies. In some companies it may be acceptable for women to wear Capri pants or long shirts – but avoid these for small business dealings. You want to project that you are a business woman, and not look like a mom coming to a meeting from your child’s play date.

How to Dress for Business Success

For the purpose of business meetings and events women should consider the following guidelines for business attire:

• Wear Tailored Clothing: Tailored clothing always looks better. It pays to invest in several high quality outfits that are interchangeable than in multiple poor quality outfits.
• Color and Patterns: Conservative colors and fabrics remain a standard in business attire for men and women. Wear dark gray or navy pants and suits. Women can also wear black if the clothing itself is professional (cocktail dresses are not appropriate for business meetings).
  Avoid color and pattern extremes. You want to make a statement about your business not a personal statement expressing your passion for purple polka dots.
  
  Plaids and subtle patterns that appear solid from across a room are conservative and safest. Wide stripes and fabrics with a high sheen are too distracting for business meetings.
  
• Pants and Suits: Pants are fine, but stick to tailored pants with a crease. Khaki, twill, and corduroy are good fabric choices for business casual but stay away from denim and heavy cotton materials.
  Pants and suits made from wool, and wool blends are good standard business attire and work for all seasons. Try to avoid synthetic fabrics like rayon and polyester blends.
  
  Make sure pants are pressed and as wrinkle free as possible. The hem should cover the ankle but not drape to the floor. Even if you have a lovely figure stay away from pants that are too tight.
  
• Skirts and Dresses: The right color and material are important but the right length is critical. If you sit in a chair and can see too much thigh with legs crossed or uncrossed the outfit is too short.
  If your skirt has a slit it should be small, centered in the back, and no higher than the back of your knee. High slits in skirts are never appropriate. A slit should not impair mobility (walking and climbing up stairs). If you cannot walk comfortably in a skirt it is too small or too tight.
  
• Shirts and Sweaters: First rule: don’t show cleavage. Blouses should be tailored and coordinate with the rest of your outfit. Fine-gauge knit shells are fine but be sure any top you choose is not see-through.
• Bras and Panties: Undergarments should support your figure and not show through clothing. If your panty line shows your clothing may be too tight or you might need to wear a slip.
• Shoes: Closed-toed pumps in a color that compliments your outfit are best. Do not wear chunky heels, flat soled-shoes, stilettos, or shoes with too much height. It is important to wear shoes that fit well so you can walk comfortably. Shoe color should coordinate with the color of your purse.
  Shoes should be polished and clean, made of leather or microfiber. Sandals are never appropriate for business attire but tennis shoes may be fine for business casual.

If you are uncertain about how to dress for a meeting treat all face-to-face business contact as you would a job interview and dress appropriately in standard business attire. And, if you are invited to a business social event it is acceptable to ask what the dress requirements are.

Enjoy wearing your favorite torn jeans while working from home but when you step out into the business world remember to dress as if you are a powerful and successful business woman.

Personal Grooming Tips for Business Women

By Lahle Wolfe

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy 

Dressing for success includes more than just choosing the right outfit. To complete your professional look you must also consider accessories and personal grooming.

You should always dress to impress clients, investors, and customers, because a winning sales pitch is not enough to seal the deal. A woman's professional appearance needs to support her professional accomplishments.

If your business attire is distracting because it is too sexy, drab, or colorful, your business contacts may focus on how you look, not on your business skills.

Simple, But Important Grooming Tips for Business Women

• Perfumes, Scents, and Odors in the Workplace: Do not let the first impression you make about yourself be your personal scent preferences!
  Avoid wearing perfume and heavily-scented products in all business settings. You might like them, but they have no place in a business environment. Scents can trigger asthma, overpower a room, and are often more offensive than pleasing to others.
  
  Never smell like smoke (if you smoke in a car, your clothing will always pick up the odor).
  
• How to Present Professional Looking Fingernails and Hands: Women often use their hands to talk with so they become a focal point. It is important to have hands and fingernails looking professional -- not like you are heading out for a wild night on the town.
  Nails should be clean, and trimmed or sculpted. Avoid wearing unusual or shocking nail colors. Nail art and nail jewels are not acceptable for business meetings.
  
• Hairstyling Tips for Business Women: Style should be neat and conservative, and preferably off the face. With few exceptions, hair color should not be shocking or unusual (leave blue hair for Halloween). Hair sprays and gels that have a strong scent or odor should be avoided.
• Business Makeup Advice: Keep it simple and appropriate for daytime. Wearing no makeup at all is almost as bad as wearing too much makeup.
• Appropriate Jewelry for Business Women: Jewelry should not be noisy (no metal bangle bracelets), too large, or costume jewelry. Keep earrings small, simple, and above the earlobe.
  It is better to wear no jewelry at all, than too wear too much jewelry. But all business women should at least wear a nice, conservative wrist watch.

Demonstrating that you care about your personal appearance communicates to the person you are meeting with that they are important to you. Paying attention to the details of your appearance sends a message to others that you will also pay close attention to business details, and the needs of your customers and clients.

Accessories for Business Attire

By Lahle Wolfe

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy


Dressing for success includes your outfit, personal grooming, and accessories. Clients and investors pay attention to details, and so should you. Even the brief case you select says something about who you are.

Pulling together an overall corporate image is especially important for work-at-home moms, and business women who work from home. To get big clients and contracts, your business needs to appear successful; already large enough to handle the customer’s needs.

Looking “frumpy” or like you just came from the grocery store, conveys a message that you may not take business meetings seriously.

Tips on How to Use Accessories to Impress

The following tips for adding accessories to your business wardrobe will help you look your very best.

• Jewelry: Avoid wearing large or costume jewelry. Earrings should be conservative and small. Necklaces should not dangle between cleavage, and bracelets should not make noise. Do not wear ankle bracelets, but do wear a conservative watch.
• Purses: Purse colors should coordinate with your shoe color. A good purse should be small, but easy to open in case you need to find an item inside.
• Hosiery: Panty hose should be a neutral tone and compliment your suit or dress. Avoid wearing hosiery with patterns and lines. Carry a bottle of clear nail polish in your purse to dab on snags and runs to stop them from spreading down your leg.
• Briefcases and Portfolios: Portfolios and padfolios are preferred over briefcases and should be padded in a neutral color. If you take a briefcase, it should be as small as is practical for your needs, and made of leather in a neutral color.
  If you do not need a briefcase don’t bring one just for show. Never use a shopping bag, book bag, or backpack in place of a briefcase.

Your Car, Another Accessory

You car is not an accessory that you wear, but it is an accessory you are likely to take to business functions. Always keep the inside of your car clean and free of children’s toys and clutter.

How you keep your car is a reflection about the state of your life. If your car is a clutter closet on wheels, it sends the message you are too busy to tend to things, or that you just don’t care about your image. Treat your car as another potential message to clients about how you run your business.

After a meeting with my first potential investor, he asked if he could walk me to my car. When I opened my car door he took a quick casual glance inside and then extended a firm handshake to thank me for presenting my business idea. The next day he offered to invest the full $5,000 I needed to get started on a new business venture.

The investor explained the “clean car” test was something he used to assess how organized and efficient a person was. If their car was a disorganized mess he assumed that the chaos would extend into their professional life as well.

Not everyone is this calculating in their decisions, but everyone looks at outward appearances and makes quick judgments about what the little things say about a person.

Accessories like makeup, jewelry, and even your car should not be overlooked. They are tools that you can use to convey a positive and winning message about yourself and your ability to succeed.