Should You Have a Virtual Office? Going virtual might be just what your company needs to save cash, increase profits and expand.

Just because you need employees doesn't mean you need an office with all that overhead. Why not build a virtual network of employees where you communicate with each other via phone, e-mail and fax to get the job done?

Husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Greg Chagaris, 59, and Anthea Stratigos, 45, did just that with their market research and analytics business, Outsell Inc., in Burlingame, California. For four years they ran the business from a traditional office space with employees. But in 1998, Stratigos interviewed a highly qualified job candidate whose husband had recently been transferred to Maine. Says Stratigos, "[Greg] and I looked at each other, and that was the sign from the universe. We went with it."