Open Office Space

3 Invaluable Resources For Entrepreneurs - Mixergy, Startup Lucky, The Rise To The Top

 
Quick Story - A little over a year ago (Dec 2008) I broke my hand right before heading off on vacation with my wife and some friends. With lifting out of the question, one of my friends convinced me that it was a good opportunity to take up running...and just like Forest Gump, I have not stopped running since.

Interestingly enough, the trip also marked the first time I was introduced to the "POWER" of the Podcast. 

While planning my music for my first run, I asked my friend (a huge real estate developer) what music he listens to when he runs. His answer...Milton Friedman, the economist. At first I thought he was kidding, but he was actually quite serious.  

To put things in perspective, December of 2008 was when the economic downturn was really starting to weigh heavily on everyones mind. What I did not realize at the time, my friend was using running not only to manage the stress of his business, but also as an opportunity to gain insight from leading economists while his brain was in a heightened sense from his workout.

In previous posts I have written about the book Spark - The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise And The Brain, written by John J. Ratey MD. The book is a groundbreaking exploration of the connection between exercise and the brain’s performance that shows how even moderate exercise will supercharge mental circuits to beat stress, sharpen thinking, enhance memory, and much more.

After reading the book Spark coupled with seeing the impact the "learn and burn session" had on my friend, I decided to download a podcast for my next run. While I was not blown away by the content of my first few podcasts, I definitely became a fan of the concept.

And then within the span of about 6 months the following happened...I launched openofficespace.com, I learned firsthand what is meant by "the chicken and egg problem" faced by most marketplace websites and I discovered 3 extremely valuable podcasts which have made a significant impact on my ability to endure as an entrepreneur - Mixergy, Startup Lucky and The Rise To The Top. 

The reason for my quick story above, I believe that the value of these podcasts can be increased if listened to during an aerobic workout such as jogging, rollerblading, etc. (Sorry, I guess you can take the trainer out of the gym...blah, blah, blah)  

Anyway, while each of these 3 shows have their own subtle differences, they ALL have a few traits in common: They offer powerful advice, inspiration and great interviews designed to help entrepreneurs and startups on their challenging journey.

From my perspective, the most powerful apsect of these shows are the live interviews with industry leading entrepreneurs, founders of startups, bloggers, book authors and international speakers. Almost as valuable as the "how to" tips and tricks, sales and marketing ideas and other information that can be garnered from these interviews is the notion that EVERYONE of these interview subjects faced ups and downs on their road to success...very powerful stuff for entrepreneurs at any stage of the game.

Here is a brief description of each one of these shows and a few interviews which resonated with me:

Mixergy

Founder: Andrew Warner

On Twitter: @AndrewWarner

Mission (from the website): The Mixergy Mission is to introduce you to doers and thinkers whose ideas and stories are so powerful that just hearing them will change you.

The Mixergy Mission is to give you an alternative to the "know-it-all, professional gurus." I want to convince you that no single person knows it all. I want to show you that the best way to grow is to learn from a mix of smart people who are willing to share their expertise and experiences.

The Mixergy Mission is to infect you with a passion for business and then help you build your business.

The Mixergy Mission is to encourage YOU to have a mission, not just a startup, not just a company, but a calling.

The Mixergy Mission is to act as a counter-weight to all the venture capitalists who'll try to convince you that the only reason to build a business today is so you can flip it tomorrow. The world isn't changed by people who have an eye on the exit.

The Mixergy Mission is to convince you to follow a vision so big and important that you can't do it alone. Then I want to give you a mix of wicked-smart people who will help you achieve it.

The Mixergy Mission is too big for me to achieve alone. If what I'm describing here calls to you, jump in and join me.

My favorite interviews:

Founders of airbnb.com Nathan Blecharczyk, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia  

Founder of wufoo.com Kevin Hale

Founder of Smart Bear Jason Cohen

Startup Lucky

Founder: Aronado Placencia

On Twitter: @Aronado

Mission (from the website):

We are the web portal for connecting startups with education, inspiration, & funding! We work directly with VC’s and Angels behind the scenes to learn what they want and how startups can obtain funding in the quickest & most efficient way possible. Simply put, we are the bridge for startups to connect with investors.

Why did we create StartupLucky? We have launched several startups ourselves. We understand wholeheartedly the challenges of getting attention for your startup. We know what it’s like to pitch bloggers, editors, angels, VC’s etc. StartupLucky was created to be the bridge for startups looking for startup investors/advisers etc.

Mission Statement:
Connect startups with investors around the globe as quickly & efficiently as possible.

My favorite interviews:

Author of Linkworking Lewis Howes

Editor of Entrepreneur Magazine Amy Cosper

Founder of The Good Life Team Krisstina Wize

The Rise To The Top

Founder: David Garland

On Twitter: @therisetothetop

Mission (from the website): A daily online show for entrepreneurs and marketers.

RISE includes business and marketing tips & tricks, how to advice, resources, breaking down marketing strategies of small and big companies, social media marketing, tech you can actually use for business, product & book reviews, expert interviews, questions & answers and much more.

My favorite interviews:

Founder of Smart Bear Jason Cohen

Co-Founder of Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics Neil Patel

Founder of Wine Library TV Gary Vaynerchuk

If you are thinking about starting up your own company or already have one under way, I highly recommend utilizing these free but invaluable resources. They can not only prevent you from making costly mistakes, they can also provide with that much needed inspiration when things are not exactly going your way. 

Image and Content Source: Mixergy, Startup Lucky and The Rise To the Top

If you know of any other podcasts that might be helpful to a fellow entrepreneur, please share.

 

 

  

The Eco-Friendly Workplace | 10 Suggestions + A 3D Office

Regardless whether you are a company of one or one thousand, you can make a positive impact on the environment by adopting a few simple, but effective changes in your workplace.

The following 10 eco-friendly suggestions will not only help to preserve the environment, they can also save your company money and contribute to a healthier/more productive office.

    
  
1) Printing

Eliminate unnecessary printing. (waste of paper and ink)

Consider printing non sharable documents on both sides.

Use recycled paper.

Encourage a paper recycling initiative within your office.

Recycle empty ink toner cartridges.

Use re-filled ink toner cartridges as opposed to new ones.

Use email for internal memos.

2) Coffee Cups, Plastic Cutlery and Other Kitchen Supplies

Encourage employees to use coffee mugs which can be washed and reused.

Prohibit the use of Styrofoam cups, wood and plastic stir sticks, plastic cutlery and paper plates.

3) Eco-Friendly Office Furniture

Purchase office furniture made of recycled materials.

Purchase office furniture that is recyclable when it is no longer of use.

4) Eco-Friendly Flooring  

Consider purchasing flooring made of material that is comprised of recycled content.

Consider purchasing flooring that is recyclable when it is no longer of use.

5) Electricity

Turn off and unplug computers, monitors, lights or any other electrical equipment that’s not in use when you leave the office.

Use shading devices for windows to keep the heat load out and minimize air-conditioning usage.

6) Eco-Friendly Paint

Consider using eco-friendly “Green Paints.” Green paints are defined by their lack or low levels of VOC’s (volatile organic compounds). VOC’s are the toxic fumes emitted from most synthetic-based paints and can have negative effects to people and the environment.

7) Eco-Friendly Water Cooler

Consider using an eco-friendly water cooler. Eco-friendly water coolers do not use plastic water bottles and eliminate the environmental impact resulting from regular water bottle deliveries.

8) Eco-Friendly Lighting

Use natural lighting whenever possible. Open the blinds or even add skylights in your space.

Purchase energy efficient bulbs. They tend to use less energy, release less heat and last longer.

Purchase lamps or lighting fixtures that are made with natural, recycled, or reused materials.

eliminate the environmental impact resulting from regular water bottle deliveries.

9) Energy Efficient Equipment

Purchase energy efficient copiers, computers, fax machines, printers, monitors, scanners, microwaves and air-conditioners.

Consider using laptops as opposed to desktops as they require much less energy to operate.

10) Eco-Friendly Janitorial Supplies

Consider using eco-friendly janitorial supplies. These supplies feature environmentally conscious attributes such as being recyclable, eco-responsible packaging and/or being made of all-natural materials, etc.

Demand your outside janitorial services use eco-friendly supplies.

BTW - Another great way of helping the environment is sharing your workplace with a startup, small business or entrepreneur that is looking for a small office space. Sharing office space can go a long way to conserve energy while also helping to reduce waste.

Over the next few months, openofficespace.com will be conducting interviews with companies that are sharing office space and learn what they are doing to promote an eco-friendly workplace.

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Looking For Office Space? Price is only one of the options you need to consider.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Virtual Office Staging - Make Your Unused Office Space Stand Out From The Crowd

 
Perhaps you recently downsized your staff leaving you with 4 large, but empty office spaces.

Or

Maybe you signed a long term lease right before the economy went south for the winter. As a result, you overestimated the amount of space you needed for your business.

Either way, you have been left with the burden of carrying the costs of this unused office space and all the expenses that go along with it.

The good news (from a psychological standpoint) you are not alone. The bad news...you are not alone.

An increased number of companies are realizing they can use sites like openofficespace.com to find sub-tenants for their unused office space and help ease this financial burden.

The challenge however is that with an increased number of companies competing for the eyeballs of potential sub-tenants, how can you make your property stand out from the rest? To make matters worse, most unused office space is completely empty or the existing furniture/furnishings are in bad shape. And lets face it, not everyone is blessed with the wonderful power of a vivid imagination. 

Why not take a page from playbook from the residential real estate market and stage your commercial property?

Instead of posting washed out pictures of a boring empty office space or trying to populate the space with furniture from other rooms, how about Virtually Staging that bad boy? Using advanced 3D rendering technology, a photo can be taken of your empty office and then virtually staged, so that it looks like a million bucks.

A staged home typically sells more quickly and for a higher price...why not a commercial space? Granted we are talking about sales vs. rentals but it's still about standing out from the crowd if you hope to attract qualified leads.

Below is an sample of this technology utilized for promoting an empty residential property.

 
  

 
  
Disclaimer: Whenever a staged image is used, it needs to be clear that the image is an artists representation of the property and not the actual condition the property will be delivered to the sub-tenant.

If this is something you might be interested in, we recommend contacting Real Tour Vision. RTV boasts the largest network of independent virtual tour providers and can easily dispatch a photographer to help you out with this affordable and cost effective way of making your unused office space stand out from the crowd.

Openofficespace.com is on a mission to identify the coolest and most effective technologies to help our users promote their properties. If you have one up your sleeve, please share.

Image & Content Source: Real Tour Vision

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Small Biz/Entrepreneurs - Estimating The Right Amount of Office Space For Your Company

Open Space Ventures LLC Launches a New Website to Help Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses Find and Plan the Perfect Office Space for Their Company

Batch Upload - Add Multiple Office Space Listings At One Time

To quote one of our users: "Your site would be so much better if I was able to upload all my office listings at one time instead of entering them one by one."

Well user who chooses to remain nameless, we agree. So, as a result, we are happy to announce the launch of our new batch upload functionality which makes the process of posting multiple properties on openofficespace.com as easy as posting a single property. 

Here's how it works:

Step 1: Login to an existing account or create one.

Step 2: Once you've logged in, click the batch upload link located in the manage properties area.

 

Step 3 Upload an excel file with all of your office property listing information. The batch upload system will automatically separate all of your data into columns as per your excel file.

Step 4 Select the relevant label for each column from the provided drop down menus. Each drop down menu consists of labels that pertain to listing fields on our property pages. 

 

Step 6 Click next and your done! At this point you can click the manage properties link to modify any of your listing data as well as add photos of your properties.

So what are you waiting for? Expose your unused office space to a captive audience of entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to find the"perfect office space" for their company.

Also, before I forget, we just launched a slightly new look to our homepage and would love your feedback, good or bad.

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Feature Update: The Commercial Real Estate Broker Business Card 

Feature Update: The Commercial Real Estate Broker Business Card

Feature Update: Improved Commercial Property (Office) Search

Today's feature update comes as a result of a phone call from one of our users which actually made me laugh. It was either laugh or cry, I chose the former.

The user pointed out that when she did a search for office space and typed in Boston, Massachusetts, it returned a certain number of results, whereas when she typed in Boston, MA, the site returned quite a different number of results. In other words, if someone abbreviated a state or entered just a zip code, the search feature was not effectively capturing all the properties in our database for that given location.

All together now..."Hey, that sucks!"

To overcome this issue the "brains" at openofficespace.com have built a new and improved "smart search" feature. The smart search will auto-suggest a location as a user begins to enter a city or zip code, ensuring that all relevant properties for that location (in our database) will be returned. 

As part of this upgrade we have also applied this technology to assist users that are POSTING unused office space. To maintain consistency I think we will call it our new "smart post" technology.  

Similar to the smart search feature, the smart post will auto-suggest a location as a user begins to enter a city or zip code. If for some reason that location is not already part of the database, it will automatically be added and shown on future results.

If you are posting or searching for unused office space in Canada, simply click the international link and select Canada from the dropdown. This will automatically change the data of the "smart search" and "smart post"  to reflect locations in Canada.

Check back in the next few days as we will be launching another new feature that will be very helpful to commercial real estate brokers, executive suite operators or any other spaceholder with multiple properties.

Please continue to give us feedback, good or bad, and we will do our best to accommodate your suggestions.

Here are a few screenshots of this new feature:

SMART SEARCH

SMART POST

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Feature Update: The Commercial Real Estate Broker Business Card