Open Office Space

The Single Best Piece of Business Advice I Ever Received

   
I was recently invited to attend a Working Lunch with Rob Basso. 

At each Working Lunch event, guests view the premiere of the latest Basso On Business episode, and get involved in a live, interactive business discussion with Rob and leading experts.The goal of Rob's lunch program is to motivate and support small businesses with innovative presentations, business growth strategies and informative speakers.

The focus of the event I attended was Matt Silver of Ultimate Class Limousine. Matt runs a very successful company but seems to have a little trouble managing the long list of tasks that he is faced with on a daily basis. In many cases, even handling tasks that are responsibilities of his employees.

After the 30 or so business owners watched Matt's video a spirited conversation ensued regarding what Matt could/should do to better organize his business. My contribution during the event = a BIG ZERO!

Anyway, a few days after the event it dawned on me that I missed an opportunity to share one of the single best pieces of business advice I ever received...especially as it is so relevant to Matt's organization challenges. 

The following is a letter I sent to Rob detailing this advice (It was re-posted as a guest blog on Rob's site)

Hi Rob,

Not sure if this is too little too late, but before you write me off as a chickensh** for not participating during your event, here is my 2 cents.

My focus for the last 10 years has been growing various internet ventures which in most cases has been a relatively one-man show. Unfortunately, during the event I did not participate simply because I did not go back far enough in my pea brain to recall (aka “blocked out”) a 3 year period in which I was in a very similar situation to Matt.

In 1999-2001 I gave up my 15 client per day/7 day per week personal training business to become the managing partner in a 30,000 sq. ft health club in Long Beach that we took over from an existing company. The health club had well over 75 employees, 6 Indoor Pools, Indoor Track, Sauna, Steam Room, Nursery, Physical Therapy, Aqua Therapy, free weights, cardio, and much more.

Much like Tony’s business, the pace was frenetic and I dealt with one problem after another, making it almost impossible to ever get ahead of the oncoming barrage of problems.

Unlike Matt however, I really had NO experience in the health club business, so it was doubly challenging for me as far as getting organized. (ex. Running  a facility, sales, personnel management, bookkeeping, etc. ).

Here is a small sample of a few of the “small” (yeah right) problems I had to deal with:

-   The Hydraulic line which powered the underwater therapy bikes and treadmills ruptured filling an entire pool filled with jet black oil from top to bottom (think BP disaster in Long Beach)

-   The entire wall of one side of the building fell into the parking lot

-   The heavy glass/steel lid on the pool filter exploded nearly decapitating one of our maintenance workers

Anyway just when I thought I was never going to get my arms around this huge disaster of a business, I received the BEST piece of business advice that I ever received.

It was called the 20-80 rule for employees. If a problem occurred in any area of the health club, an employee should spend 20% of the time focused on determining the root of the problem and 80% of the time should be focused on a solution to the problem. AND most importantly, employees were not allowed to come to ME with a problem without 3 possible solutions.

I basically called for a one on one meeting with every single employee and told them that moving forward if they wanted to keep their jobs they would have to abide by this rule.

The results were amazing!!!

1)   It empowered every single employee to OWN their dept, even if their dept. was simply keeping the bathrooms clean. Almost immediately everyone became an expert  in their position.

2)   It  allowed me to make quick decisions to fix problems without having to delve into possible solutions myself.

3)   It made it much easier to see which departments might require staff changes

Most importantly, it allowed me to oversee the business without having to “do it all myself”. Based on what I heard at the event, this seems to be one of Matt’s biggest issues.

Perhaps this piece of advice that was so helpful to me can also be helpful to Matt.

 

Dave

 

If you or your company has a knowledge that would help entrepreneurs or small businesses to improve the quality of their workplace, openofficespace.com would love to interview you.

 

Topics might include:

- Commercial Real Estate Expertise

- Workplace Wellness

- How To...(any topic related to improving the workplace)

- Creating an Eco-Friendly Office

- Office Products and Office Furniture

- Workplace Interior Design

- Streamlining Office Expenses

- Property Marketing Solutions 

Entrepreneurs: Great Blogs/Books To Get Design Inspiration For Your Office Space

As a follow up to my last 2 blog posts regarding furnishing the "optimal office space" and modern trends in office furniture, here are a few great resources (blogs/books) to help provide you with some additional inspiration and ideas for creating YOUR ideal office space.

BLOGS

The Office Stylist

About The Office Stylist

The Office Stylist is a multi-platform media brand based on the idea that we should live well at work. In addition to offering readers daily tips on office style, two-time entrepreneur and TV personality Sayeh Pezeshki provides office styling services, consulting and personal shopping for private and corporate clients. From the best tasty snacks to keep at your desk to chic office supplies to ways to transform your personal workspace, Sayeh shares what you need to know to live well at work — wherever work is.

Pezeshki is also the founder of Sortingwithstyle.com, the premier online retail destination for office style featuring hand selected chic office supplies and desktop accessories to transform your working world.

Twitter: twitter.com/officestylist

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/theofficestylist

Office Snapshots

About Office SnapshotsOffice Snapshots shows you the inside of the offices you care about. This is generally from Web/Tech companies, and perhaps larger companies that people are familiar with.

Twitter: twitter.com/officesnapshots

The Cool Hunter

Led by founder Bill Tikos, The Cool Hunter celebrates creativity in all of its modern manifestations. Since its inception in 2004 The Cool Hunter has become the world's most-read culture and design site,  a leading authority on all things creative and a truly global hub for what's cool, thoughtful, innovative and original. We value global relevance, not trends, channeling our discoveries to our worldwide audience.

Twitter: twitter.com/thecoolhunter

Facebook: facebook.com/thecoolhunter

Yanko Design

About Yanko Design Yanko Design is a web magazine dedicated to introducing the best modern international design, covering from industrial design, concepts, technology, interior design, architecture, exhibition and fashion. It’s about the cutting edge and the classic, the new and the rediscovered. It’s all about the best.

Twitter: twitter.com/yankodesign

Facebook: facebook.com/yankodesign

Office Design Gallery

About Office Design Gallery

Office Design Gallery is here to bring you a collection of office design from around the globe. From the home office to the enterprise, our environment affects the way we work. And now you have a resource to turn to when you are looking at how to design the office you work in. It could be a small change to your personal work area or a complete office re design, this is the place to start.

Workalicious

About Workalicious

workalicious™ is a weblog featuring workplace design, furniture, implements, and culture.

Twitter: twitter.com/workalicious

BOOKS

I wish I Worked There! A Look Inside The Most Creative Spaces In Business   Kursty Grove and Will Knight

Revealing some of the world’s most inspiring workplaces, I Wish I Worked There! investigates the way 20 famous brands have put innovation at the heart of their culture. Photographs and illustrations detail the way in which companies accommodate creative activity through spaces that: stimulate, enable reflection, promote collaboration and encourage play. Easy-to-adopt principles assist the design, creation or selection of spaces that support creative endeavor. Never before has a title looked specifically at how the working environment fosters the flow of ideas from both practical and emotional perspectives – with business results.

Where We Work: Creative Office Spaces   Ian McCallam

Where We Work explores how creative agencies transform lifeless commercial spaces into bastions of creativity, offering inspiring interiors and visual insight into the breadth and depth of each agency's thought process. By removing the traditional office furnishings and even the typical office culture, this new kind of workspace inspires coworkers to be at their most creative—free to relax, think, and accessorize—and visitors to dream of spending their own workdays within its walls.

Atlas of Office Interiors Alex Sanchez Vidiella

Whether a home studio or a corporate office tower, every office space, with its particular function, needs its own specific design solution. Concepts for reception areas, meeting rooms, and work area fill this collection showing new and effective possibilities that accommodate a range of working styles and a variety of workplace cultures. With 1000 color photographs this book can inspire designers, architects and corporate execs to create efficient, motivational, and pleasing work spaces that will make a statement, increase productivity and improve efficiency.

In this book, Alex Sanchez, has collected and juxtaposed over 600 different office space design ideas making this one of the most comprehensive collections of office space design images every published. Presented in the "Atlas" format, it is a reference book which all commercial interior designer and space planners will want to own

Radical Office Design   Jeremy Myerson

Traditional office work, characterized by repetitive clerical tasks, is rapidly giving way to "knowledge work," characterized by the creative application and exchange of information. In response, architects around the world are leaving aside the old cubicle grid to design imaginative, high-tech offices that foster knowledge work and, at the same time, help workers balance the competing demands of colleagues, customers, and family. The forty-three exceptional workplaces profiled in this timely volume have all been completed within the last six years and serve a wide variety of organizations, both private and public, small and large. Examples range from the headquarters of an advertising firm where one enormous table seats all two hundred employees, facilitating communication, to a BMW plant where the factory production line runs through and above the administrative offices, unifying the corporate community.

The Other Office: Creative Workplace Design     Matt Stewart

The world of work refuses to stand still: new technologies have a huge impact on office design and now that a great many employees have the freedom to do their work anywhere -- on the road, at home, with clients -- the general role of the office has altered significantly. The projects that make up The Other Office identify those offices that keep abreast of the rapid pace of change and, more importantly, set the pace. They achieve their goals in unique and creative ways. Their common denominator is that special quality with which they transcend the mundane requirements of planners' programs, a creative synthesis of the intuitive and the analytical, bringing a new sensibility to the workplace.

If you have additional suggestions that could help give a small business/entrepreneur some design inspiration for their office space, Open Office Space would love to hear from you.

Related Posts

Tips For Entrepreneurs & Small Businesses On How To Furnish The "Optimal" Office Space For Their Company

The Current Trend in Office Furniture. Encouraging Collaboration In The Workplace.

10 Inexpensive Ways To Spruce Up a Small/Shared Office Space

How Do You Encourage Collaboration in Your Shared Office/Coworking Space?

    
The following is a re-post from an article I came across a few weeks ago on Fastcompany.com entitled: 11 Ways You Can Make Your Space as Collaborative as the Stanford d.school. The article gives some very good suggestions for creating a collaborative workspace within an organization. (all 11 suggestions are below)

But what about environments such as coworking spaces or shared office spaces where many different companies are residing in the same space?  As we continue to tour/interview founders and residents of coworking/shared office spaces, here are a few of the questions we will consistently seek answers to.

Is collaboration actively encouraged or does it happen naturally on its own? 

Was the layout of your space specifically designed to encourage collaboration?

Have you made changes to the original design of your space to improve the interaction between your residents?

Does your space offer any special type of furniture/equipment that has increased the collaboration within your space?

We will compile all of our findings and release them as part of a future article as well as a new section on our interactive guide to leasing office space for entrepreneurs and startups. If have founded or worked in a coworking/shared office space, and can speak on behalf of the questions above, please email us: info at openofficespace.com . Of course we will give full credit for any participation. 

Later this week we will be interviewing one of the top office furniture dealers on the east coast to discuss (affordable) new advances in workstation design, specifically as they pertain to maximizing interaction/collaboration in the office.

Here are the 11 suggestions from the Fast Company article:

1. Start with what you have. "We started in a trailer," Kembel points out, "with the 'd.school' as a sign on the table." Kembel's advice: Claim a space and label it.

2. Go to the people who are interested first. Form a crack team of true believers to spearhead your campaign. Revolutions start from the bottom up.

3. Empower your team to change their space. Somebody high enough up the food chain needs to defend this activity against facilities managers who may not be amused. Then, be willing to keep changing things. Try out different ways to configure space to see what works best.

4. Watch the behavior of the group and take notes. Have somebody in your band of innovators own this task. What's working, what isn't? "Try, reflect, modify," says Kembel.

5. Develop group-sized artifacts. Whaa? In short, forget the spreadsheets with the tiny type. "Get your ideas up in big enough form so that others can see and add to them."

6. Keep any prototypes, sketches, or idea-jam artifacts low-rez and not precious. "Don't get too formal too fast," says Kembel. Making things precious locks them in too soon, short-circuiting potential improvements.

7. Show your work in progress. "Put your underwear up on the line and let people comment. But keep it safe," Kembel says. No rude comments allowed.

8. Do something simple to surprise people. At the d.school, they painted the women's restroom lipstick pink, and hung disco balls. "That makes people realize that somebody cares about your experience," Kembel says.

9. Invest more in "we" spaces than in "I" spaces. Cozy nooks for teams, not plush corner offices for the alpha dogs.

10. Mix up seating options. Take the table out of the room and sit on the floor. Vary seat heights. Change customary positions at meetings. For example, put the group leader in the middle, instead of at the head of the table. Try holding a meeting where only standing is allowed. In general, work to lower status markers.

11. Make idea generation and capture easy. Any non-porous surface can be a whiteboard, says Kembel. Buy a sheet of sheer acrylic at Home Depot and mount it on a wall as a writing space. Keep markers handy. Put prototyping tools out where people can grab them when an idea strikes.

"Creativity follows context," says Kembel. The main idea, he says, is not to segregate creativity from other activities. "You don't need to be fancy to do it," he says.

Content Source: Fast Company

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Shared Office Space Part 2 | A Space Holders Perspective

Officebytes TV - Officeport CHI (Coworking in Chicago) A Quick Tour + An Interview

 
During my visit to Chicago this weekend, I had the opportunity to visit a very cool coworking space located right in the heart of the city. From the minute I walked in the space I received a warm welcome and was invited to take a tour of the space. Immediately following the tour, I requested an opportunity to film the space and interview the manager and some of the entrepreneurs doing business at Officeport CHI.

Listening to a few of the residents discuss how the space has improved their productivity as well as the overall image of their company really drives home the value of the coworking concept.

The space was huge, clean and well designed, complete with it's own man-made putting green. The only amenity that I felt was missing was a full court nerf basketball hoop...perhaps that is in their future plans. 

The interview is below along with some good quotes from some of the residents of the space:

James Carver, site Manager of OfficePort CHI, a coworking space in Chicago, discusses how the idea for creating the space was conceived, the convenience of the location also describes the endless list of features offered by Officeport CHI.

"It definitely presents my company in a better light. Having the downtown address on my business card that doesn't look like obviously like a residential address, goes a long way in make me look like the professional that I want to look."         James Epstein-Reeves | Founder - Do Well. Do Good. (www.dowelldogood.net)

"One day I just decided that there might be kind of a healthier way to live, where home can be home, and work can be work. It makes for a more professional impression I think."     Tiffany Meyers | Freelance Writer, Journalist, Copywriter (www.tiffanymeyers.com)

"I was working for home for about 4 years prior to this. And, unfortunately the walls in my house don't speak back to me. So, I wanted to get to a place where I could talk to others. Even just asking questions of people that are not even into my industry really helps me out alot. The fact that everything included from the wireless, to the fax and the printer and the coffee, it just makes for a great environment."     Brian Lefkowitz | President (www.theblueswing.com and www.thechillster.com)

If you or your company has a knowledge that would help entrepreneurs or small businesses to improve the quality of their workplace, openofficespace.com would love to interview you.

 

Topics might include:

- Commercial Real Estate Expertise

- Workplace Wellness

- How To...(any topic related to improving the workplace)

- Creating an Eco-Friendly Office

- Office Products and Office Furniture

- Workplace Interior Design

- Streamlining Office Expenses

- Property Marketing Solutions 

 

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Officebytes TV - 3 Common Mistakes Made By Many Entrepreneurs Looking for Office Space

On today's episode of Officebytes TV, Patrick Braswell, Founder of MOSAtlanta.com and Assistant Vice President with Colliers Spectrum Cauble discusses 3 of the top 10 mistakes made by many entrepreneurs and small businesses when looking for office space.

A few good quotes from the interview:  

"Companies that come out of executive suites or that are looking for traditional office space for the first time, they tend to fail to look at their current and future priorities. They don't list them out and make sure they have those ducks in a row before they actually go out and look for space."

"Going to an office suite or an office space based solely off of price. This one for entrepreneurs, people coming out of executive suites, looking for office space and traditional office space for the first time, make this mistake all the time."

"Determining the amount of square footage you need up-front. Get an architect involved if you can afford one, if you can't afford one, here's a general rule that you want to keep in your head. For every employee that you have, you need to think that it's going to be about 250 rentable square feet of office space that you need for them."  

About MOSAtlanta.com

MOSatlanta.com, short for My Office Search Atlanta, was designed to be a single point of reference for companies looking for office space in Metro Atlanta.

The goal of MOSatlanta.com is to provide their clients with a web based application that will simplify the office leasing process from start to finish, therefore, saving their clients time and money. Ultimately, their approach will align your business initiatives and financial objectives with the right real estate strategy to meet both.

Related Posts

Officebytes TV - T3 Advisors Discuss The "3 izes" For Start-Ups Looking To Find Office Space

10 Inexpensive Ways To Spruce Up a Small/Shared Office Space

Shared Office Space Part 1 | An Entrepreneurs Perspective

Shared Office Space Part 2 | A Space Holders Perspective

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

If you or your company has a knowledge that would help entrepreneurs or small businesses to improve the quality of their workplace, openofficespace.com would love to interview you.

 

Topics might include:

- Commercial Real Estate Expertise

- Workplace Wellness

- How To...(any topic related to improving the workplace)

- Creating an Eco-Friendly Office

- Office Products and Office Furniture

- Workplace Interior Design

- Streamlining Office Expenses

- Property Marketing Solutions

9 Ways of Finding Cheap (but not cheap looking) Artwork For Your Office

 
As a follow up to suggestion #2 (Cover bare walls with inexpensive artwork or photography) on my recent blog post, 10 Inexpensive Ways To Spruce Up a Small/Shared Office, here are some specific suggestions to actually help you FIND cheap (but not cheap looking) artwork for your office. 

Remember, your office is an extension of your brand so make sure the artwork/photography you choose accurately reflects this.  

1- Tap into the talent of your kids or even the talent of other children in the community: As soon as most children enter nursery school there is a very good chance that they will bring home all sorts of art projects. A nice frame can make even the most simple drawings come to life...while simultaneously "humanizing" your company image.

If you don't have kids of your own, perhaps you can visit a local school/community center and offer to feature their children's artwork in your office. You can make it a policy to only take a few pieces at a time, and return the old artwork as you pick up new pieces. In addition to getting some nice (free) artwork for your office space, you will also be building goodwill in your community.

2- Utilize online marketplaces such as Craigslist, E-Bay, Oodle, Etsy, etc. to find great deals on all types of artwork and collectibles. Spending a few minutes surfing around on these sites can save you a ton of money on some very impressive pieces.

3- Look for ads in your local classifieds announcing office/home liquidation or estate sales. As many companies/individuals move from location to another (for whatever reason), they will sometimes look to sell their artwork as opposed to bringing it with them. When this happens there are often great deals to be had.

4- Purchase a bunch of art supplies and invite a bunch of friends over for an "artwork party". While I am not advocating drinking, perhaps a few bottles of wine will help to get the creative juices flowing. Worse case scenario, you will get a fun evening out of the deal. 

5- Visit stores like IKEA, Target, K-mart, etc. that offer inexpensive (but very nice-looking) prints. Take the inexpensive prints to a discount framing store and get a nice looking finished product on the cheap.

6- Check out stock photography sites such as istockphoto.com or dreamstime.com to find some extremely nice artwork/photography that can be purchased for well under $20.00. 

7- Visit any street fair or local arts and crafts shows and you are sure to find some great artwork at reasonable prices.

8- Try using a site like blockposters.com. Their site lets you create any size wall poster from any size image.

9- In addition to the suggestions above, here is a list of a few websites I found that offer reasonably priced (but nice-looking) artwork.

Overstock.com

Posters.com

Gallerydirect.com

Art.com

Poster Gods

Wholesaleartsframes.com

Wholesaleartmall.com

Postercheckout.com

Content Source: e-how.com

If you have other suggestions on how to find cheap (but not cheap looking) artwork for an office space, openofficespace.com would love to hear from you.

Check back for a few new interviews on Officebytes TV coming later this week.

Marketing A Shared Office Space | Virtual Tours Go High-Def

  
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a full screen 360 degree view worth?  

Always on the lookout for innovative technologies to help companies best showcase their unused office space, we recently came across a few samples of a high definition virtual tour...VERY COOL.

If you have an impressive coworking, executive suite or shared office space, adding this type of full screen presentation to your property listing will definitely make a powerful impact and potentially help improve your chances of generating qualified leads.

To better describe this technology, here are some excerpts and samples from a blog originally posted by Jason LaVanture, founder of Blue Lava Media and Real Tour Vision.

Could it really be High Definition Interactive Virtual Tours?  Yes, times have changed drastically over the last two years and team BlueLaVaMedia is working hard to keep our virtual tour technology at the forefront of virtual tour technology.

Today we are proud to announce that we have upgraded our virtual tour viewer to support Full Screen High Definition images. Take a look at the virtual tours below and you will quickly see how our new HD full screen virtual tours transform the typical interactive virtual tour to something quite spectacular.  Trust us that our new HD experience literally makes your audience feel like they are standing right in the room!

Sample our new HD Virtual Tours:

http://rtvpix.com/RE-3608-MEK2OV-01

http://rtvpix.com/RE-3273-5SCY8A-01

http://rtvpix.com/BU-2026-5KWOEM-01

Don't worry about load time.  In fact, our virtual tours load faster than any of the other video or interactive virtual tour platforms out there!  This is because we compress our images down to an amazingly small size before publishing them to our servers while maintaining strict standards in quality.  No waiting for a huge video file to load only to get a tiny window.  No more staring at a loading bar for two minutes only to end up viewing a simple full screen slide show. Now you can tell your customers that you're giving online shoppers a truly interactive HD virtual tour experience.  Finally, our HD full screen virtual tours can also be easily converted into streaming video for YouTube deployment! It's truly amazing! 

If you are aware of any other innovative technologies that would help companies market their unused office space to entrepreneurs or small businesses, openofficespace.com would love to hear from you.

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