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 

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

   
In Part 2 of a two part interview on Officebytes TV, Jenny-Lynn Georgiades, Director of Architectural and Design Support Services at Waldners Business Environments, offers entrepreneurs & small businesses insight into the current trend of furnishing the workspace with "collaborative" office furniture.

A few quotes from the interview: 

"One of the biggest trends in the office furniture industry today is the decline of the cubicle. The cubicle walls are coming down and their allowing employees to interact and collaborate."

"They're using the open office space that's left over when they shrink those workstations and doing more with the in-between areas."

"Companies are intermixing lounge areas where people are working with their laptops. They're incorporating informal meeting areas at regular height or even cafe height for more of that Starbucks feel." 

"The worker of the future is going to be more mobile than ever, they're going to utilize new technologies. But they're still going to need to collaborate with their fellow employees, and colleagues, and exchange that information in real time. So, the workspace of the future is going to have to be more flexible and open to support those activities."

About Waldners Waldner’s Business Environments Inc. markets office furniture of brands such as OFS, Metro, Kimball, Steelcase, KI, and Hon. The company also offers furniture storage and refurbishing services. Its clientele include SAP, Ernst & Young, PrimeMedia, Readers’ Digest, MTV, HomeLoanBank, PepsiCo. Random House, GE Capital, Canon, and Sony. The company has strategic alliances with Adden, Buro, Falcon, Golden Oak, ISE, Jofcon, Lucia Group, and Vitra. Waldner’s Business Environments was founded in 1939 and is based in New York City.

Related Posts

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

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

Shared Office Space Part 1 | An Entrepreneurs 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  

Entrepreneurs - How achieving a lofty fitness goal can help your business.

 
Let's face it, as entrepreneurs, our ability to successfully pitch ourselves and/or our businesses depends quite heavily on our ability to project a high level of confidence.

Unfortunately, maintaining a consistently high level of confidence is not always an easy task for an entrepreneur. Whether it's a negative comment on a blog, an "exciting" new product just released by a top competitor, a nasty email from a good client, slower business growth than projected, or even just trouble on the home front, there are many outside forces busily working to chip away at our confidence.

This past weekend was the running of the 2010 RXR LI Marathon. The festival of races, as it's called offers a variety of different events. A full marathon (26.2 miles), a half marathon (13.1 miles), a 10k, a 5k, a one-mile run and a Kids fun run. Despite the unseasonably high heat and humidity, I heard rumors that the number of participants was up 30% from last year. Disclaimer: This number might not be 100% accurate.

For the second year in a row, I participated in the half marathon. While I was pleased with my overall time 1:46:09, putting me within the top 10% of all half-marathon runners, it was not easy. Around mile 7 I was starting to run out of gas but thanks to a "top secret" play-list on my itouch (System of a Down, Tool, Ra, Trapt, Seether, Chevelle and a few other high octane bands) plus the fear of humiliation, I was able to finish.

Joining me in the race was my wife, my friend and one of my clients. While we all ran at completely different speeds I am proud to say that we all finished in under the 3 hour time limit. In the days following the race I noticed a distinct change in every single one of us. I guess you could call it a slight "air of invincibility". 

Only about 6 months ago, I brought up the idea of running in this event to my client. (I think the most she had ever run previously was 3 miles) At the time, the thought of running this distance seemed impossible to her. But after 6 months of training and 2 hours and 47 minutes of running, she finished her first half marathon. 

By accomplishing this goal she did much more than just get in better shape. She has raised the bar in terms of what she thinks she's capable of, and as a result, I am pretty confident she will be making some other positive changes in her life as well.

I firmly believe that achieving lofty fitness goals is a great way for entrepreneurs to build/maintain that much needed inner confidence while serving as a great lesson in the rewards that can be garnered by operating outside of one's comfort zone...a trait often required by entrepreneurs. 

See here's the thing, regardless of whether of not we all travelled to the race together or even held hands as we crossed the finish line, actually running 13.1 miles was something that had to be accomplished ALONE. 

Perhaps the next time you nervously contemplate cold calling a potential customer, approaching a "big wig" at a networking meeting, speaking in public, pitching an investor or do anything else outside your comfort zone, you will be able to reflect back on a recent lofty fitness goal you accomplished and you will.............. DO IT ANYWAY!  

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 on Officebytes TV. 

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

 

Please DM on Twitter if you are interested @openofficespace

 

Related Posts

Entrepreneurs - 10 Reasons Why You MUST Bring "Health and Fitness" Into Your Office

Entrepreneurs - Are your thumbs the most fit part of your body?

  

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

In today's episode of Officebytes TV, Greg Hoffmeister and Jon Frisch of T3 advisors, based in Massachusetts, discuss the "3 izes" that all start-ups and small businesses should keep in mind when searching for office space.

In addition to our friends at T3 Advisors, the interview also contains excerpts from the following on their experiences with finding/helping others find office space:

Sachin Agarwal - Operations Lead | oneforty.com

Derek Lyman - CEO | Dexrex.com

Barrett Bilotta - COO | Dexrex.com

John Hallinan - CFO Cytel, Inc.

Here are the "3 izes" in more detail

Organize

- Set your criteria (location, size, layout, growth plan, budget)

- Prioritize your wants vs. needs

- Form internal real estate team

- Map out decision making process

Optimize

- Engage a professional to leverage your time

- Stretch every dollar

- Look for non-traditional space alternatives (coworking, incubators, squatting)

- Look for bargains on furniture (used or build your own)

- Consider using the cloud whenever possible for e-mail, phone, network, applications to minimize out of pocket capital expenses

Compromise

- Don't waste time looking for ideal space

- Find the best alternative quickly and act

- Be decisive

- Location, price, quality and speed...pick two

Content provided by Greg Hoffmeister and Jon Frisch of T3 Advisors.

You can find them here on Twitter:

Jon Frisch

Greg Hoffmeister

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

Officebytes TV - Jason LaVanture on Virtual Tours and Marketing Your Open Office Space

Today marks the official launch of Officebytes TV - Interviews with industry experts to help entrepreneurs and small businesses find, promote, settle in, and create the most productive, cost effective and healthy office space possible.

Our first interview was with Jason LaVanture, Founder of Realtourvision.com and BlueLavamedia.com.

About Real Tour Vision:

Originally established in 1999 as RealtorVision and now RTV, Inc., our profitable and privately held corporation is tucked away here in Northern Michigan and proudly supports over 100 thousand real estate agents in 27 countries.  Our virtual tour technology has also attracted over 1500 independent business owners who now provide unparalleled worldwide coverage. This makes the RTV network the largest full service virtual tour and property marketing network in the World.

Jason discusses how virtual tours can be utilized to help market your open office space. He also gives some tips on how to stage a property for the best results as well as some suggestions on producing great interior shots.

Here's the interview:

We've already lined up some other great interview subjects but would certainly welcome and appreciate any suggestions on how we can improve the final product.

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

Interior Design

Streamlining Office Expenses

Property Marketing Solutions

Can Your Workplace Afford NOT to Install Healthy Vending Machines?

   
  

On the heels of a recent speaking engagement I attended about corporate fitness coupled with the fact that the summer is approaching fast and furious, I decided to re-purpose a blog post that was written a little over a year ago.(also, I think I was the ONLY person reading my blog over a year ago) 

The speaker at the corporate fitness event was very passionate about how critical it is to make smart food choices in the office, as this is where most of us spend the majority of our time. As a personal trainer of over 17 years I couldn't agree more. My clients can work out everyday until they are blue in the face (many do), but only when they make a concerted effort to improve their eating habits at their workplace, do they experience real and long lasting results.

Here is the post:

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to chat with Sean Kelly, CEO of HealthyVending.com. Many years ago, I had explored the concept of healthy vending with a good friend of mine that was in the industry. On the surface the concept seemed quite simple. All we had to do was replace the poor choices found in most vending machines with some healthier options, and we would cure worldwide obesity within a few years.

After spending about a week researching this "simple concept" we quickly realized a successful execution of a healthy vending machine business was anything but simple...we never spoke about it again.

So at this point I should step back and thank Twitter. About a month ago, I asked (via tweet) if anyone knew of any healthy vending machine companies. A visit to a local high school for my Sunday morning b-ball game prompted me to ask this question as there was not one healthy option to choose from in the vending machine.

While I received several responses to my post, no one was able to provide me with any answers. Just when I thought the issue was dead, I was contacted by Sean introducing me to his company, healthyvending.com. 

The mission of Sean's company is to help unite man and nutrition (h.u.m.a.n.) by placing premium healthy vending machines across the globe and giving 10% of proceeds back to charitable causes that fight obesity and malnutrition.

For the last 15 months h.u.m.a.n. Healthy Vending has focused on building a one of a kind vending machine, specifically designed to overcome the obstacles that have prevented healthy vending from achieving a mainstream adoption in the past.

h.u.m.a.n. machines were created to accomplish three primary goals:

1. Increase revenues & profits for vending operators & sales commissions for locations.
2. Make operating, maintaining, & stocking the machines easier while making consumer interaction more enjoyable.
3. Create happy, healthy & loyal customers.

The machine features a touch-screen LCD, streaming video content, a cashless payment system, an eco-friendly power device and attractive graphics.

Aside from their unique machine, h.u.m.a.n. Healthy Vending utilizes on-location surveys, demographical analysis, & past precedence, to determine the specific product mix that best suits each location.

What most impressed me about my conversation with Sean is his companies commitment to the fight against obesity/malnutrition coupled with his clarity regarding the importance of making his machines profitable. In today's economy, most schools, corporations, health clubs, airports, hospitals, etc. would be hesitant to give up the revenue they derive from their current vending machines just to promote healthier food choices...thanks to healthyvending.com, now there is a profitable alternative.

It is no secret that a healthier employee is a more productive one. As companies downsize their workforce, it is going to be more important than ever for remaining employees to be productive. 

For entrepreneurs and small businesses with a few employees it is especially critical to be self-responsible as far as making smart food choices. This demographic most likely does not have the luxury of a corporate dining room or a sponsored corporate fitness program.

h.u.m.a.n. Healthy Vending is the rare breed of company that truly does offer the best of both worlds.

Healthy Food Choices + A Significant Revenue Opportunity + A More Productive Workplace = h.u.m.a.n. Healthy Vending

Image Source: HealthyVending.com

If you have any tips or tricks that you use to help you make smart food choices in your office, openofficespace.com would love to hear about them.

Related Posts

Entrepreneurs - 10 Reasons Why You MUST Bring "Health and Fitness" Into Your Office

Entrepreneurs - Are your thumbs the most fit part of your body?

 

 

A VERY COMPREHENSIVE List of Resources To Recycle Your Used/Old Office Electronics

 
Donating/recycling your used office electronics (computers, monitors, laptops, flash drives, cell phones, televisions, scanners, printers, hard drives, keyboards, speakers, cables, cords, ink and toner cartridges, appliance, cameras) can not only go a long way to help the environment, it can also aid many people in remote and underprivileged communities, schools and organizations by providing them with access to technologies they could otherwise not afford.

Below is a VERY COMPREHENSIVE list of resources to help you sell or donate your used office equipment:

Goodwill partnered with Dell Computer to create RECONNECT, a comprehensive electronics recovery, reuse and environmentally responsible recycling opportunity for consumers in participating communities. RECONNECT offers FREE drop-off recycling and reuse options for unwanted electronics.

CollectiveGood collects used cell phones and donates refurbished phones to both the developing world and organizations in the US, such as Planned Parenthood, United Way, Center for Domestic Violence Prevention, etc.

Inveneo, a non-profit social enterprise whose mission is to empower people in remote and underserved communities and the organizations who serve them through access to computing and communications will take old flash drives (otherwise known as USB Memory Sticks) and get them into the hands of students, aid workers and small business entrepreneurs in the developing world.

Close the Gap makes reused and refurbished computers available to underprivileged individuals in Africa and other developing countries.

Digital Linkshas provided more than 65,000 computers to schools, hospitals and NGOs across Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. Your business can help provide technology solutions for development.

World Computer Exchange helps to bridge the global digital divide for youth all over the world by expanding local capacity for the educational use and responsible disposal of computers.

Interconnection'smission is to make information technology accessible to underserved communities around the world.

Source: Digital Tips

Find a Local Program

Earth 911
Earth 911 is a comprehensive communication medium for the environment. Earth 911 has taken environmental hotlines, web sites and other information sources nationwide, and consolidated them into one network. Once you contact the Earth 911 network, you will find community-specific information on eCycling and much more.

My Green Electronics
Provided by the Consumer Electronics Association, this site is a resource for consumers wishing to purchase green products and/or searching for local opportunities to recycle or donate used electronics.

Electronic Industries Alliance's Consumer Education Initiative
The Electronic Industries Alliance's eCycling Central Web site helps you find reuse, recycling and donation programs for electronics products in your state.

TechSoup
TechSoup has compiled a comprehensive body of information to promote computer recycling and reuse. This site provides resources for those who would like to donate hardware, those who would like to acquire recycled hardware, and refurbishers.

Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC)
RBRC can help you recycle portable rechargeable batteries commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders, digital cameras, and remote control toys. Search for collection sites by zip code.   

Manufacturer and Retailer Programs

Manufacturers and retailers take different approaches to give you several options to donate or recycle your electronics. The following programs developed by EPA's Plug-In To eCycling partners may be national or regional in scope and may:

• Offer takeback, mail-in, or trade-in programs;
• Support local organizations that collect equipment;
• Host collection events at retail locations; or
• Support local recycling events with cities and municipalities.

Government-Supported Donation and Recycling Programs 

e-cycle St. Louis: Electronics Recycling for the Region
This consumer electronics collection program has been developed by the St. Louis Regional Partnership for Electronics Recovery to encourage reuse and recycling of unwanted electronics in the St. Louis region.

eRecycle.org
This Web site provides guidance and information to consumers in California about recycling electronics.

Federal Electronic Challenge
If you are a government agency or a business, check out the Federal Electronics Challenge for tools on how a large institution can donate or recycle its used electronics.

www.ecyclingtools.com
This resource kit provides information on the entire lifecycle of electronics and contains useful information to help you address your e-waste concerns.

Source: Environmental Protection Agency

Some More:

E-cycling Central

PC disposal

Gazelle

You Renew

Electronic Recycylers

Turtle Wings

FREE GEEK

Recycle Spot

Green Citizen

Freecycle.org

Buymytronics.com

My Bone Yard

Green Phone

Cell for Cash

If you know of other resources to help recycle your used/old office electronics, openofficespace.com would love to hear about them so we can share with our audience.

  

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.

Related Posts

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

Create a Virtual Tour Of Your Unused Office Space and Stand Out From The Crowd