Open Office Space

Why Are There No Coworking Spaces In Long Island? Inspired By The Centre For Social Innovation

I just finished reading Emergence - The Story of the Centre for Social Innovation. Emergence is the first of a three part series published by CSI entitled Shared Spaces for Social Innovation. The three part series offers a comprehensive overview of the CSI shared space model...talk about sharing.

Part 1 - Emergence - The Story of The Centre for Social Innovation

Part 2- Rigour - How To Create World-Changing Spaces

Part 3 (coming soon) - Proof - How Shared Spaces Are Changing The World

I dare any entrepreneur to read this book and not feel at least a little ping of interest in opening/ working out of a coworking space. As a matter of fact, I was so personally inspired by this book, I am seriously considering putting out my feelers to see if there is any real interest from others in starting a coworking space here in Long Island, New York. 

Based on my preliminary research there are a grand total of ZERO coworking spaces on Long Island.

I want to know Why?

Is it because Long Island is just too spread out?

Is it because mass transit is somewhat limited and getting to a space would require a car?

Is it because there are not enough entrepreneurs on Long Island? 

Is it possible that there are coworking spaces in Long Island and I just don't know about them?

I did find a couple of random past threads from others looking to start coworking in Long Island but these folks never seemed to get beyond the planning stages. Why?

With the amount of colleges situated in such a relatively condensed area you would think that some young motivated entrepreneur would have led the coworking charge by now. But to my knowledge, this has not been the case. 

So for the last time, as quickly as coworking spaces are popping up throughout the country, WHY hasn't anyone launched one in Long Island? It seems to me that Long Island can certainly benefit from an infusion of entrepreneurial energy.

To quote from the book Emergence "If you're in, I'm in..." If you have any interest in exploring the concept of coworking in Long Island, please reach out to me as I would definitely be willing to coordinate a meeting. I can be reached at david (at) openofficespace.com

Here are a few of great excerpts from the book:

Animation As Practice. Community animation is what turns "a place to work" to a space of social innovation. We've been building the practice of animation and developing its role as a central feature of successful shared spaces.

Openness & Light. "...light is how you achieve openness...I don't think people should be anywhere where they can't have access to natural light."

Equally essential to creating and sustaining this sense of community are common spaces. Everyone coming into or out of their office in CSI has to pass through the common area, and much like the living room in your house, it contains all the essential for a comfortable break: an arrangement of couches, a rug or two, a coffee table piled with newspapers, a few plants and knick-knacks that have been picked up over time.

There is much wisdom in the old adage that bonds are forged and friendships formed over the breaking of bread. It is wisdom that hold to this day, and it was over shared meals and communal lunches that CSI's members first and most strongly developed connections to one another.

The selection process itself was an exercise in breaking traditional workplace models in which factors beyond a potential member's ability to make rent were taken into account.

Animation as opposed to programming, is all about enabling community rather than directly trying to create it: it's a philosophy of supporting and fostering an environment in which collaboration emerges naturally rather than intervening to try to instigate collaboration by sheer force of will.

Now, on to the next book in the series, Rigour.

Content Source: Centre for Social Innovation

Related Posts

Officebytes TV - WorkBar Boston (Coworking in Boston) An Interview + A Tour Of The Space

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

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

  

Shared Office Space and White Noise - A Toe-Tapper, A Candy Wrapper...A Knuckle Puncher

My previous shared office space was in an awesome loft building in trendy SOHO, NY. While the space was awesome, it was situated in an old building and the wood floors were somewhat creaky.

I am not sure if the guy a few desks in front of me was trying out for the Tap Dance Kid or he was getting ready to take over drums for Neil Peart of Rush, either way, he was a compulsive toe-tapper. From the minute he sat down, to the minute he left for the day, his foot was going.

Step back a few years earlier and the star of the "annoying show" was played by the famous "candy wrapper", a.k.a the guy who only purchased candy covered in loud wrappers. And much like "toe tapper", "candy wrapper" was busy doing his thing ALL DAY LONG.

The part of Knuckle Puncher would have been played by me, luckily I was able to control myself. Therefore we will just chalk up knuckle puncher to a character that only made the cutting room floor.

Conclusion: Quiet workplaces need office white noise systems (Follow this link to a pretty funny post explaining the need for white noise by Dudley B. Dawson of the Examiner)

White noise machines are small, compact devices that emit a gentle “humming” sound, much like that of a fan. The white noise machine's hum is actually composed of every sound audible to the human ear, so that any one individual sound in the environment is “absorbed” into the white noise machines sound. This phenomenon is similar to the way in which one individual voice is indistinguishable from that of a large crowd. 

Content Source: sleepwell

Whether you're a space holder or an entrepreneur/small business looking to move into a shared office space, you really need to consider the acoustics and potential for distractions. Over time these little annoyances can add up to hours of lost production for everyone sharing the space.

Even a simple white noise system can help to increase everyone's focus within an office space. Here are a few resources for white noise systems:

Ear Plug Superstore

Avlelec

Sound Machines Direct

By the way, if you happen to know "toe-tapper" or "candy-wrapper" please keep this post quiet. I would hate to be forced to drag "knuckle-puncher" out of retirement.

Related Posts

Shared Office Space Part 1 | An Entrepreneurs Perspective 

Shared Office Space Part 2 | A Space Holders Perspective

Your Office Space Is An Extension Of Your Brand

 
Lets face it, from the first second a potential client, partner, investor or employee steps foot into your office space, your company is being judged. Whether consciously or sub-consciously, a visitor to your space will make some initial assumptions about your company based on the aesthetics, cleanliness, culture, design, vibe, lighting, noise levels, floor plan, temperature, furnishings, etc. of your office.

Does this mean that every office needs to look like Google's headquarters?

NOT AT ALL.

It simply means that if the elements above are not consistent with the rest of your brand/corporate message, you could be creating an unnecessary strike one against your company.

Here are a few examples of an office sending an inconsistent brand message:

- You're an interior design firm but your reception area is cluttered with torn furniture that looks like it was purchased at a garage sale.

- Your start-up company is playing host to a group of penny-wise investors and your space is decked out with the most expensive italian leather furniture that money can buy.

- You're a corporate attorney dealing with very sensitive information and your client's files are openly displayed on your desk.

- Your an office furniture company and your space is completely furnished with another companies furniture. 

- You're a graphic design/branding firm with an outdated corporate logo emblazoned throughout your office.

Stepping back and really looking at your office space from an outside perspective can be difficult if not impossible. By clearly defining your brand, identifying the types of visitors you will be hosting and being crystal clear about what you want your space to portray about your company, you put yourself in a much better position to get valuable 3rd party input.

Perhaps you can create a short survey and invite a few friends and family members to visit your space and offer feedback. This exercise might give you a much better idea of what vibe your office is giving off.

Of course if you're an entrepreneur or small business looking to share space within an existing office, your ability to control every element will be somewhat limited. With that said, you can still do your best to search for available options that best represent your brand. 

Much like your companies website, your office space can go a long way to help ensure that your brand message is consistent.

Save the strike one's for next months opening day.

Related Posts

Shared Office Space Part 1 | An Entrepreneurs Perspective 

Shared Office Space Part 2 | A Space Holders Perspective

  

   

Shared Office Space Part 2 | A Space Holders Perspective

Question: Have you recently downsized your staff?

Question: Did you overestimate the amount of office space your company needs?

Question: Did your subtenant move out unexpectedly?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it is quite possible that you have been left with unused office space. Assuming your company is fortunate enough to absorb this financial burden, you might want to consider the following great ways of utilizing this open space. 

- a full court nerf basketball hoop

- an indoor current pool

- an octagon

- a paint ball course

- a puppet theater

For the rest of us, sharing our unused office space with another company can mean the difference between business as usual and defaulting on a lease.  In addition to the revenue and cost sharing benefits, the networking opportunities provided by sharing office space can also be quite valuable.

While sharing your office space with an entrepreneur or small business can certainly seem like a "no brainer", there are quite a few things space holders should consider before deciding to go this route. Some of these considerations include: 

- Does your lease strictly prohibit subleasing? If so, perhaps you can try re-negotiating with your landlord. The commercial real estate crisis has made some landlords more flexible than in the past. 

- Is the subtenant required to sign a formal sublease?

- Is the subtenant required to sign a non-disclosure agreement?

- Will the subtenant have 24/7 access to the building? To the space?

- Will the subtenant be required to submit a security deposit?

- In addition to the rent, what expenses will subtenant be responsible for sharing?

- What furniture/supplies will be provided to the subtenant?

- Will the culture of the subtenant's company mesh with yours?

- Will the subtenant have their own private office?

- Will subtenant be provided keys to the space?

- Would it make sense to install 24-hour security cameras in the space?

- Does the shared space require any type of build-out?

- Are there any events, meetings or happenings in your space that would prevent the subtenant from being able to come in the office?

Clearly sharing office space has its inherent risks and rewards. If you do not know the potential subtenant, in addition to a formal background check, you might also want to consider doing some research on venues such as facebook, twitter, linked in, etc. If the subtenant seems sketchy on these platforms, you might want to think twice before making a decision that could cost your company dearly in the long run.

If you are a space holder and have additional considerations that you would add to the list above or even have a horror story about a shared office space, openofficespace.com would love hear from you. You might just help prevent a fellow space holder from making a VERY costly mistake. 

Related Posts

Shared Office Space Part 1 | An Entrepreneurs Perspective

Entrepreneurs and Startups, How "Walkable" Is Your Office Space Location?

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

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

 

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.

Related Posts

Feature Update: The Commercial Real Estate Broker Business Card 

Feature Update: The Commercial Real Estate Broker Business Card

Your homepage is a virtual 15-second elevator pitch. Does yours ramble on?

Prior to getting into the whole technology thing, I was a personal trainer (over 17 years) to the rich and famous in New York City and Long Island. In order to survive  as a personal trainer with this type of clientele, there was one communication skill that was a MUST...the ability to get to the point.

I am convinced that the concept of the bobblehead came from someone watching a conversation between myself and one of my clients during my first few years of training. Here's how it probably happened:

1)  I would bring up a topic and ramble on about it

2) My client would lose interest after my a few minutes but continue to shake their head in agreement to be polite.

3) Clients head would continue to bob their heads up and down as long as I was talking.

4) An outsider witnessed this exchange and the idea for the bobblehead was born. 

Thankfully, one of my clients sat me down and explained the importance of getting to the point. He informed me most business leaders are bombarded every day with ideas, business proposals and other types of pitches. In addition, they have very little patience for small talk as there are so many hours in the day, and so many people vying for their attention.

Needless to say, I have gotten very good at not only getting to the point, but also recognizing the signs when someone has lost interest in a conversation.

Not so subtle Segue.

A companies homepage needs to be as brief and to the point as a face to face elevator pitch. Unlike a human interaction, a homepage does offer the luxury of a direct conversation with regards to being able to recognize that a person is losing interest. They just click away from your site.

It is amazing how many websites, many which look quite impressive and even beautiful, do not express the benefits that can be derived from the site, service or application. They might be chock full of information, but it is not really clear what they do or exactly what problems they solve for their visitors.

Companies are spending huge dollars with SEO experts to ensure they rank high on the major search engines. And/or they retain  "social media experts" to help increase their brands exposure and drive more traffic to the website...but is it a waste? All the traffic in the world is pointless if people click away once they get to your site.

It is critical to constantly step outside of your own head, and view your homepage from a visitors standpoint. Does it clearly (and briefly) state your companies benefits and what problems you solve for your visitors? Are your calls to action consistent with your other marketing efforts?  Does it take more than 15 seconds to get the gist of the sites offerings?

Openofficespace.com is about a week and a half from launching version 2.0 of our site. While we'd like to think that our initial site accomplished all that is mentioned above, it was only after we stepped back and viewed the site from a different perspective that we came up with "flaw fixers" that we hope will take us to the next level.  

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

As the inventory of unused office space continues to rise across the country, the ability for spaceholders to get their properties to stand out from the crowd is growing increasingly more difficult.

With an unused commercial property representing anywhere from a few hundred dollars a month, to several tens of thousands, investing in the right marketing tools to help get your property noticed definitely makes financial sense.

While single shot photos are great and highly recommended for all properties posted on Open Office Space, an alternative marketing tool taking our site by storm is the virtual tour. Well known in the residential real estate market, virtual tours are beginning to make quite a splash in the lagging commercial real estate market as well.

A virtual tour is comprised of 360 degree panoramic images, partial panoramas, and even still images. In many cases, virtual tours are more effective than a single shot photograph as they show a space in its entirety. This  helps to better refine the search results for a small business/entrepreneur looking for a space, and more thoroughly qualifies the incoming leads for the spaceholder.

Click here to see a sample virtual tour of a commercial property.

There are several available virtual tour technologies on the market, however the best ones we have seen involve shooting twelve photos at a pre-specified overlap. The twelve overlapping photos are then stitched into a 360 degree panorama.

Real Tour Vison, based in Traverse Michigan, offers one of the most impressive virtual tour technologies in the industry and also has the largest full service virtual tour and property marketing network in the world. (this means you cannot use your location as an excuse not to one created for your space)

Of their many, many features that RTV offers, the ones that amaze me the most are the size of their virtual tour window along with how crisp and glossy their images appear. If this does not convince you, here are  31 more features offered by a Real Tour Vision virtual tour.

 

A virtual tour of your open office space can be easily added to your property listing. Simply copy and paste the link into your listing admin page and a link to your virtual tour is automatically added to your listing.

So here's the question: Will you take the steps to get your unused property noticed or will your start shopping for nerf hoops to make use of your unused space yourself?

History of RTV    

Begun in 1999, RTV sought to create a virtual tour system which would deliver the highest quality imagery at a much faster rate than other virtual tour products being offered at that time.

Originally designed for resorts, golf courses, upscale lodging facilities and others requiring high quality, the demand in the real estate industry accelerated the introduction of proprietary software in 2001 that decreased the tour building process to 30-45 minutes without sacrificing any quality.

Immediately, independent franchises and divisions of several Fortune 500 Companies such as GMAC, Land America, Stewart Title, RE/MAX, and Coldwell Banker began to use the nation's finest tour building product.

Launch, Listen, Learn - Don't Let Perfection Stand In The Way of Success

Over the years I have heard many variations of Voltaire's observation "The perfect is the enemy of the good." In my opinion, this concept is responsible for many failed online initiatives.

Let me explain.

When an entrepreneur or small business decides they are going to launch a new website/update a current one, the process often occurs in a vacuum. Mockups and demo links are shared with close friends, co-workers and even family members as a way to determine if your web designer is "on the right track."  

Sure as the sun will rise, if you ask for someones opinion, you will get it. The problem with this scenario is that more often than not, these groups do not accurately represent your target audience. As a result, you will spend a lot of time and money tweaking buttons, text, navigation and other elements that will really have very little impact on the success of your website.

It is nearly impossible to guarantee that a new or upgraded website will be 100% perfect when it launches. Only after launch, can you expect to get the feedback and/or criticisms that will help you improve the usability of your site.

Tip #1 - Make sure your website and social media efforts actively encourage feedback. Ex. Adding a suggestion form field on your homepage or posting a direct request for feedback on Twitter. 

When you do start to receive feedback, it is important that you qualify the source and carefully consider these suggestions before implementing any changes. Remember, no matter what changes you make to your site, you are not going to make everyone happy.

Tip #2 - Ask yourself if a change you are considering will actually improve the clarity of your brands message and overall site usability experience. Obsessing over the color of a button or size/style of a font could be a huge waste of time when more important things need to be changed (I am guilty of this)

The first iteration of openofficespace.com was launched after only about 4 weeks. Since our launch, we have received some very good feedback/criticism that we hope will elevate us from a very good idea, to an extremely valuable service for spaceholders, small businesses and entrepreneurs. We hope to launch iteration two in the next few weeks.

We acknowledge there is a delicate balance between launching something that is simply not ready vs. something that is good enough to generate quality feedback without losing the respect of your audience.

Assuming that your site is "good enough" - launching, listening and learning from your target audience can help you build traction on search engines while potentially preserving your first mover advantage.  Waiting to launch until your site is perfect is a great way to guarantee failure...only your audience will know the answer to that.

     

Shared Office Space - It Can Offer A Lot More Value Than Just Saving a Few Pennies

In its simplest form, the concept of shared office space is a great way for a space holder and a small business/entrepreneur to save money. Whether it means the small business/entrepreneur offsets a portion of the total rent, contributes to the cost of the utilities, or a combination of the two, a shared space can serve as a financial win-win for both parties. 

 

In the spirit of the old Ginsu knife commercial "But Wait There's More..."

 

Shared Office space can offer both parties an opportunity to share new ideas, technologies, contacts and even forge valuable joint venture relationships.

 

It is not uncommon for a shared office space to be comprised of several companies operating very similar businesses. In this scenario, shared space holders can collaborate on projects, refer projects back and forth or even promote that their respective companies can offer a wider array of services.

 

If the companies sharing a space are completely unrelated, there are probably still many networking opportunities that can arise from the relationship. It seems like "everybody" knows "somebody" that does "something" related to somebody else's business.

 

Even if the benefits are not felt immediately, you never know when a shared space holder can offer a relationship or contact that can make a huge impact on a company. 

 

A quick story to illustrate that "you never know". 

 

My company (a website design and 3D animation company) shared space with an independent movie company. For months we had limited conversation other than a few pleasantries. One day, they asked me to sit and listen to a pitch for a movie idea they had. Not sure why they asked me but I found it to be a very interesting idea.

 

In my previous life (for 17 years) I was a personal trainer in a very wealthy area in New York. One of my clients was a hedge fund manager that just happened to recently invest in a company that funded independent movies.

 

Long story short, a pitch meeting was arranged, and in just a few short days almost $1,000,000 was committed to the making of the movie. The movie went on to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, was on the cover of the NY Times and was also released in several theaters across the nation. (I now have an associate producer credit on IMDB)

 

If it was not for the relationship that was forged by sharing a space, the chances that the movie would have received financing as quickly, or at all were very slim.

 

In today's economy companies must be willing to work together to survive. While on the surface the decision to share an office space might seem to be purely financial. Companies that give this relationship a try might soon realize that the financial benefit is only the tip of the iceberg.

 

To post or find a shared office space you can visit openofficespace.com or the various other websites geared to facilitating these relationships.  

 

 

WHY Magazine - A Great Resource For Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses

                        

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Dina Santorelli, Editor and Publisher of Why Magazine. Why Magazine was launched in May 2007 by Dina and her business partner Lucille De Tingo on behalf of their company eLuna Media LLC.

Why, (an abbreviation of Work. Home. You.) is dedicated to those who know that working at home isn't all about snooze buttons, bathrobes and bunny slippers; it is written for work-at-homers of all types--entrepreneurs, telecommuters and part-time home workers, both online and offline--and gives them the tools and information they need to keenly manage their business, their home and their life.

Source: DinaSantorelli.com 

In today's economy, many small businesses and entrepreneurs are going to have no choice but to streamline their overhead by finding more affordable office space (Shamless Plug - openofficespace.com) or relocating their business into a home office...perhaps a combination of both.

Anyone that has tried running a business from a home office learns pretty quickly it comes with a distinct set of challenges.

-Staying Creative
-Avoiding Distractions
-Maintaining The Delicate Balance Between Work and Family
-Making Time For Exercise
-Eating Properly
-Knowing When To Turn Off Computer
-and the list goes on

Why Magzine is a bi-montly magazine that deliver the solutions to these challenges via an extremely user friendly and aesthetically pleasing interface. Interestingly, while Why Magazine is geared towards the work-at-homer, many of the solutions, tips and tricks offer on the site, can also help small businesses and entrepreneurs achieve a balance in a remote office setting. 

ABOUT WHY MAGAZINE

                                                                                                                    Work                                                                                                                  

Read profiles of people, just like you, who had a dream, took a chance and created thriving work-at-home businesses. Learn about those who have made working from a satellite home office a winning proposition for both company and worker, and those who bring work home and actually manage to do it.                                                                                                                                            

Home

Let's face it: You're working from home, and as frenzied as it is, there are a lot of perks that go with it - like getting the laundry done or running to the bank during traditional business hours. Here, you'll learn ways to make your home more amenable to working, while keeping it as it should be- a comfortable haven for you and your family. In this section, you'll also learn things like the best recipes for work-at-homers or how to organize your bookshelves for both form and function.                     

You

Ah, and what about you? You know what they say about all work and no play...Just because you're working from home, doesn't mean your life should be filled with FedEx and futons. This is the place for wellness, fashion, automobiles, movies and music, fitness and more to keep your life balanced, as it should be.

Source: Why Magazine

We can only speculate when the economy will rebound and return to a stable footing. One thing does remain true, only companies and entrepreneurs that heed the advice and wisdom of resources such as Why Magazine will be around to enjoy the day it does.