December is almost upon us. Time to buckle up and race through the fastest month of the year. If you’re anything like me, you are probably still optimistic about coming up with a rock solid, cannot fail, business plan for 2010 before the end of the year. Let me suggest that you spend a few minutes analyzing one of your most important budgetary items – office rent expense.
As an office real estate specialist and owner of an executive business center in Aurora, CO I spend most of my time thinking about office space. And I wonder if it’s time for all of us as small business owners to start thinking more intentionally about where and how we work. Here are a few questions to think about:
First, can you do your job well from home? I have a home office that is a nearly perfect set-up. I have a smokin’ fast laptop, a large desk, and all of my files backed up on-line. But there’s a problem. I can’t meet clients in my basement and my two and three year olds interrupt too often for me to get through my business development calls.
Second, if you can do some of your work from home, where else can you go to be productive? My default place is Starbucks. I think I’ve been to most coffee shops in the Denver area. You can often get access to free internet and get a great cup of coffee. The only problem is everyone else seems to be meeting at Starbucks at the exact same time. It can be loud and too crowded to get real business work done. And there is no way for me to make my business development calls from a coffee shop.
In this economy I have to be as effective as possible and I have found that my office needs to be in multiple places at once: my home, my favorite coffee shop, my car, and my executive suite. My executive suite has a multi-line business class phone, high speed dedicated internet access, a receptionist to answer my phone, and a conference room for me to use when my desk is piled too high for guest to see.
Look, I know that my opinion is biased. I own Execu-Center and I drink the executive suite cool-aid. But honestly I use the service the same ways as my tenants. When my home office gets too rowdy with little boys I can move my laptop to my quiet office just a few minutes from my home and get some heavy work done. Plus our receptionist who many of my tenants use as their own executive assistant, filters my calls and gives me only the most important calls. It saves me countless hours each week to have her on my team.
When I need to meet a client across town for a cup of coffee I love to take them to Starbucks. But when we are discussing sensitive personal information I invite them to my office in Aurora for a decent cup of free coffee and a quiet meeting room.
Working in an executive suite environment has changed the way I do business and has helped me to be more productive. It might work for you too. We’d love to have you visit us if you’re in the neighborhood.
Cheers!
