Business Casual does not just Apply to Business Attire
Coworking spaces are leading the way in terms of the new modern office. While some remote professionals and businesses sign up for coworking offices to take advantage of the networking opportunities, others might join to avoid the overhead costs associated with offices. The main objective though – professionals want a nice environment to get their work done. Because coworking spaces are less traditional, it’s not always clear what the dress code is. In this post, we breakdown the basics of dress codes at a coworking space. Represent your company and brand If your business and brand meets with clients, it’s always recommended to put your best foot forward. Many people judge based on first impressions so wearing a professional outfit will only get you further ahead. However, if you’re just starting out and haven’t had the time to develop your brand identity, the simplest way to do so is to […]
Private vs Semi-Private: The New & Improved Coworking Office Space in Toronto
Corporate offices and cubicles are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Although they might work for some companies, they can actually be a wasted investment for others. Depending on the structure of your organization, having a private or semi-private coworking space could be the solution for you. If you want your business to have all the professional amenities of a real leased office space (furniture, office supplies and equipment and more), then a coworking space is an excellent choice. Continue to operate and grow your business without the hassle of a long-term lease and expensive overhead. What is a private office space? Like the name suggests, private office spaces are private and are reserved for employees that work for a specific company. They have dedicated workstations, boardrooms and meeting rooms. In general, private office spaces are rented for longer periods of time. A lot of companies will sign a […]
So what is a virtual office and what is telecommuting?
Excessive traffic congestion and surges in the cost of infrastructure in almost all major cities of the world are forcing businesses to adopt “virtual office” models in order to support telecommuting. Switching over to telework provides businesses and their employees with a solution to both traffic congestion and increased overhead costs. Virtual offices, by their nature, are designed to facilitate telecommuting. But you may be asking yourself: what is a virtual office? What does telecommuting mean? And what’s the difference between remote work and telecommuting? In this article, we explain what virtual offices are and how they facilitate and support telework. What is a virtual office? A virtual office is a combination of off-site live communication and address services that allows users to reduce traditional office costs while maintaining professionalism. In other words, a virtual office is a type of office space that does not physically exist at a given […]
How to Create a Productive Office Space
A business’ most valuable asset is its workforce. That’s why more and more employers are seeking newer and better ways to improve their employees’ productivity and happiness in the workspace. Nothing affects an employee’s productivity and happiness so much as their work environment. Whether employees work from home or in an office, you want your workspace to be conducive to productivity. This is where an office that is designed and optimized for productivity comes in. A productive office space improves not only your business’ output but also contributes towards employee well-being and happiness in the long run. Other benefits to a productive work environment include increased focus, improved work quality, and higher job satisfaction rates. When you make an effort to improve your employees’ work experiences it shows your employees that you care about them and are actively looking for ways to make their work experience more pleasurable. Creating a […]
Don’t Look for Cheap Virtual Office Space
There’s a difference between cheap and inexpensive. Cheap is normally associated with poor quality, whereas inexpensive refers to a fair price or good deal. So, when you are looking to rent a virtual office the ideal situation is not necessarily to find the cheapest option, but to find an inexpensive solution that gives you the best value for your dollar. Downsides to cheap virtual office space Location of the virtual offices Cheap virtual office spaces are not typically located in central downtown locations or even in actual office buildings that one would associate with a business. Some cheap virtual office spaces are no more than post-office-style boxes located in a storefront or an industrial complex. When you create a Google My Business account using a cheap virtual office address, you will get fewer views on your listing. This is because cheap addresses are not located in busy areas with high […]
What Office Space Amenities do you Expect When Renting an Office?
Office space amenities can be very important, but being able to get ones that are not included as a cost in the original lease can be even more important. Far too often when people are searching for office space, weather it be traditional raw office space or serviced office space at a business centre, they assume that certain amenities will either be available or they can gain access to them or install them on their own. Recently this writer moved into a new apartment unit that was created within an existing apartment building. I made arrangements to have an Internet company come and hook up my service. When I moved into the apartment, I noticed that there were plenty of electrical outlets, but there was no telephone jacks or cable outlets. Not having these outlets would make it difficult to get either DSL Internet via a telephone line, or to […]
Helpful Office Cleaning & Safety Tips
Having a clean and neat office space is an essential part of helping to keep yourself organized, a relaxing space to work in, and lastly a clean office is a more sanitary office. A clean [...]
Helpful Tips To Simplify Your Small Business Life
Business owners are always looking for new ways of streamlining everything they do, to save time, money, and energy. If being busy has dominated your life, it’s time to regain control. Below are some helpful [...]
Things are changing around Yonge and Queen’s Quay – but Telsec is here to stay
If you haven't been down to the Harbourfront area of Toronto in a while, you'll be quite surprised at all of the changes that are happening from Yonge Street to Parliament Street along Queen's Quay. [...]
How & Why Big Business Will Drive Coworking Office Space Growth
Coworking & Flexible Workspace: Will It Be the Death of Traditional Offices? Since coworking and flexible workspace became a trend a few years ago, office space design has been the subject of much speculation and discussion. Business sites like Inc., Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review and Forbes have featured numerous articles about the latest and greatest coworking/flexible office space designs, and of course, we at Telsec Business Centres have discussed alternative office space options for several years now, as providing office space in its many variations is both our specialty and service. Here we continue the conversation about coworking and flexible workspace from the perspective that not only does it make good business sense for entrepreneurs, startups and SME businesses, but it also represents a cost-effective solution for corporations and larger businesses. In fact, corporate and larger businesses will be the driving force behind the growth of coworking/flexible workspace, as […]
What is Coworking Office Space?
Coworking: The Who, What, Why & Where for Startups & Entrepreneurs As a marketer one of my prime resources for promoting all our products are the questions that potential clients ask about our services. Since coworking is a new offering in the flexible workspace category that we didn’t have a lot of questions about, I used a tool which identifies the questions in the suggestions that users get when they enter search terms into Google. The best content that I can add to a site is content that answers questions our website visitors may have about our offerings. Coworking: What Does It Mean? Easily the $64 question as even the spelling is disputed as to whether it is coworking or co-working. What it means depends on who you’re asking. To some users it means: All non-traditional office space (flexible workspace) A workplace design and environment Office space with themed […]
What to Expect if NAFTA Talks Fail
Most businesses in Canada share a deep seeded defect that is so common as to be part of our DNA yet so malignant it corrupts the very foundation of Canada’s national sovereignty. The flaw is not a fault of planning or ideology. It is not caused by neurosis or insecurity. It is a simple yet subtle mixture of geography and the physics of supply and demand. Most Canadian businesses are entirely dependent on access to the American market, or are reliant on serving businesses that are successful only because they enjoy easy access to the American market. Stretched primarily along a 6400km border with our southern continental neighbour, approximately 35million Canadians live a relatively excellent life by finding ways to collaborate with or feed the enormous appetites of a post-industrial consumer society eleven times bigger than our own. Some are haulers of water and hewers of wood and miners of […]
Why Move from the Burbs to Downtown Toronto Office Space?
Many companies are choosing to move their offices downtown and away from the suburbs. Lets discuss why this is happening and what are the advantages of the downtown location for customers, colleagues and employees. In the past several years, a handful of North America’s largest corporations like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and even McDonalds have joined the exodus from their suburban headquarters and campuses to new office space that is located downtown, and millennial’s seem to be the driving force. Yes, many companies chose to accept the usually higher cost of downtown space opposed to what they are paying in the suburbs, because they help attract younger workers. These workers want the chance to walk to nearby amenities and areas with a sense of place, rather than a generic business park campus or driving to a nearby shopping mall. This is also because these same workers want to be close to […]
Team space: The flexible hours office-space solution
The office space buzz these days is for entrepreneurs and small business owners to look at coworking. But this is not the best solution for companies with more than 5 or 10 employees. The solution for some small businesses is to create their own private coworking office – called team space or open-office environments. This concept is not unique to small businesses. Even large companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have embraced the concept of open-office team spaces. Business owners and senior managers want to feel connected to their companies’ day-to-day operations – and they find open layouts and team space helpful to that end. It doesn’t hurt that open layouts also maximize square footage efficiency. But the criticisms of open-concept team space claim a lack of efficiency when it comes to workforce performance. They also claim that research suggests employees simply can’t concentrate in these “collaborative” atmospheres. But when […]
Changing needs of coworking space in 2017
Do you know coworking? Coworking as you may know it is changing. The fact is, it might have already changed! The reason is that more and more people are looking at shared office space as an alternative to other commercial office options. This means that coworking spaces are getting bigger with more people using them. The other reason that coworking is growing is that more small business owners are seeing the cost savings of shared office space. They are seeing the benefits of the community involvement opportunities that come with the entire concept of coworking. The concept of coworking is entering a highly competitive phase, as more and more new spaces are opening up. But the fact that shared office space is being offered at lower rates than other office options is no longer enough to lure the smart small business owner. It is the sense of being part of […]
Seven tips for successful small-business and start-up owners
What you know today about your business may not be what you will know tomorrow. So, learning from experienced business owners will help you to learn from their experiences. After years of running a small business, owners inevitably gather many lessons about how to grow and run a business more effectively. Here are some tips that will save you taking years of learning and help you today. Be specific with your goals. Most entrepreneurs and small business owners have goals, but usually they are generic and not very specific. If you want to increase sales, set a number that you want to reach. If you want to increase employee productivity, tell them how many units you expect them to sell in a specific amount of time. The key to setting and achieving specific goals is to break your goals into multiple and small achievable portions. Build a support network. Being […]
Five common mistakes business beginners make
So you decided to take the plunge and start your own business. I bet you are really excited and cannot wait to get it off the ground. You will need all the excitement and enthusiasm you can gather, because you are going to encounter a lot of challenges. Some of the challenges will not be that hard to work your way around. But you want to make sure that the challenges you encounter are not made more difficult because of your your own actions. The mistakes you make could cost you a lot of money and even cause your business to fail. Here are some mistakes that are common for a new business owner: 1. Do not open a new business expecting it to be profitable overnight. Outside of a few fluke businesses that hit the business lottery and become a media darling on day one, do not expect to […]
Clues that you need a new office space
As a small business owner, it can sometimes be difficult to recognize the signs that your business is in need of a new office space. Not being able to recognize the signs can often be attributed to fear. Yes, the fear of change! It can be that you fear how the change will effect your workers and even possibly your customers. Regardless of the reason, not moving into newer or better office space could have negative consequences for your business. So what are the clues that you might need new office space? Here are a few that you should think about when it comes to your small business. Your current office space does not reflect or complement the brand you are building. It can be difficult to project a modern or progressive brand when your offices are located on the second floor of a suburban strip mall (between a dentist’s […]
Small business and start-up time management tips
Everyone always say that “Time is Money” when it comes to your small business. But you need to know how to manage it so that your time is used wisely and productively. You cannot get time back that has been lost, so we compiled some tips that will help you to identify and rectify the way you spend your time. Audit your day by creating a time log. We are not suggesting that you log every minute and hour of every day. You just need to create a log that sets a benchmark for a how your time is used on a typical day. This may require you to log your time for a few days if your schedule is different over those particular days (eg. Monday is spend in the office, Tuesday is spent on the road, Wednesday is spent in the factory or warehouse, etc). Once you have […]
Building the ideal community for your business
It’s not that SEO is dead or that links are obsolete, but building an online community around your business is a great way to increase your online visibility to search engines. If you build a community around your business, you’re putting the focus where it belongs – on your business. If your business’ online plan is continually chasing the Google algorithm, you’re putting all of your power in what Google’s going to do next. Building an online community for your business is one of the best ways to weather Google’s algorithms. Besides, building a strong company and brand through building a community isn’t something that Google can take away or change. One of the Internet’s greatest strengths is its ability to bring together people with similar interests in online communities. Online user communities can be a powerful force for businesses . Businesses with active communities focused on their products or […]