Thinking About a Coworking Location? Consider These Questions..

Are you interested in learning more about coworking spaces for your small business?

SuiteWorks Business Centre - Café Meeting Area

Coworking spaces vary dramatically in the service level and quality of work environment they provide to clients. At the low end, they may simply provide a chair at a communal table where an individual can access the internet, or they may provide a full range of business services including; conference rooms, reception, virtual office location, and self-contained offices.

When looking for coworking space ask yourself the following questions.

1.) How does the workspace handle sound and distractions?

2.) Is the desk configuration flexible?

3.) What other business services does the space provide?

4.) Are the services affordable and customizable for my business?

5.) Is the office space scalable so that I can use more space or services as my business grows?

6.) What networking opportunities does the space provide?

7.) Does the space provide a range of environments, from individual quiet areas, to space for collaborative meetings and events?

8.) Is the space attractive and does it give my business a professional appearance?

Karsten Strauss, writing about coworking spaces recently in Forbes said,

"Given the intense interest in start-ups these day, more and more young entrepreneurs are looking to coworking facilities to grab relatively inexpensive office space. In addition to WiFi, fax, conference rooms, kitchen and snack-prep areas; these ‘rental’ business studios also offer new companies the opportunity to rub elbows with others in their world. The coworking space industry has seen growth in recent years and that swell is only going to continue. "

He went on to add that the social aspect of coworking was a draw for business people tired of the isolation of working at home, “They find it inspiring, they find it more cost effective and they find that they’re able to be very productive in that environment because of technology.”

Read more.. Why Coworking Spaces Are Here to Stay | Forbes

SuiteWorks is a world class business centre serving all of central Ontario. Call us today to set up a complimentary Tour and learn how your business can benefit from a flexible office solution including coworking space and virtual offices - Toll Free 1.866.967.5711 or visit our website to find out more about SuiteWorks solutions for your business.

Why you might need a virtual office for your small business.

Your work demands that you operate outside the standard punch-clock, 9-5 lifestyle so you need an office that does the same. You need all the perks and image of a fulltime office, without the commitment or the costs.

Our virtual offices are the perfect complement to a mobile worker’s home office. Just because you don’t need a traditional office, doesn’t mean you can’t still portray a professional image.

You’re in Barrie on Monday, then Mississauga on Tuesday, and Windsor the rest of the week, but your office is anchored with us.

Our reception services ensure that all your calls are answered professionally, and forwarded to you; wherever you are. Our phone services keep you in touch, wherever there’s an internet connection.

Technological advances have made the internet wireless, and phones smarter. However, the ability to make service portable is truly revolutionary.

Services

Your schedule may be all over the map, but you need your office to stay in one location.
Our flexible virtual offices come with included options such as:

• Phone Line with unlimited long distance to North America and 5 way audio conferencing
• Virtual Fax
• Reception services
• Mail box
• Listing on client directory
• Networking events
• Lunch and Learn Events

SuiteWorks is a world class business centre serving all of central Ontario. Call us today to set up a complimentary Tour and learn how your business can benefit from a flexible office solution including coworking space and virtual offices - Toll Free 1.866.967.5711 or visit our website to find out more about SuiteWorks solutions for your business.

Is it time to re-think how you organize your desk? Start with PLACE

When you start work in the morning does your desk give you a clean fresh start, free from clutter, a workspace where you can be highly creative and productive, or does it bog you down and act as friction to getting things done?

If you're like most of us, your desk is probably not optimized for productivity and performance.

Let's start with the benefits.

1. When you have your desk set up well you minimize distractions and resistance to actually doing your work. You want your space to give you energy, not drain it.
2. You will work better when you desk is set up for workflow. Your desk surface is a place to do work, not store it. You'll have the space to spread out current work without overlap with clutter.
3. When the right tools are organized and at your fingertips your productivity increases.

One way to re-think your desk, is to use the PLACE system.

P - purge unnecessary items from the desk surface (this means material you are not working on, archives, junk mail..)
L - like items with like - group all your office supplies together, reference books etc.
A - access - frequently used items and tools need to be at your fingertips, others stored
C - contain loose items using a desk organizer or storage system
E - evaluate how well your system is working, make changes and get it right

After you have your supplies and tools organized - think about workflow. Since we operate processes from left to right, you might want to implement this approach to your desk. Productivity experts recommend keeping your inbox, phone, and diary or agenda (if you use one), on your left side, with work being processed in the middle and work that is complete or needs to be stored on the right. When you stop for the day, always make sure the middle and right side are clear.

It's easier organizing the permanent stuff: equipment, supplies, decoration, and reference.

Transient stuff, input to be processed, action reminders, and project support materials is the challenge, because to improve your productivity you may have to change the way you work.

Input to be processed - goes in your in-box (an old fashioned tray or basket). This unsorted, un-prioritized material, mail, requests, lists, folders - things others leave on your desk..

Action reminders - notes about to-do's go in your task management software or, if you are paper-based, your planner.

Support material - goes in files or, if it is too big to fit in a file, on a project shelf or project area away from your desktop in a binder.

Go through all the papers, books, folders on your desk and file everything away according to these groups.

Now you should have just an inbox and agenda/notebook on your left hand side.

Don’t manage your work from stacks of folders, manage your work from lists. Put what you need to accomplish on your action list and put the supporting materials in the pending files or a project shelf. When you are actually working on something, only then is it time to bring in the files and support materials. Be carefully about working on multiple tasks that require lots of support materials. If you can break down the task and only keep the materials for the task at hand on your desk surface you'll be much more focused and energized.

If you keep the idea below as a guiding principle, you just may find your desk surface not only more appealing, but you may get more work done and feel good about starting fresh tomorrow.

The desktop is for the work you are doing, not for storing the work that you have to do.