I’m an armchair economist. I have little formal training in economics beyond the generalist survey courses most university students select before deciding what they want to major in when they grow up. Nevertheless, I find the machinations of any given economy fascinating. As a spectator sport, economics has the fine detail of baseball mixed with the speed and brutality of hockey, the long-game passion of European football and the regimentation of American football. Armchair economics is reality based fandom.

For entrepreneurs, armchair economics is both a form of fantasy sport and an important part of business planning. All entrepreneurs dream about the future. Developing an understanding of how the world works is an essential part of foreseeing the future and the ability to foresee the future is one of those things that separates an entrepreneur from everybody else. It would be no good to develop a business making green widgets if consumer tastes shift towards wanting purple widgets before declining demand phased widgets out altogether. It would be far better to reasonably believe that consumers will want yellow thingamajigs because the data (armchair economics) tells you so and develop a business around making them. Knowing the future lets you plan and execute realistic goals.

Business is about setting and achieving goals. The process includes a myriad of obstacles, regulations, competition, challenges, and the nerve wracking potential for great loss. Getting through the process requires rational thinking, critical analysis, attention to fine details, huge doses of diplomacy, and a strong sense of mission and accomplishment. A good accountant helps, just as a good coach helps in sport. Some businesses perform better than others, some competing in individual pursuits and others competing as a team.

Drawing sports analogies to describe business is natural. You win some and you lose some and if you win more than you lose you get to stay in business. It’s often a game of inches. Success might be measured by any number of metrics but all of them are rooted in the strong foundations of professional support systems, the most critical of which is a home-field to play on. Naturally, that’s one of the analogies we draw on when thinking about the business of a business centre. Sports analogies are easily understood by armchair economists.

We’re one of the older, veteran business centres in Toronto. Established nearly 40 years ago in 1980, Telsec Business Centres have provided professional support services to literally tens of thousands of businesses. Its founding presaged the far future by anticipating the effects technology would have on businesses, requiring them to become leaner and more flexible while allowing them a lot of leeway on costly items that used to be absolute necessities, like a permanent office or numerous staff.

Telsec’s objective is for businesses to be able to achieve their best productivity with a minimum of operating expenses. Letting our customers concentrate on running their businesses, Telsec provides extensive professional office services in conjuction with beautifully furnished individual executive office suites and meeting rooms.

Economically speaking, it’s a good business to be in, especially in a time of great change. One more thing our sense of armchair economics is telling us is that even though business conditions appear fairly good right now there is a great sense of volatility out there. Rather than taking on the traditional trappings of a business, entrepreneurs are more likely to let an organization like Telsec take care of the infrastructure stuff so they can do what they do best, score runs for themselves or their clients.