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 […]
Does your start-up really need a private office space? Here are some questions to ask yourself.
The first few months (or even years) of a start-up are often executed from the owner’s garage, basement or kitchen table. But as the business grows, it’s time to move. However, where you go is just as important. Your location can affect your company’s productivity, creativity and community – not to mention budget. Insiders agree that choosing the right environment depends on the work that’s being done and the people who are doing it. Some entrepreneurs are taking the plunge, either buying or leasing commercial office space to give their start-ups credibility and authenticity. Is opening up in your own office space a smart move early on for a new business? If you’re considering leasing traditional private office space, you should curb your enthusiasm long enough to ask yourself these questions. What will it cost to lease office space other than the monthly rental payments? When you’re considering leasing office […]
Seven tips for starting a successful small business or start-up
The biggest fear of starting a small business is failure, but there are things you can do to limit your chances of failure and increase your potential for success. While most of the advice here is not new, we are going to remind you of them and try to put a new angle on them so they make more sense. Have passion for your work. Having passion for your work does not mean that it is your only calling, but you need to be excited about it to the point where others see your passion. Starting a small business is not easy, and if it seems too easy, you might be doing something wrong. It is important that you enjoy what you are doing, because it will take a lot of work and personal energy to ensure that your small business venture has a chance of being successful. There are […]
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 […]
When does a home-based business need a location?
If you have to work for 80 hours a week just to keep your business afloat, then you are not profitable. Some entrepreneurs blow through the earliest stages of their company’s growth by putting all their energy and time into their businesses at the expense of their own health and personal relationships. Part of the reason for this is that they are working from home – and the line between home time and work time often becomes blurred. The fact remains that two out of three companies begin in a spare bedroom, garage, basement or sometimes even a bathroom (we did not ask about this one when we were told about it). Sometimes the choice of operating your business from home is taken away from you by zoning bylaws. Many cities and many counties have zoning ordinances that limit, to one degree or another, whether you can operate a business […]
Business tips inspired by Barbara Corcoran
Barbara Corcoran is the real estate contributor for NBC’s TODAY Show where she regularly comments on trends in the real estate market. But most people know her as one of the sharks on ABC’s reality hit show Shark Tank. If you really want to question her business knowledge, consider that she turned a $1,000 loan and parlayed that loan into a $5 billion real estate business. Then in 2001, she sold that business for $66 million. This shows that she knows a little about building a business. Here are some of her best tips for small-business owners from an article on the Forbes website (followed by our comments): “Don’t be afraid to make big mistakes. All the best things that happened in my business happened on the heels of failure. Don’t be afraid to fail; it’s proof that you are meant to be a successful entrepreneur. The only difference between people who […]
The differences between a mail-forwarding service and a P.O. Box
P.O. Boxes are usually offered by either the Post Office or a “CMRA” which stands for Commercial Mail Receiving Agency. It all depends on the services offered by the Post Office or CMRA that you are working with. A mail-forwarding service is typically offered by an office business centre that rents office space to small businesses and also offers virtual office solutions. The difference between a mail-forwarding service and a P.O. Box The first real differences between a mail forwarding service and a P.O. box is that a mail forwarding service provider offers you a real street address. This is ideal, especially if you are a running a small business that needs a more professional image than a conventional P.O. Box number. Another factor is that a P.O. Box cannot accept packages for you, especially when they are being delivered by a third-party courier company that requires a signature. A […]
Time-management tips for inbound business phone calls
Do you know how to handle incoming telephone calls so that they do no waste your valuable time? It is a fact that Inbound telephone calls can consume a great deal of time and eat into your productivity level by taking you away from tasks that are more profitable. There are ways of cutting down the time you lose speaking on the phone, without being curt or rude to the person calling you. 1. Have your calls answered and possibly screened by a live professional receptionist. Let her or him route the calls to the right person, department or extension. For some calls, such as those from salespeople looking to sell your business a product or service, those calls can be sent to a voice-mail extension to be reviewed later. You can even have an extension with outgoing messages for general questions such as hours of operations and locations. Even […]
Can’t find a networking event that suits you? Create your own networking event business!
So you have gone to a few business networking events and they did not turn out to be what you expected. Maybe you ran into the challenge of being taken seriously by more seasoned business people. Here is an idea: host your own networking event and build up your credibility. By planning and sponsoring a networking event, you’re suddenly transformed into a business leader in the community. You are bringing entrepreneurs and small business owners together to talk shop – and many believe that only a leader does that. The added bonus is that you also bring extra exposure to your business and brand. Here are some tips on how to pull off successful networking events: 1. Choose your event venue wisely. You do not want to choose a venue that is not easy to get to and not centralized. Many people will suggest you host your networking event at […]
How to discover your profitable small business idea
As an office business centre, Telsec not only rents office space, but we also have virtual office solutions for people who work from home or on the road. Most of our virtual office clients have their mail forwarded to where they are working, but some still prefer to come into the office to pick up their mail. This blog writer has had a chance to meet some of these virtual office clients and learn how they chose the business they went into, then turned those methods into this blog. Before we get into some of the ways that these clients came up with the ideas for their business, let me tell you why I chose to ask this group of customers. The people who use Telsec’s virtual office solutions are more often entrepreneurs who are sole proprietors who work from home – and are often the sole employee of their […]
Four ways to know that it might be time to quit your day Job
Starting a home-based business is nothing new for many entrepreneurs, but deciding when to take it full-time without the safety net of a full-time job can be quite scary for most first-time entrepreneurs. That home-based business is great way to supplement your income and can be done for years. But there may come a point where you need to cut the ties and make the business your-full time job. Before we discuss the reasons you should finally cut the “umbilical cord” and quit your full-time job, lets discuss some of the steps you can take leading up to making your business a full-time commitment. The legitimacy of you business and the professional image your business needs to have is important to its success. Having your home address or a P.O. Box address for your business just does not cut it in today’s economy of skeptical customers. People have a tendency […]
How to start a Consultant Business from home
Setting up as a self-employed consultant has become a popular move for people in a broad range of industries and sectors. But becoming a consultant is not as easy as just getting business cards for very little money at Vistaprint or your local office supply store and saying you are a consultant. The very term consultant denotes someone who is authoritative and knowledgeable on a particular subject, and that experience and know-how are something that other organizations need and are willing to pay for. In fact, the dictionary defines a consultant as “an expert in a particular field who works as an advisor either to a company or to another individual.” You can find hundreds, if not thousands, of Internet citations and articles about becoming a consultant with a few simple Google searches. But knowing what a consultant is and why you should consider becoming one will not help you […]
Why is Cyber Monday so important to small business E-commerce?
So what is Cyber Monday? Basically, Cyber Monday is to online retailers what Black Friday is for brick-and-mortar retailers. These online events have been around for a decade and can help level the playing field for small businesses. According to Forbes, Cyber Monday online revenue for 2014 reached $2.68 billion – a nearly 20% increase over the totals in 2013. It is important to note that more than one-third of these purchases were made via mobile devices. This shows the amazing evolution of online sales. Lets go back to the beginning. According to Wikipedia, “Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. The term “Cyber Monday” was created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online. The term was coined by Ellen Davis and made its debut on November 28, 2005 in a Shop.org press release entitled “‘Cyber Monday Quickly […]
Starting Your Home-Based Business
One of our office-space tenants who follows our blogs, asked us to do a blog series about home-based businesses because her husband took early retirement and wanted to keep busy at home. We want to first talk about the most profitable home-based business and what it takes to start one. Other topics in the series of posts will include: home-based retail (online); at-home wholesale and distributions businesses; and running a consulting business from home. Let’s start with talking about what are the most profitable and easy-to-start home-based businesses. Not surprisingly, the most profitable home-based businesses do not require a great deal of equipment, holding an inventory of goods or even renting office space. But you may want to pull out your calculator (or abacus) for the very top profitable home-based businesses. Yes, you guessed it, the most profitable home-based businesses you can start involve dealing with other people’s money. Forbes, […]
How Not To Kill Your Small Business
We have all heard about business best practices. But what about things that you should not do if you want your business to thrive? Remember that having good business practices and not bad ones, will help prevent you from losing customers and from getting bad online reviews and negative comments. As we mentioned in another blog posting called “The Professional Image Of Your Small Business Begins With You”, we mentioned that a small business can only look as professional as the people who are running it. You can be perfectly dressed for the job at hand, but if you have a “pottie” mouth, or make racist or sexist remarks, you’re going to lose a lot of business trust and respect. Not answering your phone or allowing your business phone to be answered by a child, can kill your business reputation. There is never a good excuse for not answering your […]
Small business survival: The numbers don’t lie!
If you speak to people who know business statistics, you will hear them say that many small businesses will fail within the first five years. These facts are a contributing factor to people buying long-established businesses in order to gain a higher chance of success compared to a start-up. So what are the odds of surviving more than five years? There are government organizations who keep statistics on this. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “About half of all new establishments survive five years or more and about one-third survive 10 years or more. As one would expect, the probability of survival increases with a firm’s age. Survival rates have changed little over time.” These statistics are backed up by the Small Business Administration (SBA), who state that nearly 66% of small businesses will survive their first two years. What that implies is that only about one-third of […]
Small Business Owner Productivity Tips
There are plenty of terms that are touted around the business world like efficiency, but finding their meanings is not as easy as using them. So what do words like efficiency mean? If you Google efficiency, this is what you will get: “the state or quality of being efficient” and “greater energy efficiency.” Synonyms: organization, order, orderliness, regulation, coherence; More an action designed to achieve this. Plural noun: efficiencies “to increase efficiencies and improve earnings.” Technical – the ratio of the useful work performed by a machine or in a process to the total energy expended or heat taken in. It is also short for efficiency apartments.* In your Google search you will also see what Wikipedia says: “Efficiency is the (often measurable) ability to avoid wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time in doing something or in producing a desired result. In a more general sense, it is the […]
Virtual Office or Virtual Assistant?
Many people ask what the difference is between a virtual office and a virtual assistant, because some websites and articles use them interchangeably or in similar context. This makes it difficult for an entrepreneur or a small business owner to determine what it is that they really need to help them with their business. In order to help you better understand the differences and similarities, we will first tell you what each is, and then explain how you can get the best of both services from one provider. The term virtual assistant, sometimes called a virtual office assistant (or VA for short), refers to a person who is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical or creative assistance to clients remotely from their home office. Typically, virtual assistants are independent contractors rather than employees, but some work with multi-VA firms that provide the services that the client needs. Virtual Assistants […]
Tips For Small Businesses To Appear Much Larger Than They Are!
Having one address at a prestigious location can be good, but what about having multiple location addresses with a 800 number to 1 location? Your small business can saves money and appears like have multiple locations for less than the cost of 1 office space with the 1 800 number meaning you only need 1 phone + address account. So how is this done? You can have virtual office locations with several Alliance business centers that are located around the world in over 80 countries. With several virtual office locations and a 800 number, your client or prospect will call you and ask to speak to the location nearest them, but the call will be forwarded to where you are working or to your Toronto head office location. When your small business has a live receptionist answering your calls with your business name, your customers believe that you are bigger […]
How to Negotiate For Lower Business Expenses
Every expense that your small business has, ends up adding to your overall cost of doing business and can eat away at your bottom line. What is the answer? Lower your re-occurring costs by negotiating discounts and lower rates with your vendors. While small businesses have been cutting back on their spending over the past number of years, according to one report, costs for goods and services togrther can be has high as 28 percent of your small business’ budget, making those costs the second largest expense after payroll. It is true that some fixed expenses such as rent, office equipment and utilities can be more difficult to negotiate, but with the right amount of knowledge, you might find some alternatives or ways to get these expenses fixed. Knowing what your big expenses will be each month will make it easier to budget and allow you to focus on negotiating […]