Huh. Been working in some very distinctive offices. Let me see. It all started some 5 years ago.
The concrete cube
Worked as a customs clerk, at a very big Romanian company. Due to the nature of the job, the office building was really on an open plain, next to some warehouses. Trucks were coming in, and we were handling all the importing legal requirements. People coming in were truck drivers and company representatives in charge with legal paperwork. The office building was simply a concrete cube, nothing fancy, but functional. That was the perfect building for a boring job, with no creativity involved and no evolution. Glad I’m not there anymore.
The showroom of a manufacturing company, out of town
OK, this time I was on sales. The building was in fact part of the manufacturing plant (we were selling PVC Windows) The building was ok (this time a metal cube) but it was quite nice, new furniture and everything. It took almost half an hour to get into town, and clients were almost never coming in. We’ve got some creativity and it wasn’t so boring anymore but that’s a real non sense for any good client service. You can not talk with them, you can not meet with them and you are somehow disconnected. This one is good for any manufacturing business, but not really good for the sales.
Flat in a residential zone
Here we are talking about an IT start-up. Something like 7 or 8 people with low end PCs, just like in an Internet Cafe. The clients were many, many miles away, nobody was coming in. It was a simple 3 rooms flat in a residential building. Quite normal for IT start-ups in Romania. It was fun, we were really relaxed, feeling like home. But we had quickly outspaced the flat, and just by reading the address you could easily say this was a “Flat company”. This isn’t really “Corporate”. We were relaxed but not inspiring confidence. And simply the limited space slowed down the company grow. So, a flat is really a good thing for an IT start-up.
Low end office building
Next year we left the flat and went to a cheap office space. Huh. This was really a good time. Plenty of space, almost “Corporate” environment. We weren’t afraid of people coming in, we were ok. I saw some real development, we’ve got real creative. But poor lightning, virtually no ventilation and stuff like this added little by little and in the end I’ve grew tired of it. Low end building are the choice for not yet mature companies.
First class office building
That’s really a big change. Good light, good ventilation, security and stuff like this. Real Corporate. Everybody knows the building, and this actually helps as it’s inspiring thrust. We can held meetings, we have good infrastructure, for me is really the best way to do business. If you are planing to go corporate, that’s the way to do it
Working at home
This one relates to my very small business as a part time job. It’s ok to be home. But you can’t really have your clients coming in, and the family can sometimes be a disturbing factor. The TV is on, you must feed the dog, and clean up the place. First, staying at home is the best chance to become lazy, it’s hard to keep a strict working program and second you never get “out”. That’s really depressing. But if you are a one man start-up with a tight budget, your own home is the most obvious solution for office space.
Being an entrepreneur, you have to identify what kind of business you want to have. While at the beginning, is good to have expenses kept really low, think about the office to have in the next 5 years. It will help your business grow in the end.
One more thing. Location.
We have here in Bucharest a very known fast food place (Middle East food). It’s busy day in, day out. What I have noticed, the place become crowded with other businesses more or less related, 500 meters up and down on the street. Simply because enough people were coming at the fast food to make the spot interesting for other entrepreneurs. That’s the “commercial attraction” of the place. It has been defined under different terms in the economic theory (and especially in relation with big urban areas) and it basically goes like that: if you are living in a small village near a bigger town, it’s very likely that you will go to town to make your shopping. So, the town will attract you. That’s a very non scientific explaining, I might not been following the book. But I believe this can be applied at a smaller level to the location of a business.
For example, if I’m looking for some furniture, I will go to an area in the town where I know I can find more furniture shops. I won’t be looking for furniture in the town center.
So you have to think about two things: be in an area were customers will find you. And as you are buying working force, be in an area were this is easy to find. I mean there is no point in having very good clients if nobody will ever come to work for you. And don’t forget about infrastructure. There is no point in opening a call center if you can’t get phone and Internet access…
The office is just like any other resource your company will use to accomplish it’s scope. Plan for it.
