31 days to a better business in 2014

He took the book back, and read of the time, I promise email will stress you out 80/20 It Let’s start with a story… Small Changes, Big Rewards DAY 3 - Bill Slawski What small changes are

Welcome to 31 Days of Blogging!

There is no better time than right now to bear down and dedicate yourself to

your goals – both personal and professional.

As a coworking space, UberOffices plays a big part in the day-to-day life of its members and encourages each and every company to reach its potential.

Businesses operating out of UberOffices have access to mentors, pitch rooms, an endless supply of caffeinated beverages, and industry networking events The perks of growing a business in a diverse coworking environment

are numerous and undeniable.

The success of UberOffices’ members proves that these benefits help drive innovation Companies operating out of UberOffices raised millions

of dollars in 2013, and more promising startups and young businesses join weekly The numbers speak for themselves – UberOffices is the place to be.

So, follow along reading one chapter per day from entrepreneurs, UberOffices members, founders, and managers alike Use the hashtag #BetterBiz2014

on Twitter to share anything that stands out to you.

For Day #1, write down two goals for your business that you can achieve by

the end of these 31 days.

DAY 1 - Raymond Rahbar

Email stresses me out I’m an inbox zero kind

of guy, so when I receive a new email, every

ounce of me is compelled to act on it While

this was a-okay when I received a smaller

amount of daily email, a constant increase

in daily email has pushed me to implement

guidelines for myself so that I don’t lose control

over my precious inbox

The OHIO Rule is simple – when you open an email, you handle it right then and there with one of the following ‘Ds’:

This eliminates that brain-drain that occurs

when you read an email and just say to

yourself, “I’ll get to that later” For me, that

always meant that it occupied some of my

mental cycles until I finally dealt with it It also

meant I had ‘email bloat’ – stuff I was aware of

but didn’t want deal with yet OHIO meant I

This has also helped me to not bury my face in

my phone at every waking moment Because

of the rule, it means that I’m only going to look

at an email on my phone if I’m prepared to act upon it I’m not big on doing a lot of work

on my phone, so I just don’t read email on my phone as much This is a big win in the ‘be

I started with the old standards – unsubscribing from useless mailing lists, setting up filters for certain recurring emails, and disabling social media notifications While those helped, the one that really made a difference for email management (and my sanity) was implementing OHIO

Do it – Do whatever it is in the email that needs to be done

Delegate it – Forward it on for someone else to do

Delete it – Get rid of it

The OHIO Rule – Only Handle It Once

DAY 2 - Brian Patterson

image via Flickr/OzinOH

1 2 3

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always

OHIO Sometimes you simply have to leave

an email in your inbox, or you need to check

a new email on your phone even though you

know you won’t be able to act on it But, if you

simply do the 80/20 rule and use OHIO 80%

A few years ago, I was visiting a friend at his

office, and he tossed me a business supply

catalog and asked me if I had any ideas about

what he should order for his business I didn’t

have a clue, but I leafed through the pages past

printers and desks and networking equipment,

and stopped on a page about electric letter

folders I thought quickly about how useful

the electric stapler I had was (I received a lot

of work-related mail at the time, and attaching

the envelopes to those letters was a good way

to make sure that the return address was easily

findable.)

I jokingly suggested one of the electric folders,

and laughed as I did so Except, he took me

seriously He took the book back, and read

of the time, I promise email will stress you out

80/20 It

Let’s start with a story…

Small Changes, Big Rewards

DAY 3 - Bill Slawski

What small changes are you going to make to your business this year that can help you focus more upon actu- ally doing business, or can help your clients? Solutions are out there.

Small Changes

Big Rewards

As timing would have it, the beginning of a new

budget was about to start in my office, and

we were asked if there was anything that we

wanted on a “wishlist” of new purchases for our

office, and were given an office supply book to

help inspire our choices I thought about what

might be helpful, and then about how many

documents the people I supervised mailed

out daily, and quickly turned to the section on

electric paper folders and made a choice

It was approved (after I made a quick business

A co-worker was tasked with sending out

notices to contract attorneys at the end

of each year, printing out labels for their

addresses and affixing those to envelopes,

and mailing them There were around 500

of them, and the addresses were in a plain

text database The program used to print

labels was dated and almost obsolete, and

I was asked if I could help The notice was a

copied version of a copied version of a copied

version, and looked like it had seen a few too

many copy machines I suggested just using

mail merge into a fresh new Word document,

and envelopes with windows for addresses I

made a new template, ran a mail merge with

the address database, and printed out 500

personalized notices She used the electronic

case for it and repeated my friend’s positive experience), and when we received our electric folder, my team looked at it suspiciously I had six people who were spending around 45 minutes to an hour a day folding subpoenas and summonses and letters to people on a daily basis, and stuffing them into envelopes with windows in them to show addresses The electronic letter folder shortened the task to around 10 minutes daily for each of them The time savings were substantial, and the cost was slightly more than $100

into the envelopes A task that used to take her around a week was condensed into less than a day, and the notices were much more professional looking

Small changes can have big rewards Not every problem can be solved with something as simple as an electronic letter folder, but many solutions start with understanding the tasks that you or your employees or your customers perform, and the pain points involved with those, and solutions that help make those better What small changes are you going to make to your business this year that can help you focus more upon actually doing business,

or can help your clients? Solutions are out there

As we learned in yesterday’s story from Bill, even small changes can lead to substantial rewards Take a chance Make a change It’s time.

Some good advice to take to heart right now…

Quote of the Day

DAY 4

We’ve been guiding all of our clients towards

building up a strong and active presence on

Google+ It’s not necessarily because we think

it is the new Facebook, nor because we think it

is particularly cool It isn’t (yet)

If you are an expert, they have reason to

believe that you should rank better – and

thus, you will rank better This re-ranking is

already happening today for some users (who

are logged in and connected to others on

How your website ranks in Google’s search result will be impacted, positively

or negatively, by your activity on Google+.

The reason for us promoting G+ in this way

is simple – Google WILL eventually use the social signals they get from Google+ as ranking factors in the search engines Put simply:

Google+), and it is my belief that eventually this will affect every search done on Google

So, what can you do to get out ahead of this?

3 Google+ Communities to Get Active in

Today

DAY 5 - Brian Patterson

Make It a Goal to Be Active on Google+ Every Day

I know, easier said than done But look at it

this way… the people who jumped on Twitter

early had a great advantage in getting tons

of followers and developing influence before

their competitors had a chance This is your

time to beat the gold rush and be a first mover

on an up-and-coming social network

The best way I’ve found to be active on Google+

is to join and participate in communities

Communities on Google+ are just like groups

on LinkedIn They are likeminded people who come together to discuss topics, share links, and network All you need to do is search communities on Google+ and click ‘join’ on those you are interested Once there, find posts from other people and write smart, thoughtful comments and simply engage people Before you ever post any content, just get a feel for things by watching and commenting for a week or two

Entrepreneurs, Self-Employed, and Small Business – Almost anything goes in this

community as long as it is related to topics that are of interest to small businesses This means marketing, employees, administration, and lots of other fun stuff At over 41,000 members, you are sure to find something on here for you

Strategic Social Networking – This is an active community that covers everything related

to social media There are tons of great tips and best practices from this 39,000-member community to ensure that you get the most out of your social campaigns

Building a Company – Interested in growth hacking or lean startups? Want to know how to

build and grow to the next level? That is the topic of conversation in this group, and over 50,000 members are there for you to engage and communicate with

Bonus – Search for your industry buzzwords and join all of the relevant communities you

find This is a great place to connect with colleagues, influencers, and potential customers

I know, easier said than done But look at it this way…

the people who jumped on Twitter early had a great

advantage in getting tons of followers and developing

influence before their competitors had a chance

You’ve heard it before, but I’ll tell you again:

Social media can be one of the best marketing

strategies around Especially when it comes

to small business, social allows you to reach

your customers and stay in touch consistently

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,

and Youtube can help promote the business

in Google rankings, improve customer service interactions, and push out engaging ad campaigns at low or no cost

Here are five tips for doing it right and ways

to avoid outdated, ineffective social media marketing tactics

Don’t Scoff at Social Media When it Comes

to Marketing Your Business

DAY 6 - Kat Haselkorn

Figure out where your audience is.

Post regularly.

This is the first step for every successful

content marketing program Are your clients

and potential customers on Facebook?

Instagram? LinkedIn? Figure out what your

key demographic is and go after it hard Be

innovative Do research and figure out what

brought the competition the most success in

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in a big

promotional campaign and then totally drop

the ball once it’s over Effective social media

marketing is regular and reliable You want to

continually post useful, informative, enjoyable

content to keep your followers interested

Some of the best and most engaging posts and

the online space and only emulate the tactics that increased their followings or generated

a high amount of customer satisfaction Programs like Social Crawlytics can help you see what has worked for your competitors and then you can adopt those strategies for yourself where applicable

pictures of what goes on “behind-the-scenes”

in your office, or industry-specific inspirational quotes These are easy to find, and typically well-received on social media

There is a lot of content out there To make

your voice heard, do what you can to take up

space and promote high quality content Work

with a designer to create several professional

cover photos, background images, and logos

for each social site you plan to use Post images

often These tend to do well and are shared

Social media is great because anyone can do

it If you’re a small business owner and you

hire an expensive firm to be the voice of your

company online, you’re likely not portraying

your company the best that you can To truly

better your business, you need to find someone

within the company to lead the conversation

in the online space Current employees know

the most about the business and they can

accurately and effectively convey the key

messages That doesn’t mean you should dive

into social media before you’re prepared or

Encourage your real life customers to also follow on social media Offer deals and discounts to existing customers only and make it clear that you appreciate their continued business and online support When customers see the people behind the social sites, they’re more likely to follow and check in from time to time

Start slow, be consistent, and be natural Lots of humor and plenty

of photos go a long way Good luck!

most often on social sites Create a hashtag Start using it on twitter and include it in cover photos and promotional materials The point

is to gain brand recognition and familiarity with the business across each social network Have a presence in your field

hire an intern specifically for the role of social media manager Get expert advice or bring in

an industry consultant to explain the do’s and don’ts of using social to promote services and you’ll maximize the value of this marketing strategy

Don’t let social media marketing get pushed

to the side simply because you haven’t seen instant success It’s truly one of the easiest, least expensive ways to get eyes on your offerings and raise overall brand awareness

Take up space.

Promote social IRL.

Don’t outsource (unless you absolutely have to).

Over the last year we were introduced to new

ideas and technologies that will change the way

we interact with the world Computers were

added to eyewear (Google Glass), and Robots

started delivering products (Amazon) The next

five years will be filled with new technologies

and concepts that will change the way we live

and do business

Keeping up with top technology firms is unattainable for most of us However, we can take advantage of new products and services

to improve business right now Three quick things we can do include accurately tracking progress, making work easier and accessible, and providing our products and services to individuals on the go

3 Ways to Leverage Technology to Improve Business

DAY 7 - Dan Hinckley

Accurately Track Progress

Businesses of all sizes need to collect data that

will allow them to measure success and failure

Gone are the days of spending marketing

budgets with no sense of the Return on

Investment (ROI) Tools like Google Analytics

and CallFire make it easy to track the way

marketing is impacting business

Every marketing campaign in 2014 should be tracked for its effectiveness Wasting money

on campaigns that do not improve your business should be a thing of the past

Cloud based services are becoming the norm

and employees will now expect to be able to

access their work information from anywhere,

at any time, and on any device they may

have access to Web interfaces, desktop

applications, and mobile apps allow users

to quickly get to information that they need

when they need it

If you have not done so already, make the

investment to move your software packages to

A recent report estimated that 7.3 billion

mobile devices will be in use in 2014 That’s

more than the entire population of the world

If your website isn’t mobile friendly, then

you’re already far behind the times If you

haven’t yet, check your web analytics data to

see how the number of mobile visitors to your

website is growing Updating your website to

be mobile friendly can help you increase sales

and improve the user experience for current

customers

cloud based services Microsoft, Google, and Apple all offer cloud based access and support for their office suites Data storage is available for corporations through services such as Dropbox or Google Drive Even accounting solutions are available through companies like Intuit

A business will quickly thrive once it is possible

to easily access important information on any device and any platform

If your business can offer a mobile app that would improve a product or service that you offer then take the opportunity to create that app

Through accurately tracking data, making that data accessible, and simplifying employee and customer interaction with your business while

on the go, you can improve your business and bottom line

Make Work Accessible

Be Mobile Ready

Regardless of the type of business you have, I think it’s really important to understand in a reproducible way how to sell your product or service This becomes critical if you have any desire to grow your company by adding sales staff, large numbers of customers, or different channels.

I look at the sales process as an old fashioned flow chart: at one end is a raw lead and at the other

is either a paying customer or someone that you may get to become a customer in the future In between are the various decision points and attributes that must be collected in order to move that lead into the next stage

By breaking down the sales process into stages you can begin to understand what it will take to move prospects through those stages What is preventing them from moving forward? How many prospects can you expect to see go from one stage to the next? This is where the ability to capture the data in a consistent way becomes critical If you are regularly capturing what happens to your leads at each stage of sales process you can begin to see trends and start really forecasting your sales efforts You can see which of your sales activities is paying off and which doesn’t have the impact you think it should

This is where having a decent CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) application is a great investment There are a huge number of tools on the market for this but I’m particularly fond of HighRise from 37signals

If you own a small business that depends on more than a handful of customers coming in the door every month you owe it to yourself to set up a well documented and managed sales process There are lots of books and articles on how to do this but my view is very basic and can be distilled down

You know your business – break down why you are successful selling your product or service today, create some metrics so you can measure it and then experiment Each of your steps in the sales process should have a measurable outcome that can be recorded.

You need to put pen to paper (or bits to disk) and keep track of your sales process It’s a living document that should always be current and becomes the fundamental guide for your sales people

as your company grows

It’s hard to know what to do next if you don’t have a stable base to draw from Compile data regularly and consistently on your sales Over time you will begin to see trends that may have not been obvious At a minimum the data will present you with confirmation about your gut feel on why you are successful or not selling

If you want to improve, you need to see the impact your changes are causing Don’t jump to conclusions because a change you made isn’t having the immediate impact you think it should be having Continue to monitor your metrics and adjust things at a reasonable pace This may feel like

it runs counter to popular thinking that decisions should be made based on gut instinct and in the blink of an eye

I have always tried to keep everything as simple as possible and the advice I’m providing is about as simple as it gets If you’re not using a well defined sales process now, at a minimum following the steps I have outlined above will give you a great start in getting it under control

Keep it simple!

Document it!

Track your metrics!

Be patient!

I prop my laptop up to a comfortable level using the book: The Ultimate Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guide On the first page it lists three basic principles for surviving life or death scenarios such as angry jungle animals, sword fights, and volcano eruptions The principles are:

For startups, having absolutely zero leads is a worst-case scenario for hitting your sales goals Here are my five basic principles to help you survive and even thrive, despite an empty lead list

5 Sales Strategies for Startups Without Leads DAY 9 - Mike Moriarty

1) Family and Friends

2) LinkedIn

Many people are hesitant to ask family/

friends/classmates for referrals Get over it!

You provide a valuable service or product that

will help people and/or businesses People will

appreciate it if you solve a problem for them

So shoot your friends and contacts a quick note,

letting them know about your company and

Investing in a Premium/Business Account

is worth it, especially if you are going after

difficult-to-reach decision makers for your

sale A Premium Account allows you to

send a certain number of direct messages

to individuals even if you’re not currently

connected to them Keep your message short,

ask if they know anyone who could use your service If they give you a recommendation, you’ve now got lead Treat it like gold and you’ll get more from them

As my father always reminds me “It never hurts to ask”

professional…and short I’ve received positive emails back from decision makers who would have been impossible to track down by phone

For example, we noticed Qantas Airlines didn’t rank in Google when someone searched

‘flights to Australia’ I sent a direct LinkedIn

Be Prepared | Don’t Panic | Have a Plan

message to the VP of Marketing titled ‘Your website does not rank for ‘Flights to Australia’ We were

in their London corporate office the next week

I’m not talking about setting up a booth, I’m

talking about turning off your computer,

shaving your face, and going to a conference

your future customers are attending Check

out the calendars of a few of your closest

convention centers Many times the general

trade show exhibit sections are free or greatly

discounted (If you happen to put on a suit,

throw on a couple of old conference badges,

and walk into an event with confidence, I hear

many times they are even free….)

75% of the people at these exhibits are going

to be sales people You can’t waste your entire

Every county has a Chamber of Commerce, and the reason they are popular is because they work

My advice is to have fun with it These are local companies, people in your community, neighbors, and friends Go in trying to help THEM If you take that approach, time will fly by, you’ll make friends, and after a short time, get leads and business Check out your local Chamber of Commerce or BNI Group

day getting pitched to, so just be upfront with the sales people They will appreciate it and you can become genuine friends They may even have start-ups on the side! Ask them who the decision maker is, write down their name and see if they are at the conference or left any business cards behind You can also ask who they use currently for the service you offer, if they are happy with it, and how best

to get in touch with the decision maker Now, when you call the company next week you have a name to ask for, and a background story from the industry conference

3) Conferences and Trade Shows

4) Chamber of Commerce or Networking Group

Cold calling does work if you do it correctly Here’s how:

Have a business reason for calling them! Check out their website, blog, Social Media pages, press releases and you’ll learn more then you ever wanted to know

I’d recommend cold calling companies within an industry where you currently have a happy client who is willing to be used in a case study, if possible Not only will you have the facts from the case study to mention but you’ll also be familiar with the industry vocabulary

Examples: New product, new store opening, new hire, recent funding, recent business win, big new competitor….you get it

Cold call similar companies, make it part of a 20 company ‘campaign’ This makes it easier to track your results

80% of sales do NOT close, so study how to disqualify prospects quickly and what characteristics make up your best prospects

Hope these tips help you plan out your roadmap With some determination and a positive outlook, getting leads for your business is easier than it seems See you at the top!

5) Cold Calling

I wrote my first blog post on September 10th,

2001 I didn’t write another post until at least

4 months later It was a blog for a friend’s solo

law practice in the State of Delaware, and we

had discussed many times the kind of things

that we would be writing about But we hadn’t

anticipated the events of September 11th, and

I just didn’t have the words

We had a strong plan for the kind of content

that we would be creating, and it was focused

upon tracking and reporting upon legal issues

within the state, local events that visitors

might be interested in learning more about, the

history of Delaware, and what was happening

at the Courts and within the State legislature

But we just didn’t know how to respond to

a crisis that impacted so many, and was completely outside of our original plans We lost our voice before we managed to get more than a few words out – sometimes things happen that you just don’t anticipate I wanted

to write about what had happened when the World Trade Center was attacked, but I didn’t know what to say that could help others

The blog would go on to be cited as one of two examples of the use of blogging as a way

to build a positive professional reputation, in a book published a year later that was cited by Amazon as one of the 10 best books on digital culture in 2002

Find a Voice for Your Business

DAY 10 - Bill Slawski

Create Your Own Soapbox

Many businesses now create presences on

Facebook and Twitter and Google Plus as a

way to get involved in conversations about

their businesses, and to communicate with

others who might be interested in similar

topics I think that’s a really good idea, but

there’s nothing quite like using a site that you

have more control over to hold conversations

like that You have more control over what’s

published, and can take more responsibility

and ownership over it

I’d been a moderator in a small business forum

on Yahoo Groups back in the days before Yahoo acquired eGroups in the late 90s, and after the merger, they transformed it in ways that made it slow and hard to use We left our Yahoo Group behind to create a forum that we hosted ourselves, and it grew into a highly visited and respected forum on web

promotion, usability and SEO related topics You have no control over changes that might happen

at Facebook or Twitter or Google Plus, and relying too much on any one of those might not be a great idea

Maybe you work in (or you’ve seen and chuckled at) an office that is completely backwards when

it comes to technology Phone numbers are scribbled on sheets of paper, which are laminated and hung around the office Paper calendars are posted on the conference room door to schedule meetings It doesn’t have to be like this And, in fact, it shouldn’t be like this If your office (or someone

in your office) calls to mind the “Tech Impaired Duck” meme, it’s time to shake things up and bring your business into the 21st century

Don’t let this be you.

Between the BYOD craze and apps meant to improve work productivity, it’s clear that simple technologies are changing things for the better Daily business needs like scheduling meetings, video conferencing, and even payment processing are easier than ever before Consider your options and look into user-friendly software and apps to help streamline your business and maximize your time

Taking Advantage of Technology in the

Workplace can Lead to a Better Business

DAY 11 - Kat Haselkorn

Caffeine is a big part of most entrepreneurs’ lives There’s so much to do and barely enough time to

do it That occasional morning coffee turns into a three cup a day (or more!) habit But if you’re going

to caffeinate yourself, you might as well do it right

This infographic, created by the folks at popchart lab, shows us how to make delicious java-based beverages to stay alert and produce our best work

Every UberOffices is, of course, equipped with a Keurig machine to keep members happily caffeinated

A Breakdown of Ingredients in Popular

Espresso-Based Drinks

DAY 12 - Kat Haselkorn

by popchartlab.

Explore more infographics like this one

on the web’s largest information design

community – Visually.

When you’re young and ambitious, most

people around you will try to convince you

that you’re too inexperienced to run your own

company or to manage other people It’s easy

to believe them because they’re right about the

first part: you are young However, in today’s

world, age is just a number It takes all types of

leaders to make the business world go ’round,

and your fresh perspective has every chance at

success as a more seasoned businessperson

Youth may be more susceptible to other

disadvantages – lack of access to capital, weak

credit history, lack of credibility – but despite

these, young entrepreneurs should persevere

and take risks at this unique time in their lives

Starting a business is never easy, no matter

how much experience you have or how old you

are Despite being young, entrepreneurs should

seize the opportunity to start a business

Ask yourself this: would you rather be pulling

all-nighters working on your startup when

you have a newborn baby or when you’re free

of major responsibilities? Would you rather

take a financial risk when the only mouth to

feed is your own or when you have a family

to support? Right now you’re energetic,

enthusiastic, passionate, and lively I’m not

saying these qualities disappear with age, but

they certainly take more effort to maintain over time If being an entrepreneur is your dream, do it, and do it now You only live once (#YOLO!)

When you become a young entrepreneur, be proud, not embarrassed, of your age

For every negative onlooker who doesn’t believe a 19-year-old could possibly be the founder or owner of a company, there are a dozen others who are impressed by what you have been able to accomplish at such

a young age Be proud of yourself for what you have accomplished Recognize that you have created an opportunity for yourself – an experience in which you can learn firsthand how to succeed in business Write down your experiences, network with friends of all ages, and enjoy every minute of being a young entrepreneur

How To Be a Young Entrepreneur

DAY 13 - Sarah Haselkorn

My team makes its living helping

companies make the move to the cloud

(adopting applications like Salesforce, Box,

SuccessFactors, Jive, etc.) We find that when

organizations make this move, they are

invariably leaving one of these two scenarios

behind:

• They are decommissioning some in-house

legacy software that they have outgrown and

has become a huge hassle to maintain and use;

or

• They have been getting by using stop-gap measures like spreadsheets, macros, generic office applications that are inefficient and, again, a hassle to use

But the business case to move to the cloud

is strong no matter what size the company is For example, even a small company, if it does

a truly honest total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis for an application like Salesforce, will find it to be a great investment compared to the costs of a “Spreadsheet Sales Tracking” alternative

They Looked Up and Saw the Answer in the Clouds

DAY 14 - Gerry Grealish

The same is true for Cloud Storage options,

with their built-in collaborative capabilities, vs

on-premise Why? You get a ton of features/

functionality with no real start-up costs

(other than an all-nighter or two learning the

application) All you have is a Privileged User

Password Management (PUPM) subscription

fee And you end up with access to the same

or better functionality as some of the biggest

organizations in the world!

Just a few things to remember as you look at

these services:

• If your business operates in a regulated

industry, such as Healthcare, Financial

Services, etc., spend time investigating the

policies and certifications that the cloud

service provider has in place to ensure your

regulatory compliance (e.g HIPAA, PCI DSS,

etc.) is maintained

• Remember that many of the large cloud

services, such as Salesforce.com, have a

vibrant ecosystem of applications that can

be added to them to meet specific functional

requirements For example, if you want to

automate bringing a prospective customer’s

social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) activities

into their profile, applications are available to

“bolt-on” to Salesforce.com to do that

• For those concerned about data privacy and

security in the cloud, most cloud providers

have specific information about the security technologies and processes they have invested in (available on their website) If you want additional capabilities, there are specialized companies that can provide advanced options, like data encryption and tokenization, to help address specific requirements you may have (this includes bolting on security and encryption to a cloud application, such as our Salesforce encryption and tokenization products)

Moving to the cloud, in most cases, can help your business save time and money, all while improving efficiency If your company is considering it, there is no better time than the New Year to make a push into the cloud

In the office there’s a stillness, but I know that it won’t last for long I take 5 minutes to settle in, check

my calendar, and respond to emails before the first mountain of packages arrives on my doorstep

“Good mornin’ Ms Miller!” he says The delivery man knows me by name He also knows exactly what office to go to without asking – it’s the one lined with stacked boxes and an assembly line of product materials ready to ship out this week

A Day in the Life of a Coworking Space

Manager

DAY 15 - Cat Miller

The Morning Routine

I head to the kitchen and perform my morning kitchen duty ritual Members wander in around me, hovering over the Keurig machine, waiting for their steaming cup of energy We make small talk about big things – new hire decisions, potential clients, funding opportunities But also the real stuff – how their holiday was, their kids’ sports teams, what they’re doing this weekend Every day I learn something new and genuine and interesting about the people who work around me

I don’t work for them, but I do The people in our space are our livelihood Their skills, creativity, and diversity bring a rich array of flavor to our vanilla glass and concrete walls

Back out front, a new member arrives for her first day of work in the bullpen, our shared desk space

I give her the basics; a fob to have 24/7 access to the building, instructions on how to print, how

to use the portal to book conference rooms, how to use the coffee machine She settles down at a desk and my phone rings Two more members are downstairs at the loading dock, ready to move in

I grab a cart and make my way down with the help of our elevator attendant (yep, our building’s the only one in the city that still has them – classy, right?) to greet our new members We pile on Tupperware containers, file cabinets, and other random belongings then head back to their office As the lights go on they look around in admiration, and I can’t help but notice the twinkle of excitement

in their eyes as they take in the full experience and realization that this is their space

As I leave them to unpack, I’m greeted by one of our members who excitedly announces she’ll

be hosting a lunchtime tasting for our members in the lounge that day A few times a month her company arranges catering for DC-area businesses, but before they decide to promote a caterer they have our members test out the products and give them feedback and approval Free food? Yes, please! What more could we ask for?

Building management comes down to look over building plans for our second floor “March will be here so soon!” I think, with visions of game rooms and spiral staircases and extra conference space dancing in my head Excited by the conversation, I take a little aside to research artwork, signage and

other space enhancements while I wait for a prospective member to show up for their tour

A few other people stop by my office while I wait They ask for help with printer problems, how

to book a conference room, how to connect to the Internet Then my showing arrives As we walk around, I point out our Banksy art and purposely stripped, exposed, unfinished concrete floors and open, exposed ceilings I tell them about how we hand deliver mail, offer unlimited coffee, and host monthly community events for our members to get to know each other They’re pumped about our lounge, and I have them try out the couches while they look through what super Nintendo games

we have in stock

After the tour, a group who’s trying to host a meetup in our space comes through They take pictures and look around, and we talk through their event details and publicity When we’re done, a couple members ask what the tour was for, and we chat about ideas for how to make the event better

You walk in and it just feels productive.

I glance at the clock and suddenly it’s late afternoon I follow up with previous tours and new inquiries from people that want to see the space Everyone that comes through has their own idea of what this office means to them It’s my job to make sure that from the minute they set foot in here, I make this feel like their home away from home, a place they’re excited about coming to

Really, the space does that on its own No other place in the city houses cyber security gurus, design experts, fashion accessory designers, international trade specialists, social innovation champions, foodie connoisseurs, and edu-revolutionaries all under one roof You walk in and it just feels productive

That’s why I love it Every day is exciting, and new, and different And yeah, like any job, it has its trying days Don’t even get me started about an internet outage, or when a mountain of dish piles up

in the sink But those inconveniences are such a small part of what we’re making happen here that it doesn’t matter

We’re growing a community, and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it

A few days ago I realized I had hit my

four-year anniversary mark as a DC resident

Though it feels like only yesterday that I left

the Midwest and moved into my first dirty

apartment on Capitol Hill, the changes the city

has undergone during my time here have been

swift and tremendous

The Millennial Growth Spurt

According to data from the U.S Census, my

observations are not just another Russia

House-induced hallucination From 2000 to

2010, the millennial population in DC grew

23%, and from 2010 to 2012, the DC region

saw an average annual net gain of 12,583 of

people age 25 to 34–the largest among cities

in the United States In the past 10 years,

the region added 26,000 new apartments

and condos From 2001 to 2011, 709 new

restaurants (a 50% increase) opened up in the

area The numbers don’t lie Young people are

flocking to DC, and they’re leaving profound

change in their wake

Millennials are Behind the District’s

Work-Life Culture Shift

DAY 16 - Stuart Karaffa

The Impact

The entertainment and housing markets aren’t the only areas that have responded to this influx of young go-getters More workplaces are embracing dynamic structures to meet millennial demands of flexibility on the job For instance, the rise of co-working spaces in DC–like UberOffices–have made it possible for small businesses to rent workspace that provides a physical location without the constraints of a stuffy office culture With small businesses such as PerformYard,