NYC Office Space and Entrepreneurs
The official blog of Sunshine Suites.
The excellent blog Starting Stories, focused on start-ups and entrepreneurs and the stories they have to tell, recently ran an incredible feature on Sunshine’s Cheni. All of us in the Sunshine NY office had our mouths on the floor at not only the quality of storytelling Starting Stories brought to the feature/profile, but also at the excellent photography accompanying the article.
What is Sunshine?
Sunshine is a community that harbors and supports small business owners and entrepreneurs. I look at Sunshine as a necessity. Being an entrepreneur for the past ten years, I realized how hard and alienating it is to start a business. Why not collaborate with other people that have the same drive and ambition? That’s how it started.
Read the rest of the article here. We’d like to give a special thanks to Startup Stories, a fantastic blog dedicated to the stories all small businesses have to tell.
Cheni Y- Managing Partner of Sunshine NY-recently sat for two multimedia interviews.
One, with Moviestar entrepreneur, is here, and there’s a podcast with The Hopkinson Report here. Both of these interviews offer one of our own resident serial entrepreneur advice on how to make your dreams reality.
Sunshine Managing Partner Cheni Y recently sat down with a fledgling entrepreneur of the youngest sort-an 8th grader who turned out to be an excellent writer and incredibly inquisitive-for an excellent interview.
Start-ups take tons of money. I mean look at the recent start-up Dropbox, before you can get capital from investors, your going to need a place to network and build your company, for a cheap price. Once you have a basic business plan, investors will come to help you build your company. Won’t you need a place to do this, to create your business plan? Once you have your buisiness going, won’t you need a place to run it? That’s where Sunshine Suites steps in.
Read the rest of Jake Smith’s excellent article here.
Over at the Another Sam Chan blog, there’s a great interview with Sunshine co-founder Cheni Yerushalmi , where he talks passion, drive, entrepreneurship and sports. It’s a really strikingly candid interview where Cheni offers words of wisdom for young, fresh-out-of-college men and women:
“I think that you have to have that ‘itch’ that you can never finish scratching. I think you have to notice opportunity and you have to be hungry because people’s biggest fear is change. That everybody’s not set out to be an entrepreneur? I agree with that. If you’re too content with your life, and you don’t have anything to reach for or you’re afraid (for better or worse) of change? Then you’re probably not meant to be an entrepreneur. The people around here, and there’s thousands of them. They all have one thing in common. They’re all hungry. You could see it in their eyes. Between all these entrepreneurs, I think you can tell very quickly on a person that they are constantly looking for opportunities.”
Be sure to read the whole interview here.
By: Russ | Published: January 20, 2010 | Filed under: article, social media
I was pointed by a link (from a link, from a link…you know how it goes) to this article from bNet on 8 Ways to mess up, thwart, destroy and essentially ruin your business’s social media strategy, most notably point three:
Mistake 3: Act like you own the conversation
Social media is a conversation, and conversations — more so than ads — require tact.
Read the rest of the (at times eye-opening!) article here.
Sobridge Media recently threw some very, very kind words the way of Sunshine:
Sunshine Suites is a place where you can grow your own start-up. A place to grow your own and become something more than what you already are. I rarely promote other companies, but I believe Sunshine Suites is one of few companies that actually work as a good incubator!
To read the rest of the post, which serves as a call-to-arms to taking 2010 by the horns and living the entrepreneurial dream, click here.
Web Analytics: A Primer for Shiners
By Andrew Edwards, Managing Partner, Technology Leaders LLC
(more…)
Reporter Jenny 8 Lee wrote about the awesome deal-finding service Yipit in the New York Times yesterday, and we at Sunshine couldn’t be more proud. The Yipit folks call Sunshine Tribeca their home, and we’re working on a cool Yipit launch video as you read this.
Yipit is really a service for anyone who has ever wished that coupons, hot deals and sample sales came tailored and targeted to where they shop, work and play. It’s the social money-saver for people who like to save as hard as they play.
Right now, the best way to connect with all the cool, personalized deals Yipit has to offer is via location-based social network Foursquare.
Follow Yipit on twitter.
Top Reasons for a Shared Office Space, by Joe Raby:
As Managing Partner and Co-founder of Sunshine Suites, a shared office space in New York City with two locations, I’ve found there are many reasons to start your business working in a shared office space instead of renting your own office or staying on your couch. The list below is nowhere near complete, but does highlight some of the major benefits of working in an office community. Sunshine Suites was founded based on my own troubles of starting an internet gaming company. My partner and I tried to solve all the headaches that we went through when setting up our office, and make sure others didn’t have to go through the same. Below are what we believe to be the top 6 biggest benefits of working with other small business owners rather than going at it alone.
6. Access to community events – A good shared office space should have a lot of events going that will open up opportunity and allow you to meet others. At Sunshine Suites, we host at least two or three events every week – anything from our bowling and softball teams to a weekend at our Vermont vacation cabin. We host numerous educational events and roundtable discussions, and of course meet & greets and networking lunches. Also, a quality shared office space will not leave it up to you to meet people, but will encourage and proactively make sure there are plenty of opportunities to meet all the other small business owners in the space.
5. Every Business Service at your fingertips – Imagine being able to check on your marketing campaign, verify your records with your bookkeeper, or view that website update in minutes any time you’d like. Working in a shared office, you not only have a choice of numerous services (all that come from the referrals of your friends), but you can actually grab lunch with your bookkeeper, or check out the graphics on your website, or have access to any service you need instantly. This makes for much better service, with you in the loop the whole way and your input given at any time. It also opens the door to other services and ideas that are out there, that a neighbor may be working on.
4. Stay focused on your business – Being in a shared office space allows you to write one check a month to cover all your office needs. You never have to worry about reordering paper, running out of toner, or paying the electric bill – someone else takes care of all his so you can focus on your business.
3. Keep your burn rate down – Working in a community office space can save you up to 60% of the costs of renting your own office. Most companies don’t realize the time and expense that goes into having an individual space vs. sharing one with others. For one low price, you can have access to numerous conference rooms, high speed internet access, a receptionist, fax machine, copy machine, printing, etc. The actual cost of purchasing all these services on a monthly basis and maintaining them is significantly higher than sharing.
2. Flexibility – Working in a shared office space allows for maximum flexibility when hiring new staff or when you need to save money during a downturn. Here at Sunshine Suites, we allow companies that to add or reduce the amount of space they take with as little as 1 to 30 days notice, depending on the need. If you run a seasonal business and need to ramp up during busy season and then scale down, a shared office space is perfect. If your business is continually growing, and you need to keep adding employees, it doesn’t make sense to lock yourself into a long term lease – especially if you are not sure of how much space you’ll need in two years. You also will never have to spend more than necessary in anticipation of hiring people down the road. As a small business owner, flexibility in one of your biggest expenses – rent – is incredibly helpful both in good and bad times.
1. Networking, Networking, Networking! – Working with others in different industries allows you to connect with hundreds of potential clients, potential referral sources, and, most importantly, potential ideas. Being surrounded by this, especially at an early stage in your startup, is invaluable. Some of the people here at Sunshine Suites have received so many referrals, particularly because they are not competing with each other, that they have almost entirely focused their marketing efforts on the Sunshine community. It doesn’t take a silver tongue – just someone willing to show up at the events we have throughout the week, such as our bowling team, the meet & greets, our networking lunches, or our educational speeches.
So, remember:
1. Keep your burn rate at a minimum.
2. Get out of the house! You need to be surround by open-minded people with whom you can discuss ideas!
3. Pick a business partner who offers different skills than you (while having the same moral beliefs and ethics).
4. Keep good, accurate accounting records.
5. Go to as many networking events as possible
6. Be your own best sales person. Never hire someone to do a job you can do better (especially sales).
7. Start small. Don’t assume people will like your product , so test it and get feedback (baby steps) .
8. Learn about the many programs and benefits available to you via the city and grants.
9. NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK!
10. Don’t be afraid to try new approaches. Always adapt to change and competition.
Last week my business partner and I were invited to an event by Sunflower Children, an organization that helps disadvantaged children around the world-one of the charitable organizations that we donate free office space to.
The event was a release party for a book written by two (married) Pulitzer-prize winning journalists titled Half the Sky. The title of the book was based on a Chinese expression – “Women hold up half the sky.”
While some celebrities (Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Marissa Tomei) were there, I was more moved by the journalists who had written this book about empowering women. I was amazed to hear a story Nicholas Kristof briefly spoke about – one that is written about in much more detail in the book.
He told of a Cambodian woman – a farmer whose family was very poor. Since her parents needed money, she found a job as a waitress in a restaurant in Thailand. She embarked on the long journey to Thailand with a friend. When she got to the “restaurant” she was escorted by men deep into the jungle and then repeatedly raped and beaten. She was then eventually sold to a brothel in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia where she was drugged, repeatedly beaten, and eventually forced to become a prostitute with about a dozen other girls who had been exposed to similar circumstances. She was beaten if she asked the customer to wear a condom, and kept naked at all times to prevent her and the other girls from stealing and from running away, and bussed from their small room to the brothel with security guards daily. She eventually escaped with three of the other girls. When she went to the police, she was raped and beaten for illegal entry to Malaysia, and then escorted to the border of Thailand.
Eventually she made her way back home to Cambodia, where she secured a loan for $400. With that money she purchased a small kiosk on the Thailand Cambodia border. Eventually, she expanded to a store, then took over the store next to hers, creating a mini-empire. She employs many other women, sends money back to her family weekly, and is now happily married with children.
I was astounded at the pain this woman went through, and at her amazing recovery. I don’t think I could do anything like that, and am thankful that I will never have to find out (knock on wood). One of the best organizations I’ve been a part of for the past three years is Kiva. Kiva sets up micro-lending for small businesses – 85% of them women-owned.
The great thing about this charity is that once you put money in, you actually get it back in only a few months!!! I’ve contributed around $800 over three years, and helped fund around 50 small business loans to people who really need the help. Recently Sunshine Suites formed a lending team at Kiva, which can be found at http://www.kiva.org/team/sunshinesuites. If you’d like to get involved, I really encourage you to sign up and make a few loans – you can make one for as little as $25. The great thing is, if you need the money, you can get it back in a few months. If you’re like me, you can also use it as a savings account that constantly does good for others. I love getting paid back on my loans, simply because it allows me to then lend to another group. To date, after 3 years and around 50 loans, I’ve never lost a penny, and its made me feel great and grateful to read about the ambitions of these people I’ve never met, and the businesses they aspire to start or to grow.
Live, Love, Laugh and Learn.
Joe Raby
Blog Topics
