• Justin Myers
• Uncategorized
• Comments Off on May Key Connections Lunch – UC Academic Internship Program

Internships and Co-Ops

Each month OfficeKey hosts a lunch open to all clients called Key Connections. It allows those sharing the office to meet each other and build a stronger sense of community, while enjoying some good food and listening to a guest speaker present on a relevant topic.

On May 6th at our West Chester location, OfficeKey was honored to have Paula Harper speak at the luncheon. Paula is the Manager of Job Development of the Academic Internship Program at the University of Cincinnati.

Businesses of any size can benefit from these programs and it is good to know what’s out there. Several OfficeKey clients have taken advantage of this great resource and hopefully others will do the same. Paula explained that there are four primary types of experiential learning opportunities for UC students:

–Co-op
–Academic Internship
–Service Learning
–UC Forward

The co-op program consists of alternating terms of full-time academic study with working full-time. It is a five year commitment with no summers off. By graduation, each student will have about one and a half years of experience. All engineering and DAAP (College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning) students are required to go through a Co-op program. Business students have the option to choose a Co-op program or take part in an academic internship.

The Academic Internship Program which Paula oversees is open to students across all fields of study. It is comprised of a two term sequence with one term devoted to study and the other to a work experience. The work portion requires 225 hr of work over the course of the term. Or an average of 15 hours per week. They can be paid or unpaid (if it’s a non-profit) but the paid positions are likely to attract more candidates.

Service Learning is a specially designed learning experience in which students combine reflection with structured participation in community based projects to achieve specified learning outcomes as part of an academic course and/or program requirement. Students do not get paid in this program because the goal of the program is to learn through service to the community.

Finally, UC Forward is a newly created program designed to foster cross-college courses that unite faculty and students from different colleges with stakeholders outside of the university; with a focus on developing new ways to tackle real world problems. The thought is that students should be able to put into action the things they are learning in the classroom, with the expectation that it will develop skills that can’t be taught in a lecture.

Students are available 3 times a year; January to May, May to August, and August to December. Arrangements are typically made at least one semester ahead so if interested plan accordingly. For more information click on the links above or contact Paula Harper at [email protected].

• Justin Myers
• Uncategorized
• Comments Off on Guest Blog: First Impressions from a New Subscriber

OfficeKey is an interesting name because, although I don’t have one physical “key” to get in, I feel like I have a key to the city.

Shared space makes so much sense; with more and more people going into business for themselves, sharing work space allows small companies to run as smoothly as big companies do, AND that big fancy board room gets a lot more use!

Meeting Space:

Last week while I was planning meetings with potential clients, I asked all of them where they would like to meet. I was able to quickly get meeting space in Hyde Park, Blue Ash and West Chester to accommodate them. Even though I had never had meetings in any of these buildings, I was able to walk in, find the meeting areas and get started quickly. The staff greeted me pleasantly in each location, as if they knew me.

Equipment:

The monitors in each room easily acknowledged my laptop, which made viewing web pages and getting ideas a lot easier than looking at a smaller screen. When I had any technical difficulty, the staff jumped up and helped me, without question. I have been so impressed. The Wifi is so easy to access and always works well, unlike the free wifi at restaurants, which only works half of the time.

Open Workspace:

I have already used the open work space areas several times. I have a home office, so I am usually there, but this space is awesome for getting work done. The desk space is ample and the chairs are comfortable. There are enough outlets for all my chargers and others working are pleasant and respectful.

I love being able to stay behind after my guests leave. I used to have meetings at Starbuck’s or Panera, but now I can plan on meeting at OfficeKey and eliminate driving from one meeting to another.

The Amenities:

The kitchen is clean and organized. I brought some left overs from lunch and put them in the fridge; it was awesome being able to leave them there and not have to take it home in my hot car. When I came back Friday they were there waiting for me. (At home someone would have eaten them.) There is bottled water available for my guests and myself and coffee, if I need a little energy.

Thank you, OfficeKey!

• Justin Myers
• Uncategorized
• Comments Off on Get Out of the Office this Summer

If you’re lucky enough you will get a little time this summer to get away from work and relax with your family and friends. However that’s never an easy proposition for a business owner. Particularly if it’s a one person operation. There are certain things that only you can do for your business, but managing and maintaining your office doesn’t have to be one of them.

Whether you are on vacation or just want the flexibility of working out of your home, a serviced office is the place for you.  You can physically be in the office or be a million miles away and it will run smoothly just the same.  You will keep up your profile as a company worth doing business with, calls will be answered, packages received and your office is managed to set you up for success.

It’s important to take some time off every once in a while to recharge your battery.  If you’re constantly worried about what’s going on back at the office, how much time are you actually taking to relax?

• Justin Myers
• Uncategorized
• Comments Off on Are Open Plan Workspaces the New Normal?

The “Superdesk” in this video is a great example of the creative ways in which workspaces are evolving. It’s exciting to see companies pushing the boundaries of what an office can and should be. However, it’s also very apparent that some industries are much more suited to this type of open plan than others. Marketing or tech companies would often lend themselves very well to a unique setup like this. Perhaps not so much for the legal or financial industries. Although that could change as the old guard gives way to a new generation of workers. Regardless it appears that the open plan workspace is not a fad and is here to stay. The question is will it be a niche, relegated only to certain company types, or will it become the norm for offices across a wide variety of industries?

• Justin Myers
• Uncategorized
• Comments Off on Leverage Your Firm’s First Impression

To be a successful attorney you have to be willing and able to dig into the details of each case you take on.  If you run a solo or small practice it’s important that the same eye for detail applies to how you operate as a business.  One such detail that can be easily overlooked is the management of the initial impression that a prospective client will have when encountering your firm.  Here is an article that highlights the importance of taking advantage of those opportunities and the best practices in which to go about it:

http://www.attorneyatwork.com/best-practices-law-firm-telephone-etiquette/

• Justin Myers
• Uncategorized
• Comments Off on Do Home-Based Businesses Need a Traditional Office?

We all know the stories of Apple and Google and many others that started with just a couple of guys in a garage somewhere.  At some point they outgrew that garage and graduated to an office.  Obviously in those cases the businesses saw incredible growth and that was the primary driver to pushing them out of the house.  For many others, things evolve more gradually.  The question is not when it is necessary to establish an office, but rather when is it advantageous.

As anyone who works from home knows, there are many advantages; lower overhead, no commute,  liberal dress code, flexible schedule, etc.  However, there are quite a few disadvantages as well.  It can feel isolating, make you stir crazy, there are endless distractions and possibly most importantly, it makes for a tricky situation when you need to meet with someone.  It’s likely that you may have the option to meet at a client’s office.  However, depending on the situation, meeting on someone else’s turf can potentially give the perceived notion of an upper hand against the visitor.  Of course people often take the neutral route and make Starbucks, Panera or the local coffee shop their go-to destination for meetings.  And that is all well and good but it is less than ideal considering there is little to no privacy and plenty of distractions.

The alternative is to subscribe to a shared office service or what many people refer to as a “virtual office”.  Companies utilize this setup to continue to reap the benefits of working out of the home but also leverage the access to meeting space and the address and services of professional office.  Because it is space that is shared the costs are minimal relative to the typical alternative.  A prestigious address gives a company validation in much of the same way that a portfolio of past work or a client list would.  It lets people know that you legitimate and established.

In a perfect world all companies would burst out of the gate and all decisions would revolve around how to handle a flurry of success.  Unfortunately that is not a reality for most businesses.  The real world is full of tough choices that have to be made using incomplete data.  Adding office space has to be done in a prudent way that will add value to a company.

To circle back to the question posed above, when is it advantageous to establish an office?  Obviously every business is unique so there are no blanket answers, but the key is knowing that the advantages are real and there for the taking with minimal investment.

• Justin Myers
• Uncategorized
• Comments Off on OfficeKey’s New Logo

We started out on a mission to update the website and decided that the logo could use a refreshed look as well. Thanks to the talents of Once Blind Studios we were able to come up with something that will represent us well on many levels.

There are several characteristics that specifically touch on what we’re about. The most obvious feature is of course the buildings. They collectively represent the different type of office buildings we are in; from a 3 or 4 story suburban office building, up to a 40 floor skyscraper. However, more importantly it’s intended to show that any size business can create an office home with us. Additionally, OfficeKey subscribers can add or remove space as needed so it helps to reflect the building block nature in which companies create their office.

We tied in the company name by angling the top of the building to be notched like a key. And finally, when the logo is viewed entirely, it is similar to the power button symbol on a computer. We felt that was a strong and relatable image even if it wasn’t consciously apparent at first glance. Companies get a turnkey solution for their office that is ready to be powered up whenever they are ready.