The market for
flexible workspace has grown significantly over the past decade, catching the
attention of startup companies and enterprise-level businesses alike. Today,
flexible workspace is becoming the norm for many employers. Here are three
benefits of flexible workspace:
Flexibility
The elastic
terms provided by a flexible workspace provider gives tenants the ability to
scale as their needs change. This means a company can grow into a private
office, or multiple private offices, as well as scale within the same building,
all without having to change addresses.
Flexible
workspaces can also reduce the burden of high upfront capital costs and fixed
expenditures — giving your company more cash on hand.
Amenities
As the
competition for top talent heats up, companies must adapt their workplaces in
response to changing demands and expectations of employees. Flexible workspaces
offer a wide range of hospitality-focused services
and amenities — from a welcoming reception area and dedicated community manager to daily
snacks and refreshments — creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere and positive
workday experience for all employees.
Community
Flexible
workspaces also give tenants access to a supportive community of other business
professionals to work around. This means companies and their employees have
endless opportunities to network and socialize with other members — both
throughout the workday and during community programs and events.
Adopting a
flexible workspace can save you time and money, accelerating move-in time while
reducing capital expenditures and operational costs. Flexible workspaces can
also provide you with the flexibility, amenities, and community that a
traditional office lease and space cannot.
Entrepreneurs are heroes. I firmly stand by that statement. As police officers, firefighters, and soldiers are heroes to our personal safety- as teachers are heroes to our children’s education – entrepreneurs are heroes to the economy.
Founders take huge personal risks to innovate a better world for us all and create jobs in the process. Every great innovation we enjoy comes from the mind of a Founder willing to risk it all to make our lives better. We’re familiar with the greats–like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, Walt Disney, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Howard Schultz, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, Herb Kelleher, Arianna Huffington, Jack Ma, and many more.
But for every Founder that has tasted success and made the spotlight, there are hundreds more that have “failed”. I quote the word “failed” because they are not failures as in the opposite of “success”. By the very nature of an entrepreneur, risk is an innate characteristic, vital and necessary to create something out of nothing. And where there is nothing, there is no manual or guide for what to create and how. Hence, many millions of Founders go to battle – only a few surviving. The sacrifices those Founders make ensure the success of the Elon Musk’s of the world.
If it were up to me, every “failed” entrepreneur would get a
pension plan in recognition of the service they have performed for our
country’s economy. But why do some many Founders fail? It mostly comes down to
the two types of luck.
The first luck is just dumb luck – being in the right place at the right time. This is not something that can be planned or architected. It’s just the inherent randomness of life that accounts for many of life’s successes and failures. We cannot control what we cannot control.
The second kind of luck is the luck of the prepared. This is
the luck that many entrepreneurs refer to as “I make my own luck”. It’s the
luck that those who plan and work hard enjoy. It’s not a guaranteed recipe for
success, but it provides a marked advantage over those who do not plan or put
in the work.
And that brings the conversation to why we at Founders
Workshop are supporting PHX and why we support entrepreneurs. PHX provides the
events and opportunities Founders need to create their own luck. Founders
Workshop provides software development services exclusively to Founders–
catering our services to maximize “Founder Luck” through a tried and true
development process. Founders Workshop funds the AZ Founders Guild – a
peer-to-peer community exclusively for Founders to support a Founders journey
through mentoring, pitch practicing, and other Founder related events. We are
thrilled to be part of the PHX community and are humbled by what PHX has done
for the Founder community in Phoenix.
Founders are truly the heroes of our economy. And Founders deserve better! That’s why Founders Workshop, AZ Founders Guild, and the PHX ecosystem helps provide every advantage we can to Founders.
John Zechlin, Principal Software Engineer, PHX Devs
So, you have a great idea but you’re not sure where to
start. Maybe your great idea is for a business, an app, or anything else. John
Zechlin, Principal Software Engineer at PHX Devs shared 6 ways to get started
on that great ideas.
Attend PHX Startup Week! John shared a story with our team about a speaker he listened to in Gilbert at PHX Startup Week last year that actually was part of the motivation for him to gather a team and launch PHX Devs. PHX Startup Week is an opportunity to put yourself in front of resources, new ideas, new connections and so much more.
Listen to ‘How I Built This’. In case you’re not familiar, ‘How I Built This’ is a podcast from NPR hosted by Guy Raz. In each episode, Guy Raz speaker with innovators and entrepreneurs to learn the stories behind the businesses they’ve created. These podcast episodes are inspiring and insightful and John shared that he’s collected many golden nuggets from this show.
Ask yourself what is stopping you. You have a great idea, but you haven’t taken the leap yet. Why? What’s stopping you? This personal evaluation might be challenging but it’s essential in moving forward. Are you scared of failure? Do you not have enough time?
Mitigate what’s stopping you. This next step makes sense. Once you discover what is holding you back, it allows you to start making progress in mitigating that roadblock. This might be a bit of a process but create a plan to move the roadblock and allow yourself to move forward.
Decide what the minimum required to take your idea to the next step. Say that you have a great idea for an app, but the full version you’d love to bring to the market would involve a significant investment of time and money. Is there a smaller or different version of the app that you could bring to market first that would require less investment but would keep your idea moving forward?
Define what early success will look like. Success is personally defined by every person. Define with yourself or your team what early success would look like.
Pick something, take steps, and move the needle. There’s the age-old saying, that when you have a pile of bricks to move, all you have to do it just move one brick a day. Just do something every day to move yourself and your idea forward. Set aside a chunk of time and work on connecting with others, writing a business plan, publishing content, etc.
If you’re interested in continuing the conversation, or if you have a development need, be sure to stop by and visit PHX Devs at PHX Startup Week 2020!
John Zechlin, Co-Founder, Principal Software Engineer, PHX Devs
Remote work is not only growing; it’s also changing. What began as an alternative for the few has become a way of life for millions. In study after study and across Point B’s diverse client base, the trend is clear: more people are working remotely at more companies for a growing part of their workweek – with more full-time remote workers every year.
As technology makes remote work possible across more types of
work and industries, companies have good reasons to embrace it. A remote
workforce can help stem the high costs of office space, parking and other
on-site infrastructure challenges. Forward-thinking companies can plan ahead to
grow their workforces and venture into new markets without the time and expense
of expanding their physical footprints. Remote work is a compelling way to
recruit and retain great employees. Talented self-starters are drawn to
companies that offer flexible working arrangements. Employees may work harder
to keep the trust they’ve been given to work off-site. Research shows that people
who want to work remotely report feeling happier and more productive when they
do.
Of course, it’s not all blue sky. Employees may be surprised
to find that working remotely doesn’t offer as much flexibility as they
expected. Sometimes remote workers can’t stay in sync with the daily pulse of
on-site work. Remote workers might miss the social benefits of a team. Managers
may not know how to manage remote workers. Communications can suffer. On the bottom
line, organizations typically don’t realize near-term cost savings from remote
work. But these challenges can be overcome with the right upfront investment in
tools and resources.
Point B’s Perspective
Point B has helped many organizations and their employees make
winning transitions to remote working. In fact, we believe remote working is so
important that we’ve made it a core focus of our Future of Work practice.
Does your company know what it takes to make remote working
work? What follows are six guiding principles we use to help ensure that a remote
workplace transformation will succeed. All of them are interdependent, which
means that none can be ignored.
1. Reliable tools
There’s a preconception that solo work, such as programming,
does well remotely but that team-based work, such as creative collaboration,
does not. The fact is that many types of work can now be done remotely if
people have the right tools. Design your systems for efficient searching and
indexing, and invest time teaching teams to optimize virtual collaboration
tools. Unencumbering system security and
mobile access are table stakes.
2. Equitable policies
Remote working may bring up issues of fairness, especially if
it is viewed as a perk. Policies perceived as unfair or inconsistent quickly
affect morale and camaraderie.
We find that most organizations don’t have remote working
policies. Clearly define participation rules and guidelines for remote workers,
including expectations and etiquette around remote meetings. Make remote
workers feel part of the team. Invite them to social events and support their
travel costs as appropriate. Give them digital access to publications and
business information that others have or may share onsite. Keeping remote
workers in the loop builds team camaraderie.
3. Responsive support
You wouldn’t let your onsite employees’ computers stay down for
a day. Likewise, a remote workforce needs the same degree of attention to IT performance,
security and support. Create a support infrastructure that prioritizes remote
worker requests, and maintain the tools to handle issues remotely. Your company
should also be prepared to make “house calls” and deliver on fast
shipping support if remote hardware issues arise.
4. Investment
Remote work can drive efficiencies that reduce costs in the
long run. However, as mentioned earlier, it takes an upfront investment to see
savings later on. Put the right tools and resources in the hands of remote
workers. A transformation to remote working is not the time to cut corners on
support. Be flexible and generous, and see the results.
5. Change management
Remote work is an organizational change that affects everyone – those working both on-site and off. Unplanned, unstructured transitions can lead to massive workflow disruptions, stalled projects, dissatisfaction, and lack of trust. Manage the change that comes with remote working by simply thinking and planning ahead. Define user-profiles and align change activities to each user’s needs. Develop training and communicate with leaders and colleagues to help them adjust to the new work environment. Show trust in remote workers. Keep listening and communicating. Never underestimate the emotional aspects of this change; ignoring them results in real productivity dips.
6. Intentional culture
A lack of well-defined purpose can erode the value of remote
work and make it tough to measure success. What is the intent of remote work
for your company? How can you share this intent in ways that gain understanding
and support? Consider offering social programs and cultural events specific to
remote workers. Encourage co-located small group connections and cover expenses
for outings that bring virtual teams together. And put the spotlight on remote
workers in internal news. If you’ve paid attention to these six guiding
principles for success, you’ll have plenty of good news to share.
The Bottom Line
Great organizations are becoming less about where employees work and more about the talent, energy and commitment they bring to their work – wherever they do it. A healthy remote workforce can attract and keep high-caliber people. Improve productivity. Lower costs. Boost morale. And make it more cost-effective and flexible for your organization to grow. Not only will you reap all these benefits now; you’ll also be positioned to attract the digital natives who make up an increasing portion of the workforce – employees for whom the ability to work anytime, anywhere seems only natural.
Eric Hammons, Principal, PointB uses his two decades of project management and business transformation experience to focus on organization and team performance. He’s passionate about volunteering in the community and works with non-profits to help them develop strategic communication and change management plans.
Johnny Hanna is CEO of Homie, a tech-enabled real estate brokerage headquartered just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Since the company’s launch in 2015, Homie has become the number one listing broker in UT, raised millions of dollars in funding, launched in Phoenix, AZ (and soon to come, Las Vegas, NV), and employed over 200 agents and other tech-savvy professionals.
That’s the typical introduction that startup entrepreneurs and executives have come accustomed to. While that bio shines with accolades and success, it’s missing the most important thing about Johnny Hanna.
He is a human.
Johnny Hanna is a father, a husband, and a leader. His passion for helping others prompted him to start Homie, a tech-enabled real estate brokerage, headquartered in Utah, that saves buyers and sellers thousands of dollars in commissions. In his spare time, Johnny enjoys spending time with his wife and seven children. Johnny feels strongly about promoting mental health, work/life balance, and self-care in the workplace.
In an interview with Johnny, we explored the stigma that the startup world creates around crushing it, all the time.
Question: Can you share with us a personal story about mental health?
Answer: “I recently posted some thoughts on LinkedIn. I explained that I’ve been trying to not label myself as CEO of Homie. What you do isn’t who you are. I talked about how, if I am just the CEO of Homie, my value is attached to the company. If the company isn’t doing something newsworthy, I am a failure; if the company is doing well, I am arrogant. I shared that we are currently going through training at Homie on self-care and mental health.
With that post, I learned that everyone bottles things. Five minutes after I hit that Post button, I got a private message. It was from another CEO who told me he was struggling. He asked for info on the training. Instead of just giving him info, I called him directly. He was just really upset. He needed someone to talk to.
Until you open up, no one knows what you’re going through.
I’ve had tons of messages from people stemming from a similar post in the past. The number goes up to around 70 people, people who need support.”
Question: Can you share the process of protecting work/life balance for Homie employees?
Answer: “We have mental health training going on right now. We talked about understanding self-care and what it is. Our executive team went through it, and our mid-level managers are doing it now. Soon, we’ll roll it out to the entire company.
Some things I focus on from the training include drawing boundaries, taking time to think and meditate, and prioritizing my life. Now, I can’t control what people choose to do. I can give them tools to help them balance their lives.
Another key point in our training regards vernacular. One of our company values is balance. We can more easily hold each other to that value if we all speak the same language. We can promote balance by using the same words and having a common understanding of what self-care is.”
Question: How do you practice what you’ve learned in the training?
Answer: “Being present. I am married, and I am a dad. When I go home, I recognize that I just left a full-time job, and I am starting another full-time job. If I check out of my job at home, then I am just avoiding my responsibility as a husband and as a father to be present. It’s constantly a challenge. You have to build the habit of being present. You’ll have slip-ups, but it’s working toward the end goal that’s important. If you’re not working on self-care, you’re not healthy and you’re not balanced.”
Question: What tips would you give a new business owner, an entrepreneur, or a leader in an established company about mental health?
Answer: “Recognize your feelings. Share your feelings. Be vulnerable. Everybody struggles. Everybody bottles it up. No one [in the workplace] is really open with their feelings. We’ve been taught NOT to be. Sharing what you feel is not a weakness, it is a strength. Tucking everything away is hard. It’s numbing. That is a weakness, and people don’t realize that. When we have these pains, we go home and try to ignore it; we binge watch TV and try to shut down our brains because we had a painful day. Instead, acknowledge those feelings and work through them. If you treat them like water under the bridge, they’ll come flowing back later on.”
Question: What do you want people to take away from this interview the most?
Answer: “If your entire worth is tied to whatever label or job you have, you’ll end up in a dark place. Your worth as a human being never changes. You are loved. You have a support system out there that you might not know about right now. Find it. I know it’s easy to act like you’re crushing it all the time because you compare yourself to other people in your position. What you need to remember is that comparison is the thief of joy.
Don’t let your worth be tied to things that are out of your control. Being overwhelmed and stressed is a choice you make. Don’t take things on because you think other people are out there doing it. You’ll have a distorted view of what self-worth is.”
We want to thank Johnny for opening up for this interview and for his time. Homie is currently using ConneXions for employee mental health curriculum.
Johnny Hanna is CEO of Homie, a tech-enabled real estate brokerage headquartered just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Since the company’s launch, Homie has become the number one listing broker in UT, raised millions of dollars in funding, launched in Phoenix, AZ (and soon to come, Las Vegas, NV), and employed over 200 agents and other tech-savvy professionals.
Have you ever left something behind? Maybe you left your phone at home (though probably not for very long). Maybe you left a tablet, or even your laptop, in the back seat pocket on an airplane. Doubly guilty. But have you ever left behind a critical part of your business? Like your website perhaps?
Think about this: have you ever seen a really amazing service with a really terrible website? The chances that you hired them is very unlikely. In fact, 75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design. Yes, web design. This isn’t 2001 where people will just be impressed you have a website. Welcome to 2020. This next decade, your business will be left behind if you aren’t on top of your online storefront. In all honesty, the clients you have now, will very likely forget about you completely if your web presence is unremarkable.
Are you currently wondering if social media counts as “web presence” for your businesses success in 2020? Yes…and no. If your Facebook page is a ghost town, they will forgive you and tell themselves you have too much business to worry about your company’s Facebook profile. If your Instagram does not have one professional image on any of your squares, they won’t blink an eye, “Instagram is just for Influencers, anyway,” they will say. “It’s not for real businesses.” But that’s where they will end with giving you a pass for an incomplete web presence.
If your potential clients happen to tap your link on Instagram or click your URL on Facebook to find out more – what will they find there?
What if a potential client gets a text from a friend recommending your business? They hop out of their messages to surf their mobile browser for your website. Do they find a well designed, mobile-ready online storefront they want to do business with? It better be good, and it better be attention grabbing the very second they click on your URL. Why? Studies show that potential customers will decide to stay on your site or jump ship, within the span of 5 seconds. Is your mobile site that good?
It’s general knowledge in our world that 57% of internet users say they won’t even recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile. Mobile. You are going to lose over half of your business if your website is not mobile-ready. And guess what? 60% of small businesses still do not have a mobile-friendly site! In other words, if your website looks the same on a desktop as it does on a phone, it is not mobile-ready. The mobile visitor to your site should not have to pinch a picture bigger, or turn their phone to the side to read the font, or even scroll to understand what you can do for them. Make it simple, make it clear, make a functioning mobile site so you don’t lose most of your potential referrals.
Friends, we aren’t beating around the bush. You need to have your mobile site up and running tomorrow! You can get started today ! The conversion is greatly in your favor. Want the numbers? 88% of consumers who search for a type of business on a mobile device call or go with that business within 24 hours. Where else are you going to get those results? Even paid ads will not come close to the return you will get on your own mobile-ready site.
Your website is your online storefront which, in 2020, is most likely your first chance to make a first impression. This is the store window of your company. This is your potential client’s first welcome into your business. When you get this right, you reduce friction and make it easier for your ideal clients to find you and book your services.
Whether you are a start-up, a photographer, a business coach, an interior decorator, or anything in between – you have competition, and you need a way to stand out from the crowd. Let your website do the talking for you, even before you meet your client for the first time. If you are feeling convicted that you have forgotten about your website for too long, let Showit help you to make a beautiful, on-brand website. And trust us, it will look great on mobile, as well as desktop.
Make that 57% of judgmental website visitors recommend your business without thinking twice.
Face it, everyone is occasionally forgetful. Forgetting a device may cost you a few dollars to replace. But forgetting to pay attention to your online presence is neglecting a key element of your business Losing customers because they are having a negative experience with your website will cost you, potential clients, not to mention thousands of dollars in business. You cannot afford to forget about your online storefront any longer. Your website is the key to running a successful business in 2020.
This blog was written and provided by ShowIt, a generous sponsor of PHX Startup Week 2020.
