Improve your productivity with co-working

It has been five months since I started using a coworking space at Buro Miami: Urban Workspaces so I wanted to give you an update. It definitely has been an very positive experience. I will give you my appreciation of the good, the (not-so) bad and my final thoughts.

The good

• The place is always clean and the environment nice and friendly.
• Lots of energy and people taking care of business - it motivates you.
• Environment/decor is great for bringing clients to your office - plan ahead if you need to reserve a meeting room.
• The people around you are, for the most part, quiet and respectful of your space and will generally walk away to an empty space to have phone conversations - I do the same thing. 
• The dress code depends on you and your aim for the day so it ranges from fully relaxed (short and a t-shirt) to business formal. 
• Full service office: copier, fax, mail room, receptionist, etc. 
• Many additional services/benefits: discount card to local businesses, sandwich service to the office, Spanish lessons...
• For me, it is a tax-deductible expense (check your tax laws).

The (not-so) bad

• Parking is not in the building so you have to walk (a block tops). It is only a problem if it rains.

Final Thoughts

For me, the thing that sealed the deal is that my productivity skyrockets when I am there (as compared to my home-office) because I get into full work mode. As you can tell, I like everything about the place. I would recommend anyone working from home to give co-working a try.

Helping a partner regain their performance edge.

An under-performing partner or coworker can bring down the performance of a division or the whole company – this may in turn, affect our end-of-year bonus, profit share or work environment. So, rather than saying that it is her or his problem and letting them be, sometimes it is in our best interest to help the under-achiever.

Recently I was working in a venture with a person that was under-performing and it was bringing the whole partnership productivity down. We were both responsible for parts of the venture that were complementary but mutually exclusive. My problem was how to help her achieve the desired performance without destroying the partnership by being invasive and controlling. The reasons for my decision to help were:

• It seemed fixable (no drug use, alcohol or any of the sorts). 
• Her past performance indicated that she was capable of much more than she was delivering. 
• Dissolving the partnership would have been a complicated and messy affair – and not good for both our reputations. 

My plan was to approach this person and state the problem and my intentions in a clear and respectful manner. I set up an appointment to discuss the situation in a non threatening environment and out of the office. During the conversation I setup myself as a supporter and ally and not a fixer – this is important! You are there to help not do their job (unless it is a problem in your area). At the end of the meeting we established an agreement that we would work on the problems and setup a general plan. Keep it simple.
Over the next few days, we clearly identified the problems, their causes and devised plans to fix and correct each one of them, as well as establishing indicators and goals for each one of them (you have to know when you are done). We identified everything that may be affecting her performance, from rebellious employees to over-dependent clients, and put a plan in place to correct them.
Over time, we tracked our plans and made corrections, while keeping our eyes in our indicators and goals. As problems started to disappear her productivity went back to what was expected and we developed a better working relationship.

Business opportunities: gut vs. numbers

Recently I have been interacting with small to medium-size business owners to discuss the topic of business opportunities whether it is an expansion of their current business or an evaluation of parallel income opportunities (like diversification). Our discussion usually starts with the business objectives and their assessment of the opportunity, I noticed that all of them, without fail, are using back of the envelope calculations, and nothing more, to evaluate their opportunity. No a single cash flow spreadsheet was used, the due diligence was a personal visit with the other company (to meet the owners, partners, etc).

This way of doing business clashes to some degree to what you see in business schools - where there is no investment without a lot of due diligence. We can learn from these successful people and use our gut to make business decisions. In our big corporations by having some degree of freedom in what bets we allow our trusted employees to place.

Like in everything, there is a threshold to the amount of money you can trust to your gut. If the amount is large enough, use the tools that MBAs, M&A people, investment bankers, VC have always used to evaluate business decisions. The amount should depend in your company's cash flow and in its risk culture.