small business
Staying in
business by
sharing costs
Successful
syner gies
BUSINESS ZOO
By Heather Larson
IN ORDER TO SURVIVE in this uncertain
economy, small businesses have had to take a
closer look at how they do what they do. The
traditional way of doing business, with one
company in a single space, doesn’t always
make the most sense financially. Instead,
some smaller companies have chosen to share
office space, a storefront or even a receptionist to cut costs. Here’s a closer look at several
companies that have made these collaborations work.
When Costco member OfficeDrop, a
digital filing and document scanning company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, leased a
fairly large office space, it was with the intent
of sharing that space with another business
until they had enough of their own employees
to fill it.
“We posted on our blog and Twitter that
we wanted to sublet and even joked that the
arrangement included food and coffee from
Costco,” says Healy Jones, head of marketing
for OfficeDrop. Yamli, an Arabic language
processing business, responded first and
moved in with OfficeDrop in March 2010.
Yamli pays a fixed amount per month for
rent, utilities and other costs of doing business, based on the number of employees they
have, and then OfficeDrop pays all the bills.
Jones says that Yamli occupies the oppo-
site side of the building, so employees from
each company don’t interact very much, but
that because both businesses use the same
Internet connectivity, if it’s not working or has
issues, resolving the problem is even more
urgent than it would be for a solo business.
The traditional way
of doing business,
with one company in
a single space, doesn’t
always make the most
sense ;nancially.
panies often have discussions about that
around the refrigerator, but there’s no formal
partnership.
Two other unlikely collaborators, Raw
Talent Guitar, a guitar training software
developer and Costco member in Coral
Springs, Florida, and the accounting firm of
Freund, Katz, Goldston & Young have been
successfully sharing an office for two years. It
FEBRUARY 2011 ;e Costco Connection 21
helps that the accountants are rowdy, says
Marc Quadagno, director of media relations
for Raw Talent Guitar.
The president of Raw Talent Guitar,
Lawrence Fisher, started the accounting firm
(formerly Freund & Fisher, before selling his
half), so sharing space was a logical transition.
“We give them a predetermined amount of
money for all the expenses, which is about a
third, including the receptionist we share,” says
Quadagno. “Although we have our own com-
puters, we also share their phone lines, Internet
connection and fax.”
While conflicts could arise between rau-
cous guitar players and accountants, the only
real challenge has been that the accounting
firm caters to clients who come to their
offices, while Raw Talent Guitar’s work is
more virtual.
“We have to close our doors when we
play guitar, and sometimes when we’re brain-
storming in the conference room they ask us
to leave so they can speak with a client,” says
Quadagno. “But it’s all done lightheartedly.”
STL-Style, a St. Louis–inspired apparel
company, had been using Lighthouse Design
as their contract screen printer, so when STL-
Style rented a storefront in January 2010,
teaming up under one roof seemed like a
logical progression. Both companies agreed
to split costs in half—the rent, utilities, signs,
