Still Working out of a Fishbowl?
Here at The Rostie Group, we prefer to look at our fishbowls, not work out of them.
It’s just a basic question of space. Small offices with tiny chairs and glass walls. Everyone looks at you, everyone watches… and judges…
Well, maybe not judge. But while other office providers’ glass walls look good in brochures and website images, the reality of it is much different. It’s not comfortable to sit in open view. Especially if you have confidential material open.
With The Rostie Group, you don’t have to be watched like a fish.
And if you’d like to see our fish tank – with fish that don’t mind being on display – head on over to our instagram to see more pictures and videos!
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Corporate Event Venues
Choosing a venue for a Corporate event can be difficult. Not only do you have to balance the cost (to keep the accounting department happy), but you also have to make sure all the attendees have what they need. Not only in terms of space on a table and a place to sit. But also in terms of comfort: atmosphere in the venue, proximity to transit or available parking, and even if they have catering available. (Work doesn’t get done on an empty stomach).
These elements can all be difficult to balance for a regular event. But a Corporate event requires extra planning.
Decisions made at the Corporate level can affect entire companies, thousands of workers, and even global economies. It’s important to know that the time spent in these events by the heads of large Corporations cost thousands by the hour, in salaries alone.
To make level headed decisions, event attendees need to be content. They can’t be distracted by the temperature being slightly off or a malfunctioning piece of equipment.
There are many ways you can research the perfect event space. But looking them up online is only one part of the equation: You’ll see the best pictures and the best angles. Make sure you go through the effort to find the best Corporate event venue for your team.
It’s a good thing that you’re reading this then, because here at The Rostie Group, we’ve perfected Corporate events. The decorations of our rooms can match any corporate office. We’re steps from Union station, and have parking available. We provide full catering with a delicious menu that will please even the most particular of people.
So when you’re doing research on where to host your next event, make sure to book a visit with The Rostie Group. Come see our rooms in person, and you’ll see why we are the best choice.
The August/September Scoop is Out!
Enjoy This Month’s Scoop And Learn About Exciting Events Happening Around Toronto’s Waterfront.
If you would like to advertise in our growing newsletter we are always happy to showcase local companies and community partners. For more information on advertising, email marketing@rostiegroup.com to request a copy of our Media Kit!
You can also read all the editions of The Scoop, on your phone or tablet, through the Google News App. You can even take them with you and read them offline! Just click here to go directly to our Google News feed.
Angela Cannon (right) is joining as Catering & Facilities Coordinator. If you’re looking to get excellent food for your meeting, she’s your go-to person.
The Rostie Group would like to welcome to our staff three new wonderful people:
Jenny Mcfaul (left) is joining our Client Services Team You may have seen her at Reception already. Don’t hesitate to ask Jenny for anything you need.
Katie Duff (center) is also joining our Client Services Team. Katie has been in Canada only 2 months, and we’re definitely glad she’s here!
We look forward to what the future holds for all three with The Rostie Group!
The Anatomy of a Virtual Office
A Virtual Office is generally considered to be a package that allows the purchaser to use a business centre’s mailing address as if it were their own. These packages frequently also include services like live reception, a local number, and meeting room hours.
What a virtual office really is, though, is globalization writ small.
How we conduct business has been fundamentally changed since our parents’ time, and the Virtual Office is a very poignant indicator of that. Companies, depending on the industry, can no longer afford to operate solely in one geographic area. In 2018, this expansion is also fundamentally internationalization, in a way that did not occur in, say, the 1950s- this presents numerous opportunities for firms; however, it also presents challenges. The Virtual Office is a symptom of this internationalization, and it arose in response to perhaps the largest of those challenges. For while, a business can be international and exist in many places at once, especially if it does not sell a physical product,
its staff and its offices cannot be.
Enter the Virtual Office. They were first conceived as a way for companies to expand to other regions without having to hire local staff or leasing office space- perfect for branching out quickly into new markets.
They’re still used for this today- people like seeing that the company they’re doing business with has a local address and phone number- even if that company is actually based half a world away.
So, Virtual Offices get used by companies who want to have a presence in other markets. But if you’ve heard of a Virtual Office before, it probably wasn’t being used that way. By far, the most frequent users of Virtual Offices are home business owners. With the advent of the internet, you no longer necessarily need a brick-and-mortar location for your business. People work from home much more frequently now than ever before, and Virtual Offices were enthusiastically adopted amongst that demographic.
Home business owners
choose to work from home- but they may not want their clients to know that.
Virtual Offices are the perfect fit
for that sector; the convenience of no commute married to the outward professionalism of having live receptionists and an address that isn’t in a residential area.
Virtual Offices are the perfect fit for that sector; the convenience of no commute married to the outward professionalism of having live receptionists and an address that isn’t in a residential area.
Virtual Offices are the natural response to a variety of factors present in today’s business climate- they help new businesses look legitimate (previously very expensive), help others expand to new markets, and demonstrate that the business world’s borders have less and less to do with imaginary lines on a map than ever before.
John Lopes Vieira (The Rostie Group)
Where is the most interesting place you’ve been? That time I was in London for 4 hours was pretty cool.
What is something that you think everyone should do at least once in their lives? Bungie Jumping. I mean, I’ve never done it, but everyone else should probably do it.
If you had one superpower, what would it be? The ability to make people believe anything I say.
What would you do if you knew you only had 24 hours left to live? Curl up into a ball, try not to cry, cry a lot.
If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would it be? Rob Paulsen.
The Office Industry is Changing
Okay, so when is the industry not changing? This may be a general statement in the world of ever-growing technology and real estate pricing. But, the business centre in a conventional sense is becoming very hard to define.
What is your work environment like? Are you a start up or do you have 40 employees? Do you primarily work at the same desk or find yourself always on the go?
In the past, there have been clear cut destinations that business owners have found themselves drawn to, based on a multitude of criteria. For example, finance companies worked in structured environments with rows of cubicles surrounded by water coolers; graphic designers worked at large
communal tables in brick and beam buildings that formerly hosted industrial assembly lines. They didn’t mix.
But what if these companies could find themselves rubbing shoulders with each other? Could a world filled with both left and right brain thinkers possibly get along together? The shared office space industry certainly thinks so, and companies are beginning to prove them right.
With industry giants such as Regus & WeWork competing at either ends of shared office space spectrum,
we find numerous office providers who are starting to position themselves somewhere in between – with no clear cut definition of their target market.
A once relatively unknown industry is now being considered by multibillion dollar per-year companies, as it presents a cost-cutting method to operate their businesses with a strict fiscal bottom line in mind.
Once considered feared competitors to be reckoned with, the global recognition and media attention that these industry giants are garnering actually benefits the smaller shared office space providers.
How, you ask, can small businesses benefit from the ever growing giants within an industry?
I pose this question to you: Have you ever had a pizza from Domino’s? You know the price, the quality, the speed of delivery, the shape, size, and consistency, but you’re never wowed by the end result. It is a quick alternative that hides itself behind flashy marketing and a cell phone app. They don’t know you, the customer. They don’t know the specifics of your order (unless you tell them, time after time). They are a generic food factory servicing the masses, without the ability to cater to each of their clients’ immediate needs specifically.
Now, have you ever eaten at at your local pizzeria,owned and operated by a family in your very
own neighbourhood? These are the same people that know you by name, face and voice. They know that you live on the same street and know that you don’t like too many black olives. They may even be charitable enough to sponsor your child’s soccer team, or better yet, allow you to pay them back next time when you find you’re short on cash. At the end of the day, they’re friends.
The point, very simply, is that people like to pay for a service that is specific to their likes, wants and needs. Sometimes choosing the largest company in the industry is not the best way to proceed.
This is where privately owned business centres secure their slice within the industry (pun absolutely intended). It is very common to have business owners move to these smaller outfits after stints with large corporations. They do this because they are unhappy with the giant’s inability to cater their services to the specific requirements of each company’s business practice.
So, I challenge you to consider all elements of this
ever-changing industry when selecting your next office space provider. Whether you’re a financial giant or a start up app developer, why go with Domino’s when you can choose an experience that is fundamentally yours?
Like they say, you never know who you’re going to meet.
Coffee Tasting
Here at the Rostie Group, we take pride in our coffee. A good meeting needs good coffee to function properly – if it’s an early morning start, for a lot of people, that first cup is exactly what gets them going. We take so much pride, in fact, that we held an impromptu coffee tasting.
We stacked our coffee up against brews from around the neighbourhood. We were a little shocked, and very ecstatic that a blind taste test reaffirmed our faith in our coffee – we won! And not by a small margin, either.
When you’re next at The Rostie Group, come for the meeting, stay for the coffee.
Back to School Time is Back to Work Time
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What’s Happening in Toronto this August & September
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P: 416-360-4047
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Michael Scott
P: 416-998-2434
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P: 416-533-8368
Waterfront BIA
Entrepreneurial State of Mind
Being an entrepreneur is an innate trait that some are born with and some aren’t. It’s a mind set that many with this gift can’t seem to escape. They see the world as a large opportunity and continuously seek ways to seize the moment.
The world has seen its fair share of entrepreneurs who have succeeded and others who have not. It truly is a high risk, high reward life style.
Companies such as: Microsoft, Apple, Virgin, Tesla & Amazon all began as an idea on a piece of paper, by larger than life personalities that once started out in their parent’s basement. After countless trials and tribulations, these individuals were able to successfully penetrate a market and become king pins of their respective industries.
However, this success certainly didn’t come overnight. It’s a known fact that even these successful would-be billionaires were once on the verge of being homeless, surviving on the standard college diet of ramen noodles and living out of the back seats of their vehicles. It was only their entrepreneurial instinct that kept them pushing through these hard times and as luck would have it, their hard work and determination paid off.
Then, you have the other side of the coin.
In the early 2010’s, the world became obsessed with the reality TV concept of seeing entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors on shows like Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank.
These shows gave the everyday viewer a chance to see what entrepreneurs were coming up with, prior to their multi-million dollar success. Some shined through, while most failed to develop a concept that could wow not only the investors, but the audience who were watching the show. In some cases, the feedback went as far as telling these individuals to “stop putting money into this and walk away while you still can” or “this is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of”.
One thing to be taken from the countless seasons of good ideas and bad ideas is that the mindset of the participants never veered from their end goal of being a successful entrepreneur, regardless of the feedback they received.
Whether you possess this way of thinking or not, it’s important to remember that each person has a place in the world to be successful.
Most importantly, any good Entrepreneur needs the proper space for their ideas to develop and grow. That’s why The Rostie Group provides Offices of all sizes so you and your new growing team have a place to make your dreams come true!
The Office Industry is Changing
Okay, so when is the office industry not changing? This may be a general statement in the world of ever-growing technology and real estate pricing. But, the business centre in a conventional sense is becoming very hard to define.
What is your work environment like? Are you a start up or do you have 40 employees? Do you primarily work at the same desk or find yourself always on the go?
In the past, there have been clear cut destinations that business owners have found themselves drawn to, based on a multitude of criteria. For example, finance companies worked in structured environments with rows of cubicles surrounded by water coolers; graphic designers worked at large communal tables in brick and beam buildings that formerly hosted industrial assembly lines.
They didn’t mix.
But what if these companies could find themselves rubbing shoulders with each other? Could a world filled with both left and right brain thinkers possibly get along together?
The shared office space industry certainly thinks so, and companies are beginning to prove them right.
With industry giants such as Regus & WeWork competing at either ends of the shared office space spectrum, we find numerous office providers who are starting to position themselves somewhere in between – with no clear cut definition of their target market.
A once relatively unknown industry is now being considered by multibillion dollar per-year companies, as it presents a cost-cutting method to operate their businesses with a strict fiscal bottom line in mind.
Once considered feared competitors to be reckoned with, the global recognition and media attention that these industry giants are garnering actually benefits the smaller shared office space providers.
How, you ask, can small businesses benefit from the ever growing giants within an industry?
I pose this question to you – have you ever had a pizza from Domino’s? You know the price, the quality, the speed of delivery, the shape, size, and consistency, but you’re never wowed by the end result. It is a quick alternative that hides itself behind flashy marketing and a cell phone app. They don’t know you, the customer. They don’t know the specifics of your order (unless you tell them, time after time). They are a generic food factory servicing the masses, without the ability to cater to each of their clients’ immediate needs specifically.
Now, have you ever eaten at your local pizzeria, owned and operated by a family in your very own neighbourhood? These are the same people that know you by name, face and voice. They know that you live on the same street and know that you don’t like too many black olives. They may even be charitable enough to sponsor your child’s soccer team, or better yet, allow you to pay them back next time when you find you’re short on cash. At the end of the day, they’re friends.
The point, very simply, is that people like to pay for a service that is specific to their likes, wants and needs. Sometimes choosing the largest company in the industry is not the best way to proceed.
This is where privately owned business centres secure their slice within the industry (pun absolutely intended). It is very common to have business owners move to these smaller outfits after stints with large corporations. They do this because they are unhappy with the giant’s inability to cater their services to the specific requirements of each company’s business practice.
So, I challenge you to consider all elements of this ever-changing industry when selecting your next office space provider. Whether you’re a financial giant or a start up app developer, why go with Domino’s when you can choose an experience that is fundamentally yours?
Like they say, you never know who you’re going to meet.
Click here for more information about available Office Space at The Rostie Group.
Have you seen our Reservation Portal?
Here at the Rostie Group, we’re always looking to improve your experience. To that end, we have been working on something that is a long time coming.
A major updated to our reservation portal has made it better than ever before!
We have focused on eliminating the tiresome negotiation process of booking meeting rooms and streamlining the process to be as smooth as possible for our users.
As you can see below, the Rostie Group’s booking portal lets you see all of our available rooms as you book them.
If you’ve booked with us before, you can easily rebook meetings with a single click! This allows your layout, catering and other requests to remain the same as the last time you booked.
Whether you are using desktop, tablet or your phone we wanted you to have the best experience, so we redesigned the layout to be mobile ready no matter what screen you’re on.
If you are a new user, you’ll see how easy it is to view the catering menu and choose an option suited to your needs. Depending on the room size, you will also be able to view the meeting rooms various custom layouts and choose one that best fits your meeting requirements.
We understand that getting used to any new piece of software can be challenging. Not to worry, we will soon have an online tutorial added to our website to guide you through it and show just how easy it is!
Don’t forget- we don’t just offer Meeting Rooms! Check out our diversified Virtual Offices Packages and start your plan today.
What are you waiting for? Click here to go see the new Portal right now!
Why you need to Lease your Toronto Office Today
If you want to do business in Canada, there’s no better option than an Office Lease in Toronto. Home to most of Canada’s business population, this vibrant city’s economy is the largest of any city in the country. All of Canada’s largest industries are headquartered here- everything from mining to law, accounting to construction. In order to adequately approach the Toronto market, an office is essential. A prestigious Bay Street address is even more essential- show your clients that you’re not running a fly-by-night operation by starting a Toronto office lease with the Rostie Group. All of the Rostie Group’s Toronto office leases include:
- Mail Service
- Phone Service
- Live Reception Service
- 24/7 Access
- Bay Street Address
- Full Access to Kitchen and Amenities
- 16 Hours of free Small Boardroom access
- Rostie Group membership allowing you to book your own meeting room time
- Wi-Fi
- Customizable Offices
- Access to Gym Membership at reduced rate
- On-site Technical support
- Invitation to all Social Events being held on the floor
- 30% discount on all large boardroom meeting space prices
- Access to Union Station from via the PATH
- Complimentary Coffee
All of these services are included- that means that when you start a Toronto office lease at the Rostie Group, all you need to bring is yourself, and your computer. We take care of literally everything else- so you can get your business in Toronto up and running in no time at all. You need to ensure that your business gives off the best possible impression to your clients, and if you want your business to be successful, well, why would you waste time dealing with admin, reception and organizing mail? All of those services that we provide save you the time it would take to do it yourself, and save you the cost of hiring several full-time staff.
So why wait? Lease one of The Rostie Group’s Toronto Offices today.
Modern Meeting Rooms
What do you think of when you think of a board meeting?
Unlike modern facilities, I’m willing to bet the first things that come to mind are dark rooms, thick carpeting, leather chairs, the smell of old wood, and dust. Well, that may have been fine in 1956, but just as the workplaces look different in 2018, your meetings should too.
At the Rostie Group, we have Modern Meeting Rooms that are guaranteed to permanently change your perception of a board meeting. Our rooms come equipped with large windows to maximize natural light, and modern, ergonomic furniture that has been sustainably produced, in factories that guarantee good working conditions for their workers. Because unlike in the era that saw ‘traditional meetings’, that matters today.
It’s 2018- your meeting should either be paperless or it should have as little paper as possible. Deforestation is a global issue- leave that enormous paper trail where you left the old dusty furniture- firmly back in 1956. A modern meeting room needs to be equipped with a wide range of audio-visual options- screens, speakers, dedicated wi-fi, and outlets; leave paper behind.
Your comfort, and your guests’ comfort deeply impacts how successful your meeting is; and a modern meeting room experience is carefully tailored to maximize your meeting’s success. We worry about all of the additional details, like state of the art A/V equipment and sustainably produced furniture- all so you can focus on what’s really at stake- the success of your meeting.
Disrupt your preconceived notions of what a meeting is at the Rostie Group. You wouldn’t stay at a hotel that was last updated 40 years ago, so why would you hold a meeting there? It doesn’t make sense to embrace the past in a business environment that is as fast-paced and forward-looking as Toronto’s – go with the Rostie Group and understand what a modern meeting room experience really is .