Rostie Toxic Relationship

Leaving a “Toxic Relationship”

The interview is going so well and then, the dreaded question……
”why are you looking at other opportunities”.?

Do you lie, come up with an excuse or tell the truth that you cannot stand to look at your manager for another second!

While I believe honesty is always the best policy, admitting you wish he’d “take a long walk off a short pier” is probably not the way to go!

Unfortunately, it happens. You end up working for someone you don’t like and they may not like you. You simply don’t click and that’s okay, and probably the reason you’re looking for a new job.

However, as they say, words matter.

Hopefully you can honestly say that you have been very fortunate to have worked for, and mentored by a number of amazing managers and that you are able to take something positive away from this experience – you learned something, worked with an amazing team, or sold great product with a leading organization.

Whatever it is, keep it positive and professional and you’ll sail through that interview with flying colours!

If you’re looking to move on from one of these relationships, check out our available positions. 

Holiday Trivia @ The Rostie Group

Thank you to everyone who joined on Friday, December 14th for our Holiday Trivia event! A great time and a lot of laughs were had.

Take a look at the gallery of photos below for the event.

Our next Holiday event is our Annual Holiday Breakfast on Tuesday, December 18th starting at 8 am. Don’t miss it!

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.

New Faces on the Floor

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.

by: Spencer Anderson, The Rostie Group

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.

by: Tyler Blackwell, The Rostie Group

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

Available Positions Include:

We’d also like to take this time to Thank all of our Advertisers. The Scoop would not be possible without all of you.

Waterpark Athletics

E: waterparkathletics@oxfordproperties.com

P: 416-360-4047

EXtatin Inc.

P: 416-707-2969

The Staffing Exchange Inc.

P: 1-844-STAFFEX

Cryptoducation

E: cryptoducation@gmail.com

P: 1-888-292-3574

W : www.cryptoducation.com

Michael Scott

E: scott.michael@kw.com

P: 416-998-2434

SWAT Health

W: www.swathealth.com

Enriched Investing Incorporated

E: candiv@enrichedinvesting.com

P: 416-203-3028

W: www.enrichedinvesting.com

Frederick Simon Hawa BSc MBA LLB (JD)

E: fredhawa@sympatico.ca

P: 416-707-2969

Concordia University

W: www.concordia.ca/toronto

One East Hair Salon

P: 647-348-6656

Pie Bar Pizzeria & Cocktails

P: 416-533-8368

Waterfront BIA

W: www.waterfrontbia.com

Entrepreneurial State of Mind

 

Entrepreneur 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

Office Industry

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.

Modern Meeting Rooms

Modern Meeting Room

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 .

Serviced Offices & Why you Need them.

Serviced Office

Unlike a Serviced Office, the traditional model of renting your office can be tricky business. 3-5 year terms are the norm and you can’t get out of it easily if you need to. Not to mention, you’ll need to install communication systems, need to furnish your office and build your brand in your area.

Serviced Offices take all of these barriers that you’ll encounter and eliminates them, but you may have overlooked them in the past. Their monthly rental fees are higher, but they carry many benefits that a traditional office model does not.

Flexible short term lease agreements

Office renters, according to Skyline Offices, are looking for shorter term rentals. Offices are rented out on a rolling basis, meaning you pay at the end of every month, meaning that you pay only for the facilities that you have used. The costs of a serviced office may be higher, but you get far more services and facilities for your money and you have flexibility in case your business doesn’t work out. In addition to the physical space you are renting, services and facilities such as copiers, meeting rooms and even staff are available as and when you need them. Meeting rooms can even be booked by the hour for when you need them, rather than paying for facilities which do not get used.

No downtime when moving in

When you rent your own premises, there is a long set up period with installation and decoration. In a serviced office, you bypass this setup period and you can move straight into an office which is already prepared for you. You are ready to start operating from day one.

Maintenance of your serviced office

So who cleans your office when you rent your own premises? According to BSRIA, the average cost for maintenance was roughly £14 per square metre in 2008. In a serviced office, the cleaning and maintenance are included in your monthly cost. You won’t need to worry about allotting extra funds for cleaning, you can re-invest them back into your business.

Staffing

Renting your own premises comes with the extra cost of staffing it. You’ll need a receptionist, technical staff, janitorial staff, etc. A serviced office strives to have the best staff and technology to ensure that their facilities are maintained to the highest quality at all times.

So before you sign for that lease, consider all your options. Is it really the best fit for you? You may just find that a serviced office like we have here at the Rostie Group fits all of your needs.

The Rostie Group is now on Google News!

Google News Rostie Group

 

Recently Google has revamped both Newstand and their older News app into the brand new Google News. And The Rostie Group couldn’t miss out on being part of it! You can catch all of our news posts, as well as our editions of The Scoop, right on your mobile device. You can even download them to read offline.

You only need two steps to get started:

 

1. Download Google News for Android or iPhone

2. Click this link to go directly to the Rostie Group News feed

 

Make sure to favourite us so you can always go back and check out our new content!

Why you should Rent your Meeting Space

Meeting Space Rent

It’s a fact of life (or a fact of business) that you’ll eventually have to have meetings. One-on-One, group meetings, team meetings, etc. You name them, they’ll have to meet at some point. Have you considered renting that meeting space?

So when you’re finding a space for those meetings to occur, it is often a corner of the office somewhere, where everyone has to bring their chairs and scoot over. Just making what might already be an uncomfortable space, even more so.

Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones that has their own proper meeting space. But of course, owning space is very different from renting it.

For one, you have to maintain it. It can be costly to maintain a meeting room up to standard. Of course when it’s just your team, a little mess can be expected; some markers laying around, a used whiteboard, some leftover snacks.

But then if you want to bring a new client into that space, you’ll have to make sure it’s all clean and tidy. And your staff, as great as they may be, are busy making sure the business runs. They don’t have time to clean up every speck of dirt. Which then means you need to hire a cleaning crew, or extend the current crew’s service into the meeting room. But that brings potential reservations over confidential information…

And that isn’t even mentioning the cost of maintenance. What if the chairs break? Or the meeting table is damaged? The TV on the wall starts displaying static?

It’s just a whole cycle of never ending issues.

And of course, think about the opportunity cost. Space is expensive, especially in large cities. You already pay a significant amount for rent, and having enough space for your employees to actually do their job, do you really want to have to worry about paying rent for a room that will be sitting empty most of the time?

Unless your meeting space is doubling as your break room (which it really shouldn’t be), then it’s actual wasted space, and wasted money.

For those who are looking to cut some costs on their rent, and have a top notch, clean, and well stocked room, you should consider renting your meeting space from The Rostie Group. Free Wi-Fi, full technical support, videoconferencing, and delicious catering are all available.