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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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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
Available Positions Include:
What’s Happening in Toronto this August & September
We’d also like to take this time to Thank all of our Advertisers. The Scoop would not be possible without all of you.
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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!
Go Back Through Toronto’s History Thanks To Side Walk Labs
Have you ever wondered what originally stood where your condo stands now? Well now you can find out.
Earlier last week Google Sidewalk Labs revealed their project ‘Old Toronto’ (OLDTO). Inspired by web applications developed in San Francisco and New York, the website maps more than 30,000 photographs from the City of Toronto Archives. Extremely user-friendly, to use the tool all you need to do is search for a location and then browse through the archived images in that area. See below to check out what the area where our building is located originally looked like:
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In a statement released by Side Walk Labs they stated that they are also in the process of preparing OldTo for release as an open source tool, so local urban-tech enthusiasts can build on top of it. Engineers say they’re exploring additional features to add to the tool, including an aerial button that will “enable people to see how the city has changed from a birds-eye view”. Clicking on a photo will show any information contained in the description such as the title, date, conditions etc.
Try it out for yourself in the interactive map. (If you want to find us, we’re at 20 Bay Street)
If you’d like to work at such a historical location in Toronto, you can take a look at our available spaces.
Build your brand awareness in Toronto with a Lunch ‘n’ Learn and Rise & Shine Breakfast!
Build your brand awareness and gain new clients in Toronto! The Rostie Group at 20 Bay Street, WaterPark Place wants to help your business succeed in Toronto with the right exposure. Lunch ‘n’ Learns and Rise & Shine Breakfasts are a very popular and promising method for educating business professionals and attracting new clients to your company. At The Rostie Group, we offer modern and professional boardrooms and training rooms to host the seminar – at no cost to your company! With over 100 clients, and a social media and digital marketing platform that reaches more than 10,000 people – your Lunch ‘n’ Learn or Rise & Shine Breakfast is guaranteed to pull a promising audience.
Elaine Newman, CEO of Global Learning, Lunch ‘n’ Learn 2015
In one hour you have the chance to engage and educate potential clients, business partners, and Toronto’s financial district on the inner workings of your business.
Business methods, challenges, successes and failures all make for relevant presentation starters. People want to to know the story behind your startup and how they can partner with you to create a promising future for all business in Toronto.
Whether you are heading up a tech company, the next big bank, or making it as an entrepreneur, a Lunch ‘n’Learn or Breakfast Seminar is the best way to get your brand, your business and your name out in Toronto.
Take a look at some of the insightful and inspiring Lunch ‘n’Learns and Rise & Shine Breakfast Seminars that have been hosted at The Rostie Group:
https://www.rostiegroup.com/blog/free-rise-and-shine-breakfast-seminar-july-8th-800am/
https://www.rostiegroup.com/blog/free-lunch-n-learn-with-davis-martindale-accounting/
https://www.rostiegroup.com/blog/lunch-n-learn-retrospect/
https://www.rostiegroup.com/blog/content-marketing-lunch-n-learn-by-marketingcopilot/
Do not miss this opportunity to make your brand a household name and gain valuable exposure to Toronto businesses!
Call today to book your free Lunch ‘n’ Learn or Rise & Shine Breakfast in Toronto!
1-800-648-1840 info@rostiegroup.com
Waterfront Suite – Corner Lake View @ WaterPark Place with Five Private Offices & Multi-Use Space
The Rostie Group provides more than just office space. When you become a part of our waterfront work community, your team is set up for support, growth and success.
WaterPark Place is the newest and hottest building in Toronto’s Financial South Core. Fully renovated, the prestigious 20 Bay Street address is home to more than a few big names in the industry. At The Rostie Group, professionally trained staff are here to ensure your productivity is the main priority.
Our Reception team will greet and provide all your clients with the best in customer care. The Meetings Manager is here to handle all your meeting needs; from interviews to training sessions and evening events we have an array of meeting rooms that are available for your use.
Our Community Coordinator plans in-house events for every occasion – Social Fridays, Chili Cook-offs, Holiday Festivities – and is there to support and brighten the overall morale of the centre. The Rostie Group lounge encourages positive interaction between all tenants, fostering new friendships and business colleagues.
When you are ready to hit the gym with your new found friends, TriFit has outfitted 20 Bay St, with an up-scale gym experience right in the building! Exclusive to WaterPark Place tenants only for $35/month – this brand new amenity includes group fitness classes, spinning, state of the art weight training machines with lockers and showers. TriFit gym ensures your team can take a well needed workout break without leaving the work community!
Need a last minute computer hooked up? Looking for some troubleshooting help? We have an onsite IT team here to ensure all your technical needs are taken care of immediately. Because lets get serious – the Internet is everything these days! The Rostie Group prides itself on being a flexible and customizable work community. Configure your new team space to reflect your company’s values! Bean bag chairs and basketball hoops or leather chairs with mahogany desks – customize your space for your team with our help.
If you have ever worked on a beach before, you know that having an amazing view can be awe-inspiring and get those creative juices flowing. The views from Team Space 103 are expansive, overlooking the recently completed Waterfront renewal, mentioned by The New York Times as one of the top places to explore in Toronto (which has been ranked 7th best city to visit in 2016!). This summer will be humming with excitement right outside your new workspace. You can commute on your bike along the shore, have a picnic lunch in the gardens by the waterfront and catch a Blue Jays game after work, with the Rogers centre and Union station a 5 minute walk away. The diverse and liveliest parts of the city are at your fingertips!
Come and see for yourself what Toronto’s thriving South Core has to offer. We promise you won’t be disappointed!
When a Recruiter Calls…
Contributor: Pamela Inglis, Recruiter – Rostie & Associates
You know the call, as soon as you hear it’s a recruiter on the other end of the phone there’s a good chance that the first thing you say is “thanks, but I’m not looking”. Fair enough. The majority of the people we call are happy in their current role. But does that mean you shouldn’t take a few minutes to find out what they’re calling about? It may not be for you but perhaps you have a friend that’s on the market or maybe, just maybe, it’s your dream job.
It may not be the time for you to make a move, maybe not the right role, but why not take a few minutes and get to know us a little. Hopefully you’ll never be in the position where you have to find another job, but eventually you may want to. And we’ll be here…waiting for your call.
Construction Updates for the Waterfront Area and Southcore
Waterfront Toronto was kind enough to update us about the following construction advisories and road restrictions in the area and we would like to pass them on to you.
Construction News
Rees Street Intersection Re-Opening
The Rees Street intersection will re-open the morning of Tuesday, July 22. Crews will continue working east of Rees Street to Lower Simcoe, pouring concrete for the new road base in preparation of the asphalt paving in the next two weeks.
New Roadway Construction
A traffic shift was implemented late last week which moved westbound Queens Quay traffic onto the new TTC right-of way from the Ellis-Don/RBC driveway, through the York intersection, and to the 207 Queens Quay west drive way. This traffic shift allows crews this week to begin excavations for both the north side (new roadway), and the southside curb lane (landscape and Martin Goodman Trail work), east of York Street.
Weekend Work: July 19/20
There will be crews working at several locations this weekend:
- Rees Street to Lower Simcoe: Final details for intersection re-opening and continued sub-base and road preparations to Lower Simcoe.
- Spadina Loop area: Overhead cabling work TTC crews.
- Westin Hotel: Crews will be power washing and cleaning the granite pavers along the front promenade at the Westin Hotel this Saturday.
For information, please contact Robert Pasut, Eastern Construction at (416) 505-3073.
Ongoing Construction Updates
TTC Track Installation: Crews will continue final track work in the following areas:
- Spadina to Yo Yo Ma Lane: Crews will continue with excavations and begin to prepare and form the sub-base for concrete and the installation of the remaining streetcar rails.
- 85 Harbour Street to the Bay Street Portal: Crews have completed the final concrete pour and set of rails in this area. New TTC tracks now run from the Bay Street Portal through to 390 Queens Quay.
- Shoppers Drug Mart to Peter Slip Bridge: This week, a small section of the TTC corridor has been exposed for TTC crews to install the rail lubricator pads.
Spadina Loop Reconstruction: TTC Overhead Cabling crews will continue their work to install the grid of cables in this area. Crews may work overnight shifts due to traffic constraints in the area.
Granite Installation and Parking Laybys:
- Bay to York (southside): Last week, crews reached the area by the Scotiabank, and will continue to excavate for the new sub-drains, conduits, and silva cells in the service road. This work began at the southwest corner of Bay Street, and crews will continue to move west to the service entrance of 33 Harbour Square. The service entrance will remain fully operational during this phase of construction work.
- York and Queens Quay: This week, crews will continue with the excavations at the northwest corner of York and Queens Quay. Work in this area includes the sub-base preparations, installation of tree trenches for two new/additional trees, and the electrical conduits for the new Astral Information pillar. Crews will also begin to excavate the north and southside curb lanes. The northside work will start east of York Street to the York Ramp Parkette entrance where new catch basins will be installed. The southside curb excavations will start at the southeast corner of York, and the 77/99 Queens Quay condominiums, east to the 55/65 Harbour Square driveway entrance. Old street lights & poles will be removed and replaced with temporary poles on new permanent foundations. A pedestrian diversion path will be created around this southside work zone using the south curb lane. Access to all businesses will be maintained along this area.
- 208 & 218 Queens Quay Driveway: Crews have completed the granite installation of this driveway. This week, crews will continue to pour the concrete road base, followed by asphalt and road restorations between York Street and Lower Simcoe. The driveway will re-open once the road surface is paved.
- Lower Simcoe to Rees Parkette:
- Northeast corner of Lower Simcoe/Queens Quay: Last week, crews completed 100% of the granite paver installation on the northern portion of the sidewalk area, adjacent the Grill 4 U business. This included the placement of the ADA – Accessibility tiles at the sidewalk/curb interface. The area has now been fully reopened to the public.
- Northwest corner of Lower Simcoe/Queens Quay: Crews will continue with the excavations for two traffic signal pole footings at this corner of the intersection.
- 228/230 Queens Quay: The paver work continues at the Rees Street Parkette, where crews will continue with the infill of the second layby with granite pavers. This week, crews are expected to complete the installation of granite pavers in this area, and up to the property line of 250 Queens Quay.
- Rees Street Parking Lot: Crews have completed the pour of concrete for the removable tree trench covers, and placed the planting soil in the tree trenches. Last week, crews also began to lay the new granite pavers in this area. This work will continue, and is expected to be completed in the next two weeks.
- HTO Park East: Crews have completed the installation of granite pavers in this area from the Rees WaveDeck west to the EMS/Fire Station driveway. This area will be re-opened to the public once the final landscape details are completed this week.
- West of Lower Spadina: Crews will continue with roadway excavations, layout, and sub-base preparations, and pour the concrete base structures. Some noise should be expected with these activities. The installation of granite pavers is scheduled to begin this week.
New Roadway Construction Underway: Crews continue rebuilding the new roadway on Queens Quay.
- Bay Street to York Street: Roadway construction (service laneway) will continue on the southside.
- York Street/Queens Quay: A traffic shift last week, moved westbound Queens Quay traffic onto the new TTC right-of way in this area. This week, crews will begin to excavate both north and southside curb lanes east of York Street.
- York Street to Lower Simcoe: The concrete base slab between York and Simcoe will continue to be formed and poured, followed by new asphalt paving.
- Lower Simcoe to Rees: Crews will continue with the concrete base road preparation which includes the form and pour of the concrete base slab in this area, in advance of the asphalt resurfacing.
Telecommunications Work: Distinct Technical Cable Services crews (sub-contractor for Rogers, Cogeco, and Allstream) will continue work at the 350 Queens Quay/Beer Store and various other locations along the Queens Quay. All work will be performed behind jersey barriers/fast fence with no impacts to pedestrians or traffic.
For more information, please click here to read the complete notice or visit the project webpage – www.waterfrontoronto.ca/constructingqq: