Rockville, MD
Rockville is a small suburb of Maryland that has a population of a little over 50,000 people. While it may not be the biggest place in the world, its location is what makes it such a hotbed of startup activity. Its proximity to a number of major national laboratories makes Rockville specifically a hub of the biotech industry, and it means that there are a lot of funding sources available for the right type of startup.

San Francisco, CA
San Francisco, California, is known mostly for its art and culture, but it also has a bustling economic scene in these tough times. The real benefit of operating out of San Francisco is the convergence of academia and business. There are a lot of established universities out here, as well as a lot of giants in the technology industry.

Franklin, TN
Franklin, Tennessee, is a small town about the size of Rockville, but is more of an entity of its own. There is a major biotechnology push in Franklin, with the university putting up state-of-the-art facilities to push development in that sector. More than half of the people living in Franklin have at least a four-year college education, and the technology industry here is on the rise.

Bellevue, WA
Close to the home of such giants as Microsoft, Bellevue, situated in Washington, is one of the hottest spots of activity in the technology sector in the country. Bellevue’s residents hold more patents than any other city in the country, and there are a lot of tax incentives for small startups, especially in the technology sector. Being so close to many of the larger, older technology firms gives startups the ability to utilize a wealth of industry information that is more readily found in this area than in other areas.

Cambridge, MA
Cambridge will be recognizable to most people as the home to both MIT and Harvard, two of the most prestigious universities in the world. As a town of roughly 100,000 people, Cambridge maintains a very low-key persona that carries an air of growth. The town has a reputation to uphold as one of the hotbeds of advancement in the country, and the incentives for small business development here are ample.

Irvine, CA
Irvine, California, has a number of things going for it that make it very attractive for startups. It is right outside of Los Angeles, so it is mostly populated by technology and entertainment-based startups, but there are many different businesses here. One of the most attractive aspects of the city is that it gives entertainment and technology startups access to Los Angeles without actually having to be located in the city itself.

Bend, OR
Bend, Oregon, has experienced a growth rate of 50 percent over the past decade, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. The town itself used to be centered around logging, but has since become very involved with the technology, aviation, and biotech industries.

Santa Monica, CA
Santa Monica, California, has become very popular for film startups over the past decade. The proximity to Los Angeles is the big draw here, with business owners getting all the benefits of Los Angeles without the stifling taxes that come with living in the city. Digital media production companies find that they are able to compete with larger film companies while operating out of Santa Monica.

Boca Raton, FL
Looking to shirk its reputation as nothing but a paved old folks home, Boca Raton, Florida, is very welcoming of startups, especially in the technology industry. There are a lot of smaller companies that work here that have been started by employees of IBM, which has operated out of Boca Raton since the 1970s.

Boulder, CO
Boulder, Colorado, has become something of an icon of the technology startup community. As the university has advanced its technology base over the past ten years, more and more businesses have been developing here from the resulting boom in startup grant funding. There are a number of national research labs maintained in Boulder, and these labs bring in a swathe of talent from around the globe– making Boulder a hotbed of activity in the technology industry.

Due to the expansion of the technology industry in California’s Silicon Valley, office occupancy has increased in the last year, which is good news for real estate agencies and office space providers.

According to Colliers International, forecasts show that office space and research facilities could increase by five million square feet this year, which would be in addition to the three and a half million square feet increase in office and research space net occupancy in 2011.

The technology companies who are leading this expansion in Silicon Valley include mobile application businesses, cloud computing providers and social networking companies. It is hoped that the technology surge is only just beginning, and that 2012 should bring another strong year for commercial leasing.

According to Colliers International, office space vacancies were down from 16 % at the end of last year compared to 20.2 % in 2010. In addition research and development space vacancies were down 13.7 % at the end of last year, down from 16.2 % in 2010.

There many ways that we can save energy in the workplace, saving both the environment and the office budget. Businesses can help by purchasing energy efficient equipment, cutting down on waste and unnecessary energy usage.

Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and promotes energy efficient products and practices, offering advice and guidelines to help reduce energy wastage.

• When leaving the office be sure to turn off your computers, monitors, photocopiers and printers.

• Using a laptop computer uses ninety percent less energy than a desktop computer, the same is true for using an ink jet printer rather than a laser printer.

• Don’t use screen savers. Read the rest of this entry »

Working as a team is essential to the overall success of you businesses and developing an effective teamwork structure within your organization takes understanding and experience. Belonging to a team and contributing to the ‘whole’ produces far greater results than everyone going it alone and will improve motivation and communication. Each individual has a particular job within group, but you are all striving for the same goals and the same overall objectives, so being able to see the bigger picture is very important.

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Office.net News is inviting small businesses to showcase their success stories and share tips and experiences on how to graduate from the home office to rented business accommodation smoothly and hassle-free.

Would you describe your transition from being home-based to operating from a rented office facility as straightforward? Is it more beneficial to lease short term office space or is it better to commit to a longer term accommodation contract? Is there any advice you can give to small businesses in the same situation? What worked best for you and your business?

From California to Florida, no matter what your location is, we would love to hear from you. Please send us a short introduction to your business and we will get in touch.

Offices.net provides thousands of small and home-based businesses with a free office space listing service, simplifying the process of finding suitable office accommodation and offering affordable flexible rental solutions.

The mantra location, location, location is as true today as it ever was. Where your offices premises are can make or break your business. You need to research this very carefully, compile pros and cons and get it right first time. It’s no point moving into offices with low overheads in an out of the way area only to find that your clients or business partners can’t find you. In this case a penny saved is not a penny earned.

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It can be difficult to get audience participation during a meeting. How many meetings have you been to where the chairperson asks a question only to be met by deafening silence? – Cue the tumbleweed. There are lots of reasons for this, from fear of saying the wrong thing, to genuine shyness to people just not listening. Getting people to contribute is important, you need fresh ideas, opinions or just to make sure your audience understands what the key issues are.

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There is a lot to think about when choosing office furniture and making mistakes can end up costing you both time and money. A well thought out plan, and very importantly budget, needs to be created.

One of the main things to think about is space, take measurements of the floor space, windows and doors. You don’t want to purchase a desk only to find it won’t fit through the door. Read the rest of this entry »

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the minimum working standards for employees in most private and public employment, from the minimum pay, overtime laws, vacation, sick pay, age restrictions and safety in the workplace. Here are some examples of federal employee rights.

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It’s almost impossible to get along with absolutely everybody you work with. There will always be someone who rubs you the wrong way, who is loud, argumentative or just plain irritating. What you need to remember is that you’re professional, and you can’t let personal problems with other people in the office get in the way of your work. How you deal with your co-workers reflects on you professionally, if your boss has to continually be sorting out -school yard- problems it won’t look good.

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