Anna Myers, owner and manager of Myers Motor Merchandise, started renting an office space at Ourworx in 2016. Since joining Ourworx, she’s seen her productivity, and her profits go through the roof.
Working from Home or Working in an Office
“We’ve been trading for a long time, providing promotional products to the motor trade. But for the last few years, I’ve been working out of a home office,” says Anna Myers, owner of Myers Motor Merchandise. “Working from home suited me to start with, but after a while I just felt so isolated and depressed. I really needed to sort it out.”
Anna’s experience is similar to many small businesses owners operating from a home office. “I need to be around people,” Anna told us. “If I’m not, I lose focus on the business and find myself on a downward spiral. Work suffers, home life suffers, productivity goes down and the business suffers as a result.”
The right space for my business
Faced with this, Anna started to look around for a suitable office space. One that gave her the private space she needed to be productive, but also offered the opportunity to network with other, like-minded entrepreneurs.
“There’s plenty of office rentals out there,” Anna says, “but not all of them are suitable. Some offered a good deal on the surface, with a very cheap rental package. But when visited, there was just no atmosphere. People were shut up in their own offices, with no where to break out, or relax, grab a coffee and chat, and no sense of business community. It wasn’t what I know I need to be productive.
“I’m a people person. I don’t want to be isolated in a generic office. I wanted to share the space with people who felt the same way, where we could talk about what we were doing, offer help and bounce ideas off each other.”
Ourworx Offices
“I came across Ourworx on Gumtree,” Anna told us. “The first thing that attracted me was the practicality of the location. Being so close to the travel network, and yet with free onsite parking, I was itching to find out more. And then I saw the inside!”
“It’s such an amazing space to be working in. Really high class finish to everything, but so reasonable too. And the atmosphere was just what I knew I needed. It’s buzzing in here. There’s always someone around to talk to if I need a break or five minutes to switch off. But, more importantly, there’s always someone who can help out if I have a problem or an idea I need to bounce around.”
With a range of flexible office packages available, and a good choice of office sizes, Anna quickly found the ideal space for her.
“I took a larger office than we needed to start with. Because we are a growing business and we are looking to increase staff. Ourworx have been brilliant at accommodating us and we’ve got the option of moving into a larger space whenever we need.”
Business Gains and Personal Gains
We asked Anna how coming into Ourworx has helped her business and her? “I’m so much better motivated,” she told us. “Being in a thriving business environment rubs off and the results from the business bare this out. There’s been a noticeable increase in sales, and this is purely due to being more productive more focussed and motivated, as well as working from a business atmosphere with a proper business address.
Ourworx is a space I feel proud to bring my clients into. The informal meeting areas are relaxed and comfortable. And the fact I have use of the boardroom anytime I need it, means that I can hold all my meetings in a serious, professional environment, giving me credibility I could never get from meetings at home, or in a local coffee shop.
“The ability to network informally with other members has been really useful, but the formal networking events, such as the Moxie Mingle that is taking place in April, provide a real opportunity to expand my network of contacts and find new areas of business.”
The one result that many small business owners often overlook, is the effect working from an office space has on their home life too.
“Having my space at Ourworx has provided the perfect boundary,” says Anna. “It’s so important to get the right home-work life balance. With the separation, I find I’m not taking work home. Which means that my home life doesn’t feel crowded out anymore.
“All in all, coming to Ourworx has been the making of the business. For entrepreneurs it’s such a great place to be, and most importantly of all, it’s paid for itself many times over. It really is the perfect place to do business.”
We look forward to many more years of helping Myers Motor Merchandise to grow.
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