A company that provides office space and business services to small businesses is expanding its reach in Colorado with the expectation that a softening economy could prompt more workers to strike out on their own.
Your Office USA franchisee Gary Hahnenkamp recently added a Lakewood location to his company’s offerings, which already included a downtown address.
Your Office allows customers such as lawyer Tara Gaschler to go it alone but still project a big-business image. When Gaschler launched her practice about four years ago, Your Office provided her with a prime downtown Denver mailing address, a receptionist and a meeting space. Two years ago, she took a physical office at the company’s downtown location in Dominion Plaza.
“It allowed me to keep costs down so I could afford to build my business,” Gaschler said.
Most clients spend $500 to $1,200 per month, depending on how much space and how many services they take, Hahnenkamp said.
“We are providing things for them at prices they couldn’t get on their own,” he said.
Most landlords want multiyear leases for Class A office space, something startups are reluctant to take on. Your Office leases space long-term and provides clients with shorter-term leases. It also provides furniture, phone services, a shared receptionist and high-end copiers.
An increasing share of Hahnenkamp’s clients are virtual, working from home but using Your Office as Gaschler initially did to take mail and field phone calls.
Office centers are also popular with large companies that want staff in several cities without the overhead.
“My company has 16 offices nationally, and some of us are an office of one,” said Heathe Cooper, a regional manager with Curran & Connors, a graphic-design firm.
Cooper said working in an office makes her more productive and provides the professional interaction missing at home.
Your Office isn’t alone in offering its particular brand of services, but the company is trying to carve a niche between industry giant Regus and business centers owned by local landlords, said Scott Buono, president and chief executive of the Orlando, Fla., company, which franchises its services to individual owners.
“We are mimicking a product with high-end image but that can beat Regus on price,” Hahnenkamp said.
Your Office has 13 locations in nine states, including Denver and a new 18,000-square-foot location at 143 Union in Lakewood that Hahnenkamp took on.
The company’s goal is to grow to 100 locations in five years through franchising, Buono said.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
