Looking to attract a potential client to your fledgling business?
Seating him next to the washing machine in your basement home office is unlikely to score many points.
Yolanda Hula has a better option. The CEO of Calgary-based LeTeam Enterprises Inc. can set you up in a downtown Red Deer office building with a receptionist and access to a boardroom, for as little as $450 a month.
Located on the third floor of Commerce Court, at 4915 54th St., LeTeam Business to Business Red Deer Office Centre has 45 executive office spaces ranging in size from 100 to 250 square feet.
Each can be leased on a monthly basis, with furniture also available for rent, and tenants able to book a boardroom or conference room by the hour. They share a receptionist, have mail service, enjoy access to a kitchen and can rent above-ground or underground parking space.
“It’s the way of the future,” said Hula of LeTeam’s low-cost alternative to traditional office space.
It gives home-based businesses and start-ups professional-looking premises at a relatively low cost and with a short-term commitment.
“There are a lot of female entrepreneurs,” she said of another incentive to operate away from home. “Do you actually want all your clients knowing where you live?”
The centre also gives out-of-town businesses an affordable way to gain a presence in Red Deer, said Hula.
For many tenants, the objective is to project a positive image, she said.
Clients can subscribe to the mail service only for $75 a month — booking the boardroom or conference room when meetings are necessary and skipping the need for an office altogether. They can even arrange for all of their phone calls to be handled by LeTeam, with the resulting messages forwarded to them.
The Red Deer office centre, which opened in April, followed a similar LeTeam facility in Calgary that’s operated for a decade. That centre has 90-plus offices, said Hula, and a second Calgary location is now planned.
“We usually are about 95 per cent full — sometimes with a wait list,” she said.
LeTeam is also hoping to open a centre in Edmonton.
Hula said the Calgary office centre has proven to be a business generator for tenants, as they meet other occupants and use each other’s services.
“It’s really a community.”
The Red Deer office centre has been in the works for some time, said Hula, who bought Commerce Court seven years ago.
“That was always my long-term plan. I believe there will be so much need for a business centre like this that I really wanted to get us established in Red Deer.”
That need could explode if a high-speed rail line is developed between Calgary and Edmonton, she said.
Interest in the Red Deer centre is already strong, said Hula, with a steady stream of inquiries coming in.
“It’s such a fabulous concept.”
Additional information about LeTeam Business to Business Red Deer Office Centre can be obtained on the company’s website at www.leteam.ca, or by contacting LeTeam at 1-888-836-5291 or marketingtheoc@shaw.ca
hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com