It was August 2010 when Rhea and I picked up our laptops and moved into a shared office space environment located in downtown Troy, NY. Having started Outspoken Media, quite literally, in a basement we knew this was a big step. It was a sign to us that we were doing this and that, perhaps, we had “made it” in terms of becoming a real business. Outspoken Media now had an office address. Even more impressive to us (and maybe our families) – it was an address neither of us lived at.
On November 14, 2011 Outspoken Media took another big step when we moved out of that shared working environment and into a new space of our own. Space that we had built to our own specifications and our desires, and which now houses our team of Outspoken Media employees.
The new Outspoken Media office gives us more than 2,700 square feet of working space in Troy’s Atrium. It’s allowed us to stay in downtown Troy near all of the businesses, people and coffee houses that we love. And, most important to me and Rhea, it’s given our team the environment that they deserve. Because it’s no longer just me and Rhea with individual laptops. There’s a real team here now. And that team just got its first permanent home. One that is finally worthy of them and everything they bring.
When we were designing the new Outspoken Media office, Rhea and I were agreed on much of what we wanted. We knew that we wanted a functional open working environment so Danika, Joe and employees you haven’t met yet could talk out problems and methods when they came across them. And that meant doing things like knocking down walls, remodeling kitchens, and demolishing structures we had no use for.
It meant getting new carpet, deciding on some awesome colors, and watching Rhea obsessively run over to the new space daily to check and report back on its progress.
For our team, it also meant new workstations for everyone, a built-in magnetic whiteboard for brainstorming sessions, five private meeting rooms located in the back, and more room for impromptu dance parties, games of catch, and other things we couldn’t provide them when we shared office space.
For me and Michelle, it also meant private offices (with doors!) for each of us so that we could write without wanting to Strangle. Everyone. And I must say, today we’re settling into our new digs just fine.
We’re excited about our new office and even more excited about what it will allow us to do – helping us to better service both clients and, just as important, the team that Rhea and I couldn’t feel luckier to have.
Welcome home, Outspoken Media.
[Keep an eye out for several announcement posts coming from us over the next couple weeks/month. A new office isn’t the only thing we’ve got going on. Not by a long shot. :) ]
