Office Space News
Intelligent Offices Tampa Models Way Serviced Office Providers
Published May 25th, 2010 by Jennifer LeClaire
Still no word from Intelligent Office about the franchisee buyouts. But the PR agency for one of its franchisees did e-mail me some fluffy news about an owner getting nominated for the “Outstanding Small Business Leader of the Year Award” by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.
Apparently, Karen Gilman, who runs the Intelligent Office at 3111 Dr. W. Martin Luther King Blvd. in Tampa, didn’t take the buyout deal, if it was even offered to her. But she seems to be doing very well with her franchise.
I’ll leave out all the hyped up quotes from the press release. But what I did find interesting was Gillman’s philosophy on how she’s strengthened her franchise operation over the past year: through networking and personal leadership development.
“We have dedicated ourselves to building connections and in the process, we’ve become a hub for networking and educational opportunities for small businesses in this community,” Gillman said.
Gillman Does Networking
Gillman joined the BNI Profit Pros chapter two years ago. She currently serves as the 2009/2010 chapter president. She said the formal networking program has been powerful for her company and for her personally.
Gillman also co-founded a networking organization of her own called Charity Chics. It focuses on women who want to give back to the community. She hosts the monthly meetings at Intelligent Office. This helps people get familiar with serviced office space and virtual offices.
For the past several years, Gillman has volunteered her time as an ambassador for HARC — Hillsborough Achievement and Resource Centers — and supports their fall fashion show and other fund-raising efforts. Based on her contributions of time, talent, and resources, HARC has named Gillman to its board of directors, effective in May, 2010.
Finally, Intelligent Offices Tampa launched a series of educational seminars for its clients and members of Gillman’s professional network. Topics have included Accounting/Quickbooks, Search Engine Optimization, Business Survival Tips in Today’s Economy, Public Relations Tips & Tactics, Government Bidding Tips and Procedures, and Effective Sales Strategies.
Congratulations to Gillman. She’s doing a lot of things right. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting on a response from Intelligent Office’s corporate public relations department to explain the franchise buyout program.
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Elizabeth Sanchez May 25th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Sounds like Karen Gillman is moving in shaking with her Intelligent Office franchise in Tampa. That’s part and parcel of doing business in today’s world – networking. I thought it was interesting how she decided to launch her own networking organization (and use Intelligent Office space as the host). Pretty smart!
Bill Brookshire May 25th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Gillman is certainly a busy networker. However, there is no mention of exactly how all this networking has impacted her serviced office space rentals. I mean, what was the fruit of all that running around other than getting nominated for some awards? Don’t get me wrong, it’s all good publicity for Intelligence Office space, but if it doesn’t have a direct impact on ROI you have to wonder how valuable the activity really is.