Business spotlight: Antioch's Eco Business Centers offer low-cost facilities for small businesses

By Roni Gehlke
For the Contra Costa Times

Name of business: ECO Business Centers
Type of business: Executive Office Suites
Owners: Glen Laughton and Joe Reano
Founded: January 2011
Address: 505 W. Second St., Antioch
Phone number: 925-526-4465
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
Number of employees: two
Products and services: ECO Business Centers offers three major programs an education center, office suites and incubation services. The location is designed as a place where home businesses can host business meetings or just have a site to do their work in peace and quiet.
The building site helps local business people by providing low-cost cubicles and offices, a shared administrative services, conference rooms, phone system, kitchenette, copy and print center, file servers and Internet access.
"We provide an eco-friendly instant office so entrepreneurs can pick up their laptops, walk-in, sit-down and plug in to an entire office infrastructure they'd have in a mid- to large-size company," ECO Business Centers owner Glen Laughton said.
ECO Business Centers also offers classes for businessowners. One of their current successful classes involved learning about social media marketing for small business.
How did you get into the business: Laughton said he previously owned his own global business out of his home. He found that he was running a lot of meetings out of the local Starbucks and that just wasn't conducive to a good working environment.
At the time his now business partner Joe Reano was working for him. Reano had some property with a building in downtown Antioch that he thought would make a good place from which to operate Laughton's business.
With the building more than 6,000 square feet, the idea for ECO Business Centers was born, Laughton said. It became an idea that would encompass other businesses with the same needs as Laughton's company.
Best part about the business: "Rather than opening a new business in another location and upping the startup cost, we offer businesses a place where they can host business meetings and have shared administrative help," Laughton said.
"In most cases people don't realize all the cost of opening a new business until they actually start putting all the money into it. More than half the businesses fail in the first year."
Laughton said that ECO Business Centers provide new business owners, and business owners ready to take that next step in growing their business an alternative.
Worst part about the business: It's not necessarily the worst part, but Laughton said a challenge for him is making new business owners understand the true cost of opening a business.
"People don't know what it truly costs to open a business until they do it and start paying," he said.
Key to success: To help people and himself in making ECO Business Centers a success Laughton applied for nonprofit status. This will allow him to keep his costs down by accepting donations and allow others to take advantage of the services offered.
Biggest misperception about the business: Laughton said that the biggest misperception in starting a new business is that the cost of startup is more than just the cost per square foot of a business property and the merchandise it sells.
"This is really a good solution for home-based businesses and new startup businesses. It is a way to really keep the costs down," he said.
Future plans: ECO Business Centers is always working on providing new educational opportunities, including online and in-person classes. On June 6, the business will host Social Media Marketing 101: Understand the power of Twitter, Bitly, and TweetDeck.
-- Roni Gehlke