New Gilbert business aims to help others

GILBERT, Ariz. — The latest small-business venture in the Valley is actually aimed at helping other small businesses.

EZ Spaces unveiled a more than 5,000-square-foot facility off South Val Vista and East Williams Field roads Tuesday that seeks to give small businesses the professional look they might need without the cost or commitment.

“The notion of working out of coffee shops and restaurants and libraries can be successful up to a point,” said John Mahon, the founder and managing partner. “When you meet that max, we want to be that next edge for people to come in.”

The new facility offers people who might work at home or do not have conferencing capabilities to have a professional workspace for inviting clients or simply get out of the house.

“Maybe you need something full time,” Mahon said. “You want to get out of the house, it’s crazy, you’re not focused there, you can come in here and work. Say you work great out of your house but you need a place to meet clients and you want to set up meetings.”

Whatever the need, inside the minimalistic, modern-professional designed work space are a variety of services people have access to, from printing and copying to sound-proof conference call rooms and mail services.

“WIFI, printing, coffee, soda, tea, use of the conference rooms, use of our phone booths, all of that’s included,” Mahon said.

Mahon said the rates are set up to fit different usage needs and when someone intends to use the facility, including options such as the weekend warrior, night-owl, day-use and unlimited plan.

He added there is focus on a come-and-go atmosphere and there may be numerous businesses or people sharing the work space at any time, which he said is intended to cultivate networking.

“I might be working next to a blogger, or I might be working next to a web developer, I might be working next to an SEO person or a real estate agent,” Mahon said. “The more diverse of a crowd we can get in here the better our culture is going to be defined.”

He noted that if someone wants to ensure a specific service isn’t being used when they come in, for example the conference room, it can be reserved ahead of time.

Gilbert Mayor John Lewis attended the grand opening and said with a high number of small businesses based in Gilbert, a service like this could be very useful to many people.

“There’s a wonderful entrepreneurial spirit here,” he said. “It’s a type of place that will provide resources, it’s a good place for brainstorming, encouragement and of course, to get inspiration.”

The ribbon cutting ceremony also included workshops and seminars for people to receive training and instruction on the importance of brand identity, public relations and learning to use site-building tools such as Wordpress.com.