Making The Grade

Texas earns coveted title as best state for small businesses

According to a new survey, Texas is the best place in America for small businesses. Thumbtack.com and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation released the annual United States Small Business Friendliness survey on June 17, and five of the top 10 friendliest cities for small businesses are in Texas.

"Small businesses rated Texas No. 1 in the country for the friendliness of its zoning laws and the friendliness of its health and safety regulations," the survey reads. Researchers praised every aspect of small-business life in Texas, and none of the 11 categories received less than an "A" grade at the state level.

City-wise, Houston earned the highest ranking in the Lone Star State at No. 3; Austin nabbed the No. 4 slot, followed by Dallas (No. 6), Fort Worth (No. 7) and San Antonio (No. 8).

Dallas improved its score from 2013, earning an A+ ranking in five categories including overall friendliness and ease of starting a business. The only area where Dallas didn't excel was training and networking programs, for which Big D was given a C.

The survey includes data from more than 12,500 small businesses across the country. In addition to the Lone Star State locales mentioned above, Colorado Springs, Boise and Louisville also performed well in the survey. On the other end of the spectrum, Sacramento, Providence, Buffalo, Bridgeport and San Diego rounded out the worst cities for starting a small business.

Dallas may be big, but it's also a friendly city for small businesses.

Courtesy photo

Dallas may be big, but it's also a friendly city for small businesses.

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Coworking News

New coworking space to open in Dallas' Oak Lawn neighborhood

Office Evolution

A coworking space is opening in Dallas in a central location: Office Evolution, a Louisville-based coworking chain, will open what a release says is a "state-of-the-art coworking space" at 3500 Oak Lawn Ave. #360 in Dallas at the southeast corner of Lemmon Avenue.

No details on what makes it state-of-the-art, but construction is ongoing and an opening is anticipated in mid-October.

Office Evolution was founded in 2003 as a shared workspace-coworking environment, cultivated on the principles of "Ohana," the Hawaiian tradition that references family working toward a common goal. (The founder was from Hawaii.)

The company started out in Boulder, Colorado, then relocated its headquarters to Louisville. It's an affiliated brand of United Franchise Group, and is part of The Vast Coworking Group, which specializes in franchising within the coworking industry. All of their locations are franchised.

The Dallas location is owned by franchisee Michael Pickering, a Dallas native who runs a family-owned indoor soccer facility in Dallas. (There are two other Office Evolution locations in the DFW area in McKinney and Southlake, owned by different franchisees.)

They're describing the Dallas location at 3500 Oak Lawn Ave. as "Turtle Creek," although its location at Oak Lawn and Lemmon really puts it at the epicenter of Oak Lawn. (To further complicate matters, the building previously and incorrectly described its address as "Uptown.")

It's a seven-story building in which the majority of tenants are doctor and medical offices.

Office Evolution rates include a coworking day pass for $25, plus "flex" office options starting at $200 a month for 20 hours, up to $550 a month for 80 hours.

Amenities of the building that are also accessible to Office Evolution customers include a front desk; a 1,000-square-foot fitness center; covered parking; and on-site security six days a week.

According to a spokesperson, Pickering and his team put $1.2 million into the renovation to transform the space, which occupies most of the fourth floor where it will span 9,240 square feet of space with 41 total offices — one of which is earmarked as an "on-demand office" for the professional on the go.

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