Cheni Yerushalmi and Joe Raby are the founders of Sunshine Suites, a company that provides affordable working space in the heart of New York City. Over the last year, there has been an explosion of people talking about coworking. For those of us who are not interested in spending the entire day working from home or coffee shops, there are now options that allow an individual to have the office benefits of a larger company at a reasonable price with other like mined people.

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Hardcore freelancers are no longer squatting at Starbucks, opting instead for coworking spaces. These facilities give entrepreneurs an affordable workspace, hyper-flexible arrangements, and a reason to change out of their PJs. We reported on the trend last August, and it has been growing rapidly since. Now, one company, Sunshine Suites, is taking the idea global through a new network of linked offices.

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He is Iraqi, and has made the American dream a reality, though not from dishwasher, but from chewing gum salesman to millionaire.  Thirty-five year-old Joseph Raby rents out what is a rarity in New York: cheap office space to business professionals.  In the city’s Tribeca district he is currently opening his third real estate property with 2500 m2 or 491 workstations.  
Raby’s clients include attorneys, psychologists, Internet entrepreneurs, graphic designers, journalists, cosmetics dealers, talent agents, headhunters, fund managers, and multimillionaires.  Even software giant Adobe rented 24 workstations. Raby’s strategy is similar in principle to that of German supermarket chain Aldi: price leadership, fairness and quality

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FURNISHED-OFFICE companies like Sunshine Suites can help businesses that need a full-time location, but can’t afford a traditional office. For less than $300 a month (with no long-term commitments) you can rent a private cubicle at one of Sunshine’s locations in New York. The rent includes business essentials like Internet access, technical support, printers and office equipment and other amenities. For $700 a month, you can get an entire private office.

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Last week, my producer Lisa and I set up camp in an office building in New York City that houses hundreds of small businesses. The company, Sunshine Suites, which runs the building (a small business itself), provides desks, Internet access, conference rooms, and fax machines —basically it's a plug-and-play solution for small businesses. And the result is four walls filled with some of the most dynamic, passionate people you could find.

We went there to talk to small business owners to get a sense of some of the challenges they face — to learn what keeps them up at night and what makes them pop the Champagne. We spoke to a pair of friends who are creating what they hope will be the next must-have T-shirt. They spend part of their time designing and getting the T-shirts made, and the other part literally driving through New York State themselves convincing store owners to stock their shirts. I spoke with a woman who worked for a major publishing company much of her life — who was used to expense accounts and paychecks, and gave it up to start her own small publishing company where for a few years she had neither.

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Cutting out what’s not needed and keeping what’s good, The newest type of rental offices.

“Sunshine Suites” is a unique company that divides space on a single floor and rents it out to companies that have 10 employees or fewer.

This is the ideal setup for companies who don’t have the budget to rent out an entire floor or to purchase office equipment, or who just have a few employees. A space with one desk costs $295 per month; phone, internet, fax, and copier, and other equipment are included. In an extreme case, you can bring in a computer and be set up for business the same day.

People from all different industries work here every day, so networking becomes natural. While leasing from “Sunshine Suites,” you can receive benefits usually only available at large corporations, such as group health insurance and gym membership discounts. In a time when real estate values continue to skyrocket, we would like to praise this unique rental system.

Translation: Sarah Pew

When Fernando Figueroa, the owner and only employee of a software development and Web site design company called B Realm, fell behind on his $550 monthly rent for a tiny 50-square-foot cubicle at 45 West 21st Street, help came from an unlikely source: his landlord.

"I wanted him to stay as a tenant," said Joe Raby, a founder and managing partner at Sunshine Realty Management, which specializes in leasing entire floors and then dividing the space and offering it to small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. "An adventure travel guy moved in, needed a Web site, and I referred him to Fernando. It helped him get the business and pay the back rent."

That was not a typical commercial real estate transaction - nor was Mr. Raby's recent offer to let Mr. Figueroa have free rent if he would sit at a desk just inside the office space and sign for packages. But then this isn't a typical office: a swimsuit designer is next to a direct-mail marketer; real estate brokers are next to concert promoters; a 15-year-old Pomeranian named Amadeus roams the space like a mascot; and tenants go snowboarding with their landlords.

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