As the president of a financial planning and portfolio management company, Ryan Callas knows what it means to be in a position of great trust. Callas founded Greenhouse in 2016 in Westport, Connecticut and was formerly a vice president at Fidelity Investments. His core beliefs include growing wealth responsibly through low-cost investment solutions, frequent communication with clients, and adding value “outside the box” in areas like tax-efficient investing, estate planning, and risk management. The name Greenhouse honours his mother, Victoria – an avid gardener who also nurtured the people around her with her kindness and warmth.
Greenhouse Wealth Management makes use of Regus’s various flexible office locations across the US for hosting clients based in different parts of the country. Here’s what Callas has to say about how flexible working helps him achieve his ideal work set-up – by boosting personal productivity, saving him time, and helping his team better serve clients.
Flexible working takes the traditional work week and turns it on its head
“I vividly remember working a traditional eight-to-six job, driving to work in rush-hour traffic, using every backroad trick of the trade I could to save time. Times have changed.
“To me, flexible working means working wherever, whenever to maximise your time, productivity, and results. If I want to avoid the rush hour, but other employees are early birds, we’re covered. If we do a team lunch when mail or packages arrive, we’re covered. If we need to meet with clients in the city and need a professional environment in which to do so, we’re covered. Receptionists, cleaning staff, refreshments, professionally decorated common spaces, landscaping, technology – you name it, we’re covered.
“In today’s world, as long as you have a phone, a laptop, and a Wi-Fi signal, you can be productive anywhere. That’s the beauty of flexible working and it’s why we choose Regus as a partner; to reduce time spent on tasks that don’t add value, so we can focus on what matters most – our clients.”
Flexible office space beats running a business from home or a coffee shop
“A few years ago, I spent a month in New York City for a change of scenery from Connecticut. After working for several days from my rental apartment, I began to feel a little cooped up. I decided to try and work at a popular location for flex workers, a local coffee shop. This option didn’t work particularly well for me because I am often on the phone with clients and need privacy and silence. I found myself having to leave the coffee shop to take calls, and by the time I returned, my table was usually occupied.
“That’s when I remembered that Regus has visitor privileges with sister offices around the country. I called the location closest to me (about seven blocks away), walked in, gave them my name and ‘home office’ location, and before I knew it, I was up and running in a large, private, comfortable workspace. That became my ‘office’ for the remainder of my stay, and it couldn’t have worked out better.”
Flexible working is invaluable to us during tough economic times
“The ability to maintain a flexible workplace during an economic downturn is a big benefit to us. In our business, economic downturns can present huge opportunities to add value for clients. During a downturn, anything that takes time away from communicating with clients, rebalancing portfolios, or staying on top of key market events can be costly.
“I am confident that delegating the day-to-day responsibilities of managing a typical brick-and-mortar office space to an experienced partner like Regus allows us to add maximum value for our clients while reducing annual operating costs.”
The future of working is about being agile
“I enjoy face-to-face meetings with my clients and feel it is important to sit across the ‘kitchen’ table with them from time to time. However, many of my clients are leaving the cold weather and high taxes of the northeast to move south. Being able to stay nimble and adapt to our clients’ needs while continuing to have a local presence is extremely important. We are proud to partner with Regus, an industry leader in flexible working solutions.”
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