Whether it's an empty nook in their attic or a corner table at the local Starbuck's, home-based businesspeople are constantly searching for the ideal spot to do research, make phone calls or meet with clients. Come June of 2011, East Side entrepreneurs will be able to take advantage of specially designed space at the Shaker Heights Public Library's main branch on Lee Road.

The Community Entrepreneurial Office -- CEO for short -- will be a pilot program featuring workspace and services for home-based business owners. The Shaker Heights Public Library announced this fall that it had received a $37,645 grant from the state to set up the facilities.

An existing computer area on the library's second floor is being redesigned to make way for 10 workstations and a conference area, which will be available free of charge. Entrepreneurs will also have access to business software. Faxing, photocopying and related services will be fee-based.

 "We see that people come here to do certain business and then they have to go elsewhere to finish,"  notes Margaret Simon, who will head up the library's CEO program. "So we said we'll be the finisher." Home-based entrepreneurs can think of the CEO as a one-stop resource for their businesses, Simon adds.

She says she would like to build a staff around the CEO program as it grows. "My hope is that it will become a self-sustaining business that will generate jobs."

The Shaker Heights Library is in proximity to Shaker Launch House, a business incubator also opening in 2011. Simon is set to meet with developers of Launch House to discuss ways each can help local entrepreneurs. "I think we have parallel services and we can make them intersect," she says.

SOURCE: Margaret Simon
WRITER: Diane DiPIero