4 | Evanston Portrait
BUSINESS
Entrepreneurs shine in Evanston BY KIMBERLY ELSHAM VAVRICK
For Sun-Times Media
Evanston is a hotbed for entrepreneurs. Three business owners explain what they think makes small businesses thrive in the city. Miguel Wong owns coLab Evanston, 900 Chicago Ave., a co-working business, and is a partner in Box Evanston, 739 Main St., a boxing and cross-training gym. He didn’t set out to create businesses in the traditional sense. “It came out of needs that I have, for the starting point. I wasn’t thinking about those as being a business. I happen to be a very prototypical person, and there was a need in Evanston for these things and so it kind of worked out,”Wong said. He has been working for a web development company since 2006, but he wanted to have a space to work on outside projects; coffee shops weren’t cutting it. He was involved in community groups, and he attributes his business opportunities to his network.“I usually don’t say no when people ask for help, so I ended up meeting a lot of people through nonprofit projects,” he said.“Through these community services, I was able to build up some network of cool people doing cool things. We started meeting up and enjoying being with each other.” From there, the idea for developing a co-working space arose.Wong and his business partner leased a building in South Evanston that now hosts many freelancers for monthly fees. A little later,Wong was looking to be more fit. He ended up meeting a boxing trainer who was looking to open a gym.Together they came up with idea for Box Evanston, a boxing gym with a focus on small-group classes and individual training. Wong admits that Evanston has been a great locale for boutique startups. “My home is less than a seven-minute walk from here, so the theme of convenience naturally played in here,” he said.“There’s really a wealth of talented educated, early-to-late-30-year-olds who want to be active. Combined with the luck factor and networking factor, these things can happen. I’ve been lucky to be in the middle of that. I do see that as the future of Evanston, especially South Evanston where I live.” Malik Turley, owner of Hip Circle Studio, 709 Washington St., also opened her business to be close to home. She had been teaching various dance and yoga classes in the Chicago area for years. “Having grown up in Evanston and living here now, Evanston was my first choice for location. I opened Hip Circle Studio to create a space where women of all ages, sizes and backgrounds could come to have a good time getting and staying SEE ENTREPRENEURS, PAGE 5
Work-centered environment: coLab Evanston provides shared working space for companies, individuals and organizations. It is a member-only community driven by the need for collaboration and interpersonal interaction. It is ideal for those who are tired of working from a home office or public, coffee-shop environment. | SUPPLIED PHOTO