Jelena Pantic - Tecla Consulting

“I feel better working from theClubhou.se versus working at home, I’m going to be more productive”

- JELENA PANTIC

With offices in Italy, Romania and Serbia, Tecla Consulting supports manufacturers all over the world to make their processes more efficient.

When it wanted to launch a U.S. office, its search for office space led it straight to theClubhou.se.

Tecla initially had based its U.S. arm in Mystic, Connecticut, where it shared an office with a partner; then, it moved to Boston, where the office was within an apartment, says representative Jelena Pantic. But neither was ideal: Office space is expensive, and working in a home space can be challenging. And neither offered the opportunities for networking or camaraderie important for fueling employee satisfaction.

When one of Tecla’s founders decided to invest in a plant in Waynesboro, Georgia, it made sense for Tecla to move South too. As a small town, Waynesboro certainly didn’t offer the amenities that Tecla needed. “But Augusta is a charming town,” says Pantic. “It’s a nice drive away from Savannah and Charleston, and most importantly from international airports such as Charlotte and Atlanta. For domestic needs, it has a nice regional airport.”

After her previous experiences, a physical address at an office with other people was important for Pantic, who is Tecla’s only representative in the U.S., although she works with a team of freelance consultants. And nothing else was at the standard of theClubhou.se, she says.

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“Even though our business is not office based—we travel a lot—I personally wanted to get back in touch with people,” says Pantic. “Having that opportunity with theClubhou.se where people are wonderful and welcoming and responsive and really there for all your needs, plus all the modern space—it really made a change since working from home you can feel too isolated.

“It made a difference personally and for our business as well. Since I’m the only one here, if I feel better working from theClubhou.se versus working at home, I’m going to be more productive.”

During COVID-19, theClubhou.se also offered key support she wouldn’t have gotten in a typical office rental. Pantic started working at theClubhou.se in September 2020, but was called back to Europe that December. For nearly a year, theClubhou.se community director Chase Lanier stayed in touch, even checking Tecla’s mail and alerting Pantic if important tax or banking information arrived.

While theClubhou.se initially provided a landing spot that attracted this new business to Augusta, it has the potential to help Tecla and companies like it create more jobs and lease or even buy bigger spaces in future.

“At that moment in time, not having anybody here, that meant the world, so I could have the business running here even without me physically being here,” Pantic says. “Then, since we have returned in September 2021, we are now back even stronger than before.”