Take your office, add a twist of a local coffee shop, stir in a little bit of quiet and top it off with a tutoring center for your children, and you have the TracyVirtualOffice.

Located near Tracy’s downtown, the office puts a new age twist on the old-fashioned telecommute center. In the past, telecommuting was supposed to be an office away from the office, where professionals could have a quiet space at their disposal.

TracyVirtualOffice was founded by Mike Pihlman and opened May 1. Along with providing a place for business people to work, TracyVirtualOffice provides math tutoring for kindergarteners through 10th-graders, while parents get their work done.

So far, the office has two members, and one of them is a tutoring student.

“The TVO gives the benefit of less time traveling back and forth to work, less traffic congestion, less pollution, the fact that you can work close to home, for the town,” Pihlman said. “It means that people who stay in Tracy spend in Tracy.”

The office, once it is fully off and running, will offer community high-def movie nights, fun Fridays, board game nights, ice cream socials, meet the author nights and other community activities.

Pihlman, who has been an advocate of telecommuting since the early 1990s, decided a smart way to bring in business was to add the perks of tutoring.

According to Pihlman, the “co-working” location offers a lot of perks other than providing a quiet place to do work, such as helping an entrepreneur get off the ground.

“A co-working location can be thought of as a small business incubator,” Pihlman said. “It’s an inexpensive place to meet clients, it is quiet and has conference rooms for meetings until they grow enough to be able to move into the more expensive office locations or a building.”

TracyVirtualOffice offers seating, conference rooms, a printer, microwave, lockable files, free coffee, free WiFi, and a business address, as well as a classroom where the tutoring sessions take place.

Pihlman sums the business up as “friendly, energetic, and casual … but you can wear a tie if you want to.”

At a glance

• WHAT: TracyVirtualOffice

• WHEN: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday

• WHERE: 95 W. 11th St., Ste. 203

• COST: $25 for one day plus tutor session; $150 for a month and six tutor sessions

• INFO: Mike Pihlman 608-4340 or www.tracyvirtualoffice.com