Looking for coworking business plans
Berislav Lopac
coworking space, but had no luck so far. Does anyone have anyone like
it? It doesn't necessarily have to be a complete and thorough plan
with all the details, but at least some concept considering all the
important issues on the CW space and possible incomes, cash flow etc.
Best regards,
Berislav
Tara Hunt
Perhaps Eva and David from CubeSpace in Portland? They have a very robust space. Dane from Workspace in Vancouver?
The issue here is that most of us aren't big 'business plan' people. And, heck, to tell you the truth, everything we, personally (at Citizen Space as well as when setting up the Hat Factory) assumed going into it, we were pretty much wrong about.
Probably what you really need is the actuals...not the estimates. Our actuals are published here:
http://citizenspace.us/2007/03/20/baring-it-all-the-costs-of-citizen-space/
You may be able to get answers from others on the list...
John at 116 Houston?
Eva and David from CubeSpace?
Dane from Workspace?
Robert from Indoor Playground?
How about The Hive, what have you found out? Andrew?
T.
tara 'miss rogue' hunt
co-founder & CMO
Citizen Agency (www.citizenagency.com)
blog: www.horsepigcow.com
phone: 415-694-1951
fax: 415-727-5335
marcus
Perhaps this <a href="http://superstarch.com/citizendesk/
CitizenDeskProposal.pdf">PDF</a> may help? I compiled a good deal of
information from other sites and mashed them into a proposal for the
Citizen Desk project we have in Wisconsin. It's not as heavy on the
financial end as you may have hoped, but it's a start.
Also - I have a Domain that I am no using currently. Would anyone be
interested in co-desk.com
Otherwise, I may just sit on it for another project.
Cheers,
marcus nelson
--------------------------
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408.888.2657 mobile
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yahoo: marcusnelson
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Scott M. Stolz / WisTex
revenue sources that would work well for a co-working space.
1. Classroom rental with projector & white boards.
As an instructor, an inexpensive place to hold classes is desired.
Revenue could be generated by renting out the classroom and/or co-
sponsoring courses and sharing the revenue. You could also use this
for in-house / private courses as well, making the course room double
purpose.
2. Computer lab rental with computers, projector & white boards.
This would be the next level up for number 1 above. As an independent
computer instructor, finding an inexpensive computer lab to rent is
almost impossible. If the co-working space had such a space, and
rented out reasonably (perhaps in exchange for having x number of free
seats for members of the coworking facility), it would help
consultants & trainers offer their services, it would provide revenue
for the coworking space, and it would allow people who could not
afford classes the ability for afford them. Example: right now in
Houston, the choice is rent a computer lab for $800 a day and organize
your own course, or teach at a community college for $10 to $15 an
hour. As a result, it makes it difficult to offer classes to regular
people, since at $800 a day just for the room, makes computer classes
only affordable to corporations. Offering affordable classrooms would
benefit many groups and bring in revenue as well as can be used
internally.
2a. Build a Computer Lab for Those Short on Cash
Here's a creative way to build a computer lab for those facilities
that do not have the cash to shell out thousands of dollars to fill
the lab all at once. For the first instructors who rent the room, the
rent would be used for purchasing another computer for the room, until
it's full. :)
3. Vending Machines
Although I know we are not in the vending machine business, this could
definitely provide revenue for the facility, especially if reasonably
priced. Although I must admit I would rather have free food and
drinks, I would not mind having vending machines that helped support
the space. And if there is enough volume, you might be able to get a
vendor to manage it, and split the profit with you. If you are in a
building with other tenants, make the vending machines open to
everyone in the building if the landlord allows.
4. Vendor Partnerships
Have the coworking space sign up as an independent representative of
products and services that members need, and try to negotiate good
rates. Then suggest the vendor as a preferred vendor, but don't force
people to use them. Select vendors that have products and services
that are a good match for the members of the coworking facility.
... I know this isn't a business plan you were asking for, but I think
some of these might be useful to add to a business plan.
Hope this helps,
Scott
--
Scott M. Stolz
Consultant, Coach, Entrepreneur
Helping people take advantage of life's opportunities.™
http://www.wistex.com
http://www.cardservicenet.com
http://www.caribbeanchoice.com
http://blog.morepossibilities.info
Tara Hunt
$25 for non-profit meetup groups
$200 (4 hours) for a for-profit company
5% of course/classroom fee for independents. i.e. If you charge $500/person for a day seminar, Citizen Space takes $25 per person.
20% of course/classroom fee for professional seminars.
Coworking, in our case and for many of the others on this list, isn't a way to make gobs of money. It's a way to provide low-cost collaborative spaces for indies in your area. There are plenty of 'office rental' spaces that invest alot of money into infrastructure, etc. to make a profit. Not that coworking spaces can't make a profit...just that the bottom line should benefit the community first and foremost. Otherwise, it's just rented office space.
I'm cc-ing some people with spaces here so, hopefully, they'll answer to this thread (I noticed in many memberships of coworking space owners, they specify no email...so they aren't able to answer here as frequently as I hope. :|). Eva, David, Dan, David, Alex, Mark ('cause I don't have Mark Dowd's email)...could you help Berislav and the others out here?
Business plans for coworking?
Tara
Helping people take advantage of life's opportunities.(tm)
http://www.wistex.com
http://www.cardservicenet.com
http://www.caribbeanchoice.com
http://blog.morepossibilities.info
On Jun 7, 7:12 am, Berislav Lopac <berislav.lo...@gmail.com > wrote:
> I have previously asked for an example of a business plan for a
> coworking space, but had no luck so far. Does anyone have anyone like
> it? It doesn't necessarily have to be a complete and thorough plan
> with all the details, but at least some concept considering all the
> important issues on the CW space and possible incomes, cash flow etc.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Berislav
Alex Hillman
At Independents Hall we plan to utilize whatever conference space we end up with as a tool to get local small to medium businesses to support our coworking space. The goal is to create a "partner" model where a business can make a regular contribution (monthly, quarterly, annually, something like that) to help us keep the cost-per-user low, and in return the get a certain amount of resources of ours in return. For instance, we can offer our space as a retreat location instead of booking a hotel conference space. There are plenty of other opportunities to do similar deals, but ultimately I like this alot because it keep us involved in the local industry and its a long term, sustainable financial partnership, not a once-and-done "here have some money" sponsorship.
On the same vein, we're working on finalizing some numbers for a "charter membership". IndyHall is currently a group of ~30 active members both online and at our events (like Cream Cheese, http://wiki.independentshall.org/events/creamcheesesession, our local variation on Jelly, and Junto, a "microbarcamp" format we've started as well). Our goal is to get some of the really passionate members to buy in early, help us bootstrap the opening of our space, and have "lifetime" benefits, such as a locked in membership rate, etc in return. So far the idea has been positively received, I'm excited to publish numbers very soon.
-Alex
www.indyhall.org
Hey All,
At Independents Hall we plan to utilize whatever conference space we end up with as a tool to get local small to medium businesses to support our coworking space. The goal is to create a "partner" model where a business can make a regular contribution (monthly, quarterly, annually, something like that) to help us keep the cost-per-user low, and in return the get a certain amount of resources of ours in return. For instance, we can offer our space as a retreat location instead of booking a hotel conference space. There are plenty of other opportunities to do similar deals, but ultimately I like this alot because it keep us involved in the local industry and its a long term, sustainable financial partnership, not a once-and-done "here have some money" sponsorship.
On the same vein, we're working on finalizing some numbers for a "charter membership". IndyHall is currently a group of ~30 active members both online and at our events (like Cream Cheese, http://wiki.independentshall.org/events/creamcheesesession, our local variation on Jelly, and Junto, a "microbarcamp" format we've started as well). Our goal is to get some of the really passionate members to buy in early, help us bootstrap the opening of our space, and have "lifetime" benefits, such as a locked in membership rate, etc in return. So far the idea has been positively received, I'm excited to publish numbers very soon.
-Alex
www.indyhall.org
--
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--
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Alex Hillman
web.developer.innovation.consultant
vocal: 484.597.6256
digital: al...@weknowhtml.com
visual: www.weknowhtml.com | www.dangerouslyawesome.com
local: www.independentshall.org
--
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--
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Alex Hillman
web.developer.innovation.consultant
vocal: 484.597.6256
digital: al...@weknowhtml.com
visual: www.weknowhtml.com | www.dangerouslyawesome.com
local: www.independentshall.org
Scott M. Stolz / WisTex
Thanks for the response.
> Coworking, in our case and for many of the others on this list, isn't a way
> to make gobs of money. It's a way to provide low-cost collaborative spaces
> for indies in your area.
My suggestions weren't for making "gobs of money," but designed to
help offset the costs to keep it reasonable for everyone. The problem
with all the "office spaces" for rent is that the prices are
outrageous in many cases. Rent at those places is not designed for an
independent.
As an independent instructor, I NEED inexpensive classrooms or I can't
hold classes. And if I don't hold classes and make money, I have to
work a 9 to 5 job and won't be independent anymore. I have a feeling
that all the members of the coworking space would be in a similar
situation for whatever they do for a living (web design, training,
etc.).
No work for independents = no independence = no coworking = go back to
a corporate job.
Years ago I stopped teaching independently because, in part, I could
not afford $800 a day classroom rental. Lost my independence
temporarily because there were no affordable solutions for an
independent and no coworking facilities that I know of here in
Houston. And work at the community college was unreliable. As an
Adjunct Instructor, if the course doesn't fill, it's canceled with 1
day notice. So my only choice at the time was do corporations only or
get a day job. I could not affordably offer classes to the average
person because it was too costly to rent a classroom.
If a coworking facility can offer inexpensive classroom facilities, I
can go independent again with my teaching. Until then, I can't afford
to rent a classroom to hold a computer class. I can only serve
corporations at their place of business.
So having affordable classroom space is good for the independents.
I'm glad you offer that. I think it's vital.
> From someone who has bought whiteboards, projectors and computers, #2 & 3
> below would be quite the outlay!
I know it's expensive. That is why I suggested the build-a-classroom
model. Build it over time, and with fees for use of the room. Or
just get people to donate a computer or two. I would gladly donate a
computer or two for the room if I could get access to it sometimes to
hold classes. Get a few people donating and you got yourself a
classroom.
And, consider this: if the facility makes money off classroom rentals,
that is less you need to charge for rent. If you negotiate free seats
for members of the coworking facility, that's free training for
members who would normally have to pay.
Plus, the more revenue streams the co-working facility has, the more
services it can offer to the members, and the less expensive those
services can be.
Scott
--
Scott M. Stolz
Consultant, Coach, Entrepreneur
Helping people take advantage of life's opportunities.™
http://www.wistex.com
http://www.cardservicenet.com
http://www.caribbeanchoice.com
http://blog.morepossibilities.info
> --
> tara 'miss rogue' hunt
> co-founder & CMO