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Jerome Chang

Nov 15 2012, 1:49 pm

From: Jerome Chang <jer...@blankspaces.com>

Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2012 10:49:26 -0800

Local: Thurs, Nov 15 2012 1:49 pm

Subject: Re: [Coworking] Business Model Study Group

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Sort of and yes. LExC came about because a few months later after that weekend, just a few of us decided to just forge ahead despite not getting collective buy-in from the relatively small 30 people. Remember, the point of just 30-ish people at that weekend was to be productive, vs. the entire national coworking community of 600+ coworking space owners. Anyway, so sort of yes - thanks for the reminder Jacob. :-D

Jerome
______________
BLANKSPACES
"work FOR yourself, not BY yourself"

www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)

On Nov 15, 2012, at 10:05 AM, Jacob Sayles <ja...@officenomads.com> wrote:

- Show quoted text -

> Actually TWO organizations came out of that meeting. Both LExC and Open Coworking were manifestations of the conversations we had that weekend.

> Jacob

> ---
> Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation
> http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500

> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 9:13 AM, Jerome Chang <jer...@blankspaces.com> wrote:
> I don't mean to drudge up any old debates, but one of the major initiatives I had pushed for in last year's Coworking Owners' weekend was to have some national association/alliance/etc. so that we could
> harness these national-level services
> accelerate or even fund projects like Open Coworking
> "study groups" for reviewing business models
> etc.

> Unfortunately, no such national org came to fruition from the 30 of us who had met.

> Perhaps we can readdress this @GCUC or the next Coworking Owners Weekend in June in SF @Nextspace.
> or like Craig mentioned, LExC could perhaps take on some of these initiatives.

> Jerome
> ______________
> BLANKSPACES
> "work FOR yourself, not BY yourself"

> www.blankspaces.com
> 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) Los Angeles, CA 90036
> 323.330.9505 (office)

> On Nov 15, 2012, at 8:57 AM, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking <baut...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> Jacob and Mojo,

>> I have always loved this idea of getting sponsorships on a more national level for services that are truly beneficial to our communities. I was approached about six months ago by an ad agency in California that had a client that was trying to enter new markets and sponsor coworking spaces. It seemed like a good match of company and community because many of the members would be interested in interested as it was based on a problem we recently brainstormed. I thought of it as a win-win, but ultimately we were not selected. As the coworking's awareness grows in the next few years I could see more services wanting to reach our members. We just need to remember to be proper gatekeepers with clear approval guidelines so we aren't promoting services to our members that are obtrusive or worthless just so an extra dollar can be made.

>> I could see LeXC eventually adding this as a revenue stream for their members but opening it up to a broader group would help more coworking spaces with Open Coworking. Most importantly, it would be a benefit to our members if it involved tools that many of community members already used at a discount and helped them run their businesses more efficiently.

> On Nov 15, 2012, at 7:46 AM, Mojo <cr...@mojocoworking.com> wrote:

>> Craig and others, there seems to be little question that the primary revenue stream for coworking communities is work space memberships. After that there has been a hodge podge of experiments within each community to see what works best, most efficiently and for the greatest benefit to the space and its members. At Mojo, our second biggest stream is meeting space - mostly conference room rentals for non-members. We also do printing for local business and believe that this can become a significant profit source. (we lease a printer and pay 1¢ for black prints and 10¢ for color ... we charge 5¢ for black and 35¢ for color to non-members. We just did a 3,500 page print job ... the math is pretty simple there.

>> The trick I find is to keep it simple. Do what is best within the limits of your current system resources and then look for "plug ins" that don't over tax your time/energy ... but can deliver benefits to you and your membership.

>> A few of you mentioned local sponsorships as a revenue stream. The trick is finding the right sponsors (who fit your member audience) and also having the resources to deliver what they expect in a professional/meaningful way. It can be done, surely, but it'll be important to look at the cost/benefits of each.

>> I'm beginning work on an idea that I think offers a better solution to tapping sponsorship as a revenue stream for the coworking movement. I consider it a "plug in" for sponsorship. Instead of each coworking space identifying and negotiating with local sponsors, We've started to build a network of coworking spaces and will facilitate the relationships with national level sponsors on a larger scale. By creating a more complete national footprint we can attract bigger companies with brands that have an authentic fit with the coworking movement and will inject energy and value into the membership at each space. Think Intel, Apple, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Converse, Acer, REI, Prius, Cannondale, Canon, Belkin, Clif Bar, 5 Hour Energy Drink, etc. Having larger/national sponsors should also provide higher "sponsorship fees" to coworking owners - and demand less time/energy to activate.

>> I guess I should mention that my "day job" is running an advertising agency with multiple Fortune 500 clients who are looking for this sort of experiential connection to the smart, young, entrepreneurial audience.

>> Our network concept is just getting started, and I plan to have more details to present at GCUC, so I'd love to hear any feedback on this idea as well as talk with anyone interested in possibly joining our "network" of spaces.

>> On Wednesday, November 14, 2012 11:39:52 AM UTC-5, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking wrote:
>> I do think the coworking business model is immature but proven to work. The coworking world has many successful stories and many failures, but we are within the failure and success rates of any other business and in many cases doing better. What I think the coworking business model does need to explore is additional revenue sources beyond just memberships that benefit the members. There have been several previous discussions in this groups about alternative sources - sponsorships, classes, add ons like mail or printing - but these models and the process of launching them have not fully developed. I think these need to explored more in the open because I don't think a lot of us share these stories.

>> I also think keeping new spaces expectations in check and doing a proper cost and revenue analysis combined with proper runway funding would be the biggest benefit to discuss. My gut instinct is that a coworking space is many space owners first time taking on a large sum of fixed expenses versus having a service based company and can have new challenges.

>> I'm finishing up a book right now and Alex is working on one as well that discusses the business aspect of coworking to address some of these problems. I would be happy to contribute some of the spreadsheets and pricing models and insights that will be in the book to the conversation.

>> Craig
>> Creative Density

>> --
>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
>> ---
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

> --
> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
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Alex Hillman

View profile

More options Nov 15 2012, 1:54 pm

From: Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com>

Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:54:32 -0500

Local: Thurs, Nov 15 2012 1:54 pm

Subject: Re: [Coworking] Business Model Study Group

Print | Individual message | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author

Agreed on both counts.

Key takeaway I see:
Don't underestimate how hard real collective buy in from a seemingly small group of people is to get.

Start small & focused, get enough buy-in to start something, and then continually execute to grow.

This is a good lesson for within our own spaces as well as the larger communities (and, there's never only one community http://alexhillman.com/theres-never-only-one-community).

-Alex
--
/ah
indyhall.org
coworking in philadelphia
pre-order my new eBook, "the business of community (http://book.businessofcommunity.com/?ref=email)"

- Show quoted text -

On Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Jerome Chang wrote:
> Sort of and yes. LExC came about because a few months later after that weekend, just a few of us decided to just forge ahead despite not getting collective buy-in from the relatively small 30 people. Remember, the point of just 30-ish people at that weekend was to be productive, vs. the entire national coworking community of 600+ coworking space owners. Anyway, so sort of yes - thanks for the reminder Jacob. :-D

> Jerome
> ______________
> BLANKSPACES
> "work FOR yourself, not BY yourself"

> www.blankspaces.com (http://www.blankspaces.com)
> 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) Los Angeles, CA 90036
> 323.330.9505 (office)
> On Nov 15, 2012, at 10:05 AM, Jacob Sayles <ja...@officenomads.com (mailto:ja...@officenomads.com)> wrote:
> > Actually TWO organizations came out of that meeting. Both LExC and Open Coworking were manifestations of the conversations we had that weekend.

> > Jacob

> > ---
> > Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation
> > http://www.officenomads.com (http://www.officenomads.com/) - (206) 323-6500

> > On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 9:13 AM, Jerome Chang <jer...@blankspaces.com (mailto:jer...@blankspaces.com)> wrote:
> > > I don't mean to drudge up any old debates, but one of the major initiatives I had pushed for in last year's Coworking Owners' weekend was to have some national association/alliance/etc. so that we could
> > > harness these national-level services
> > > accelerate or even fund projects like Open Coworking
> > > "study groups" for reviewing business models
> > > etc.

> > > Unfortunately, no such national org came to fruition from the 30 of us who had met.

> > > Perhaps we can readdress this @GCUC or the next Coworking Owners Weekend in June in SF @Nextspace.
> > > or like Craig mentioned, LExC could perhaps take on some of these initiatives.

> > > Jerome
> > > ______________
> > > BLANKSPACES
> > > "work FOR yourself, not BY yourself"

> > > www.blankspaces.com (http://www.blankspaces.com/)
> > > 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) Los Angeles, CA 90036
> > > 323.330.9505 (tel:323.330.9505) (office)
> > > On Nov 15, 2012, at 8:57 AM, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking <baut...@gmail.com (mailto:baut...@gmail.com)> wrote:
> > > > Jacob and Mojo,

> > > > I have always loved this idea of getting sponsorships on a more national level for services that are truly beneficial to our communities. I was approached about six months ago by an ad agency in California that had a client that was trying to enter new markets and sponsor coworking spaces. It seemed like a good match of company and community because many of the members would be interested in interested as it was based on a problem we recently brainstormed. I thought of it as a win-win, but ultimately we were not selected. As the coworking's awareness grows in the next few years I could see more services wanting to reach our members. We just need to remember to be proper gatekeepers with clear approval guidelines so we aren't promoting services to our members that are obtrusive or worthless just so an extra dollar can be made.

> > > > I could see LeXC eventually adding this as a revenue stream for their members but opening it up to a broader group would help more coworking spaces with Open Coworking. Most importantly, it would be a benefit to our members if it involved tools that many of community members already used at a discount and helped them run their businesses more efficiently.

> > > On Nov 15, 2012, at 7:46 AM, Mojo <cr...@mojocoworking.com (mailto:cr...@mojocoworking.com)> wrote:
> > > > Craig and others, there seems to be little question that the primary revenue stream for coworking communities is work space memberships. After that there has been a hodge podge of experiments within each community to see what works best, most efficiently and for the greatest benefit to the space and its members. At Mojo, our second biggest stream is meeting space - mostly conference room rentals for non-members. We also do printing for local business and believe that this can become a significant profit source. (we lease a printer and pay 1¢ for black prints and 10¢ for color ... we charge 5¢ for black and 35¢ for color to non-members. We just did a 3,500 page print job ... the math is pretty simple there.

> > > > The trick I find is to keep it simple. Do what is best within the limits of your current system resources and then look for "plug ins" that don't over tax your time/energy ... but can deliver benefits to you and your membership.

> > > > A few of you mentioned local sponsorships as a revenue stream. The trick is finding the right sponsors (who fit your member audience) and also having the resources to deliver what they expect in a professional/meaningful way. It can be done, surely, but it'll be important to look at the cost/benefits of each.

> > > > I'm beginning work on an idea that I think offers a better solution to tapping sponsorship as a revenue stream for the coworking movement. I consider it a "plug in" for sponsorship. Instead of each coworking space identifying and negotiating with local sponsors, We've started to build a network of coworking spaces and will facilitate the relationships with national level sponsors on a larger scale. By creating a more complete national footprint we can attract bigger companies with brands that have an authentic fit with the coworking movement and will inject energy and value into the membership at each space. Think Intel, Apple, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Converse, Acer, REI, Prius, Cannondale, Canon, Belkin, Clif Bar, 5 Hour Energy Drink, etc. Having larger/national sponsors should also provide higher "sponsorship fees" to coworking owners - and demand less time/energy to activate.

> > > > I guess I should mention that my "day job" is running an advertising agency with multiple Fortune 500 clients who are looking for this sort of experiential connection to the smart, young, entrepreneurial audience.

> > > > Our network concept is just getting started, and I plan to have more details to present at GCUC, so I'd love to hear any feedback on this idea as well as talk with anyone interested in possibly joining our "network" of spaces.

> > > > On Wednesday, November 14, 2012 11:39:52 AM UTC-5, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking wrote:
> > > > > I do think the coworking business model is immature but proven to work. The coworking world has many successful stories and many failures, but we are within the failure and success rates of any other business and in many cases doing better. What I think the coworking business model does need to explore is additional revenue sources beyond just memberships that benefit the members. There have been several previous discussions in this groups about alternative sources - sponsorships, classes, add ons like mail or printing - but these models and the process of launching them have not fully developed. I think these need to explored more in the open because I don't think a lot of us share these stories.

> > > > > I also think keeping new spaces expectations in check and doing a proper cost and revenue analysis combined with proper runway funding would be the biggest benefit to discuss. My gut instinct is that a coworking space is many space owners first time taking on a large sum of fixed expenses versus having a service based company and can have new challenges.

> > > > > I'm finishing up a book right now and Alex is working on one as well that discusses the business aspect of coworking to address some of these problems. I would be happy to contribute some of the spreadsheets and pricing models and insights that will be in the book to the conversation.

> > > > > Craig
> > > > > Creative Density

> > > > --
> > > > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com (http://discuss.coworking.com/)
> > > > ---
> > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
> > > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

> > > --
> > > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com (http://discuss.coworking.com/)
> > > ---
> > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
> > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

> > --
> > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com (http://discuss.coworking.com/)
> > ---
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
> > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

> --
> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
> For more options, visit

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