We are a mini-city; if something wouldn't be right for a city, it's not right for us. (And we go for a cozy fireplace feel; if something doesn't feel like a cozy fireplace, we don't do it.)
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Susan Dorsch <su...@officenomads.com> Jul 03 10:38AM -0700
Great thread, Tony. This gives me a lot to think about as well - we try to
communicate our values and our purpose as best as we can through our
website, written materials, etc., but that only goes so far. And words can
only do so much when faced with people's own desires & expectations when
they walk in the door. I've seen over the years that sometimes you can
explain yourself and your community until you're blue in the face and you
are still met with "OK well I'm still just going to pay you to use your
meeting room. If I have to become a "member" or whatever to do that then
fine." [facepalm] This is the exception for us (thankfully), but it still
happens regularly enough to be a frustration.
The conversation has happened again and again on this list how people
frequently arrive at coworking spaces for the "things" (desks, wifi, etc.)
and wind up staying for the people. Are you asking the question how do we
effectively communicate the need a bit better? How to shine light on the
need we actually meet so that we're attracting members who walk through the
door looking to help shape our communities instead of just using our
resources? And how regional collectives can help to make an impact?
Because them's big questions. :) Here in Seattle the Seattle Collaborative
Space Alliance <http://collaborativespaces.org/> (formerly Coworking
Not knowing more details about your former landlord, I suspect he/she falls into one of the above categories and will attract the folks that fit.
We are veteran marketing/sales independent professionals who started out with a mission to support the independent creative professional and the existing businesses they serve to improve a broken creative business.
We bet the bank on a professional yet fun space. We assumed that we may have to fill it with hedge fund guys while we networked our way to attracting the right creative professionals and then to promote them to the business community. But we have been very surprised to find that the right creative professionals are the first to make a commitment of at least 6 months to private offices and dedicated desks.
The lesson I hope is to be true to your reason for developing the space and the right people will get it. I believe there is someone for everyone. So your landlord will attract the people looking for real estate without a long term commitment. Do you want those people?
The implication for a regional or global coworking directory is this - if you focus on what makes you different, you will standout in coworking directory and attract those looking for what you have to offer vs someone else. If you are so unique, Coworking directories are a great way to market yourself on the web - because lets fact is there are not millions of people searching for coworking - so to the extent there is one landing page on which to try to stand out vs the whole friggin web that's great. But nothing replaces personal networking and community outreach.
I know I saw your post about encouraging the work at home people to put their pants on and come to the space to work. And we've seen that as a challenge too. WE have about 35 members who are "mobile members". I think the magic there is believing it is worth the investment in convenience, time and money. ROI - as much as we all think this about warm fuzzy stuff - it is also about expanding business horizons.
I happen to think the two are related. When people feel safe they create better stuff, they find partners to up their game.
Back to the higher purpose of this thread . . . . I think we would all benefit from sharing real live examples of how a coworking space renewed creative confidence that resulted in a new business opportunity or an unexpected synergy that turned a little project into a bigger one or the confidence to ask a client to pay more, etc. etc. etc.
K-
BTW, we have members who commute into NYC and are interested in having what we call "Open Studio" Lounge access in both Stamford, CT and NYC. Sound like something you could package with us?
1) We have a member network website (comradity.io) built on an open source custom social network platform. Is groupbuzz an open source plugin?
2) How have you used it to grow your business? Converting "community" members to be regular visitors?
3) Anything else we should know?
K-
Alex, would you share more info about groupbuzz?
1) We have a member network website (comradity.io) built on an open source custom social network platform. Is groupbuzz an open source plugin?
2) How have you used it to grow your business? Converting "community" members to be regular visitors?
JEROME CHANG
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