Update on how everyone is doing??

[Stepfanie Cuevas]

Hi There! I'm in the process of setting up our coworking + childcare space in San Antonio , Texas. I've set up some meetings with investors and small business associations to pitch my ideas, and after looking at this page and following it for a year or so, I wanted to see if everyone could update on how they are doing with their business, where they are, if they've faced new hardships? 

I'd love to hear how everyone has been doing?

Thanks!

Stepfanie Cuevas

http://www.mergecoworking.com

[Deb]

Hi Stefanie! Congrats on your new endeavor! Love the name. I've been meaning to update the group, so I'm glad you posted.

Work and Play, my coworking + childcare space in South Orange, NJ, opened earlier this month. So far it's going well! We're signing up members and figuring out our community's needs. The biggest hurdle for us is the childcare business (but isn't that everyone's?) We are currently offering two-hour drop in babysitting sessions to our members while we work on our outdoor play area, a requirement for our state's licensing. In addition to childcare, we also have a Birthday Party space and host all sorts of kids classes and Open Play.

You can check out this piece on our opening for photos and more info! 

http://villagegreennj.com/business/work-play-south-orange-helps-parents-balance-work-family/

I look forward to hearing everyone else! Is anyone planning on attending GCUC? I am hoping to be there and would love to meet some of you!

Best,

Deborah Engel
workan...@gmail.com
www.workandplaynj.com
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Work and Play: 
A coworking facility with drop-in babysitting, caregiver & me classes, open play and birthday party space.

[Melissa Tapper Goldman]

Hi Deborah and Stephanie,

I'm hoping to start a coworking+childcare space in New England (still working on the location specifics). I'd love to talk to anyone who's moving forward or anyone in New England interested in this model, too.

Deborah- I'm currently based in NYC, and I'd love to visit Work and Play if that's possible. Could I come by? Or are things still too busy? I know you recently launched the childcare component. I'm excited to see your progress and how you've problem-solved some of the regulatory issues.

All best,

Melissa

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[Stepfanie Cuevas]

Thanks so much Deborah! I found out about the conference too late, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to swing it :( I wanted to also run by something with you to see what you all thought:

I started a crowdfunding campaign on Sunday to raise funds for the coworking space. A lot of people were sharing it, I was getting some great feedback and have been promoting all week since then. And while I've received many emails for support, I had only 3 people donate and sign up. I wanted to do a crowd funding campaign versus getting a business loan to more or less validate the business idea and that people would actually put money into a space like this. I don't want it be to like other spaces that have ad to close where in one of her quotes from the group was something like "people will say they want something but it's different from what they are willing to pay for." I totally can understand that.

One thing someone had said to me was why I didn't create a GoFundMe campaign or an IndieGoGo campaign instead of raising the funds on my website, well I thought it would add more value if people were able to "prepay" for their coworking and get actual value instead of just "donating" for X amount of funds.

I wanted to see what you thought about all this and If I should go the other route of funding or if you had any other ideas?

Stepfanie Cuevas

http://www.mergecoworking.com

[nikki ricks]

Hi, Stepfanie!

Looks like things are moving along for you!

I too have had a lot of verbal support - but not a ton of money backing. 

Have you talk to Diana Rothschild at NextKids? She's pretty busy but could offer some great insight. I know she paired up with Next Space and they created Next Kids together. They are investor backed - so that's one way to do it. I think they're the longest standing coworking with childcare in the nation as of yet. With that, I think only 20% of the coworkers at their NextSpace location use the NextKids space. So that's something to consider in membership inclusion.

Though I've tried to build a membership by doing "pop-up" coworking with childcare events. It seems like this is the type of business model where to do it right you have to go all in. I'm not sure the parents who come to the pop-up coworking events would be stable customers once I would open a full space. On top of that it was difficult to take care of a lot of kids of different ages in a space that wasn't completely dedicated for it. 

I know there's a company in Brooklyn - http://www.workaround.nyc/eventtickets/ that looks like they're doing something similar.

I'm also nervous about opening a dedicated space as it seems like there's still a huge market education - not just on coworking with childcare but coworking in general. 

I'm still really passionate about the idea and want to see it succeed! I think it's only a matter of time before you see more and more spaces. 

Good luck to you!

[Tiffany Frye]

Hi! It's so nice to hear about the progress that's being made in other corners of the country. I love the idea of pop-up coworking! 

I'm in Durham, North Carolina and we are opening up our coworking and childcare space in our first non-residential location in June. I say "non-residential" because we've been operating out of my house since last fall. The way we've worked is all parents chip in about 25% of their time doing childcare, and they get the rest of the time to spend in the coworking space while other parents are watching their kiddos. I set up two rooms in my house as Montessori-style learning environments and turned our living room into a coworking space. This has been a great way to start if anyone is looking for a route in without much overhead.

The response has been great, and there are some limitations to having it operate in my house, so that's why we've decided to move to a larger location. With this move, we are also becoming an actual business - we've been more of a 'club' up to this point - and we are hiring teachers. This means our price point jumps from being a suggested donation to being in line with other high-quality daycares around the area. We're able to keep the cost down a tiny bit by having parents serve as classroom assistants and pitch in with other space maintenance and admin tasks. It will be really interesting to see how it all shakes out. Adding the cooperative layer on to a business complicates things, but I think it will make our community stronger in the long run. 

I won't be making it to GCUC b/c we've got too much on our plates to get ready for our June 15 launch date. I hope to attend next year!

On Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 1:04:39 PM UTC-5, Stepfanie Cuevas wrote:

[Melissa Tapper Goldman]

Thank you for the update, Tiffany. That sounds fantastic! Congratulations on taking the next step.

I will be at GCUC. Anybody else from this group? I hope we can meet each other!

Best,

Melissa

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[Tiffany Frye]

Thanks, Melissa!

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Tiffany Frye 

nido durham

www.nidodurham.com

919.307.6436

[Razili Datta]

Hi Melissa, 

I'm exploring ideas and options for coworking and childcare in Toronto. I'm at GCUC and would love to meet up! 

I'll look around for you tomorrow! 

Best,

Razili Datta

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