Prospective Member Question: Days vs. Hours
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Toni Hogan
May 18, 2012, 10:48:04 AM5/18/12
to Coworking
We have a "community" membership (a.k.a. Casual Connexion) as most of
you call it that offers one day a week plus benefits. We opted for
days over hourly plans to avoid the extra administration. Some asked
if they opted for the Casual Connexion could he spread the hours over
4 days...2 or 3 hours at a time. We need members, but we can't make
exceptions to every "rule." Oh, do you have a limit to daily hours for
members who are not full-time. For example, one day = 6 hours even if
the space is open 10 hours a day?
So, what say you on this one?
you call it that offers one day a week plus benefits. We opted for
days over hourly plans to avoid the extra administration. Some asked
if they opted for the Casual Connexion could he spread the hours over
4 days...2 or 3 hours at a time. We need members, but we can't make
exceptions to every "rule." Oh, do you have a limit to daily hours for
members who are not full-time. For example, one day = 6 hours even if
the space is open 10 hours a day?
So, what say you on this one?
Alex Hillman
May 18, 2012, 10:55:40 AM5/18/12
to cowo...@googlegroups.com
We do not do partial days because:
1) it's extra overhead, as you've mentioned
2) people start thinking that they are paying for "time" instead of paying for participation
We don't want our members counting their hours any more than we want to be counting them. The experience of feeling like "my time is up!" isn't very friendly to the community-bonding experiences that we want in our spaces.
We need members, but we can't makeexceptions to every "rule."
This is the most important part: set up a system that's simple and flexible. No matter what you do, people will want exceptions. Most people who will be good members will happily accept that the options are there for a reason, and work within them rather than demand exceptions. The ones who want special treatment tend to be problem-members long term. Give 'em an inch…you know the rest.
-Alex
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Tom Brandt
May 18, 2012, 11:32:32 AM5/18/12
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Jacob Sayles
May 18, 2012, 7:42:22 PM5/18/12
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We do days not hours. Conversations about partial days are often someone trying to really understand how it all works and it can easily be turned around. The ones that aren't, who are maybe more persistent, are more like what Alex suggested and honestly that's the only time I break out the hard and fast rules. Most of the time we are pretty flexible and the simplicity of our model makes that easier to maintain while keeping a positive attitude.
In the beginning, you have the wiggle room to play around. Try different things out and see if the patterns we mention present themselves. Just try and keep an eye on finding members that want to be there as much as you do. Invest in those members and it pays off over time.
Jacob
---
Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation
http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500
Jacob
---
Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation
http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500
Toni Hogan
May 18, 2012, 7:55:17 PM5/18/12
to Coworking
Yeah, I think we'll stick to the original plan for now. I think this
is the same guy that called last weekend asking if he could have mail
sent here even if he rarely came by for coworking. Suspect. :-)
TH
On May 18, 6:42 pm, Jacob Sayles <ja...@officenomads.com> wrote:
> We do days not hours. Conversations about partial days are often someone
> trying to really understand how it all works and it can easily be turned
> around. The ones that aren't, who are maybe more persistent, are more like
> what Alex suggested and honestly that's the only time I break out the hard
> and fast rules. Most of the time we are pretty flexible and the simplicity
> of our model makes that easier to maintain while keeping a positive
> attitude.
>
> In the beginning, you have the wiggle room to play around. Try different
> things out and see if the patterns we mention present themselves. Just try
> and keep an eye on finding members that want to be there as much as you do.
> Invest in those members and it pays off over time.
>
> Jacob
>
> ---
> Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolationhttp://www.officenomads.com- (206) 323-6500
is the same guy that called last weekend asking if he could have mail
sent here even if he rarely came by for coworking. Suspect. :-)
TH
On May 18, 6:42 pm, Jacob Sayles <ja...@officenomads.com> wrote:
> We do days not hours. Conversations about partial days are often someone
> trying to really understand how it all works and it can easily be turned
> around. The ones that aren't, who are maybe more persistent, are more like
> what Alex suggested and honestly that's the only time I break out the hard
> and fast rules. Most of the time we are pretty flexible and the simplicity
> of our model makes that easier to maintain while keeping a positive
> attitude.
>
> In the beginning, you have the wiggle room to play around. Try different
> things out and see if the patterns we mention present themselves. Just try
> and keep an eye on finding members that want to be there as much as you do.
> Invest in those members and it pays off over time.
>
> Jacob
>
> ---
>
> On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 7:55 AM, Alex Hillman
> <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com>wrote:
> On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 7:55 AM, Alex Hillman
Angel Kwiatkowski
May 19, 2012, 12:59:56 PM5/19/12
to cowo...@googlegroups.com
I disagree! I let part time members break their day into half days if that works better for their schedule. We have so many working parents and freelancers who are running all around for various reasons that many members couldn't find a full day in their schedules every week to come cowork. Our more flexible stance on this has made the difference between getting members or not. We've seen no negative impact on community participation and no abuse of the system. In fact, there is no system. I don't keep track of when they attend. They can remember if they've used 0, 1 or 2 half days in any given week.
I consider a full day to be about 9 hours and a half day to be about 4 hours but again, who's counting?!
Toni Hogan
May 19, 2012, 1:04:02 PM5/19/12
to Coworking
Angel, half days would be better than a few hours here and there. This
guy wants to spread "one day a week" over four days.
TH
guy wants to spread "one day a week" over four days.
TH
Jeannine
May 20, 2012, 6:45:39 AM5/20/12
to Coworking
I'm with you, Angel. The only time I keep track of is when people
have reserved a particular part of the space.
The flip side of this, however, is that somebody who needs the space 4
days a week (for however long) is not the same as somebody who needs
the space 1 day a week (for however long). They are not, as Alex
says, buying hours. They are sharing the space.
I have clear day segments, because of the workshop/meeting needs; I
have three segments of 4 hours each with an hour in between free for
setup: 800 to 1200, 1300 to 1700, 1800 to 2200, If people run over
into the loose hour, I don't care -- if they don't care that I am
potentially walking through with my vacuum cleaner and changing out
the furniture. Most members solve this quite handily by doing it
themselves. The night crew knows perfectly well that I am not coming
in at 2200 to kick them out and as long as they do not piss off my
neighbors I don't care how long they stay.
Toni, I am looking at the web site and I am seeing a confusing number
of different plans and add ons and so forth. It doesn't surprise me
that he is asking, because the plan he wants is not there. He wants
what appears to me to be a promotional price, and why not. He doesn't
know what he wants yet and wants to limit his risk.
As I read it, he wants to come in *up to* 4 half days a week in the
shared space. He doesn't want conference room/private room time. He
does want an address. He is offering to pay 25$ a week for this.
He wants essentially your Coworker Connection plan, but without the
private space and with one day less, or your Community Connection
plan, without the private space and one or two days more, both with
the addition of a business address. Because I have no plans which
allocate time based on hours, I would probably just tell him what that
would cost, and then add a clause in the contract which allowed him to
book conference room time at >some rate< should he need it, but
restrict it to at any time the conference room was not already booked
by folks who have it included in their plans.
Based on your current prices, I think that would come in somewhere
between 140$ and 165$ a month. Assuming my math is right, I would
offer him that membership for 165 a month and 140 for six months. Or
assuming he is indeed a starter, I would offer him the first month for
140$ and agree to have a look together at his actual use at the end of
two months. Or something like that.
Just a thought.
Jeannine
have reserved a particular part of the space.
The flip side of this, however, is that somebody who needs the space 4
days a week (for however long) is not the same as somebody who needs
the space 1 day a week (for however long). They are not, as Alex
says, buying hours. They are sharing the space.
I have clear day segments, because of the workshop/meeting needs; I
have three segments of 4 hours each with an hour in between free for
setup: 800 to 1200, 1300 to 1700, 1800 to 2200, If people run over
into the loose hour, I don't care -- if they don't care that I am
potentially walking through with my vacuum cleaner and changing out
the furniture. Most members solve this quite handily by doing it
themselves. The night crew knows perfectly well that I am not coming
in at 2200 to kick them out and as long as they do not piss off my
neighbors I don't care how long they stay.
Toni, I am looking at the web site and I am seeing a confusing number
of different plans and add ons and so forth. It doesn't surprise me
that he is asking, because the plan he wants is not there. He wants
what appears to me to be a promotional price, and why not. He doesn't
know what he wants yet and wants to limit his risk.
As I read it, he wants to come in *up to* 4 half days a week in the
shared space. He doesn't want conference room/private room time. He
does want an address. He is offering to pay 25$ a week for this.
He wants essentially your Coworker Connection plan, but without the
private space and with one day less, or your Community Connection
plan, without the private space and one or two days more, both with
the addition of a business address. Because I have no plans which
allocate time based on hours, I would probably just tell him what that
would cost, and then add a clause in the contract which allowed him to
book conference room time at >some rate< should he need it, but
restrict it to at any time the conference room was not already booked
by folks who have it included in their plans.
Based on your current prices, I think that would come in somewhere
between 140$ and 165$ a month. Assuming my math is right, I would
offer him that membership for 165 a month and 140 for six months. Or
assuming he is indeed a starter, I would offer him the first month for
140$ and agree to have a look together at his actual use at the end of
two months. Or something like that.
Just a thought.
Jeannine
Toni Hogan
May 20, 2012, 2:05:27 PM5/20/12
to Coworking
Jeannine,
I don't think he ever looked at the website. He wanted to know what he
got for $50/month. He thinks with that plan he can come in a couple of
hours at a time to meet clients without using a meeting room. That's
what I got from the conversation. Either way, I can't track hours the
way he wants, as I need to get back to my own business before I'm
living out of the space. :-) I like the idea of four hour blocks. He
assumed that because we will be open from 8am to 6pm his one day a
week would allow him 10 hours to allocate over four days. We'll work
it out but we won't be doing a few hours here and there. We're also
implementing a hotspot manager for "visitors" so that might be an
option for half day folks as well.
TH
I don't think he ever looked at the website. He wanted to know what he
got for $50/month. He thinks with that plan he can come in a couple of
hours at a time to meet clients without using a meeting room. That's
what I got from the conversation. Either way, I can't track hours the
way he wants, as I need to get back to my own business before I'm
living out of the space. :-) I like the idea of four hour blocks. He
assumed that because we will be open from 8am to 6pm his one day a
week would allow him 10 hours to allocate over four days. We'll work
it out but we won't be doing a few hours here and there. We're also
implementing a hotspot manager for "visitors" so that might be an
option for half day folks as well.
TH
Jeannine
May 20, 2012, 4:49:48 PM5/20/12
to Coworking
Oh, in that case....tell him that in most US cities there are hotels
by the freeway that rent by the hour for hookups. :-)
Jeannine
by the freeway that rent by the hour for hookups. :-)
Jeannine
Toni Hogan
May 20, 2012, 5:03:58 PM5/20/12
to Coworking
hahahaaaa! right!
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