Hi Brent, I had the same concerns, so we asked people to sign contracts and pay for as many months as they could afford.
The community responded. I think it was a good way to go... to make people know up-front that we need support to make this thing happen. Good luck, Geoff -- Geoff DiMasi Indy Hall, Philly On Jan 7, 2008, at 7:53 PM, GroovyBrent wrote: > > Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawesome <at> gmail.com> writes: > >> Brent, >> While I think you're asking the right questions, it's in the wrong >> order. >> >> Before you are concerned with the financial viability, you should >> be looking > to see if there is any existing community with a need for shared > office space, > or if there is a need for the community to be built around a shared > office. > > Hey Alex - > > I have gotten quite a bit of feedback that there is a need, and I've > met plenty > of people who said they like the atmosphere and the community that > we already > have in the building. As a production company, we have about 20 > fun, creative > individuals as built-in "anchors," about half of which are in the > building > 40-hours per week. I've read through quite a bit of the archives, > and have seen > this "community first" discussion several times. > > I'm not looking to make a ton of money. Never was my point; my core > business is > supposed to take care of that for me. I'm just looking to keep my > spare square > footage occupied and generating revenue, and I'm looking to do it in > a manner > that is compatible with the community I already have in place. > > Let me provide an analogy from personal experience that makes me > nervous about > ignoring the financials, and going balls-out 'community first.' > > My father is a tremendous soccer fan. He plays soccer 3 nights a > week, all his > friends play soccer, they go to a local pub at 3 in the morning to > watch > European soccer matches live, they go to local high schools to watch > soccer > (even when they don't know any of the kids playing), and he is part > of a huge > soccer community in San Diego. As a matter of fact, if you like > soccer, and you > live in San Diego, you would almost certainly recognize my father's > name. > However, when my he took over ownership of a professional soccer > franchise, he > nearly lost his shirt (or nearly lost his cleats if you prefer to > extend the > analogy). Why? Because this tremendous, vibrant, close-knit, > soccer-loving > community didn't want to pay to see the games. They SAID they > wanted to pay to > see the games, but when it came time to pull the wallet out, their > response was > often "But we're soccer fans! We're a community! Can't you get us > in for free > or AT LEAST a discount?" > > It is all well and good to have a vibrant community, but if you > can't pay the > rent, that community will have no place to go (or more precisely > will go > someplace else). It is my experience that in this web 2.0 world, > people often > don't feel they have to pay for community (I can't think of a single > successful > online community that currently survives as a pay-for-subscription > model). > People *SAY* they understand that a business needs to pay the bills, > but when it > comes down to it, the free option wins out almost every time. > > So to rephrase my questions: > > 1) IN GENERAL, are owners of current co-working spaces finding that > people are > ACTUALLY pulling out their wallets to be a part of co-working > communities? From > what you're saying, it sounds like they are... > > 2) I have feedback that there is interest in a co-working space in > San Diego > (and one of my good friends and business associates at Digital > Telepathy have > just begun offering space). Is it OK if that space is a part of > town that is > generally office-park-ish, or do successful co-working spaces find > that they > need to be in a "COOL" part of town? > > 3) I have some ideas of the amenities that I want to provide, but > I'm looking > for feedback from current successful co-working operators as to what > their > communities find appealing; what makes your community members say > "oh wow... > this is really nice to have!" and keeps them coming back? > > 4) Other than not planning for "community first," are there some not- > obvious > mistakes that successful (or better yet, UNsuccessful!) co-working > spaces have > made? And can you offer tips for avoiding those mistakes? > > Thanks! > -- > Brent Altomare > Executive Producer > Groovy Like a Movie > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
