Totally agreed with Jacob here. I've been a broken record with this, I'm sure, so for those of you who've heard it over and over again I'm sorry. But:
Ask your *potential* members what they want/need. But as Tara has suggested in the past, don't be open ended about it because most of the time, they don't know what they want/need. Surveys are great, as are observational conversation. But make sure that these things are directed at YOUR users, after all, they're the ones you're planning to serve! Small iterative steps to launch will save you headaches and dollars. In respect to these particular utilities...they're interesting but seem unnecessary, unless you're stacking people on top of one another without providing any kind of quiet areas. Just my .02. Good luck! -Alex, IndyHall On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 12:34 PM, Jacob Sayles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Kelly, > > One of the first things I did last spring when Office Nomads was just > an idea was to drive down to Portland and talk with Eva and David and > check out their space. They were SUPER helpful and one bit of advice > they gave me stuck and it has helped me sleep better at night since. > Don't build it unless you KNOW it's needed. Their space is awesome > and because of all the work they did getting it ready it has scaled up > quickly and smoothly. This has a few disadvantages though. One, you > are out some serious cash upfront when every $$ matters, and two, > ramping up quickly isn't exactly a good thing. We took this advice > and opened our doors after just 3 weeks of prep. That prep was mostly > getting the internet installed and the furniture we had been > collecting out of my garage. We are still working to fill in the > furniture gaps, paint the walls, and developing and fine tuning our > business processes. The slower ramp us helps keep us sane and the > savings from not buying lots of expensive equipment and not having our > doors open for months to install said equipment helps keep us from > freaking out because of the slower ramp up. Now, as people ask for > things we can add services like phones and address sound issues. > > Jacob > > On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 5:27 AM, Kelly Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > I was reviewing the sample business plan provided by Cube Space - > > (which again special thanks to Eva & David for sharing -- this thing > > was very helpful in getting started on my own plan) > > > > Anyway - I came across two items that i thought were interesting.... > > The mention of Pink Noise Generators & Direct In Dial (DID) telephone > > services. > > > > I wasn't originally planning to include these services -- as I felt > > most people would probably have their cell phones and as far as noise > > goes we'll have privacy booths if people need to step out for a > > telephone call. > > > > That said - I think these are wonderful ideas and we're considering > > including these in our facility. > > I'm wondering - does anyone have strong feelings on these either way? > > > > Are these an unique feature or a 'given' that every facility should > > have? > > Are you implementing these services in your facility? > > > > Thanks!-kb > > Kelly Brown > > Office Space Co-Working > > www.officespacecoworking.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Jacob Sayles > Co-founder & Janitor > http://officenomads.com > > > > -- -- ----- -- ----- Alex Hillman round(3)media new! ask me about it digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] visual: www.round3media.com | www.dangerouslyawesome.com local: www.indyhall.org --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
