Hey Y’all, This thread is making me, what with both an English degree and fifteen years of food service under my belt, giddily dizzy. I love language so much and—all in the spirit of comic relief—would like to point out that “bitching” is a verb and an adjective and “bitch” is a noun and a verb. Also, if we want to be literalists, Jelly and Cream Cheese are, first and foremost, food (and actually go well together). In some ways, this debate reminds me of that scene in “The Holy Grail”—you know the wedding where people are getting knocked off left and right? And someone says, “Let’s not bicker about who killed whom!” Point being that, while I think it’s evocative of coworking itself that we’re discussing this and concurring and dissenting as we go, in the end we’ll all wind up doing our own variation of coworking (not for profit, for profit, in a set space, not in a set space) and none of us will be “wrong.”
Now here’s the part where I get a little defensive (aside: as a middle child, defensive is sort of my default setting). Patrick said: [Finally, I think if this had come from someone hosting a coworking session that just happens to change location, it would have been better received. In this case it's a way of making a business center be able to sound like a coworking space. I think you have a great project ramping up, I also think the fact you are involved and trying to find a way to fit your model with the original vision of coworking shows you pretty much get what the thing is and want to be part of it. I'd suggest, if I may, finding ways to have people in your future space become a community and start putting emphasis on that instead of on the huge investment and responding to every hint of profit/non profit discussions. If you were always talking about the future workshops and Camps and such that you want to host, how you want to foster collaboration, how you are looking forward to seeing the group coming together, we wouldn't even notice the for profit model.] I’m not sure—and Patrick I’d appreciate clarity/correction if I’m wrong —but it felt like maybe the above “business center sound like a coworking space” was somehow referencing, disparagingly (if unintentionally so), what we’re trying to do in Austin with LaunchPad Coworking. I also think maybe there’s some confusion about the relationship between Dusty and LaunchPad Coworking. Dusty is the Jelly King here in Austin and he is behind Conjunctured Coworking. LaunchPad Coworking is a soon to open, for profit coworking space, headed by Julie Gomoll, whom many of you know is my “boss” (though I wish I had a better word, since “boss” connotes something negative in my mind). Julie and Dusty are friends and colleagues but not collaborators on LPC. Regarding the second paragraph quoted above, again, it seems this is a reference to LaunchPad Coworking? I say that because I clearly recall the moment at SXSWi when someone asked, during a core discussion, about money people are putting in up front for their spaces and Julie named a very high figure that evoked an audible gasp. I was proud of her for this transparency but worried it might give the wrong idea and folks would assign us suspicious motives. Now, it seems, my fear has been realized. Which is why I’d like to steer back to the idea of community and how LPC is very much about community. Julie has assembled a core team to help her make coworking a reality in Austin (or, with respect to Jelly, a more widespread reality). I’ll offer only two community/ people examples here but know there are plenty more. Tina, our café manager, turned Jo’s Coffee Shop not only into a very profitable business but, more importantly to Austinites who live for community, into the bustling, living, breathing, internationally known outdoor space that is so conducive to community people crowd there even when the heat goes triple digit (as it often does here). Additionally, she used the space a thousand times to raise money for all sorts of causes, from helping out sick musicians to helping out abandoned, neglected and abused animals. Working with LPC, she is very focused on not only making our café area a free coworking area, but one that reaches out beyond the coworking community and, for example, into the community of local organic farmers and independent food folks to make LPC something that serves lots of Austinites, whether they ever set foot in our place or not. Example number two, pardon any unintentional narcissism, is me. I never bothered to track the hours, or even number of projects I’ve undertaken to build community in my seventeen years here in Austin, but suffice it to say, I have done plenty. Why? Because I LOVE COMMUNITY. I’ve put out a Naked Calendar bringing together all sorts of musicians, photogs and designers to raise money for uninsured sick kids. I hosted for many years the Kick Ass Awards at my own expense, recognizing people in the community who are unsung heroes. And I write a weekly column (for no pay) for The Austinist, frequently profiling cool people in the city so others can find out what’s happening. The list goes on. Julie selected me for her team not just because of my professional writing resume, which is extensive, but for my interest in community and with the hopes that I could do some outreach, which I am. And, heck, since I’m blathering here, let me go off on a tangent and say that, in paying me fairly, she’s eliminated my decades long need (the need of many freelancers) to take on tons of dull piecemeal work to support the sort of writing I’m passionate about (creative writing often paying far less than commercial writing). This fair pay in turn frees me up to do more community building. Anyway, getting back to the point (as much as I have one)—if I am correct and there is some concern that the for-profit model is somehow “wrong,” I hope we can all sit back and wait and see what LaunchPad Coworking has to bring to the coworking table before dismissing for- profit as some sort of corporate wolf in a coworking sheep costume. As for the (seeming) allegation: “If you were always talking about the future workshops and Camps and such that you want to host, how you want to foster collaboration, how you are looking forward to seeing the group coming together, we wouldn't even notice the for profit model.” Gosh… I spend an awful lot of time doing just that—writing blog posts about workshops, collaboration, community events, and articles relating to coworking. In addition, I have profiled many of you, including Patrick, with a genuine interest in your experience with coworking and a real curiosity about what is and isn’t working in your model. Let me conclude with an apology for any misinterpretation I had. But I have this fear of an unnecessary divisiveness creeping in and I don’t want that to happen. I know I speak not only for myself but all of LaunchPad Coworking when I say we are so grateful for all of the community encouragement and insight to date. Cheers, spike http://www.launchpadcoworking.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
