Okay... *cracks knuckles* Here's the overarching theme: Build Your Whuffie.
(Whuffie = Social Capital = Your "cred" among your people) I'd organize this in a more meaningful way, but I'm a little time-restrained as one might imagine. So, instead, a bunch of bullet points: - Do you have any free time? Make more free time. Now you have free time! :-D Go to every single meetup you can. Make friends with everyone. Find out what people are doing in groups complimentary to yours. - There are 297 Meetup groups within 10 miles of 94601 ( http://www.meetup.com/cities/us/ca/oakland/groups/?radius=10) Dig around and connect with the existing community infrastructure as much as possible. - Offer something of value beyond just space. Host a workshop in whatever you're good at. Ask your members and friends if they'll do the same. You can even just pick an event for something that you're interested in yourself. - Give and give again. Having a space can be an extremely useful thing; I'm sure many of the 297 Meetup groups in your area would love a free/cheap space to congregate. - Host a Jelly. Jelly is an awesome way to get the word out. Details here: http://jellynyc.pbwiki.com/HowtoStartaJelly - In terms of generating business, listen to what people say. You may have to tweak your model. I haven't even opened New Work City yet and I've already adjusted the model several times as I get more and more of a realistic idea of what people want (PS: people in New York are *all about* part time memberships, in a city where we are constantly bouncing around from place to place. It's different for every region/demographic). - Blog & Twitter & Facebook etc. Put your name out there and contribute publicly so people know who you are! - Watch Gary Vee's keynote speech. Now. Listen. Be inspired. Go show Oakland why coworking is awesome! http://garyvaynerchuk.com/2008/09/23/my-web-20-keynote-in-nyc/ Keep us posted on your progress and questions! Cheers, Tony New Work City PS your space is beautiful! On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 10:45 AM, Derby Creek Coworking Coop < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello! > I opened a coworking space in Oakland nearly 2 months ago and it has > been going ok. I have found it very difficult to find people to fill > my space. I have been advertising on craigslist, have sent emails to > everyone I know and have posted fliers in cafes around town. The space > is small, I'm only looking for 6 people, and I get a few people who > come in every week to check out the space. Unfortunately I thought the > space would fill up immediately so now I am starting to worry that > something is really wrong. Any suggestions? I don't have a lot of > money to work with, so that has limited my advertising capabilities > substantially. Thank you! > > with peace, > Jerlina > http://derbycreek.blogspot.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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
