Hi Jim, Our model was break-even, but we bring in more money than our costs right now.
Our plan is to reinvest in the community (new space, etc), but I think the goal should be sustainability and you will split the difference on those 2 models. --- Geoff DiMasi Independents Hall On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 9:24 PM, jmproffitt <[email protected]> wrote: > > As we're evaluating whether/how to start a coworking office in the > Anchorage area, it strikes me that there's a spectrum of possible > approaches. > > On the one hand, there's the sort of "retail" coworking space where > people simply rent desks by the day, week, month, etc. The space is > helpful to those participating simply by being there. Camaraderie is a > welcome byproduct, but not a primary goal. This business approach is a > pure for-profit play that must make money for the owner(s) to remain > viable. > > At the other end of the spectrum is the break-even "community" > coworking space where the objective is to support independent digital > workers and even foster community amongst them. It might even be an > advocacy space that promotes the businesses that participate in the > coworking venture. In this case, the coworking space might make money, > but that's a byproduct of the venture rather than the primary goal. > > And then there's a spectrum of variations in between these two models. > > A few questions... > > [1] Does that description sound about right to you? > > [2] Is one model more "sustainable" than the other, or is it too early > to tell? Put another way, is the for-profit model more sustainable > because the profit motive draws in enough cash to keep going (and > offers the owner incentive to keep it going), or is the not-for-profit > model more sustainable because the participants are mutually committed > to a shared success? > > [3] Has anyone out there created a coworking space that you would say > has split the two models down the middle, making SOME money but also > actively providing support for participating coworkers by playing > connector / booster? > > --John > jmproffitt [at] gmail [dot] com > @jmproffitt > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
