For me it has less to do with the money economics (CS has been more of a money suck than a money maker over the years) and more with the social economics. Coworking as a movement has been personally rewarding for me as has being part of Citizen Space. I meet all sorts of cool people, get to give back to my community and take pride in watching a movement grow over the world. That's worth more than money to me...and I have a feeling that many others who are part of coworking are probably in it for the social and personal benefits over the monetary benefits. But I could be projecting...
Tara p.s. Interesting to note that Bill and Dane sold Workspace a year ago to someone else who hasn't really reached out to the coworking community like Bill and Dane used to. I haven't met Jayson nor his wife and hadn't stopped by Workspace since the transition. On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 9:30 PM, Christian <[email protected]> wrote: > > Having read about the impending closure of Workspace, I wanted to > start a dialogue regarding the sustainability of coworking spaces. The > reality for most coworking spaces is that the space itself does not > provide reasonable income for the space owner. The situation for most > spaces seems to be that either the space is a break even or slightly > above water venture used as a primary office for the owners work, or > the space is one that the owner would have occupied regardless of the > other users, and coworking is a means of giving back and creating a > beneficial environment while recouping some of the expenses you would > have had anyway. > > So, the real question is, can coworking BE a reasonable profit > business. Do you think the business model allows for sustainable > profit? If your design or programming firm begins to hemorrhage > clients due to economic conditions, will your coworking space be > sustainable? If you have a sustainable model, or are even making your > living from the space itself, what are your suggestions for those that > are not? > > It seems to me that there IS an economic tipping point, where the > expense of the space for the member is too much to justify the benefit > of the space. How do we begin to gauge this? It will be different for > all areas, certainly, but do you feel there are economic or activity > indicators that can serve as a warning to a space owner that they are > approaching a cost-benefit switch? > > And I suppose the last question is, should we worry about it? Is the > situation for Workspace unique enough that coworking as a whole will > be free of impact from it? > > > > > -- tara 'missrogue' hunt Book: The Whuffie Factor (http://www.thewhuffiefactor.com) Blog: HorsePigCow: Marketing Uncommon (http://horsepigcow.com) Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/missrogue phone: 514-679-2951 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
