THANK YOU!!!! You guys are awesome! Alex, your detailed answers REALLY help! Thanks so much!! :)
On Oct 29, 10:15 am, "scott anderson" <[email protected]> wrote: > This was an awesome answer. I am in St Cloud, MN and am currently just in > the "looking into' stages of this coworking world. I love the idea & think > the possibilities could be endless. > > Again, > > Thanks for all the time and energy your put into your thoughts. > > It is greatly appreciated, > > Scott Anderson > > Statewide Property Inspections > > 320-761-2100 > > Webwww.statewidepropertyinspections.com > <http://www.statewidepropertyinspections.com/> > > Bloghttp://statewide-homeinspections.blogspot.com/ <-----please click on > the link > > p.s If you thought my services were worth your time and money, I would > greatly appreciate a short testimoanial. A good word or two goes along way > when trying to grow my business. Thank you. > > _____ > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Alex Hillman > Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 5:55 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Coworking] Re: MBA student: Confused about Profitability of > Cowroking? > > Great questions, Cameron. > > First off, we're located in the downtown area of one of the top 10 largest > cities in the US. I'm glad you asked the question, because our business > model is based on our location. Location is directly correlated to > profitability, but in my mind, only in terms of how the business model needs > to adjust for location. This takes into account local economic climate, but > also local cultural needs. > > Sprawling cities have made coworking successful. I'd hope that Matthew > Wettergreen from Caroline Collective chimes in about how they've dealt with > the sprawl of Houston. > > But more about us: > > Do you break even? > > The first office we opened in August 2007 was operationally break even in ~7 > months. When we grew into our new office in May of 2009, we operated at a > loss for 4.5 months before achieving monthly breakeven. > > If you go beyond break even, is it by much? > > At our peak of utilization at our old office, IndyHall was generating 100%+ > of its monthly operating expenses in profit. So if it cost us $3500/month to > run the space, we brought in $7000/month to revenue. Our new space has more > than double the operating costs (nearly triple, in fact), but we haven't had > to adjust our rates. We achieved this by being thoughtful in managing our > expenses, and keeping our costs simple and measurable. All profit for the ~1 > year of profitability was put back into paying back debt (which took ~12 > months) and finding ways to improve the space (capital improvements, other > investments). > > Is there anyone who is experiencing growth even with the recession? > > We grew from 1800 sq ft to 4500 sq ft, and from ~45 paying members (14 full > time) to 90+ paying members (26 full time) between March and today. Our 2nd > biggest growth rate was in January of 2009, where our full time membership > nearly doubled. This pushed us into considering new space. > > What are your membership plans? > > http://indyhall.org/membership/ > > Does being profitable have to do with charging for extra services? > > We don't charge for anything other than membership. We occasionally make a > few bucks from hosting an event, but that's barely enough to register. > > Most of all, is this a business that one should approach with a mind frame > of making money or with one of > community, or both? > > I think the answer is that the frame of mind we've operated under is triple > bottom line: > Profit - profit, for us, is one half of our path to sustainability. If the > business side of IndyHall is not profitable, we don't have resources to > invest in our community and we can't continue to grow to fulfill our > mission. > People - investing in our community is the other half. > People leads to profit. Profit doesn't necessarily lead to people. Involving > the community in the operations of the business has been a part of our > secret sauce. > Place - investing in our city. This is at the core of our mission of making > Philadelphia a better place for people who want to make a living doing > something they love. > > For the last 2+ years, our model has worked for us on at least three fronts: > > 1) we've been profitable, twice. > 2) we've grown to ~100 simultaneously paying members across all levels > 3) we've been recognized by individuals, businesses, and representatives of > the city that our efforts and our community are a significant contributor to > the growth and visibility of a community in a city that wasn't otherwise > known for technology, creative, or independent workers. > > -Alex > > -- > ----- > -- > ----- > Alex Hillman > im always developing something > digital: [email protected] > helpful:www.unstick.me > visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com > local:www.indyhall.org > > On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 3:31 PM, Cameron <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi all! > > First off, this is a fabulous group, and I love the coworking idea! > > I'm an MBA student and I need to choose a topic to write a > profitability/feasibility analysis on for a class, and am interested > in writing about this concept, but wondering about the profitability. > > I've researched a lot, and it seems like people have different > answers... a lot say its not profitable since its the community aspect > that's appealing, while others say it can be profitable if you do it > right (what IS considered right is the question?). > > I don't want to start a repetitive post, but I would love to hear from > those of you who have experience with running/owning a coworking spot. > Do you break even? If you go beyond break even, is it by much? Is > there anyone who is experiencing growth even with the recession? What > are your membership plans? Does being profitable have to do with > charging for extra services? Most of all, is this a business that one > should approach with a mind frame of making money or with one of > community, or both? > > Don't worry about answering EVERY question... I'm just trying to be as > through as I can be in my research! I would be happy to post my > findings once it's all done! :) > > Any help would be awesome! > > Thanks in advance! > > Cam :) > > image001.jpg > 3KViewDownload --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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