Great article Clark. It's good to know that you're readily acknowledging the urgent need to adapt and adapt quickly to customer demand. That's very critical.
We've definitely learned a thing or two from our "customers". Originally, we had set up these very exact plans for 2 days/wk, and 3 days/wk, etc., but we found a greater demand for either unlimited plans. We of course have part-time memberships, but "sell" many more unlimited plans. As for the blend, in our view, you should definitely have a blend. We would've definitely not been able to draw people in had we not had offices. Then again, Souk, Indy Hall, and many others will prove me wrong. I guess we all just have slightly different demographics. Jerome ______________ BLANKSPACES "work wide open" www.blankspaces.com 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) Los Angeles, CA 90036 323.330.9505 (office) On Dec 22, 2009, at 11:18 AM, Tara Hunt wrote: > Great article...only thing I would push back on is: "Give people > what they ask for" > > As many spaces have experienced, what people ask for and what the > actually want are two different things. CubeSpace in Portland > suffered because of this. People wanted offices and cubes and > photocopiers and their dedicated phonelines, etc. They worked with > the local community to determine that these things were in high > demand. But when they opened, they struggled to keep people in the > space...most of them headed over to Souk, which is mostly open > space, has no dedicated phonelines, limited copying/printing > resources and very different from what ppl filled out on the survey. > > At the end of the day, it isn't "Give people what they ask for" nor > is it "Force something you want on people" - it's something > different. Community. Understanding what people really need. > Creating an atmosphere. An experience. A reason for people to want > to get out of their PJ's and trudge over to a space to work with > others. Hell, if that is offices blended with open space, so be it. > But the blend doesn't always work - even when people have asked for > it. > > T > > On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 1:45 PM, Clark Covington <[email protected] > > wrote: > Hi, > > Cowork space owner, and active reader of this Google Group here. Let > me preface this note by explaining that I absolutely love this group. > It is a wonderfully rich well of knowledge that I dip into often as > the owner of a new coworking space. Many people in this group have > personally helped me including Mike from Ignition Alley, Tara via her > book Whuffie Factor from Citizen Space, and the folks at CoLab Orlando > to name just a few. So by no means am I trying to argue with those > that know far more about this concept than I. However, from what I’ve > seen the genuine need in what people are at least telling me they want > out of a workspace is the hybrid model of having both private offices > and common space. > > I’ve written a blog post fleshing out my feelings about what people > really want in a coworking space here. After talking with dozens of > building owners, leasing agents, possible tenants, current tenants, > and other facility owners this post was my conclusion of where the > demand truly exists. If you have time over the holidays I’d be > thrilled if you’d give it a look. > > http://clarkcovington.blogspot.com/2009/12/give-them-what-they-want-or-go-home.html > > Thanks and Happy Holidays, > Clark Covington > > -- > > 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 > . > > > > > > -- > 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 > . -- 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.
