Alex, it looks like you have just the right amount of an eye for talent and luck on your side.
On Aug 17, 9:30 am, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> wrote: > Parker is round 2 of the experience, being a successor to Dana. > > Dana's story is a little different (I didn't bring it up because it didn't > exactly address Slate's question). > > To keep it relatively brief, I met Dana through some friends early on in > Indy Hall's existence. She was smart, friendly, extremely outgoing, and in > her last year of art school completing a BFA. > > A few months before graduation, she came to me and said "I have no idea what > I'm going to do with a BFA after I graduate. Help!" > > Having seen Dana at Indy Hall social events, it was pretty clear to me it > was a place she wanted to be. Having also seen Dana run/curate/organize some > art shows, it was also pretty obvious that she was organized, and type-A > enough to help ME. > > At the time, Indy Hall wasn't in a position to pay anybody, but personally, > I needed some of the things I was doing every day at Indy Hall ripped away > from me. The simple administrava still needed doing, but I wasn't going to > relinquish it to someone I didn't trust. > > So rather than Indy Hall hire her, I hired her as a personal assistant. Her > #1 job function was to get me to do less Indy Hall work didn't need to be me > (which let me focus on the stuff that DID need to be me). The catch was, as > Indy Hall COULD afford more, it would. > > Long story short, she did a phenomenal job of directive #1 in showing me > that Indy Hall could run without me, and how. That was a HUGE and important > lesson in bringing on help. By virtue of her personality, she also found > ways to streamline and optimize the processes I'd created for anything from > attendance to billing to making sure we didn't run out of trash bags or > paper. She also contributed to a significant improvement in office > "happiness" (not that it was bad, it's just amazing with the right person > there to greet you in the morning, or make your day go a little smoother). > Again, a personality thing, but something that 2 years later, Parker does as > well. > > *Here's the important part: * > Even with Indy Hall's support, I couldn't afford her full time myself > forever, so I said "look at the rest of Indy Hall's members (probably ~40 > people at the time). If someone's doing something interesting to you, ask > them if they need help, and don't be afraid to ask to be paid for your > time." I basically helped teach her how to be a freelancer. > > She found a niche in doing freelance customer support for a handful of the > products made by people who work at Indy Hall. Again, by virtue of being > smart, friendly, intelligent, and a good communicator, she could learn > ANYTHING she wanted to and become a great first line of defense customer > support person...and multiple part time customer support gigs gave her the > flexibility to continue to support Indy Hall as well. > > Fast forward another 18 months -> past Indy Hall's growth into it's new > space -> Dana tells me that she's got more paying customer support work than > she does Indy Hall work...she could use some help for Indy Hall. (Enter the > interview where we found Parker and Michelle). By the time we brought on > Parker, Dana had actually been offered a full time position doing > communications operations for one of the companies that bought a product > built by an Indy Hall member. She left Indy Hall and all of her other > projects to pursue this chance to focus on this one app, and spent the last > 12 months with the company. She even brought on a couple of her other > friends to help build her support team. > > Dana built something a little different than Parker...it's not an iPhone > game, but she found an extremely valuable skill in leadership, > communications and operations, that can be applied to any business she wants > to work with, for, or even start herself. > > And most importantly, she has the continued support, mentorship, and > friendship of Indy Hall where she started out...and still works a few days a > month. > > -Alex > > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 4:50 AM, santi martinez <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > > > > > > Alex, > > > Sorry for deviating the conversation, but do you have ( or any one else in > > the group ) any other story of success like Parker's one? > > > Can this evolution be expected in a co-working environment, because of the > > co-workers attitude? > > > I know that this is not 1+1=2, but the truth is that when thinking in > > starting a co-working space I would never imagine such a fantastic outcome > > > Santi > > > 2010/8/17 Alex Hillman <[email protected]> > > >> Slate reached out privately, but I thought that others might find my > >> response useful: > > >> Hi Slate, > > >> I can't speak for Julie (Hi Julie!!) or Tony, but I can tell you that > >> we've paid one part time staff member a fixed amount of monthly > >> compensation > >> that covered them for their time spent with us, but also intentionally > >> hired > >> people who really wanted to work from Indy Hall on their own > >> personal/professional development. > > >> Since it doesn't take even close to 40 hours a week to take care of the > >> office management of our ~5000 square foot office and 100+ person > >> membership, and it's totally up to them to create even more efficient ways > >> of getting their work for us done, they can make as MUCH time as they like > >> for their own projects and essentially get free access to explore their > >> dreams. > > >> Parker, our current office manager, recently released his first iPhone > >> gamehttp://brainarang.comPrior to coming to Indy Hall, he never thought > >> he could make a video game. In nearly a year of working at Indy Hall, he's > >> learned communication, team building, leadership, creative collaboration, > >> iteration, production, and more. > > >> It's like the best internship ever. > > >> In fact, we initially ran it as an unpaid internship, see: > >>http://www.indyhall.org/blog/2009/08/20/the-indyhall-internship/to work > >> under our first office manager (who was my assistant). We used a ~3 month > >> internship to pilot a successor to Dana, and found Parker, who's absolutely > >> phenomenal and worth every penny we pay him (I wish we could pay him more)! > > >> Bottom line is: GREAT help is hard to come by, and they need to be > >> compensated fairly. I don't personally think a commission is fair because a > >> single staff member isn't going to make the difference between 20 and 40 > >> members, so they don't really have realistic ways to increase their > >> compensation to a fair rate. It looks to me more like you're trying to hire > >> a sales person than what a coworking space really needs: *a den mother*. > > >> Finally, and probably most importantly, the BIGGEST reason we only need to > >> pay one person a part time wage is because Indy Hall was built as a > >> community first, and we heavily included all of our members in the > >> construction of our clubhouse and continue to do so on a daily basis. So > >> many of the things that most offices would have to have an office minion > >> take care of get taken care of by our members because they're proud of the > >> home they helped create and inhabit. That's more valuable than any "cost > >> savings" approach we could have ever dreamed up. > > >> Best of luck on your new effort in Ct! > > >> Just remember: community comes first. Everything else is gravy. > > >> -Alex > >> /ah > >> indyhall.org > >> coworking in philadelphia > > >> On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 2:21 PM, newhaven coworker < > >> [email protected]> wrote: > > >>> I was wondering if anyone has come up with a good formula for paying > >>> staff? > > >>> Is there a percentage of monthly membership income that goes towards > >>> paying staff? > > >>> Many of the posts on that have to do with paying staff are from > >>> several years ago. If anyone has any insight into this area our > >>> Connecticut coworking space would appreciate the input. Thanks > > >>> SB > > >>> -- > >>> 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]<coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups > >>> .com> > >>> . > >>> 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]<coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups > >> .com> > >> . > >> 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]<coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups > > .com> > > . > > 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. 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