Stephanie We're in the same boat here. Three of us funded our space and two of us work here full time. My office for my business, DoingMedia LLC is here. The other partner working in the space full time is also my wife. She acts as a kind of concierge. Between us we've had some push pull on how the space operates. I'm for "let everyone do as they will in an adult manner". She is more in management mode; she spent a long time as a retail store manager. That customer service background is perfect for a coworking space but the "managing" part is not so hot.
We are still in the mode of having people asking us for permission. So, when they ask I just tell them to go ahead, use your judgement, play well with others, etc. The rules in the kitchen are if you make it dirty then make it clean, if you rearrange it then rearrange it back, etc. But since my wife is more interested in running it like a business and not a community our members DON'T step up to do things, caretake, etc. because they don't have to. (My wife is great but she has said herself that she may not be a good fit for a coworking space.) We will soon have a member/regulars meeting to talk about how things work and how things need to work. I would suggest that you explicitly tell people to STOP asking you permission to do things. Then if somebody does something out of bounds you talk to them and start to set some norms. But now set the norm to be wild, wild west. Sort of like keeping your blog wide open to commenting and then adding moderation when the need arises. That's my $.02. Cheers! Todd O'Neill Catalyst/Partner C4 Workspace -- 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.
