Hi, Mike, I saw something yesterday on a web page that made me think of your post. I don't know how it is Stateside these days but in the Netherlands it seems that half the nation is a coach -- somebody made a joke in my presence last week that coach is just another word for unemployed. So the competition is fierce.
I happen to know a coach, he really is a coach. His name is Roland Wijnen. He just put up a page on his website called "About You". Right next to the tab for "About me" which everybody has. And on that page he describes his client. Here's the webpage: http://rolandwijnen.com/blog/ I thought it was a great idea, and nicely done. I also think something like this could help your space very much, both online and offline. Define the person/business you want to attract, define what makes you different, and hammer that. Be inviting to those people. People need to hear something seven times on average before they remember it. When they hear coworking in your area they probably do think about the other space and figure you are more or less like that. So your best move is to talk about the ways in which you are not like that while talking about what you actually are. I don't know New Haven at all, so I cannot be helpful about what community is out there being underserved. But I am confident that there is one and you have to let them know you are looking for them. There is a parable about shoe stores in Dutch, which amounts to this: one shoe store in a town cannot make any money. Two shoe stores in a town can do well. With three shoe stores, people start coming to your town from other towns to buy shoes and everybody is making money. In my experience this is profoundly true, and if the shoe stores can work together at all, the effect is multiplied. Jeannine On Feb 14, 12:22 am, Michael <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi everyone, I've been lurking on this discussion list for a few > months now but wanted to introduce myself. I'm Mike, and I cowork at a > coworking space called The Bourse in New Haven. The space is beautiful > and enormous, and I've been working closely with the owners to help > create an online presence and buzz around it. We just opened late > December of last year. Check out our website athttp://www.boursenewhaven.com > > While New Haven is a huge startup city, it's still a comparatively > small city population, and we're "competing" (I use quotes for a lack > of a better term, we really want everyone to succeed) amongst a really > well-run and established coworking space called The Grove that is > literally just down the street, as well the many startup incubator > spaces in the area and great coffeeshops/free wi-fi areas. > > The owners have tried to distinguish The Bourse amongst the > "competition" by offering a little more anonymity and less rigorous > vetting to become a member (no interviews to get in, no forced > workshop sessions and teambuilding for members). By no means do we > want a total lack of community or collaboration, but we'd rather have > it happen naturally for those who want it. > > After 3 months, we still have practically no members. And I will admit > that the owners did break a cardinal coworking rule in setting up the > space before organizing a core group of members. They were blessed to > own a multi-story historic commerical building, and converted an > unused floor of their building into The Bourse. Now, they're > struggling to find people who are willing to take a chance and work in > a very large and quiet/empty space until we hit a critical mass. We're > marketing as best as we can, both online and in person, trying to > partner with chamber of commerce, Yale, and other organizations that > make sense, and we've brought someone on board to organize and hold > monthly "bootcamp" workshops and events to just get people in the > door. > > The discussions that have gone on this list have been extremely > helpful to us as we trial by fire. I so want this space to be > successful, as do the owners obviously, but they definitely suffer > from lack of resources (they run and manage other businesses in their > building) and the STRONG desire to be profitable. > > To all the space owners out there, what were critical factors for you > in reaching your "breakeven" number of members? What else can we do to > attract a core group of members. How have you dealt with other > coworking spaces that may be closeby? > > Mike K. Nguyenhttp://www.mknonline.com > [email protected] -- 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.
