> > How do you determine if there is a market other than asking friends I know > and doing the word of mouth thing?
This seems to be an important precursor question to the statement of "we need more coworking". As we've seen in some regions, economically and/or culturally, they're *simply not ready* for coworking as the immediate execution. Sometimes there's not enough local industry to support it (workers who can work from anywhere). Sometimes there's not enough draw to a certain neighborhood or place to overcome distance or sprawl. What these place are in need of is more of the results in line with what coworking provides, to get hooked, and then to be drawn to a logical conclusion closer to the concept of what we think of as coworking. I imagine that there's some measure of peripheral activity needed to sustain a healthy coworking community and the space it inhabits. Some critical mass of user groups, even if they're meeting in peoples' homes. Some critical mass of people working remotely who desire that camaraderie. Rather than be concerned with how hard (or easy) it is to set up a space - look for these early signs. If they're not obvious to you, they're likely not obvious to others. The story I told at TEDxSOMA a couple of weeks ago was one where I couldn't see the activity in my own backyard. But when I went out to find it - actually left my house and walked into another place where people might be hanging out - I not only found people but I found that they were also looking for other people. So we went from seeking others alone to seeking others, together. That was the VERY first critical step towards Indy Hall's success. While I haven't read beyond excerpts on the "collaborative consumption" book (or the author's TED talk): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpv6aGTcCl8 I do believe that this sort of collaborative discovery process is in line with building the groundwork for collaborative consumption: Identifying that we shared a common problem, and making the conscious decision to solve the common problem together. There's no overhead. There's no infrastructure. There's no cost. There's no one person responsible. If you can get this right, the subsequent steps start coming into focus. -Alex /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 9:39 AM, Stephen M. Frey, AIA LEED AP < [email protected]> wrote: > Alex, Let's get back to the "What's Mine is Yours, The Rise of > Collaborative Consumption". I found this book exhilarating to read. > It's inspired me to look around me for active evidence of the sharing > economy in action here in Vermont. And there's tons. Some quick > examples, CarShareVermont, The VBSR marketplace (http:// > marketplace.vbsr.org). where you can use your business services and > products as dollars in a bartering / trading exchange, Vermont > Business Materials Exchange (http://www.vbmx.org/) to name a few. We > have CSA farms galore serving a network of families and individuals > helping to sustain organic small farming in Vermont. > > What we don't have enough of is CoWorking spaces. With our > distributed network of small rural towns, villages and larger cities > Vermont's workers spend a ton of time on the road commuting to their > jobs. We lack density but have many beautiful hills, farms and cows. > Can CoWorking work in smaller scale settings like Vermont? > > There's one I know of, Office Squared run by Jen Mincar in > Burlington. We need more though. I live in Montpelier, our Capitol > city. We have some empty storefronts downtown. How hard is it to > start up a CoWorking space? What are the steps? How do you determine > if there is a market other than asking friends I know and doing the > word of mouth thing? Is CoWorking as a business lucrative, self- > sustaining, a hobby or avocation? > > Any examples of Collaborative Consumption and the Sharing Economy in > Action where you live? What are the successes? Failures? Emerging > trends? Let's crowd source this? How are traditional business > structures being upended with this unruly yet invigorating trend? > > Thanks, Steve > > On Jun 24, 6:43 pm, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> wrote: > > That's a great idea! If somebody's interested in composing/maintaining > that > > list, I can give you access to the blog to do so. > > > > -Alex > > > > /ah > > indyhall.org > > coworking in philadelphiaOn Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 6:39 PM, Leif Utne < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > How about a Recommended Books page on the Coworking Blog, with > summaries of > > > all the aforementioned books? Or a books category and separate posts > for > > > each book? Or both? > > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > > On Jun 24, 2011, at 2:52 PM, Alex Hillman < > [email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > > > I've gotten so much social spam from Goodreads, there's no way I'd > subject > > > my friends to them. > > > > > -Alex > > > > > /ah > > > <http://indyhall.org>indyhall.org > > > coworking in philadelphia > > > > > On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 5:50 PM, Ryan Price < <[email protected]> > > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > >> Good suggestions all - added some new stuff to my wishlist today. > > > > >> Do you guys know Goodreads? > > > > >> Why not start a "Coworking" tag there? > > > > >> <http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4204328-ryan-price> > > >>http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4204328-ryan-price > > > > >> Peace, > > >> Ryan Price > > >> <[email protected]>[email protected] > > >> @liberatr > > >> 407-484-8528 > > > > >> <http://FloridaCreatives.com>FloridaCreatives.com > > >> Happy Hour: Tue June 28th Fringe @ Gringo's Locos > > >> Show and Tell: Tue July 5th @ Urban ReThink > > >> Likemind.us: Fri July 15th @ Urban ReThink > > > > >> On Jun 24, 2011, at 5:09 PM, Angel Kwiatkowski wrote: > > > > >> >>>> Crap. We need a coworking book club. Stat. > > >> > Started. > > >> > Our first book is What's Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative > > >> > Consumption by Rachel Botsman > > >> > Please continue the discussion on this thread until it doesn't make > > >> > sense anymore and then we'll move to the next book which will be > > >> > selected by Alex. Then Alex will pick the next person who will pick > > >> > the next book and so and so forth. > > > > >> > Haha! > > >> > Angel > > > > >> > On Jun 24, 1:00 pm, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> > wrote: > > >> >> Crap. We need a coworking book club. Stat. > > > > >> >> /ah > > >> >> <http://indyhall.org>indyhall.org > > >> >> coworking in philadelphia > > > > >> >> On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 2:35 PM, [email protected] < > > > > >> >> [email protected]> wrote: > > >> >>> The Mesh by Lisa Gansky is another book on this topic. The book's > > >> >>> tagline is "Why the Future of Business is Sharing." It mentions > > >> >>> coworking and several coworking facilities. It came out about the > > >> >>> same time as Collaborative Consumption and covers the same ground. > I > > >> >>> think both books are quite good. > > > > >> >>> On Jun 24, 10:16 am, Angel Kwiatkowski <[email protected]> > wrote: > > >> >>>> I'm devouring this book right now and it based on the simple > concept > > >> >>>> that sharing is the new owning. Is anyone else reading it and > > >> thinking > > >> >>>> about coworking? We're starting to vision out Cohere in ways that > > >> >>>> revolve around even more sharing and I wanted to see if anyone > else > > >> is > > >> >>>> on the same wavelength. Weigh in please! > > > > >> >>> -- > > >> >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > >> Groups > > >> >>> "Coworking" group. > > >> >>> To post to this group, send email to <[email protected]> > > >> [email protected]. > > >> >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > >> >>> <coworking%[email protected]> > > >> [email protected]. > > >> >>> For more options, visit this group at > > >> >>> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en> > > >>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]> > > >> [email protected]. > > >> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > >> <coworking%[email protected]> > > >> [email protected]. > > >> > For more options, visit this group at > > >> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en> > > >>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]> > > >> [email protected]. > > >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > >> <coworking%[email protected]> > > >> [email protected]. > > >> For more options, visit this group at > > >> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en> > > >>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. > > > > > -- > > > 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. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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