Adrienne, Sure, I can explain how we built up the community.
The answer is pretty easy, just get involved in the communities that already exist and explain your problem. My problem was that I was sick of being a lone developer on my projects. I have been living in my basement working for over 5 years and it was time to come out, see the sun, and play with others. Since I am a developer, seeking other developers, web designers, and other creatives, I was already involved in their communities. I was involved in some developer user groups but I got involved in some more. I did not just get involved in Toledo, but surrounding areas as well such as Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Columbus. The same people I would see in Toledo, I would see at surrounding areas so don't limit yourself to just your local area. I also started a Code and Coffee group that met in the mornings to hack on some software. We even had plans to start building some software to make our space run more efficiently and more collaboratively. I started attending other types of events as well that did not just simply involve software. I started going to a local entrepreneurs group, several start up weekends, etc. ** The point though is that I attended these groups and events not to just "get members" but because I really wanted to be involved with them. I knew I would find like minded individuals at these events and they may be interested in coworking as well since many of them are independents. If we were "like minded", I knew we would gel on a day to day basis in Seed. ** The other advice I have is to get partners that share your vision. This would not be as successful as it is today without my two other partners Don Miller and Gene Powell. Don is another developer and Gene is a web designer and user experience guru. They each have their own groups and friends that gel as well. We all started working together at coffee shops and bars and we knew that we would all love to work together in a space that is productive. I hope I answered your question. If you have anything further, let me know. -- Jamie On Tuesday, April 3, 2012 9:25:58 AM UTC-4, Adrienne N wrote: > > Hey Jamie, > Can you explain further on how you created your community before you got > the space? What actions did you take? Jellies? > > Adrienne > > Sent from my iPad > > On Apr 3, 2012, at 8:06 AM, Jamie Wright <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello all. > > I want to first introduce myself. I have been a long time stalker in this > group and I have learned a lot from each of you. Thank you for your > contributions. > > I am software developer from Toledo, Ohio and I have visited several > coworking spaces over the last few years. These include Workantile and Tech > Brewery in Ann Arbor, Sandbox in Columbus, OpenSpace in Charlottesville, > and The Coop in Chicago. > > I fell in love with the idea of coworking several years and I have since > been working on building the community locally. My partners and I are proud > to announce that Toledo will finally be opening it's first coworking space > in about a month. We are calling it Seed. (http://seedcoworking.com). > > The space is almost completely renovated and the interest has been great. > The biggest lesson that Alex Hillman (his coworking class rocked) is to > build the community first and the space will follow. That is exactly what > we have been doing over the past few years and we already may have a > waiting list. > > I will hopefully have a lot more to contribute over the coming months as > we learn some lessons of our own. > > Thank you again. > > -- Jamie > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/gw94-4jSIBIJ. > 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/n30fR-lwL5cJ. 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.
