I have to confess that I too had essentially opened my space empty on day one. Then again, this was circa early 2008, not 2013 when there's nearly 800 coworking spaces and hundreds of press articles already published.
My strategy has therefore always, at the end of the day, strived for someone who would NEED to be in my office as is, and WANT to be in a collaborative community. If I may even relate to Apple: you need a phone, you WANT an iPhone. Jerome ______________ BLANKSPACES "work FOR yourself, not BY yourself" www.blankspaces.com 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) Los Angeles, CA 90036 323.330.9505 (office) On May 29, 2013, at 2:00 PM, Jacob Sayles <[email protected]> wrote: > I certainly pitch the "community first" angle quite often and always lead > with it. It has enormous advantages because many of the difficult and > elusive elements work themselves out through the process of gathering people. > But it's not the only way and it's important to keep that in mind. We tried > to do it, but in a lot of ways just flat out failed. We had a large group of > about 50 people interested in joining Office Nomads before we signed the > lease and we still ended up with an empty space on day one. In some ways the > abundant enthusiasm and support gave us a false sense of security and when it > came time to sign up everyone had moved on or changed their minds. We still > pulled it off, but it was expensive losing money for two years. But since no > one knew what coworking was (and too many still don't) it was helpful to have > a tangible thing to show people as we were explaining the concept. So it can > be done, but it's expensive. Make sure there is room in your business plan > and always over estimate costs and under estimate ramp up. Also, keep > yourself flexible by not building anything until it's needed. You'll know > when something is needed usually because someone is stepping up to help you > build it. That's always a good sign. > > Jacob > > --- > Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation > http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500 > > > On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Glen Ferguson <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Peter, > > I'm another voice in Alex's chorus. You mentioned you're not in a freelancing > or creative occupation. Does that mean you're going to the office (or on the > road) and not able to be there build a community through jellies or other > means? That was my hurdle, and it's been a tough one to get over. > > There's lots of reasons to get the community first. Let's say you secured the > space right now. Without input from your community to tell you what they want > in that space, you're guessing and going by what you think people want. Odds > are very high that you'll guess wrong in at least a couple areas, and that > means spending more money to make changes. Get the people first. Get their > input on where to locate and what to "decorate" with and you'll have a much > smoother start. > > I see you're in Baltimore. If you make it out to the western side of the > state, drop by Cowork Frederick anytime. I'll gladly share my stories of > showing an empty cowork space to potential members. It's not fun. > > Glen > www.coworkfrederick.com > > On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 10:03 PM, Peter Wertheimer <[email protected]> > wrote: > I've been following this group for several weeks now and find the thoughts > and insights extremely valuable. > > I've been exploring opening a Coworking space in an under served (no existing > coworking), yet notoriously creative and entrepreneurial neighborhood in my > city. I have a great space in a great location lined up already and now I'm > seeking to build a cohesive coworking community to utilize the great space > I've found. > > I understand that it is best practice to establish the community before the > physical space, but in my situation, the space I just stumbled upon is > screaming for this kind of use. I do not currently have a freelancing or > creative type of occupation but I am very interested in fostering a Coworking > community in the centrally located commercial space that I've found. > > Does anyone have any tips or thoughts about establishing a community after > locating the perfect space? I will be attending a few entrepreneurial > Meetups in the coming weeks, and I am currently discussing with one of the > Meetup organizers about hosting one in our space, once it's up and running. > > If anyone can share experiences I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in > advance. > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
