Thank you everyone for you your replies. I've been pondering what everyone has said and really been working on trying to wrap my brain around all the information I've gathered thus far. I already picked a space out and was looking at designs and initial costs. I've scratched all that and gone back to trying to figure out how to start a community.
The problem: I am a full time teacher. I teach high school physics and I am a "semi-pro photographer" at night and on the weekends. That is how I stumbled onto this idea. I got tired of working out of my house. Shooting and meeting clients here has become a problem as my son has gotten older. (keeping the house clean,finding a sitter, etc.) I wanted a more professional and creative space to work. I started to talk to other photographers that worked in bigger cities and stumbled onto places like weld and work hauss in dallas. I immediately fell in love with the idea and wished that there were places like that here. As I researched more about shared creative spaces and coworking I decided that running a community like that would help bring together people and it seemed like a great thing to be a part of. I would love to eventually leave teaching and run a successful coworking office but it is financially not possible right now. The more I think about it the more I feel that initially it will be easiest to find members in my situation - full time job and some passion or hobby on the side that brings in a second income - but can't see people like this coming together for a Jelly. I feel like my goal of opening a coworking space is slowly turning into a shared office space that rents out meeting rooms (not sure if that is a bad thing or good thing). From what I've read I think a lot of coworking spaces do this, but it seems like I will be missing the community factor that is so important. Has anyone started a coworking community of moonlighters or started an after hours Jelly that attracts people with second jobs/hobbies? Any thoughts or opinions on the matter are greatly appreciated. On Monday, August 19, 2013 8:57:13 PM UTC-5, Daniel Rivera wrote: > > I want to open the 1st coworking space in my region > > The closest coworking space to where I live is a 4 hour drive away. I > don't live in a technology or "creative" driven community but I feel that a > place like this could bring these people together and help foster growth in > my community and benefit all involved. > > I'm late to the wonderful concept of coworking so I have been using google > to find as much information as possible. First and foremost, thank you > Alex Hillman for all of your insight. I love stumbling onto your blogs, > videos and in depth responses to questions posted by others. > > To all who have opened a coworking community - how do you walk the fine > line between trying to start a community before you open your doors and > having someone run off with your idea and beating you to the punch? > > > -- 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.
