You bet, AJ. :)
-- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 12:00 PM, AJ Kelley <[email protected]> wrote: > Alica, > > Thank you so much for posting this. > > I'm at the begining stages of starting to build a community in Southfield > MI and I thank you for openly sharing your story. I'm from New York, and > have been living in Michigan for 8 years. I've just come across the > coworking concept perhaps within the last year and have been searching for > real life stories about people building their communities from scratch. > > Most of the stories I've read, kind of have a magical trajectory from the > desire or idea of a coworking space, to a seemingly fully functioning > space, without the small real life tidbits that shows the ups and downs of > the process. > > With that said, I hope what Alex said encourages you as much as it did me. > You've started ar great work there, and I hope you will continue it. > Fayetteville will thank you, i'm sure of it. > > Alex, > > I also wanted to thank you for your response and the link to the article. > It helps to put into perspective what a budding Tummler has to do to help > his or her community be better. I'll be sure to stay curious, notice > patterns, and give people permission to participate. Thank you for your > candidness and insight. > > AJ Kelley > > > On Monday, May 26, 2014 3:00:39 PM UTC-4, Alex Hillman wrote: > >> This is such a helpful share, Alicia. I'm sure that it'll resonate with a >> lot of people. Thank you for being candid! >> >> A few thoughts on some of your bullet points: >> >> - *I think the market for coworking here is almost zilch. Technology >> and the way of life is very stalled here, or at least compared to what I'm >> used to. In NYC, everything is modern, cutting edge, competitive. In NYC, >> I >> felt in the back of the pack as far as being a web designer/developer >> goes, >> and here, it's like all the design firms (there seem to be few or no >> freelancers) are 5+ years behind the times, and it shows everywhere. The >> American Dream is alive and well here, not the new ideals I'm used to >> seeing with creativity and technology and whatnot, and thus loving your >> work, having passions, forward-momentum... don't seem to be huge >> priorities.* >> >> You just described my experience in Philadelphia in 2006, almost exactly. >> :) Down to the comparison to another city where I could easily see what >> I thought I wanted. In my case, that was SF, and the early coworking >> communities there. >> >> There weren't any packs of designers and developers. They were scattered, >> hidden in pockets, both everywhere and nowhere. >> >> I'd be curious what kinds of aspirations people *do* have, even if they >> don't talk about them without some active tummeling. I've learned over and >> over that the things that people talk about on the surface, especially when >> it comes to work, has very little to do with with they *actually* care >> about. You need to dig deeper. Get some distance from professional goals, >> and I bet you'll start finding some new common ground and the finding >> shared vision for your first 10. >> >> Perhaps most importantly: I think you're doing yourself and your >> community a disservice by using NYC as a measuring stick. Don't try to make >> Fayetteville more like NYC, try to make it a better version of itself. In >> order to do that, you need to get a much clearer picture of what people in >> Fayetteville think "better" could be. >> >> - *The biggest obstacle is literally communicating what coworking is >> all about to new people. New people simply think it's networking, that we >> get together and chat for a few hours. Rarely do people bring work when >> we've met up at a coffee shop. So I've also found it difficult to work >> there, too, and we often abandon the session hours before we were >> scheduled >> to, because all we did was chat.* >> >> I looked for your new facebook group, I imagine you're using >> similar language to what was on the meetup. >> >> "Coworking is when people who work for themselves—freelancers, >> solopreneurs, sole proprietors, startups, consultants, etc.—come >> together and work alongside each other. It's not merely networking; it's >> actual working – with other people. We usually meet for several hours at a >> time at a coffee shop, the library, or somewhere else; we're always looking >> for new places to cowork. The coworking community offers a common place to >> work, support, collaboration, and more." >> >> You know that thing where somebody tells you "don't imagine a pink >> elephant" and then you can't help yourself but think of what a pink >> elephant would look like"? That's what you're doing here. :) >> >> Don't say what you aren't, instead, say exactly what you are. The more >> precise, the better. Something like: >> >> "Your home office might be cozy, but I bet you're not getting the best >> business advice from the dog. Even if you leave the house to work from a >> cafe, it isn't that much better than working by yourself. Every couple of >> weeks, this group chooses the same cafe, or library, or living room to work >> from. *Bring your laptop or notebook and plan to get some work done.* The >> goal is to be more productive than we would be alone, and then we can >> celebrate that productivity at the end of the day" >> >> You can adjust, and add even more detail, but framing it as work time >> followed by social time lets people know what to expect and when. >> >> - We still struggle to find people who work for themselves, as >> there's not much of that here. What I see in the coffee shops are students >> and army guys working on group projects. >> >> Look beyond the existing cafe workers. "Work for themselves" is just one >> tiny demographic under a bigger umbrella of people who "can choose here >> they work, some or all of the time, and *feel lonely*." >> >> The real-est challenge I think you have is that a lot of people have big >> houses and yards and they aren't "forced" out into public as much as in a >> city where space is a constraint. This is especially true during the work >> day. >> >> So the question you need to answer is: what things cause them to leave >> their private spaces? Where do people gather, regardless of the kind of >> work they do? Get a better sense of that, and then narrow your search by >> demographics later. >> >> - I've become a bit demoralized as an organizer. I'm not culturally >> used to it here. It appears I have higher expectations for just about >> everything -- from work to friends to intellect to fashion, so I've gotten >> used to working from home and talking to friends up north, and am okay >> with >> trying this group out every other week or so. I thought I'd find more army >> spouses and girlfriends here like me, but the reality is that most people >> in the army aren't from cities, and spouses are more concerned with >> raising >> children than building independent business. >> >> This is rough, but a very real feeling. You can ignore it, or try to >> understand it better. I recommend the latter. :) >> >> I'll repeat what I said before: don't project your expectations of what >> they should be like, on them. You can't change other people, but you can >> help them change themselves towards something that *they *care about. >> >> If you come to the table with a certain set of expectations, no matter >> how "optimistic" you are, you're also putting up a wall for people who >> don't share those expectations. It's subtle and unintentional, but it's >> there, and people can detect it. >> >> If you change your mindset to one of curiosity, where you're seeking to >> learn things from and about them instead of trying to show them "how to >> be," I'd be willing to bet that your experiences will shift dramatically >> toward the more positive! >> >> - I realized something about myself too, which is that at NWC, while >> I loved being around people who did all sorts of different things all the >> time, my closest friends (who I usually sat with) all did the same thing >> as >> me. I've not been as interested in coworking/jellying here when I'm not >> sitting next to other developers who I can bounce ideas off of or chat >> client work with. So I realized that for me, coworking is not just about >> variety, but finding colleagues who you have a lot in common with. >> >> Again, goes back to my point about dropping the "demographics" part of >> your search, and focusing on what people care about. >> >> In case you missed it on my newsletter, this post includes a primer for >> taking a Tummler >> mindset<http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2014/04/community-management-tummling-a-tale-of-two-mindsets/>, >> which looks like these three main components at 10k feet: >> >> Step 1 – Get curious, and stay curious. >> >> Step 2 – Notice patterns. Patterns are opportunities to instigate. >> >> Step 3 – Give other people permission participate. >> >> Hopefully this helps refresh your optimism. :) >> >> >> -Alex >> >> >> -- >> >> /ah >> indyhall.org >> coworking in philadelphia >> >> >> On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 1:02 PM, Alicia Hurst <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> Another update! >>> >>> It's been slow going to bring coworking to Fayetteville, NC. I've been >>> talking with Robert from Bull City Coworking as well as Tony (from NWC) >>> about the differences from what other cities have experienced. >>> >>> >>> - Last year when I started the group on Meetup, we had a new face >>> every week and about 4-6 people per session, but when I left to go home >>> to >>> NYC for several months and await the decision of whether I was moving >>> here >>> or not, the group disintegrated. When I resumed coworking last month, no >>> one new really came. So we decided to abandon Meetup, where the monthly >>> fee >>> was unnecessary, and we moved to a free, open Facebook group: >>> >>> http://facebook.com/groups/fayettevillecoworking<http://facebook.com/groups/fayettevillecoworking>. >>> The thinking behind this was that everyone uses Facebook all the time. We >>> already have 18 members on this new group because one of our members >>> added >>> a bunch of friends of hers she thought might be interested. Also, a woman >>> from a different Facebook group I am a member of showed no interest in >>> joining our Meetup group, but joined the Facebook group right away. >>> However, only a few of the old members of the Meetup group have joined us >>> on Facebook. So, that might provide some insight for someone looking to >>> start a new community (but not coworking space) in the future. >>> >>> >>> - I think the market for coworking here is almost zilch. Technology >>> and the way of life is very stalled here, or at least compared to what >>> I'm >>> used to. In NYC, everything is modern, cutting edge, competitive. In >>> NYC, I >>> felt in the back of the pack as far as being a web designer/developer >>> goes, >>> and here, it's like all the design firms (there seem to be few or no >>> freelancers) are 5+ years behind the times, and it shows everywhere. The >>> American Dream is alive and well here, not the new ideals I'm used to >>> seeing with creativity and technology and whatnot, and thus loving your >>> work, having passions, forward-momentum... don't seem to be huge >>> priorities. >>> >>> >>> - The biggest obstacle is literally communicating what coworking is >>> all about to new people. New people simply think it's networking, that we >>> get together and chat for a few hours. Rarely do people bring work when >>> we've met up at a coffee shop. So I've also found it difficult to work >>> there, too, and we often abandon the session hours before we were >>> scheduled >>> to, because all we did was chat. >>> >>> >>> - We still struggle to find people who work for themselves, as >>> there's not much of that here. What I see in the coffee shops are >>> students >>> and army guys working on group projects. >>> >>> >>> - I've become a bit demoralized as an organizer. I'm not culturally >>> used to it here. It appears I have higher expectations for just about >>> everything -- from work to friends to intellect to fashion, so I've >>> gotten >>> used to working from home and talking to friends up north, and am okay >>> with >>> trying this group out every other week or so. I thought I'd find more >>> army >>> spouses and girlfriends here like me, but the reality is that most people >>> in the army aren't from cities, and spouses are more concerned with >>> raising >>> children than building independent business. >>> >>> >>> - I realized something about myself too, which is that at NWC, while >>> I loved being around people who did all sorts of different things all the >>> time, my closest friends (who I usually sat with) all did the same thing >>> as >>> me. I've not been as interested in coworking/jellying here when I'm not >>> sitting next to other developers who I can bounce ideas off of or chat >>> client work with. So I realized that for me, coworking is not just about >>> variety, but finding colleagues who you have a lot in common with. >>> >>> >>> So, yeah, I just wanted to post what our progress is in case anyone else >>> finds it interesting or has anything to share! Sorry it's not the most >>> peppy or optimistic of posts. >>> >>> -- >>> 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/d/optout. >>> >> >> -- > 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/d/optout. > -- 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/d/optout.
