Jon, I do as you do. They are members of a community and at the same time they are clients. They pay for a service, not only for belonging.
Ramon Suarez Serendipity Accelerator, Betacowork Author: http://coworkinghandbook.com email & hangouts: [email protected] Phone: +3227376769 GSM: +32497556284 Twitter:http://twitter.com/ramonsuarez Skype: ramonsuarez Try coworking: http://betacowork.com <http://betacowork.com/free-coworking-tryout/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=468x60_banner&utm_content=girl-home&utm_campaign=ramon-signature> On Tue, Sep 16, 2014 at 11:58 AM, Jon Stever, The Office RW < [email protected]> wrote: > Re: "clients" vs. "members". > > I would definitely agree on the philosophical distinction. > Essentially,it's trying to tease out whether the space exists to build a > community ("members") or to earn a margin on real estate ("clients"). This > is an important dichotomy, but it's also strictly false as we all exist on > a sliding scale between these two extremes. > > I don't think we want to start to see "client" as a dirty word...at a nice > restaurant the clients will be on a first-name basis with staff, have a > special table, regular meal selections, and even Christmas cards in the > mail (and may even be called "patrons" to distinguish the relationship), > while at McDonald's "clients" are a mass of impersonal and transactional > relationships. > > I find myself slipping interchangeably between terms when talking about The > Office <http://theoffice.rw>, because as a coworking space manager and > business manager I have to think both in terms of building and > strengthening our community ("membership") and in terms of making the > numbers work and communicating with potential partners and investors > ("clients"). When I'm thinking in terms of investment and expansion, I > intellectual categorize "members" as "clients"...this is often > sub-conscious and I used to even feel ashamed when I realized that I had > done it, but I wonder if this is really such a horrible thing. Because, > when I think about why I do what I do and the people I work with and for, I > think of "friends" and "members"... > > What do you think? > > - Jon > > On Friday, 12 September 2014 13:15:23 UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote: >> >> >> >> In my opinion a coworking space -- being a *community* of coworkers -- >>> always calls and treats its coworkers *members*. >>> >> >> I like this one a lot!! >> >> -Alex >> > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/coworking/Tvf2gg-WZ5w/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, 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.
