The render is actually bit.ly/spacevision On Sunday, December 7, 2014 10:44:55 AM UTC-8, Tabari Brannon wrote: > > Hi Everyone, > > First of all I would like to introduce myself to the community. My name is > Tabari and I am a chaplain/entrepreneur. I recently moved to Bakersfield > CA. When I relocated to Bakersfield, I searched for an entrepreneur > community in an effort to find support and to learn from others, but I did > not know where to find it so I decided to start one. > > It all started when I began hosting Meetup groups that targeted > entrepreneurs in the community. After hosting several meetups I found that > having a consistent space to meet was a problem. I am originally from > Fresno, CA and I remember that there was this creative space that opened up > called Fresno Hashtag. > > I reached out to the space owner in Fresno and began dialogue about how to > go about creating a coworking space in Bakersfield and thus began my > journey down this rabbit hole of coworking. Since then it has become a > passion that consumes me so I began conducting online research and inquired > if Bakersfield had any established coworking spaces. The closest thing I > found were virtual offices. Upon visiting one of these spaces I saw it > consisted of only four desks. It did not quite have the community aspect > that supported the values of the coworking community. I extended my search > to postings in Bakersfield on reddit.com in an effort to see if there was > interest for this type of coworking space I wish to create. To my surprise > there were two software developers, who are well connected in the software > development community, that expressed an interest in a coworking space in > my local area. These two individuals are ready to move into a space and > have served as my unofficial partners. > > The relationships I’ve established in my journey thus far pressed my > curiosity to search deeper for other interested individuals or small > businesses. This lead to me to research on Indeed.com and look for > individuals in my local area who have coworking experiences listed on their > resumes. I was able to connect with two individuals one of which is a > community manager of an established coworking space and the other actually > runs a coworking space. My relationship with these individuals developed > into one where they serve in either an advisory or consultant role to help > me with the operations plan of the coworking space being created in > Bakersfield. > > In trying to understand my local market I reached out a local group of > young professionals. This particular group focuses on building up the > downtown area of Bakersfield with the intentions of making it more relevant > to young professionals. Through this group I was able to connect with a > real estate developer, who was highly interested in the downtown area. We > currently have a partnership relationship with this developer where he > assists with the tenant improvements of the space. > > Since the idea of a coworking space became implanted in my mind, I decided > to visit several coworking spaces in neighboring cities and talked with > current space owners. I also read Ramón’s book on coworking and other > business plan books that specifically targeted coworking. The structure in > the creation and development for this coworking space are the same > methodologies found in the lean startup. > > As with any topic that peaks my interest, I have been scouring the > Internet, searching for specific terms on the google coworking forum and > connecting with other people with similar interests or those who are > seasoned in my field of interest. We are currently building up our > community before we even open up the space. We have been holding regular > jellies and I am using creative ways to reach out to the freelance and > entrepreneur community. At this point we are looking to get a significant > number of pre-sales before we open our space. I am also working with a > local small business development center to help me with the business plan. > > With regards to the business plan, I want to explore how to structure the > business so that possible investors can own shares. I am not sure if other > spaces have tried this, but I would be curious on your thoughts and ideas. > I am also curious about your thoughts on corporate sponsorships, and the > use of the classroom in your coworking spaces. > > I apologize for this long post. I just thought it was time to reach out to > the community to get some support and feedback as I have greatly benefited > from your posts and comments thus far. > > > > > Tabari Brannon > Bakersfield Coworking > howdy(at)bakersfieldcoworking.com > http://www.bakersfieldcoworking.com > Render for our future space : http://bit.ly/spacevisioin > Interest Form : bit.ly/bakocowork > > >
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