I operated for nearly 3-4 years before more than 20% of the people knew the concept, “coworking”. Go back to your business plan/model, and communicate the essence of that. If it can’t be explained so simply in 1-2 sentences or that others can reiterate for you, then it isn’t simple and compelling enough.
Also, have you tried to introducing member or visitors to others? Have you “brokered” - so to speak - any collaborative opportunities? Pay it forward and others will appreciate your efforts…and your space. JEROME CHANG WEST: Santa Monica 1450 2nd Street (@Broadway) | Santa Monica CA 90401 ph: (310) 526-2255 CENTRAL: Mid-Wilshire 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) | Los Angeles CA 90036 ph: (323) 330-9505 EAST: Downtown 529 S. Broadway, Suite 4000 (@Pershing Square) | Los Angeles CA 90013 ph: (213) 550-2235 On Jan 4, 2015, at 6:58 PM, M.E. Ralph <sdg.mont...@gmail.com> wrote: > I don't know if my information would be of use to you but I do thank you for > starting this topic. I opened a "business center"/internet cafe' back in > November of 2012. I had previously worked in retail as an operations manager > and saw a need for this through many inquiries received at my work. Most of > us know that internet cafe's were pretty much antiquity by the year 2000 but > in the city I lived in, it was something new even in 2012. In October of > 2013, I decided to transition into a coworking space to be part of the times. > Here it is a year later and I'm still struggling. Despite my attempts to get > people into my space by sponsoring meet up space, host a variety of classes, > etc., it seems people here don't get the concept. In the couple of years I've > been running this business, I've come across only four people who know what > "coworking" is! I've had to "flavor" a lot of my social media posts with > educational bits: what is coworking? how coworking works, etc. When I explain > the concept, the light bulb goes off in their heads and they get it. It > seems they're just not familiar with the word "coworking". I'm curious to > know if anyone else has run into this dilemma. > > On Tuesday, September 18, 2012 8:14:37 PM UTC-6, Alex Hillman wrote: > I'm sure I'm not the only person on this group who has google alerts set up > for the words "coworking" and, sigh, "co-working". > > Between the number of new space announcements that show up in those alerts, > Deskmag's reporting on coworking growth trends, and many amazing success > stories that we've all been privy to seeing unfold, there's no doubt in any > of our minds that coworking isn't disappearing any time soon. > > But speckled in the success stories are sadder ones. Coworking spaces who > struggled and failed. > > Another one hit my Google Reader tonight, in St Louis. Hence this email and > this project being spurred right now. > > On one hand, the business of coworking is susceptible to all of the rules of > starting a new business - there's going to be a failure rate. Not every > business is meant to be. The rate at which I hear about closings is > increasing, but it's hard to tell if it's growing in or out of proportion of > openings. > > Between coworking spaces that struggle to keep the lights on and coworking > spaces that have closed (for good or bad reasons), there's patterns in > closures that I personally find very interesting, far more interesting in > "new hotness variations" on the coworking models. > > The pattern-watcher that I am, I see some things, but I need more information > to start building a hypothesis that can be proven or disproven. > > I can't do this alone. If you've started and closed a coworking space, been a > member of a coworking space that struggled and failed, or are simply a > passionate observer who saw an unfortunate closing, please take a few minutes > to help fill out this survey: > > https://indyhall.wufoo.com/forms/coworking-space-closings/ > > This information is personal and potentially sensitive. I don't expect all of > the replies to include names or all of the details. Many people on this list > have shared their personal stories before, and we should all be thankful for > that. > > The best solution I could come up with is to choose how anonymous you would > like to be. > > 1) The name and email address fields are optional and will ONLY be used to > reconnect with the submitter for more information. > 2) The final required question asks for your consent to share the data you > enter, beside the optional name/email fields which are anonymous by default. > In case you have an alternate preference, you can specify it in "other". > > There's researchers on the list, so if there's other fields that you think I > should include (or better ways to collect the same data), I'm all ears. > > Even if you're not aware of closings you can share about, I need help getting > the word out about this project. I'm hoping for some assistance from Steve > King & Team Deskmag since I know this stuff is already on their radar. If > there's anyone else already studying this (all of the quiet grad students on > this list, I'm looking at you), I'd love to share work reciprocally. > > My goal is to organize this information and share some hypothesis that we all > study together and share back again, overall helping the ecosystem not just > learn from successes but also avoid repeating historic failure patterns. > > My hope is to be buried under a mountain of responses and have to recruit > some of you to help me dig myself out :) > > Thanks y'all. > > -Alex > > > -- > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > build amazing communities: masterclass.indyhall.org > > > -- > 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
