Hey J.C.,
I’m honestly not sure why people are getting all fussy about this, it seems to me like your goals are totally reasonable to accomplish. I don’t get the sense that you’re trying to avoid a coworking space…maybe you’ve even tried it but because you’re often on the phone it didn’t work out. The #1 problem that coworking solves is loneliness (which it sounds like you’re dealing with), and there’s more than one way to skin that cat. :) Two anecdotes of encouragement for you, JC: 1) completely separate from the coworking space that I founded, I run what could easily be considered a virtual coworking community. In fact, here’s an excerpt from the page that people see when they sign up: The members of this particular community pay more than most of the members of the coworking space - quite happily. :) 2) Indy Hall’s “virtual” coworking community might look like an add-on to the coworking space, but we treat our discussion list & chat room as full fledged places to gather in the same ways you’ve described. There’s banter and motivation and support. We do Photoshop Fridays (you don’t need to be good at photoshop, trust me) and swap music videos on Youtube, help each other with problems ranging from technical to business to DIY home improvement projects, planning lunch & trips.... Are these interactions a complete replacement for the coworking space? No! Of course not. But for: * the people who like you, JC, have a constraint that keeps them from working in the coworking space... * the people who have jobs that require them to be at another office, full of coworkers that they DON’T enjoy talking with... * and the people who have a whole host of other reasons that physically relocating themselves just isn’t practical, but WANT to be a part of a community of likeminded people who they’re happy to call their coworkers... we’re really proud of what we’re able to offer, and the members really love having a way to contribute to the energy of the community from wherever they are. I wrote a bit on this list (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/coworking/CFsjTAEPP2g/oRegOZbfIPYJ) last year about how we launched an online community membership to focus even more on opening the “door" to people want a community of coworkers but can’t use the space often or ever. -Alex ------------------ The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself. Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com Listen to the podcast: http://listen.coworkingweekly.com On Friday, Jan 16, 2015 at 6:08 PM, J.C. Amaya <[email protected]>, wrote: Hey all! My name is JC and I do phone sales out of my apartment but am finding it kind of difficult to stay focused. I'm usually pretty disciplined in the office but at home by myself it's way too easy to get distracted and goof around, especially since my job is commission only so there's no one to get on my case when I slack off. What I'd like to do is get together with a few other professionals and create a regular google hang out for people who work from home but want to sort of recreate the office environment. A little banter, a little motivation and support. This would probably work best with others who cold call from home but I'm open to working with anyone who's interested. If anyone is interested in trying it out, shoot me an email. [email protected] -- 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.
