Oh, by the way, the next episode of my podcast (http://dangerouslyawesome.com/on/coworking-weekly-podcast/
) is going to have some really awesome SCIENCE to back all of this up. I had an amazing talk with the authors of this article: http://time.com/money/3586004/coworking-why-it-works/ They’re the first independent academic researchers to do a qualitative study specifically on what goes into the creating a sense of community, and why renting desks is a mirage. ------------------ 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 Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 7:50 PM, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> wrote: > About 2-3 years ago, we started noticing an entirely new cancellation reason > showing up when people left Indy Hall. > For 5+ years, the majority of the people who left did so because they were > moving away, or because they took a job. Of course people left because it > wasn’t the right fit for them, too, but the vast majority of the people who > found us stayed. > Then, people started saying something we hadn’t heard before: “I’m not using > it enough”. > Which sounds pretty similar to what I’m hearing from you guys. > So….what changed so suddenly from the first 5 years to the most recent few? > I had to talk to a lot of members, with a lot of focus on relatively new > members as well as the folks who joined and left, but two VERY consistent > patterns showed up: > 1 - Prior to this new cancellation reason showing up, most people who joined > found out about Indy Hall first – usually through our existing community > members who told them “you’ve gotta join, this has helped me in so many > ways..." – and then once they got here they discovered that it was this thing > called coworking. > After the shift, we had more people first seeking this thing called > “coworking", then finding us as an option, and choosing us. They’d heard > about coworking in the newspapers, etc, and heard it was a cheap and flexible > way to rent a desk. > Those two categories of people had very different expectations of what the > value of Indy Hall was. > The problem is that while it might be easier to recruit this kind of person > as a full time member: > a) more full time members means that the culture starts to feel a LOT like a > regular old office, which people who join are actively avoiding. (see this > comment for just one example: > http://www.reddit.com/r/CoWorking/comments/2udb90/why_did_you_leave_reasons_you_stopped_going_to_a/co7rv3k) > > b) from a purely financial perspective, a full time desk can only generate so > much membership revenue. On average, a flex desk represents at LEAST 4x the > revenue potential as a single full time desk ...in some coworking spaces I’ve > worked with, that ratio is even higher. > c) This kind of full time member (the one who comes in specifically to rent > their own desk among other desks) tend to be more territorial than flex > members. They contribute far less, and are inconvenienced by the smallest > things. They’re just generally bad citizens. > Once I realized that, we were able to tailor our tours and communication to > the desk rental folks to help them see that yeah, there’s a place to work but > the desk is barely scratching the surface of what they can get from their > membership. > We didn’t “correct” them, so much as showed them how to be better citizens, > reminding them that yeah…this place was big but the way it ran most smoothly > is when they were an active part of the community. > Which actually led me to realize something a bit more subtle: > 2 - Indy Hall had gotten BIG. When we were just a couple thousand square > feet, it was easy to tell people that our community was the primary > “feature”, not the workspace. But 5 years later, with multiple floors and a > physically massive presence, I think that people had a harder time believing > us when we said the same thing. And I don’t blame them! > So we made some focused changes: > We focused on new member education, especially during our tours and new > member onboarding, to really helping people make smarter decisions about > choosing a membership with us. (note: we’re still working on this today. we > never stop working on this) > We put more effort into developing our Tummling practice. > We rebalanced our full time membership, which had grown to nearly 40% of our > total membership, back to ~20%. > We got even more intentional with our events, making sure that they weren’t > simply “activities” but things that helped members build relationships. > We did a lot of work with our online community, turning it into an equally > vibrant gathering place as our workspace so that the members who weren’t > physically in the room could still get value. > Cuz here’s the mistake you make by letting yourself turn into a lazy > landlord: you bind your business to your square footage and the number of > desks you can fit. The only way to get past that ceiling is to add more > space. And worse, you continue to reinforce the idea that the only way for > people to get value from their coworking membership is to use a desk. > If the only time your members derive value is when they park a computer at a > desk in your space, I have bad news for you: you’re just renting desks. > For the results of our work, some cold hard figures: > - Our overall revenue grew in 2014 over 2013 by 49%. > - Over 25% of our revenue comes from our Basic and Community memberships. > - Those memberships are growing the fastest. Community membership, which > includes ZERO coworking days, grew by nearly 20% in January alone. > We’re also putting a lot of work into our more nuanced churn patterns. I > finally have the data to back an intuition that people who join in “peak new > member” months like January and August tend to churn out 2x faster than > people who join in normal months. That’s helped us do some more digging, find > out why they leave. > It’s because those busy months are the hardest to get to know people, because > so many new faces are overwhelming. > We could have been like a gym or a landlord, happily taking their money in > January knowing that we wouldn’t see them again by March. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ > But instead, we focused on increasing the value of the community to them so > it’s not reduced to the value of a desk. And now we’re able to predictably > improve our retention for people who join in those seasonal bursts. > As someone who’s added more square footage to Indy Hall 4x in 8 years to make > room for our waiting lists, I’ve paid very close attention to the growth > patterns. The biggest one is that when adding more square footage for the > sake of adding more people, the returns are diminishing. That’s not how this > kind of business scales, or protects itself for the future. > Adding more square footage to accommodate for more people is MOST valuable > when each of those people are contributing to the value that every other > member is able to get as a member. Because that’s the biggest value of a > coworking membership: the other people in the community, not the desk. > -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 Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 6:41 PM, Andy Soell <[email protected]> wrote: >> Our membership breakdown is pretty symmetrical: >> Full Time: 30% >> 3 day/week: 20% >> 1 day/week: 20% >> 1 day/month: 30% >> The skew comes in when you look at cancellations. Of our history of >> cancellations, they’ve come from: >> Full Time: 15% >> 3 day/week: 5% >> 1 day/week: 40% >> 1 day/month: 40% >> It’s worth noting that our overall churn rate is actually decent: 5% >> month-over-month average last year. But the pattern is still there: Weekly >> members stop coming around and either a) cancel or b) downgrade to monthly >> memberships, stick around for a while, then cancel. I’m curious if anybody >> else has seen this and what they’ve done to curtail it. >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Glen Ferguson <[email protected]> >> Reply: [email protected] <[email protected]>> >> Date: February 6, 2015 at 6:23:09 PM >> To: [email protected] <[email protected]>> >> Subject: Re: [Coworking] My morbid curiosity with Coworking Space Closings >>> > >>> > *> Looking at our own membership levels (we have full time, 3 days/week, 1 >>> > day/week, 1 day/month), far and away the highest churn rates are in that 1 >>> > day/week level. 40% of all cancelations we’ve had are from that level. * >>> > 1 day a week churns *more* than 1 day a month. That’s a pretty HUGE clue >>> > about what the problem is. >>> >>> >>> I'm curious what percentage of your membership is on that 1 day/week plan. >>> When we opened, we didn't have that level, but people wanted to join at >>> that level, so we created it. We've consistently had between 40-50% of >>> members on our 5 days/month level (it's easier to bill as days per month, >>> and more flexible for the member). I'd expect the percentage of churn to >>> reflect the percentage of membership, but now you're giving me homework to >>> do this weekend and further break down my churn stats by membership tier to >>> see if that holds true. >>> >>> --- >>> Glen Ferguson >>> Cowork Frederick >>> 122 E Patrick St >>> Frederick, MD 21701-5630 >>> +1 (301) 732-5165 >>> www.coworkfrederick.com >>> @CoworkFrederick >>> >>> On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 4:58 PM, Alex Hillman >>> wrote: >>> >>> > *> Looking at our own membership levels (we have full time, 3 days/week, 1 >>> > day/week, 1 day/month), far and away the highest churn rates are in that 1 >>> > day/week level. 40% of all cancelations we’ve had are from that level. * >>> > >>> > 1 day a week churns *more* than 1 day a month. That’s a pretty HUGE clue >>> > about what the problem is. >>> > >>> > -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 Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 4:29 PM, Andy Soell wrote: >>> > >>> >> I think there's a great deal of truth here, and I'm really curious about >>> >> other space's approaches to different membership levels (we're getting >>> >> way >>> >> off topic here, but whatever). I think Jerome is absolutely right that >>> >> it's >>> >> much harder to keep a part timer on board, probably due to their lack of >>> >> commitment and the fact that they just by nature of their membership >>> >> aren't >>> >> around very much. At the same time, I also completely believe that a good >>> >> community is a diverse community, and that includes an even distribution >>> >> of >>> >> people across different membership levels. >>> >> >>> >> Looking at our own membership levels (we have full time, 3 days/week, 1 >>> >> day/week, 1 day/month), far and away the highest churn rates are in that >>> >> 1 >>> >> day/week level. 40% of all cancelations we've had are from that level. >>> >> I'm >>> >> not sure what—if anything—is to be done about it, but I'm curious what >>> >> people have found useful in keeping people coming back who aren't coming >>> >> every day. I like offering once-a-week memberships, because I really >>> >> think >>> >> everyone needs to get out of the house at least once a week, but it seems >>> >> like that's the level at which people eventually forget about the >>> >> coworking >>> >> space and just drop off the face of the earth. >>> >> >>> >> On Friday, January 30, 2015 at 11:18:22 AM UTC-5, Jerome wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>> I think the below typically applies to smaller coworking spaces. >>> >>> Well, let me rephrase: >>> >>> the below is required for smaller spaces >>> >>> larger spaces does not need to follow the below rule; BUT, should >>> >>> they, yes, I agree that the below would be ideal. >>> >>> >>> >>> That said, from my experience of being in the trenches for now, 7 years, >>> >>> I can comfortably say that recruiting full-timers is MUCH easier than >>> >>> part-timers. >>> >>> Part-timers have to me, seem only part-ly motivated to join, whether due >>> >>> to >>> >>> (1) they don’t want to spend $; >>> >>> (2) they’re so attached with their status quo of their home office; >>> >>> (3) their interest is so 50/50 fickle, any little thing can wane their >>> >>> interest. >>> >>> Also, if you were to spend, say, 1 hour per new part-timer member, >>> >>> between the tour, follow-up(s), onboarding…to yield $100, and your goal >>> >>> is >>> >>> 10 members, then you’ll spend 10 hours for those “sales”. >>> >>> If you were to spend, say, the same 1 hour per new full-timer to yield >>> >>> $300, then you’d only need to spend a little over 3 hours for those >>> >>> “sales”. >>> >>> The spread worsens if you seek $10k, or $20k. The very same many >>> >>> DIY/automated billing and other admin procedures you’ve focused to >>> >>> minimize, is being offset by exponentially more labor time to sell, or >>> >>> “cost of sales”. >>> >>> >>> >>> Is that the reason why exec suites probably only ‘rent’ full-time office >>> >>> spaces? Yes. Same efforts that yield way more $ revenue. >>> >>> Is there a better mix between the below strategy and exec suites? Yes. >>> >>> And that will depend upon how you operate, your demographics, your size >>> >>> space, etc. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> *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 30, 2015, at 6:11 AM, rachel young wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>> I'll add another item to Jonathan\s list: >>> >>> >>> >>> 4 - Less diversity. 100 members with a flex or part time membership is >>> >>> 3x as many different occupations, passions, life experiences, and >>> >>> hobbies >>> >>> than 35 members with a full time membership, so the mix of people that >>> >>> members interact with will be much less with full time people packed in, >>> >>> but you can cap the number of full time members and ensure there are >>> >>> more >>> >>> part time or flex to make that diversity even more apparent and >>> >>> effective. >>> >>> >>> >>> We have three membership levels: lite, part time, and full time. I >>> >>> always aim for a mix of approximately 30%, 50%, 20%, respectively, with >>> >>> no >>> >>> cap on daypass users or non-space usage memberships (virtual/non-space >>> >>> usage network membership only). >>> >>> r. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> *____________________rachel young*[email protected] >>> >>> >>> >>> *We're located at 2241 Dundas St W, 3rd floor* >>> >>> *(between Bloor and Roncesvalles)* >>> >>> >>> >>> *Chat with me *via 10KCoffees >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> *Find us online:* >>> >>> Website/blog >>> >>> >>> >>> and Newsletter >>> >>> >>> >>> , Twitter >>> >>> >>> >>> , >>> >>> Facebook >>> >>> >>> >>> , Google+ >>> >>> >>> >>> , Yelp >>> >>> , >>> >>> and LinkedIn >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> We're a proud member of CoworkingToronto >>> >>> >>> >>> , >>> >>> CoworkingOntario >>> >>> , >>> >>> and CoworkingCanada >>> >>> >>> >>> ! >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On 30 January 2015 at 05:42, wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>>> Many full-time members with permanent desks is absolutely a problem. >>> >>>> >>> >>>> We limit to a maximum of 40% of desks for full-timers. If you go too >>> >>>> far above that there are at least three common problems: >>> >>>> 1) Part-time / flexible members don't feel like they have a significant >>> >>>> sense of ownership of the space. They are more inclined to feel like >>> >>>> second >>> >>>> class citizens using spare desks. They then don't participate in the >>> >>>> community as much and that magnifies all sorts of other problems. >>> >>>> 2) Revenue becomes less predictable. I'd rather have 100 people paying >>> >>>> $100 per month than 35 people paying $300. >>> >>>> 3) The space becomes less flexible. It's much more difficult moving a >>> >>>> permanent member's desk for a weekend or evening community activity. >>> >>>> >>> >>>> Hope that helps, >>> >>>> >>> >>>> Jon >>> >>>> >>> >>>> — >>> >>>> Jonathan Markwell >>> >>>> >>> >>>> Follow my adventures in space, time and code: >>> >>>> http://jot.is/sustainablyindy >>> >>>> >>> >>>> The Skiff: Brighton Coworking Community http://jot.is/sharing-space >>> >>>> Coder Founders: Digital Product Consultancy >>> >>>> http://jot.is/investing-time >>> >>>> CoGrid: Meeting Room Booking Software http://jot.is/writing-code >>> >>>> >>> >>>> +44 (0)7766 021 485 >>> >>>> skype: jlmarkwell | twitter: http://twitter.com/jot >>> >>>> >>> >>>> >>> >>>> On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 10:05 AM, Marius Amado-Alves < >>> >>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> >>> >>>>> "Too many full time members, not enough flex (or some variation on >>> >>>>> flex)." >>> >>>>> >>> >>>>> Er... many fulltimers is a *problem*?!?!? >>> >>>>> >>> >>>>> >>> >>>>> -- >>> >>>>> 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. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> >> 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 a topic in the >>> Google Groups "Coworking" >>> group. >>> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/coworking/0DllB_CWXyw/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. -- 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. 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