Hi guys, First of all I'm so grateful I can post here!
We just celebrated our one year anniversary and it was really exciting. This past year has been no less than extremely awesome. We have met so many great people, we have over 45 members, representing over 20 businesses. Our private offices are almost all full (only 4/24 left) and I feel like we've really built a great community. However, I am feeling burnt out. My husband and I opened and funded this ourselves. We knew from the beginning that it was not going to be one of our most profitable endeavors (we run several other businesses as well), but we ended up making enough to pay the basics and even adding new furniture, etc as we went along. My husband spends most of his time running the other businesses so I've done a lot of this myself, which is fine but I'm anxious to lighten the load so I can focus on some of our other businesses as well. The problem is that we still aren't making enough to pay anyone to help. I don't even get paid and it's close to a full time job to run a space like this especially if you want to keep active in the community, be hosting events, collaborating with other organization, etc. Not to mention just the upkeep of over 11,000+ sq ft! I'd like to start asking members to pitch in but I'm wondering how other spaces operate. Do you just hire someone to keep the space clean? Who deals with taking out the trash, wiping down desks, etc? We need to figure something out. I want members to feel some sense of ownership and pride for our space and I think empowering them to pitch in a little here and there would really help. With this many members it really wouldn't require much from any one person. This is a running tasks list of things that need to be done regularly that someone could do in 2-5 minutes. Take out a bag of trash/recycling Wipe down a counter Sweep Spot mop (front entry or lunch room) Wipe down a few desks in the community space Straighten the pillow in the mini conference room Refill sugar/creamer at coffee station Vacuum a hallway Dishes (everyone should be doing their own, but sometimes there’s a dirty glass that gets left by the sink) Put away clean dishes Clean out old food in the fridge Any input is welcome. www.eugenemindworks.com -- 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.
