Just wanted to say how awesome this thread was to catch up on. Tons of great advice and reality checks:
Use every advantage you have. Take yourself and your community seriously (which doesn't preclude you from having fun). Stay focused. Speaking as someone who runs a coworking space on the larger side of the spectrum, but started much smaller (<1800 sqft, and prior to that 0 sqft), I can say with confidence that bigger isn't better in terms of space or cities. Small is awesome. -Alex > > On May 30, 2016 at 4:34 PM, <Nicholas Vincent (mailto:[email protected])> > wrote: > > > > Hi Jessica, > > > I've been running a space for four years in a town of 35k. > > The rules are the same regardless of population: > > > > Running a Coworking space is running a business, is your model sustainable / > viable? > > Is there demand (not simply absence of), do people need this? This is > answered by something you should have read a thousand times one here already: > "Build the Community first". Which is also the same as find your customers > first. > > > So the rules are the same, it's how we operate within them that is the > challenge for a smaller town, ie smaller client base. > > When thinking about what I would suggest most of it boils down to "Don't do > this in isolation". Find groups and organizations in your town that you can > partner with in some way. A landlord that is understanding and flexible, > municipal support, professional associations (chambers etc) and community > groups. > > > > At the end of the day you have to make a living and keep the lights on. I run > this space, but my income comes from elsewhere. Coworking at a small scale is > a very thin margin business. Be realistic, understand this, work within the > resources you have and you'll build a fantastic community resource to be > proud of! > > > > I'd love to help if I can, please feel free to reach out anytime if want to > bounce ideas around. > > > Cheers, > > Nicholas > > > [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) > > > > On Friday, 20 May 2016 08:41:36 UTC-7, Jessica Knapp wrote: > > > > Hey all, > > > > > > I posted this is the GCUC group yesterday, so, sorry if you're seeing this > > again! > > > > > > > > Here's my question: Does anyone have experience opening a coworking space > > in smaller towns with a much smaller population than urban centres? I would > > appreciate any insights, stories, tricks or tips. I'm looking at a > > population of about 130,000 with one small (ish) community college. > > > > > > > > Thanks > > > > Jessica > > > > > > -- > 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] > (mailto:[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.
