Hi Kevin, I'm where you started a little over a month ago. I'm just getting the cowork fever and am eager to follow your progress. I live in a Galveston, Texas -- a seaport town on a barrier Island with roughly 50,000 full time residents. We have a mostly older demographic, similar to Glo, but an above national average number of small businesses and self-employed folks. We also have a booming tourist industry (approx. 6 million annually) that's catalyzing an entrepenuer vibe on our already quirky island. I don't know enough to provide much feedback, but I wanted you to know that I'm rooting for you and can't wait to see the launch!
One suggestion on a name since bees seem to have a special place in the Glo heart -- Honeycomb. Everything is connected for a delicious end goal. Erica On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 11:32:53 AM UTC-5, Kevin Haggerty wrote: > > So, in advance, this is going to be long. If you TLDR; this, I will > understand. That said, I know there are many in this group who love > coworking as a whole, enjoy cultivating it globally, and care enough to > hear the stories and give the advice. > > So here goes. > > If you've been keeping up with me, you know that I felt the call a little > over a month ago to begin the very first coworking space in Gloucester, > Virginia. Gloucester is a tiny town of 30,000 people, located between > Williamsburg and Virginia Beach. We're growing, and the dynamic and culture > are shifting and moving in a very cool direction. I've always loved > Gloucester, but it has been a town for older folks, most of whom are very > blue-collared, who work in industrial and labor specific jobs. The young > people have traditionally either gone to college and moved away, moved > somewhere else for jobs, or stayed here and followed in the family business > footsteps. Tech jobs and entrepreneurship did not have a place here 10 > years ago. But that is changing and doing so rapidly. > > It started for me the way it started for many of you. I worked for myself > and needed a better place to get stuff done. And though I'm pretty > introverted, I did miss opportunities to share and collaborate. At that > point, I was completely unaware of what coworking even was. (I live in > Gloucester, remember? :) ) So, I started Googling for solutions, and that's > when I found it. I feel like my life will never be the same. I Googled > more. I found this group and voraciously read as many posts as I could. I > read entire books. I watched hours of YouTube videos. (I believe I've seen > almost every video on YouTube that has anything to do with Coworking, and > I'm not kidding at all.) I've read/studied business plans, had > conversations with other space owners, and tried to learn as much in a > little amount of time as possible. > > I focused on finding "my people," heeding the wisdom of Alex and the many > others who said the same. I started a FB group for local entrepreneurs. I > started having regular conversations and meetings with local business > owners and people who work for themselves. After a couple of weeks, it > became clear that there was a need for a coworking space in this community, > and that it appeared it would be well received. > > So, I created a second FB page -- this time one just for the coworking > idea/space. Not all in the entrepreneurs group were interested in or needed > a coworking space, so I wanted to go further and isolate on the target > market I wanted without cluttering a channel for those who did not > want/need it. > > A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by some long-time friends of mine > who had recently purchased a building on Main Street in the heart of our > County's downtown area. They purchased it in November and had kind of been > in a quandary over how to use it. They had seen my posts on FB and were > interested in the idea. After a few days of talking/thinking it over, we > were sold on working together, and they decided they wanted to let me use > the first floor of their two-story building for coworking. > > They have committed to doing all of the furnishing and upfitting, based on > my recommendations. They are going to be leasing the second story out to > tenants who need office space, and that will operate separately from the > first-floor coworking space. With that said, they have also said that they > are only going to allow one-year, max leases for upstairs because they want > to leave the possibility open for the coworking space to blow up and end up > needing to take over the second story as well. This would be great because > it would give us a chance to grow, get our feet wet, and then in a year, we > can offer private offices too, plus another large room for more coworking. > But that, of course, depends on us doing a good job and the community > rallying around this. > > The space is currently being renovated, and the plan is that when we get > it looking fit enough for viewing (finish up painting, get all the walls > patched and presentable, etc), we will host a meet and greet/walkthrough > for the community. We will promote it on our website, FB, our email list, > and also through the local newspaper and radio (I have connections at both > media resources and get this advertising for free). > > I've recently reached out to the ones who have expressed the most serious > interest in the space (my email list -- 13 of them to be exact) and have > asked them for their input on several items -- most important of those > being the name of the space and the pricing of the membership tiers. > > So far, "The Hive" has been the overwhelming favorite. I know. There are a > ton of coworking spaces with that name. I've heard you guys loud and clear > on that. However, I have not pushed for it. The community wants it. > Beehives have a very specific significance in this area, and I'm not even > sure I could talk them out of it at this point. I know I can call it > whatever I want, but I don't want to be a dictator. We'll see. :) > > At this point, a concern of mine is that I haven't totally worked out the > business arrangement between myself and the building owners. It didn't > bother me at first. I trusted (and still do trust) their benevolent spirit > and the fact that they want to see me and this idea succeed. However, I > know a firm lease agreement needs to be worked out, and it needs to be > clarified that they are the building owners, and this is my business. > > What I'm considering doing is going ahead and forming my own LLC through > LegalZoom, then suggesting a lease agreement that is heavily slanted in > their favor for the first portion of it so that they can get their > investment back (front loaded), then would shift/even out towards something > regular and not based on what I'm bringing in. Advice on this appreciated. > > While rushing to launch can usually be death (or at least ailment), in > this instance, there is not much cause to delay, as the building and upfit > are secured, and the longer it sits unused, the owners are losing money. > So, my goal/hope is to launch by June 1st. > > If you're interested in more info about what we're doing, you can check > out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/coworkgloucesterva, and our > homepage at www.coworkgloucesterva.com. > > All encouragement, tough love, feedback and words of wisdom welcomed and > appreciated! > > -- 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.
