If you think this conversation is awkward now....here's the kind of scenarios you need to think about:
You're not growing your membership fast enough to satisfy them. They decide something needs to change. What options do they have that you might not want? What kind of conversations are you going to have to have with them when you say "no, we don't want to do X, that's the wrong way for us to grow the membership." *How do you respond, then?* It sounds like this couple is nice, and has the best of intentions. That's a big step in the right direction from some of the craziness <https://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/10/un-real-estate/> I (and I know others) have experienced. Here's how I'd think about proceeding. *First: remember that this space is not your only option. No space is perfect, no deal is perfect. Don't treat this option as precious. * *Second: *I'd start with getting the numbers you need to be autonomous. If you don't even know what the lease *would* be, and what the fit-out *would* cost, you're not really negotiating...you're just letting them drive, ya know? How much of that fit-out is gonna need to be done for any tenant, vs stuff that's special for you? Once you have those numbers, I'd crunch them to figure out what it'd take to run this autonomously. Figure out your membership rates <https://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/10/the-ultimate-guide-to-structuring-your-coworking-space-memberships/>, and how many members at each level you need to make it work, and be sustainable. Take that information back to your community. Say "hey, here's what we need to make this work. who's in?" Assess how close you are to being able to make it work with the community you already have. Is closing that gap achievable on your own? Brainstorm with the members. You don't have to get them involved in the negotiation, but every time I share a specific problem with our community and invite ideas, I get back the most amazing stuff: example 1 <https://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/06/6-conversations-ive-had-about-the-future-of-indy-hall/>, example 2 <https://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/07/notes-from-the-future-of-indy-hall-town-hall-part-1-of-2/>, example 3 <https://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/07/notes-from-the-future-of-indy-hall-town-hall-part-2/> Then, you can start weighing those options against the version where the landlord basically owns you. ;) -Alex ------------------ *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 12:45 PM, Kevin Haggerty <[email protected]> wrote: > Alex, > > I appreciate your input massively, but I must admit, I now feel terribly > torn and conflicted. I have to meet with these folks tomorrow evening, and > I am not sure how to proceed. I know you don't want to be responsible for > what I do or what anyone else does, but if you were in my shoes, you'd walk > away from this completely? Do you not see any upside or ways I can > structure it in my favor? What if I got them to agree to give us six months > regardless so that it's in writing that they can't kick us out prior to > that? What if it was also in the agreement that I had complete control over > how I ran my business and how the downstairs was put together and organized? > > Thanks, > > Kevin > > -- > 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.
