"If you think this conversation is awkward now...." and I will add, any awkwardness you are facing now will get 1,000x worse once money starts getting thrown around. Of COURSE this sounds like a great deal to the building owner. You are doing all the work and they get an updated building and all your revenue for maybe 6 years.
The building is merely a container. It's not a magic button. I would press a big PAUSE button right now on all of this and do due diligence on other spaces as you continue to build up awareness and community. Also brace yourselves for when that building owner starts their own coworking space and maybe beats you to it. Says the lady whose landlord forced her out and started his own "coworking" space. Space is impermanent, people are forever. Angel ps. and for a revealing look at how I didn't listen to my intuition for Cohere's 2nd space read more here. http://coherecommunity.com/blog/failure On Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 11:01:16 AM UTC-6, Alex Hillman wrote: > > 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 <kevinrh...@gmail.com > <javascript:>> 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 coworking+...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. >> 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
