Our entire space is less than 800 sq ft and we are making it work. As a proof of concept, we now have 34 members with the majority purchasing 10-day passes with many now renewing their passes.
The challenge we are now facing is privacy for calls and online conferencing. Does anyone have any cost-effective phone booth ideas that they have implemented? Thanks, Richard On Sun, Sep 9, 2018 at 12:53 AM, Trevor Townsend <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all - I just joined this group after searching "small coworking > spaces". > > I'm opening my own space (hopefully) in October, and I have no more than > 1,050sqft to work with. > > Early 2017 and I've bought the second floor of a ~ 167-year-old house in a > smart little town commuting distance to a 1 million strong gov/tech/art > city. > > The place was a disaster when I bought it, but it was in THE perfect area; > right dead-centre in a busy confluence. I put a lot of muscle and > (newly-found) renovation skills to work and turned it into a gem (hardwood, > sliding glass doors, kitchen). It has a colonial industrial modern-ish > feel. I'm aiming for a bespoke kind of place - something comfortable, > charming, and inviting. > > The 1,050 sqft includes everything - small maintenance/server/storage > room, 2-piece washroom, small galley kitchen (fridge, stove, microwave, > sink, dishwasher), 2 small meeting rooms, and a large open area that's > 22'x20'. > > There is no reception area - the space is entirely automated through > SaltoKS (access control), Uquiti Unifi wifi (networking), and Office R&D > (member relationship management). > > From the website, any prospective member can join a plan and will > instantly be given credentials and a link to a smartphone app. They log > in, push a big virtual button, and the doors unlock for them. The outside > door is shared with another business, my entrance door is mine alone. > > They can also have a key fob (with a deposit) to access the space. there > are 24 small lockers (1'x1.5'x1.5') that members can use (don't think I'll > charge for that, yet). > > Temperature is web-enabled and automated, and I'll have a low-profile CCTV > system monitoring the space for my members' safety. > > I never have to be in the space for it to run - cleaners will be in daily > at ~10pm. > > I toiled a bit over how-much-space-does-a-member-need. To a great > degree, I'm winging it - I've had custom furniture made for the space (from > India, industrial-style leather, wood, and iron). This arrives next week > and I'm literally going to put the furniture into the space, move it around > until I like the arrangement, then open the doors. I'm perfectly game to > make adjustments to suit what the members need and want. > > I'll be using the space myself 2-3 days per week, which is why I did this > in the first place: My home office had left me feeling lonely and without > fidelity-to-purpose. I looked around for a coworking/collaboration space > of any kind, and there were none. So, I built one. > > My marketing so far has been textbook organic - word is spreading by good > ole fashioned word-of-mouth and my professional encounters. > > My short-term plan is to get the space paying for itself by attracting > like-minded people from the immediate area - this is a smart little ville, > there's plenty of smarts nearby. > > A well-known docu/filmmaker that I came to be friends with after buying my > place has expressed real interest in being semi-regular bringing a few > people with him. A friend who is an executive at a national arts facility > has asked to be able to hold their 3-4 retreats per year here (and I been > granted bragging rights!). > > My only real mental barrier is on pricing - amount, type, etc. > > I should be able to arrange 4-5 3'x6' tables with 4 task chairs each > (16-20 seats), another 10 seats on 2 couches and 6 club chairs. Somewhere > between 26 and 30 seats, packed - that's full to the brim. I'm using 25 as > the magic capacity number and only a modest leverage of 20% against chance > vacancies, meaning I could sell 30 memberships. > > I don't want to be considering dedicated desks at this point, because > there are occasions where I will rent the entire space for events and > special training sessions. > > I'm thinking of: > > - Hours of 6am to 10pm, 7 days > - Full-time membership, open hours for ~C$300/month > - Part-time, 72 hours per month for ~C200 > - Evenings and weekends, 5pm-10pm m-f, 6am-10pm s&s $150 > - Weekends only, 6am-10pm Saturday and Sunday $100 > - Per day, any day $35 > - Rent the space for a day, ~C$1,500 (it's very well-appointed) > > I'll try and stay in touch here with how things progress. > > Pardon the long post, but I thought this would be a good place to blurt > that all out. :-) > > Cheers, > Trevor > > > > On Friday, 12 January 2018 10:58:27 UTC-5, [email protected] wrote: >> >> We started with a space of 1000sqf, I agree with everyone below - it's >> all about the way you design the space. >> >> But my advice is, don't get hung up on that. Start with what suits the >> numbers and keep changing the space as you go along. Let it evolve. Year >> and a half later and I am finally satisfied that we have the perfect layout >> for our members. >> >> Also agree with everything Tony said - Work out what you're doing it for >> and your growth plan if you have one - if you are content on building an >> awesome community and group of people who thrive together and become >> friends, and you dont need a salary, then you should be just fine. However >> for us we hope to make this a business that can give people jobs - our >> 1000sqf is working out to pay 1 living wage salary, however looking forward >> we want to expand that when we have the numbers where we want them. >> >> On Sunday, October 15, 2017 at 3:09:59 PM UTC+1, Kyle Thibaut wrote: >>> >>> Hi everyone, >>> >>> We have about 600 sqft of open space in our coworking space. Is there >>> anyone else out there with a small space like ours? >>> >>> >>> - What have you learned to make it work well? >>> - Is it too small such that voices carry over and disturb others? >>> - Have you made any creative solutions to help out with having a >>> small space? >>> - Bonus: What sqft per person-desk is needed and how many members >>> per desk is normal? In this case, what would critical mass look like? >>> >>> Thanks, >>> Kyle >>> >>> -- > 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. > -- Richard Stuart *Ten Below Coworking* p: (218) 464-9724 w: 10belowcoworking.org e: [email protected] <https://www.facebook.com/10belowcoworking/> <https://twitter.com/10belowcoworkin> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/10-below-coworking/> <https://www.instagram.com/10belowcoworking/> -- 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.
