Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Trevor Twining]

Alex, I think I’ve mentioned before how much IndyHall has influenced the 
creation of our space. Without you sharing what y'all put together there I’d 
probably still be waiting for someone else to have built a space. You should 
come hang out for a bit with Jay Tennier and me and I’ll show you around :D. 
You’re a good bit younger than I am, but I consider you a mentor when it comes 
to what we’re collectively building. :D

We are classified as a member or service co-op; our members have organized this 
business for the purpose of providing a specific range of services to its 
membership. We have a couple more co-ops in the works, and some of those are 
worker co-ops, some of them are marketing co-ops, and one of them is 
potentially a credit union).

When we get to profitability (we’re six months now at break-even, and slowly 
growing), we will decide as a group how to use the money: to reduce monthly 
subscriptions, invest in new gear, stockpile it to purchase our own property, 
or give a rebate at the end of the year. Whatever we do, it’s democratic: every 
member has one vote, no matter how much they invest or how much business they 
do with us. So in that sense, every member is already a partner.

We’re planning to open more spaces throughout the region: when we get there, we 
might offer member shares to raise the capital. These would be preferred 
shares, and so dividends would be paid out on those before the regular member 
shares. But they’d be non-voting.

Keep the questions coming! They’re useful for the next post :D


Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
http://coworkniagara.com 
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining




> On Feb 18, 2016, at 3:15 PM, Alex Hillman  
> wrote:
> 
> Man, I love seeing the Indy Hall playbook in action like this <3 <3
> 
> Echoing lots of what's been said here - I look forward to a more detailed 
> follow up post :)
> 
> We have a few members that are VERY active in the co-op world and we often 
> get together to talk about how much co-op DNA Indy Hall has. 
> 
> I've also learned a lot about the different kinds of co-ops, including member 
> co-ops, employee co-ops, etc. Is there a specific kind of co-op you chose? 
> Are there any financial benefits to a member-owner, like dividends or 
> discounts? Are new members given opportunities to become member-partners now 
> that you're up and running?
> 
> -Alex
> 
> 
> --
> The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
> Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com 
> Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast 
> 
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 1:55 PM, Trevor Twining  > wrote:
> Here’s a link to the Ontario Co-operative Association, whose resources and 
> advice were particularly valuable when we set up. If you’re in Ontario, 
> they’re more than happy to offer some initial assistance. If you’re outside, 
> they’re happy to refer you to the group in your area who can help. We’ve 
> become quite involved in the Niagara Regional Co-op Network which is closely 
> connected with On Co-Op.
> 
> http://www.ontario.coop/programs_services/coop_development/starting_a_coop 
> 
> 
> It’s a rich resource, but there’s still a lot of jargon. I’ll try to break 
> our experience down in plain language.
> 
> 1. We were already meeting as a jelly group for 18 months before we started 
> with our space, so we had a core community from which to build.
> 2. As we were talking about the mutually-invested community we wanted to 
> build, someone who was already working on a food co-op in our city asked if 
> we had considered the model.
> 3. We looked at the resources at the link above and enough connected that we 
> decided this was the model for us.
> 4. We filled out the incorporation forms ourselves. It took a couple of 
> hours. (I can walk you through if you get to this stage)
> 5. The membership fees from the founding members gave us the capital we 
> needed to create the corporation and get the initial paperwork filed.
> 6. Members pre-paid first, last and as many months as they could up-front so 
> that we could build a nest egg. Some members provided member loans.
> 7. Our membership model also encourages participation that doesn’t directly 
> involve the space, so we have a larger group of members than space users. 
> (our current membership is 70, but less than 30 use the space 1d/week or more)
> 8. With that money in the bank, we were able to sign our lease, get our 
> utilities set up, and hang our sign on the door.
> 9. We have a board of 8 directors, and they help guide the long term 
> direction of the group. I’m still chief resident volunteer 
> 

Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Trevor Twining]

Hey Tony, happy to clear up #7.

Membership in the Co-op is a pre-requisite to using our space, but many members 
join our co-op without using the space. If I were to compare it to other 
spaces, I’d say our base membership is similar to the community membership 
offered by IndyHall, except we don’t run an online commmunity (although we’re 
strongly considering it).

A membership is $125 CDN annually. $250 if you’re an organization. All members 
get 1 day/month in the space. If you want to use the coworking space, you 
purchase a monthly subscription on top of your membership. 

We have 70 members in our co-operative. Just under 30 also have subscriptions.

I will gladly take you up on that beer at the next opportunity!


Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
http://coworkniagara.com 
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining




> On Feb 18, 2016, at 2:38 PM, Tony Bacigalupo  wrote:
> 
> Trevor, you're quickly becoming my new favorite person. Thank you for sharing 
> all of this! 
> 
> Regarding Step 1... Bravo!!! My heart sings when I see this.
> 
> Regarding Step 7... "Our membership model also encourages participation that 
> doesn’t directly involve the space, so we have a larger group of members than 
> space users."
> 
> ... is there any chance you could elaborate on this as well?
> 
> I'll gladly buy you a beer or beverage of your choice next time we're in the 
> same place. Thank you for being an inspiration!
> 
> Tony
> ---
> Projects: New Work Cities  • Open Coworking 
>  • Cotivation 
> eBook:No More Sink Full of Mugs 
> Connect:  Personal site  • Twitter 
>  • Facebook 
> 
> New: Preorder the Ultimate Coworking Toolkit 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 11:55 AM, Trevor Twining  > wrote:
> Here’s a link to the Ontario Co-operative Association, whose resources and 
> advice were particularly valuable when we set up. If you’re in Ontario, 
> they’re more than happy to offer some initial assistance. If you’re outside, 
> they’re happy to refer you to the group in your area who can help. We’ve 
> become quite involved in the Niagara Regional Co-op Network which is closely 
> connected with On Co-Op.
> 
> http://www.ontario.coop/programs_services/coop_development/starting_a_coop 
> 
> 
> It’s a rich resource, but there’s still a lot of jargon. I’ll try to break 
> our experience down in plain language.
> 
> 1. We were already meeting as a jelly group for 18 months before we started 
> with our space, so we had a core community from which to build.
> 2. As we were talking about the mutually-invested community we wanted to 
> build, someone who was already working on a food co-op in our city asked if 
> we had considered the model.
> 3. We looked at the resources at the link above and enough connected that we 
> decided this was the model for us.
> 4. We filled out the incorporation forms ourselves. It took a couple of 
> hours. (I can walk you through if you get to this stage)
> 5. The membership fees from the founding members gave us the capital we 
> needed to create the corporation and get the initial paperwork filed.
> 6. Members pre-paid first, last and as many months as they could up-front so 
> that we could build a nest egg. Some members provided member loans.
> 7. Our membership model also encourages participation that doesn’t directly 
> involve the space, so we have a larger group of members than space users. 
> (our current membership is 70, but less than 30 use the space 1d/week or more)
> 8. With that money in the bank, we were able to sign our lease, get our 
> utilities set up, and hang our sign on the door.
> 9. We have a board of 8 directors, and they help guide the long term 
> direction of the group. I’m still chief resident volunteer 
> cat-herder/tummler, and we’re working on expanding our service offering so we 
> can pay someone to be in this role.
> 10. Annually we have a meeting to review finances, vote on key changes in 
> direction, and when we get to the point where we’re managing a surplus, the 
> group will decide how that’s allocated.
> 
> Next coworking meetup-type thing we do, I’d be happy to present this as a 
> talk in more detail.
> 
> 
> Trevor Twining
> Cowork Niagara
> http://coworkniagara.com 
> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Feb 18, 2016, at 12:00 PM, Trevor Twining > > wrote:
>> 

Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Alex Hillman]

Man, I love seeing the Indy Hall playbook in action like this <3 <3

Echoing lots of what's been said here - I look forward to a more detailed
follow up post :)

We have a few members that are VERY active in the co-op world and we often
get together to talk about how much co-op DNA Indy Hall has.

I've also learned a lot about the different *kinds* of co-ops, including
member co-ops, employee co-ops, etc. Is there a specific kind of co-op you
chose? Are there any financial benefits to a member-owner, like dividends
or discounts? Are new members given opportunities to become member-partners
now that you're up and running?

-Alex


--
*The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.*
Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com
Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast

On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 1:55 PM, Trevor Twining 
wrote:

> Here’s a link to the Ontario Co-operative Association, whose resources and
> advice were particularly valuable when we set up. If you’re in Ontario,
> they’re more than happy to offer some initial assistance. If you’re
> outside, they’re happy to refer you to the group in your area who can help.
> We’ve become quite involved in the Niagara Regional Co-op Network which is
> closely connected with On Co-Op.
>
> http://www.ontario.coop/programs_services/coop_development/starting_a_coop
>
> It’s a rich resource, but there’s still a lot of jargon. I’ll try to break
> our experience down in plain language.
>
> 1. We were already meeting as a jelly group for 18 months before we
> started with our space, so we had a core community from which to build.
> 2. As we were talking about the mutually-invested community we wanted to
> build, someone who was already working on a food co-op in our city asked if
> we had considered the model.
> 3. We looked at the resources at the link above and enough connected that
> we decided this was the model for us.
> 4. We filled out the incorporation forms ourselves. It took a couple of
> hours. (I can walk you through if you get to this stage)
> 5. The membership fees from the founding members gave us the capital we
> needed to create the corporation and get the initial paperwork filed.
> 6. Members pre-paid first, last and as many months as they could up-front
> so that we could build a nest egg. Some members provided member loans.
> 7. Our membership model also encourages participation that doesn’t
> directly involve the space, so we have a larger group of members than space
> users. (our current membership is 70, but less than 30 use the space
> 1d/week or more)
> 8. With that money in the bank, we were able to sign our lease, get our
> utilities set up, and hang our sign on the door.
> 9. We have a board of 8 directors, and they help guide the long term
> direction of the group. I’m still chief resident volunteer
> cat-herder/tummler, and we’re working on expanding our service offering so
> we can pay someone to be in this role.
> 10. Annually we have a meeting to review finances, vote on key changes in
> direction, and when we get to the point where we’re managing a surplus, the
> group will decide how that’s allocated.
>
> Next coworking meetup-type thing we do, I’d be happy to present this as a
> talk in more detail.
>
> 
> Trevor Twining
> Cowork Niagara
> http://coworkniagara.com
> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 18, 2016, at 12:00 PM, Trevor Twining 
> wrote:
>
> Thanks all, for your feedback so far.
>
> Sounds like I need a (few?) follow up post(s). I’ll also post some links
> shortly to resources we used. In Canada, most co-ops are provincially
> incorporated, so I assume that in the US each state will have its own co-op
> legislation.
>
> I’ll share what we did here in Ontario, and you should be able to figure
> out how that works in your province/state.
>
> I’m not sure how this works in other countries, but the co-op movement in
> Europe generally is huge, so there should be some good resources on that
> side of the Atlantic.
>
> 
> Trevor Twining
> Cowork Niagara
> http://coworkniagara.com
> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 18, 2016, at 11:28 AM, Tony Bacigalupo 
> wrote:
>
> Trevor, I think a lot of us are excited to learn more about how you pulled
> this off!
>
> I encountered early thoughts on this topic as well, but found it difficult
> to get a clear sense of how to go about in a way that would be viable. I
> think any more details you can provide on that would be helpful to others
> considering similar structures.
>
> Thanks!
> Tony
> *---*
> *Projects: New Work Cities  • Open Coworking
>  • Cotivation *
> *eBook:No More 

Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Tony Bacigalupo]

Trevor, you're quickly becoming my new favorite person. Thank you for
sharing all of this!

*Regarding Step 1...* Bravo!!! My heart sings when I see this.

*Regarding Step 7...* "Our membership model also encourages participation
that doesn’t directly involve the space, so we have a larger group of
members than space users."

... is there any chance you could elaborate on this as well?

I'll gladly buy you a beer or beverage of your choice next time we're in
the same place. Thank you for being an inspiration!

Tony
*---*
*Projects: New Work Cities  • Open Coworking
 • Cotivation *
*eBook:No More Sink Full of Mugs *
*Connect:  Personal site  • Twitter
 • Facebook
*
*New: Preorder the Ultimate Coworking Toolkit
*


On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 11:55 AM, Trevor Twining 
wrote:

> Here’s a link to the Ontario Co-operative Association, whose resources and
> advice were particularly valuable when we set up. If you’re in Ontario,
> they’re more than happy to offer some initial assistance. If you’re
> outside, they’re happy to refer you to the group in your area who can help.
> We’ve become quite involved in the Niagara Regional Co-op Network which is
> closely connected with On Co-Op.
>
> http://www.ontario.coop/programs_services/coop_development/starting_a_coop
>
> It’s a rich resource, but there’s still a lot of jargon. I’ll try to break
> our experience down in plain language.
>
> 1. We were already meeting as a jelly group for 18 months before we
> started with our space, so we had a core community from which to build.
> 2. As we were talking about the mutually-invested community we wanted to
> build, someone who was already working on a food co-op in our city asked if
> we had considered the model.
> 3. We looked at the resources at the link above and enough connected that
> we decided this was the model for us.
> 4. We filled out the incorporation forms ourselves. It took a couple of
> hours. (I can walk you through if you get to this stage)
> 5. The membership fees from the founding members gave us the capital we
> needed to create the corporation and get the initial paperwork filed.
> 6. Members pre-paid first, last and as many months as they could up-front
> so that we could build a nest egg. Some members provided member loans.
> 7. Our membership model also encourages participation that doesn’t
> directly involve the space, so we have a larger group of members than space
> users. (our current membership is 70, but less than 30 use the space
> 1d/week or more)
> 8. With that money in the bank, we were able to sign our lease, get our
> utilities set up, and hang our sign on the door.
> 9. We have a board of 8 directors, and they help guide the long term
> direction of the group. I’m still chief resident volunteer
> cat-herder/tummler, and we’re working on expanding our service offering so
> we can pay someone to be in this role.
> 10. Annually we have a meeting to review finances, vote on key changes in
> direction, and when we get to the point where we’re managing a surplus, the
> group will decide how that’s allocated.
>
> Next coworking meetup-type thing we do, I’d be happy to present this as a
> talk in more detail.
>
> 
> Trevor Twining
> Cowork Niagara
> http://coworkniagara.com
> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 18, 2016, at 12:00 PM, Trevor Twining 
> wrote:
>
> Thanks all, for your feedback so far.
>
> Sounds like I need a (few?) follow up post(s). I’ll also post some links
> shortly to resources we used. In Canada, most co-ops are provincially
> incorporated, so I assume that in the US each state will have its own co-op
> legislation.
>
> I’ll share what we did here in Ontario, and you should be able to figure
> out how that works in your province/state.
>
> I’m not sure how this works in other countries, but the co-op movement in
> Europe generally is huge, so there should be some good resources on that
> side of the Atlantic.
>
> 
> Trevor Twining
> Cowork Niagara
> http://coworkniagara.com
> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 18, 2016, at 11:28 AM, Tony Bacigalupo 
> wrote:
>
> Trevor, I think a lot of us are excited to learn more about how you pulled
> this off!
>
> I encountered early thoughts on this topic as well, but found it difficult
> to get a clear sense of how to go about in a way that would be viable. I
> think any more details you can provide on that would be helpful to others
> considering similar structures.
>
> Thanks!
> Tony
> *---*
> *Projects: New Work Cities 

[Coworking] What % of gross sales do you budget to ADVERTISING for your Coworking space

[Dallas GeniusDen]

We are finishing up our first year and have thrown money and people at a 
variety of marketing efforts. 

For your coworking space, what is your advertising spend? Do you have this 
as a % of gross sales?

How do you break down your advertising?

example:
Social Media:
Twitter 
-management
-content creation
-ads

PPC
-Management
-Ads


-- 
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
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Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Trevor Twining]

Thanks all, for your feedback so far.

Sounds like I need a (few?) follow up post(s). I’ll also post some links 
shortly to resources we used. In Canada, most co-ops are provincially 
incorporated, so I assume that in the US each state will have its own co-op 
legislation.

I’ll share what we did here in Ontario, and you should be able to figure out 
how that works in your province/state.

I’m not sure how this works in other countries, but the co-op movement in 
Europe generally is huge, so there should be some good resources on that side 
of the Atlantic.


Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
http://coworkniagara.com 
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining




> On Feb 18, 2016, at 11:28 AM, Tony Bacigalupo  
> wrote:
> 
> Trevor, I think a lot of us are excited to learn more about how you pulled 
> this off!
> 
> I encountered early thoughts on this topic as well, but found it difficult to 
> get a clear sense of how to go about in a way that would be viable. I think 
> any more details you can provide on that would be helpful to others 
> considering similar structures.
> 
> Thanks!
> Tony
> ---
> Projects: New Work Cities  • Open Coworking 
>  • Cotivation 
> eBook:No More Sink Full of Mugs 
> Connect:  Personal site  • Twitter 
>  • Facebook 
> 
> New: Preorder the Ultimate Coworking Toolkit 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 8:53 AM, Jenifer Ross  > wrote:
> Ditto. Can you provide more details on the financial structure?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Feb 18, 2016, at 10:40 AM, Jacob Sayles  > wrote:
> 
>> I'd love to know more about this. I'm certainly sold on the value alignment 
>> but I don't have a sense for how it works. 
>> 
>> On Thursday, February 18, 2016, Trevor Twining > > wrote:
>> Apologies. I used an internal link. 
>> 
>> Here’s the real link
>> 
>> http://coworkniagara.com/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> Trevor Twining
>> trevortwin...@gmail.com <>
>> 416-201-2254 
>> twitter/skype/linkedin: trevortwining
>> 
>>> On Feb 18, 2016, at 9:40 AM, Trevor Twining > 
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hey everyone,
>>> 
>>> When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, a 
>>> prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork Niagara up 
>>> as a co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we checked it out.
>>> 
>>> It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only co-operative 
>>> coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one other in Quebec). 
>>> I’m now convinced that if more spaces use this model it will help create 
>>> stronger, more resilient coworking communities. I’m sharing this in the 
>>> hopes that it piques your collective curiosity.
>>> 
>>> I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have any 
>>> questions about this, feel free to ask.
>>> 
>>> http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>>>  
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Trevor Twining
>>> Cowork Niagara
>>> http://coworkniagara.com 
>>> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
>>> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> 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 
>> .
>> 
>> -- 
>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com 
>> 
>> --- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
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>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>> email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com 
>> .
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>> .
> 
> 
> -- 
> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com 
> 

Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Tony Bacigalupo]

Trevor, I think a lot of us are excited to learn more about how you pulled
this off!

I encountered early thoughts on this topic as well, but found it difficult
to get a clear sense of how to go about in a way that would be viable. I
think any more details you can provide on that would be helpful to others
considering similar structures.

Thanks!
Tony
*---*
*Projects: New Work Cities  • Open Coworking
 • Cotivation *
*eBook:No More Sink Full of Mugs *
*Connect:  Personal site  • Twitter
 • Facebook
*
*New: Preorder the Ultimate Coworking Toolkit
*


On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 8:53 AM, Jenifer Ross 
wrote:

> Ditto. Can you provide more details on the financial structure?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Feb 18, 2016, at 10:40 AM, Jacob Sayles  wrote:
>
> I'd love to know more about this. I'm certainly sold on the value
> alignment but I don't have a sense for how it works.
>
> On Thursday, February 18, 2016, Trevor Twining 
> wrote:
>
>> Apologies. I used an internal link. 
>>
>> Here’s the real link
>>
>>
>> http://coworkniagara.com/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>>
>> Trevor Twining
>> trevortwin...@gmail.com
>> 416-201-2254
>> twitter/skype/linkedin: trevortwining
>>
>> On Feb 18, 2016, at 9:40 AM, Trevor Twining 
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hey everyone,
>>
>> When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, a
>> prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork Niagara up
>> as a co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we checked it out.
>>
>> It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only
>> co-operative coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one other
>> in Quebec). I’m now convinced that if more spaces use this model it will
>> help create stronger, more resilient coworking communities. I’m sharing
>> this in the hopes that it piques your collective curiosity.
>>
>> I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have
>> any questions about this, feel free to ask.
>>
>>
>> http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>>
>> 
>> Trevor Twining
>> Cowork Niagara
>> http://coworkniagara.com
>> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
>> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> 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.
>>
> --
> 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.
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Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Jenifer Ross]

Ditto. Can you provide more details on the financial structure?

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 18, 2016, at 10:40 AM, Jacob Sayles  wrote:
> 
> I'd love to know more about this. I'm certainly sold on the value alignment 
> but I don't have a sense for how it works. 
> 
>> On Thursday, February 18, 2016, Trevor Twining  
>> wrote:
>> Apologies. I used an internal link. 
>> 
>> Here’s the real link
>> 
>> http://coworkniagara.com/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>> 
>> Trevor Twining
>> trevortwin...@gmail.com
>> 416-201-2254
>> twitter/skype/linkedin: trevortwining
>> 
>>> On Feb 18, 2016, at 9:40 AM, Trevor Twining  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hey everyone,
>>> 
>>> When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, a 
>>> prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork Niagara up 
>>> as a co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we checked it out.
>>> 
>>> It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only co-operative 
>>> coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one other in Quebec). 
>>> I’m now convinced that if more spaces use this model it will help create 
>>> stronger, more resilient coworking communities. I’m sharing this in the 
>>> hopes that it piques your collective curiosity.
>>> 
>>> I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have any 
>>> questions about this, feel free to ask.
>>> 
>>> http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Trevor Twining
>>> Cowork Niagara
>>> http://coworkniagara.com
>>> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
>>> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>> 
>> -- 
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Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[ideasource]

Hi Trevor
 
Your link to the blog post isn't working. Tried it on 2 different 
browsers, thinking that might be an issue, but neither worked. 
 
I'm in Toronto, but followed Innovate Niagar for some time while I was 
self-employed so have some sense of trends in the Niagara Region and 
connections at Niagara College. 
 
So even though I'm employed full-time now  managing the Co-op function 
at George Brown College (student/co-op employment, in this case). 
 
I still am very interested in the coworking movement, entrepreneurship, 
the sharing economy, disruptive technology, the maker economy, 
city-building, sustainability, etc. etc. etc. 
 
When you can... 
 

Thanks
 
 
Michael
 
Michael Andich
Manager, Field Education and Partnerships
George Brown College, Centre for Business
mand...@georgebrown.ca
Office 416.415.5000 x 6158
FAX        416-415-2094
 
 

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 09:40:58 -0500, Trevor Twining  wrote:

  Hey everyone, 
When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, 
a prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork 
Niagara up as a co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we 
checked it out. 
 
It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only 
co-operative coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one 
other in Quebec). I’m now convinced that if more spaces use this 
model it will help create stronger, more resilient coworking 
communities. I’m sharing this in the hopes that it piques your 
collective curiosity. 
 
I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have 
any questions about this, feel free to ask. 
 

http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/


Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
http://coworkniagara.com
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
 
 
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Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Jacob Sayles]

I'd love to know more about this. I'm certainly sold on the value alignment
but I don't have a sense for how it works.

On Thursday, February 18, 2016, Trevor Twining 
wrote:

> Apologies. I used an internal link. 
>
> Here’s the real link
>
>
> http://coworkniagara.com/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>
> Trevor Twining
> trevortwin...@gmail.com
> 
> 416-201-2254
> twitter/skype/linkedin: trevortwining
>
> On Feb 18, 2016, at 9:40 AM, Trevor Twining  > wrote:
>
> Hey everyone,
>
> When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, a
> prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork Niagara up
> as a co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we checked it out.
>
> It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only co-operative
> coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one other in Quebec).
> I’m now convinced that if more spaces use this model it will help create
> stronger, more resilient coworking communities. I’m sharing this in the
> hopes that it piques your collective curiosity.
>
> I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have any
> questions about this, feel free to ask.
>
>
> http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>
> 
> Trevor Twining
> Cowork Niagara
> http://coworkniagara.com
> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> 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
> 
> .
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>

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[Coworking] Re: Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Trevor Twining]

Apologies. I used an internal link. 

Here’s the real link

http://coworkniagara.com/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/

Trevor Twining
trevortwin...@gmail.com
416-201-2254
twitter/skype/linkedin: trevortwining

> On Feb 18, 2016, at 9:40 AM, Trevor Twining  wrote:
> 
> Hey everyone,
> 
> When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, a 
> prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork Niagara up as 
> a co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we checked it out.
> 
> It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only co-operative 
> coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one other in Quebec). I’m 
> now convinced that if more spaces use this model it will help create 
> stronger, more resilient coworking communities. I’m sharing this in the hopes 
> that it piques your collective curiosity.
> 
> I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have any 
> questions about this, feel free to ask.
> 
> http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>  
> 
> 
> 
> Trevor Twining
> Cowork Niagara
> http://coworkniagara.com 
> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
> 
> 
> 
> 

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Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Jenifer Ross]

Here is a link taken from their website:

http://coworkniagara.com/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/

On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 9:46 AM, Alex Hillman 
wrote:

> Hey Trevor - thank link is broken! :( looking forward to reading this.
>
> -Alex
>
>
> On Thursday, February 18, 2016, Trevor Twining 
> wrote:
>
>> Hey everyone,
>>
>> When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, a
>> prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork Niagara up
>> as a co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we checked it out.
>>
>> It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only
>> co-operative coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one other
>> in Quebec). I’m now convinced that if more spaces use this model it will
>> help create stronger, more resilient coworking communities. I’m sharing
>> this in the hopes that it piques your collective curiosity.
>>
>> I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have
>> any questions about this, feel free to ask.
>>
>>
>> http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>>
>> 
>> Trevor Twining
>> Cowork Niagara
>> http://coworkniagara.com
>> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
>> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
>> ---
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>> email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
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>>
>
>
> --
> --
> The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
> Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com
> Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast
>
> --
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W@tercooler
21 North Broadway | Tarrytown, NY 10591
www.watercoolerhub.com
jeni...@watercoolerhub.com
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Re: [Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Alex Hillman]

Hey Trevor - thank link is broken! :( looking forward to reading this.

-Alex

On Thursday, February 18, 2016, Trevor Twining 
wrote:

> Hey everyone,
>
> When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, a
> prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork Niagara up
> as a co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we checked it out.
>
> It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only co-operative
> coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one other in Quebec).
> I’m now convinced that if more spaces use this model it will help create
> stronger, more resilient coworking communities. I’m sharing this in the
> hopes that it piques your collective curiosity.
>
> I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have any
> questions about this, feel free to ask.
>
>
> http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/
>
> 
> Trevor Twining
> Cowork Niagara
> http://coworkniagara.com
> Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
> twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
>
>
>
>
> --
> 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.
>


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[Coworking] Co-ops and Coworking: the best-kept secret in coworking.

[Trevor Twining]

Hey everyone,

When we were developing the business plan for our space two years ago, a 
prospective member asked us if we had considered setting Cowork Niagara up as a 
co-operative. We didn’t know what that was, so we checked it out.

It was the best thing that we could have done. We’re the only co-operative 
coworking space in english-speaking Canada (there’s one other in Quebec). I’m 
now convinced that if more spaces use this model it will help create stronger, 
more resilient coworking communities. I’m sharing this in the hopes that it 
piques your collective curiosity.

I wrote a post about it on our newly-launched blog. If any of you have any 
questions about this, feel free to ask.

http://cowork/blog/2016/02/10/why-co-operatives-and-coworking-go-hand-in-hand/


Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
http://coworkniagara.com 
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining




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[Coworking] Re: Contract terms 6, 12, 18 months?

[Bernd Rützel]

At www.coworking4you.de we go month-to-month and my experience is, this 
works perfect.

We will just finish our first year of coworking and so far we only lost two 
members (one did not pay his bills, so I stopped the contract / the other 
one moved to another city and we still have a good contact).

In my believe it is all about creating an environment, where people like to 
be. It is not about locking somebody in by a contract (which for sure is 
also more difficult to sell), it is about building a community, where 
people want to be a part of.

We did grow in the first year to 24 members and I think we will be double 
to more than double this in 2016.

Just an another comment, I had a look to your web page. I would recommend 
to open your member directory also to visitors, who are not logged in to 
your system. Our members love it, as it is an additional presentation of 
their skills to the region. I am not sure, where you can configure it. But 
I think Adrian vom Nexudus can tell you in a minute.

I wish you a great start and success for your space.

Bernd

Am Donnerstag, 18. Februar 2016 03:47:31 UTC+1 schrieb Bill DeBoer:
>
> This is my first post but I have been gaining a wealth of knowledge from 
> this group in setting up my cowork space (sbrc.co).  For that I am very 
> grateful to all!
>
> My question is if coworking spaces lock contracts in by 6, 12, 18 month 
> commitments or just go month-to-month?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Bill
>

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