[Coworking] Re: Coworking in Fairfax, Virginia, USA - looking for partners

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Boyd,

Here is the Coworking WIki page on 
DC: http://wiki.coworking.org/w/page/16583778/CoworkingWashingtonDC.  This 
ought to give you at least some leads on who to talk to locally.

We do not yet have an Open Coworking Partner for DC for me to refer you to 
alas.  But i do know that a number of people work with new spaces to 
develop community and get them off to a flying start.  Conjuctured does, 
Cohere does or did, Creative Density does or did, and I am fairly certain 
that Tony Bacigalupo will have even mroe good ideas about this when he gets 
pinged after I hit the send button. :-)

Welcome, and have fun!  

Cheers,

Jeannine


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Re: [Coworking] 501(c)(6) coworking spaces

[Jeannine van der Linden]

There is a fable going around that it is easy to get (c)(3) status and that 
it is easy to maintain.  This was true for a long time, and with the 
streamlined procedure it is in some sense stiill true.  The trouble with 
all this is, when the IRS gets a new set of madates regarding enforcement 
then there will be audits.  And in case of an audit all those (c)(3)s are 
likely to have a problem.  The problem is, in what sense are you a charity?

This section of the IRS code was intended for businesses founded for 
charitable, religious, educational, scientific, or literary purposes, or 
for purposes of testing for public safety, fostering amateur sports 
competition, or preventing cruelty to children or animals.

Very few coworking related businesses are doing those things as their 
purpose.  Fostering community is not charitable in nature unless your 
community is a charitable community.

So in case of audit the chace is large of losing that status and all the 
headaches that follow.

I think the chance of audit is small.  But why start by trying to shoehorn 
your space intoa category that it does not easily fit?  A (c)(6) is more 
appropriate and more suitable for a lot of spaces.  The co-op is also in 
the rise and I expect to see more state level legislation in future in this 
area. Als LLC's are often a good choice.

It is the case that changing business form is not difficult,  But it is 
distracting and expensive.

I am interested in the L3C, because I think the notion of "low profit" 
companies is an interesting development in terms of how we think about 
doing business.  But I am I confess a little wary about it in general, 
possibly it is my nature to be careful abotu Legislatures bearing gifts.

B Corps are also interesting I think for coworking spaces.  Also new, but a 
little clearer in terms of the qualifications and governance.


On Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at 12:03:19 AM UTC+2, Bucketworks wrote:
>
> Why a C6? Not a C3? 
>
>
>

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking in Fairfax, Virginia, USA - looking for partners

[Jeannine van der Linden]

No problem, Boyd, it's what we are for. :-)

If your connections have connections in China and Taiwan, can I just say 
that for the Coworking WIki 
<http://wiki.coworking.org/w/page/16583831/FrontPage> I am actively looking 
ofr partners and associates and general contacts in Asia at the moment? 
 It's part of the Big Plan for this coming year.  

So if you (or anybody!) want to return the favor, drop me a line at 
Jeannine @ Opencoworking.org.  

Cheers,

Jeannine
On Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at 10:18:43 PM UTC+2, Boyd Jones wrote:
>
> Thanks a million, Jeannine!
>
> A few people have reached out to me and I'll follow up with some of the 
> leads up relate below.
>
> Boyd
> boyd@gmail.com 
>
> P.S. Please anyone feel free to reach out to me if any of your coworking 
> developments need investor support -- not promising anything but some of my 
> investors from China and Taiwan are expressing interest in coworking...
>
> On Monday, August 31, 2015 at 5:39:37 AM UTC-4, Jeannine van der Linden 
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi, Boyd,
>>
>> Here is the Coworking WIki page on DC: 
>> http://wiki.coworking.org/w/page/16583778/CoworkingWashingtonDC.  This 
>> ought to give you at least some leads on who to talk to locally.
>>
>> We do not yet have an Open Coworking Partner for DC for me to refer you 
>> to alas.  But i do know that a number of people work with new spaces to 
>> develop community and get them off to a flying start.  Conjuctured does, 
>> Cohere does or did, Creative Density does or did, and I am fairly certain 
>> that Tony Bacigalupo will have even mroe good ideas about this when he gets 
>> pinged after I hit the send button. :-)
>>
>> Welcome, and have fun!  
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jeannine
>>
>>
>>

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[Coworking] Re: Coworker Conduct, Mutual Respect, Anti-Harassment and what to call it

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Oren,

A policy can be as vague or as specific as is suitable, I think the one you 
are working with is pretty good.  But I think it is useful to think of a 
code of conduct in a broader, more incusive way, and to present it that way 
also.  A code of conduct, and reporting and enforcement of same, is really 
about trust and about transparency.  There comes a time when your community 
starts to include people who are not part of the initial in-group, who 
don't know the unspoken and unwritten rules.  And you want to send the 
message that those peole are welcoem also.  When your community becomes 
more heterogeneous, and that is a good thing. A diverse community isi 
stronger and makes better decisions and is more creative overall.

A place where there has been a lot of thought and consideration of this 
topic is in the organization and sponsoring of conferences.  The lively 
discussion started in 2011 or so and and a lot of very good things have 
come from it.  It has led for example to the increasingly widespread use of 
ASAN's color cards 

 and 
the availability of accomodations for people with disabilities, as well as 
increased attendance and enjoyment by women and people of color. A number 
of prominent speakers have said they willnto participate if there is no 
code of conduct, and The Python Sofware Foundation requires a code of 
conduct  for any 
Conference it sponsors or attends.  (the linked blog post is useful food 
for thougth in developing and launching one).   

Here 

 
and here are some 
nifty resources for developing and launching a code of conduct, they are 
focused on conferences but are easily adaptable I think.
.
One of the things I do want to note about this kind of policy is that 1) it 
is worth putting the time in to win hearts and minds on it, 2) reporting is 
often neglected, and 3) enforcement can be problematic.  The key really is 
though that any kind of written policy that works by unwritten rules or 
 leaves people in a state of uncertainty is not a good result.

There is also sometimes a good deal of resistance to the implementation of 
such a policy, mostly on the ground that Humans Hate Change (the guiding 
principle of life).  This is also to be worked through. 

I would call it a manifesto or a declaration of values myself.  Though I 
did not, here it is part of the Terms of Use.  Still a Code or a set of 
House Rules is not a replacement for a culture of accountability to each 
other and of inclusion; that's what really solves the problem. In some ways 
having rules is a way of opening the conversation and communicating, 
reporting policies are ways of getting the community involved and 
enforcement is showing that you intend to walk your talk.   , 


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Re: [Coworking] I just fell in love with a printer.

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Not Craig.  :-)  But we use inkjet instead of laser because our volume is 
simply not enough to justify a laser printer.  It is of course cheaper in 
teh long run.  But if the long run is 2 - 4x the amount of time we expect 
to actually keep the printer, it starts to look very academic.  And high 
res inkjet is better for pictures and so on.

One of our coworkers has a laser printer and lets the very occasional 
person who has a large print run use it and we credit him the costs back. 
 Which does make tht decision easier.

On Monday, September 28, 2015 at 11:08:26 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote:
>
> I'm curious Craig, is there a reason you're choosing to use inkjet instead 
> of laser?
>
>
>
>
> --
> *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 Mon, Sep 28, 2015 at 1:49 PM, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking 
> > wrote:
>
>> Creative Density is like many of your spaces with about 70 members and 
>> 3500 sq ft. We don't charge for printing and we just ask that members don't 
>> print a book. If they do, just buy some ink every once in a while.  Members 
>> were going through about a set of ink each month costing me about $65. No 
>> biggie, but a noticeable line items at the end of the year.
>>
>> A month ago we swapped out a 4 year old $200 Epson Workforce 6225, a mid 
>> range all in one home office printer, for an Epson ET-4500. The new Epson 
>> just got released this summer as a new line of printers targeting people 
>> that print a decent amount but they don't need a workhorse. It's still a 
>> simple home office or small business printer that doesn't jam that often, 
>> scans, copies, connects to Wifi, easy to use. Basically, it's simple and 
>> does everything most people need.
>>
>> Here is where things get exciting. Epson decided to make money off the 
>> printer and charges $425 for it. They provide you with 2 years worth of ink 
>> and refills are only $50 for all of the colors and they will last 2 years. 
>> The 2 year refills are based on 150 pages a month. Creative Density 
>> probably does about that. Epson flipped the formula and they make money off 
>> the printer and not on the ink. It's because I am much more comfortable 
>> with paying a one time hefty fee and they not having to refill expensive 
>> cartridges and keep them in stock. I love it.
>>
>> The printer quality is good, the reliability is good, and the set up was 
>> easy. I think this is a great solution for all the other coworking spaces 
>> with similar amounts of members or less.
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
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>

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Re: [Coworking] Membership pricing and structure, add on amenities, etc

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Funny thing, our process was different but from halfway around the world 
from you, I can say that we ended up at nearly the exact same place with 
memberships and levels.

I started out with standard memberships and standard packages.  Thereafter 
I gave that up and started doing everything on a bespoke basis.  This was 
great until we appraoched 80 coworkers, at which point it became difficult 
and with mroe spaces it became impossible. So then we went back to the 
community with the numbers and came up with something we all liked, which 
looks very much like what you have there.

In the "rural" spaces where the population is less than 50K (we have two) 
we find far more "non-standard"  use of the space and therefore more custom 
agreements.  (I have scare quites aroudn rural because in the Netherlands a 
place with a population under 50K can be quite urban)..
  
I also don't see anything about specifically corporate memberships, have 
you dealt with that at all?  Or do you just approach them all the same?  We 
have a couple of contracts with large companies who contract for use of the 
space by their employees; this is a little weird in the beginning because 
the person you deal with to set up the membership and the person who 
actually shows up are not the same but also they have different interests. 
 We haven't had a direct conflict yet but it took a little getting used to 
for everybody.

In any event, the setup for corporate memberships turns out to be also 
mostly custom.  At least here.

Cheers,

Jeannine

On Monday, October 5, 2015 at 7:06:52 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote:
>
> I got a LOT of emails off list about my reply to this post, so I decided 
> to put a little extra time into fleshing it out and filled in some more 
> specific details that I left out of my original post. I give you...
>
> The ultimate guide to structuring your coworking space memberships 
> 
>  
>
> :) 
>
> Did I miss something you want to know more about? Or leave something out? 
> Lemme know. 
>
> -Alex
>
>>
>>>
>>

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[Coworking] Re: Google calendars for reserving conference rooms

[Jeannine van der Linden]

We also use Google Calendar for reservations and we have the same problem. 
 The less technically fluent coworkers blocak out their time on their own 
Google Calendar and miss the drop down that would ptu it on the shared 
calendar.

Also with Apple users who do the same thing, apparently the integration 
there is truicky.

Either I or one of the Communty Managers usually shows them how to do it 
the first time.  I used Skitch to make a cheat sheet for folks, which I 
give them at that time.  This leaves about 15% who just keep having 
trouble/need some hand holding.  I have tried several things for this but 
int he end mostly they send us an emaila nd we book it in for them.  These 
folks tend not to book in much, after two or three tries everybody else 
catches on.  :-)

Cheers,

Jeannine

On Wednesday, September 30, 2015 at 10:48:40 PM UTC+2, Aloma Loren wrote:
>
> We've been using Google calendars to allow our members to reserve the 
> conference rooms and it has worked really well so far. 
> The only issue we've run into is user based with people who aren't 
> familiar with Google calendars. It is really nice because members can just 
> get on and see what's available and add their event.
>
> I'm curious how other people manage their conference room reservations?
>

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Re: [Coworking] Re: Google calendars for reserving conference rooms

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Ooo, Jon.

I thank you, my not-terribly-technically-fluent coworkers thank you.  :-)

Thanks for the tip!

Jeannine

On Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 2:20:50 PM UTC+2, @jot wrote:
>
> I recommend trying https://youcanbook.me. It adds a nice layer of user 
> experience over your existing Google Calendars.
>
> We've been using it for the last year at The Skiff and it's removed all 
> the manual steps in our room booking process.
>
> Jon
>
>
>>

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[Coworking] Re: Cowork benefits that don't have to be used within the physical space?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

One of the things we have done in my own spaces is to serve as a betatest 
source for new services being offered by people who are not our members, or 
for existing services launching in Europe for the first time.  We are 
poular in this area because we have a wide range of coworkers, with varying 
levels of tech sophistication, and also because well, the Dutch are 
excellent if what you are wrestling with is language barriers.  

My strong preference is to make it possible for our coworkers to get their 
needs met within the community to the extent possible; we are working on 
tools to help get this done but so far the best response has been and 
remains old fashioned:  putting it up on the bulletin board, email, and 
having an active space manager who knows everybody and serves as conduit 
and introductions maker.

We have a process for the launch of new B2B products by coworkers for 
instance, which makes it easy to offer products to other coworkers first; 
this results in real and actual buzz for the product which translates into 
a benefit for everybody. We are presently working on a "welcome home" 
package for new coworkers, which we are all having some fun with.  

Recently we have seen the flip side, and had people ask us to send out a 
description of their business problem to see if one of the other cowrkers 
or a combination of them can solve it.  That has been fun. :-)

At various times we have also (for example) sent out calls when people are 
hiring, for collections, for automation, for website design.  At new year 
we often start up a "new year resolutions" conversation which nearly always 
results in people doing business with each other.  We get interns as a 
space and put them to work for all the coworkers, which is also fun. 

For real benefits in terms of collective purchasing we need more people, 
which is why Open Coworking is looking at starting work on that problem 
again once the new organization is done. (hint, hint)


On Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 1:12:54 PM UTC+2, Jennifer Kready wrote:
>
> Hello from Round Rock TX - the better outskirts of Austin
>
> I host a Meetup (currently at 200+ members) and ask them several questions 
> during their 'sign-up' phase, one being,* "What are the pros and cons of 
> working from home?'* With a 20% response rate to date, 'Flexibility' is 
> winning out at 51% with quiet and work focus coming in at 15%.  'Isolation' 
> is cited as the primary challenge of working from home (37%) with time 
> management and distractions being the other two issues. I'm also asking 
> this of my 165 member coworking Facebook group. 
>
> The physical space can resolve many of these challenges, but then I asked, 
> '*What benefits of coworking can be enjoyed when not physically 
> coworking?"* How can the cowork be there when the member isn't there?  Is 
> it only a 'you have to be present to win' approach? We know a benefit of 
> coworking is reduced costs through shared resources, so how far can that 
> extend?
>
>- Do you group purchase online resources the coworker can access from 
>anywhere? I'm thinking time/project management tools, planners, etc. 
>
>
>- Do you group purchase local area resources the coworker can access 
>when they're not in your space? Say if they don't want to cowork that day, 
>but want to get out of the house, a coffee discount card or pass, or if 
>they need copies, but are at home that day?
>
>- What other ways do you extend their membership (aside from a copass 
>or visa program to other spaces) outside the physical space?
>
>- How much is too much added value? Is there such a thing? 
>
> Thanks! 
>
> Jennifer Kready
> www.EngageCowork.com
> Meetup: Engage for Entrepreneurs & Freelancers 
> 
> Facebook: WilCo Coworking Connection 
> 
>

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Re: [Coworking] Stats of our first 5 years coworking

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I call myself the Manager.  My coworkers call me either baasje (technically 
little boss, but untranslateable by me in its implications.  Maybe Ramon 
can translate it, lol), or huismoeder, (house mother).  Five of them call 
me Don-neen which is a complicated in joke involving my name and the movie 
The Godfather.

I call the folks we pay to look after the community Community Managers. So 
of course the coworkers call them the Herders.  (Translation:  Shepherds. 
Yes, like in sheep.)

The coworkers who structurally help other coworkers have come to be called 
*kameraad.*  This is a sort of multi level pun on the name of the space and 
the nature of the relationship.

(For the English speaking I will give this a try: kameraad means comrade or 
pal in Dutch.  But the name of the network is De Kamer or "The room" like a 
room in a boarding house, and "raad" also means advice. To make it worse, 
de Kamer is also the word used when referring to the houses of Parliament 
so  anyway, it doesn't translate well.  But whole lotta punning going 
on).

For Ramon who did not need that since he speaks like ten billion languages 
or something:  My French is not good enough to pun in it.  Why don't you 
run a competition for best name? The best names come from the coworkers. 
 And unless I misestimate them, your coworkers whould really enjoy that. 
 I'll send you brownies for the prize.  Or I can send you my top secret 
amazing brownie recipe which has been thoughtfully adjusted for the 
peculiarities of European flour.  :-)
 
On Thursday, November 26, 2015 at 2:19:08 PM UTC+1, Ramon Suarez wrote:
>
> Thanks Tony. Tha'ts a thing we struggle to find the right word for. When a 
> client comes, Facilitator is not understood. At least with host they 
> understand that we are there to make them feel at home. 
>
> What do you call yourselves and your colleagues in your respective 
> coworking spaces? 
>
> Ramon Suarez
> Serendipity Accelerator, Betacowork
> Author: http://coworkinghandbook.com
> email & hangouts: ra...@betacowork.com 
> Phone: +3227376769
> GSM: +32497556284
> Twitter:http://twitter.com/ramonsuarez
> Skype: ramonsuarez
> Try coworking: http://betacowork.com
>
> 
>
> On Thu, Nov 26, 2015 at 1:49 PM, Tony Bacigalupo  > wrote:
>
>> Congrats Ramon! I also want to say, I love that some of the members of 
>> your team are called "Hosts." Makes me feel like I'm at a dinner party :-)
>>
>> Tony
>> *---*
>> *Projects: Open Coworking  • Cotivation 
>>  • Consulting 
>> *
>> *eBook:No More Sink Full of Mugs *
>> *Connect:  Personal site  • Twitter 
>>  • Facebook 
>> *
>> *T**ravel:   **NYC until 12/2 • Boulder 12/2-18 • NYC 12/18-30 • *
>> *  Boulder 12/30-1/15 • Hawaii 1/15-22 • Seattle 1/22-25*
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 26, 2015 at 3:36 AM, Alex Linsker > > wrote:
>>
>>> Elias, start by figuring out who you do and who you don't want to be in 
>>> your coworking place. Write it down and share it -- it can be only positive 
>>> wording but if it is meaningful it will exclude people who know they don't 
>>> belong. You don't want everybody.
>>>
>>> If you write "We are a coworking place where everybody is worthy of love 
>>> and belonging" and you truly intend that, you will exclude people who don't 
>>> want everybody there, people who want cliwues or don't consider themselves 
>>> worthy of love or belonging. (As an example.)
>>>
>>> Common advice on this group is, stsrt with community before you rent a 
>>> place.
>>>
>>> Find people who care about many people and who have communities they 
>>> will benefit by referring.
>>>
>>> Find people who have strong feelings and experiences about the place you 
>>> will fent or will rent in, who actively want something. That is how I start 
>>> things.
>>>
>>> If it isn't fun while doing it, don't do it.
>>>
>>> Alex Linsker, Collective Agency, Portland Oregon 
>>> http://CollectiveAgency.co
>>>
>>> --
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>>>
>>
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[Coworking] An Excellent Community Manager, how do you find one???

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Have to say that I think the best community managers are not found by reading a 
resume. I found one by asking the coworkers, they nominated one from the ranks 
if you like.  There was actually very little difference of opinion, several 
different groups of people all named the same person.  

It isn't like coworking community manager is a well defined profession for 
which the qualifications are already set out somewhere.  Your community ought 
to dictate what you are looking for and also the direction you are developing.  
Our most recent community manager has a background in logistics which she had 
not used for some time but which has been very valuable for that community.

It's like dating, ask everybody you know because chances are what you are 
looking for is right in front of your face. 

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[Coworking] Re: Ideas for flexible mail delivery?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

>
> We have a simple alphabetical expanding file like this for people who 
> incidentally get post: 
>



It is kept in a cabinet in the hallway, next to packages and archived mail.


Some of our members pay to have their post archived, this is kept either in 
presentation folders or archive boxes depending on how much mail they are 
keeping, like this:




Only with their name/logo/whatever on them.


We also have a catch all archive for folks who are out of town/work 
nomads/sick/whatever, which is kept by the Community Manager.


We don't have mailboxes any more.  Not enough space for a row of empty 
mailboxes, it's just another thing to dust, and takes up too much room. 
Besides nobody gets a lot of paper mail any more other than junk mail. 
 This goes in the recycle.


Members who don't pick up their mail are the problem of the community 
manager if it is so long that s/he is getting nervous.  :-)  At some point 
it goes into the box by tthe Community Manger 


 Post for past/nonmembers is returned to sender.  Unless it's somebody we 
are fond of, then we let them know and keep it in the box by the Community 
Manager.

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[Coworking] Re: Ideas for flexible mail delivery?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Just realized I forgot to add:  if somebody is just coming by to pick up 
the mail, they get it out of the folder.  But if they book in to come in or 
have regiular days (that is, we know they are coming), then we put it on 
their desk before they get here so it's waiting for them.

Cheers,

Jeannine

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[Coworking] Re: Ideas for flexible mail delivery?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Oren,

I think the King has the answer for you my friend:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/YUWMSVDPdGQ"; frameborder="0" 
allowfullscreen>

Aanyway.

Whether you are a CMRA depends on the A it seems to me.  That is to say, 
whether you are an agent and handle your coworkers' mail.  There was a 
dustup about thisover Regus and similar at the USPS some years ago, and my 
recollection is that they published some amendments to the regs defining 
how you know whether youa are a CMRA (which is a mail drop) or an OBC.  And 
it amounted to whether you are or are not the agent of your coworkers, whch 
then amounts to, do they actually have space or are they primarily 
receiving business services.  See the Postal Service Mail Manual 
, on this link you can 
start at page 10 to get to the meat of it.

The Global Workspace Association reccommends becoming one, they explan it 
and give their reasons here 

.

I had a big (I mean big, large, like in, Texas size) ol' rubber stamp made 
which says (in Dutch obviously), "No Longer Coworking in Kamer52".  It was 
big enough to cover the bar code at the bottom becuse all these things are 
automated now and (here) if you do not cover the bar code the damn thing 
turns up again like a bad penny.

I think the very best thing to do is to wander on down to your local Post 
Office and have a chat with the Postmaster.  OR send them an email if they 
don;t have those any more.

Cheers

Jeannine



On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 6:51:25 PM UTC+1, oren.s...@gmail.com 
wrote:
>
> Hi Megan, 
>
> Thanks for raising the question and thanks for the colorful responses 
> everyone, especially Jeanine's photo-narrated reply. 
>
> There's one point Megan raised that we face a lot of as well, which is, 
> what to do with mail for past/non-members. 
>
> So far our solution has been to end up stashing it, but it's beginning to 
> pile up and some people have moved or are unreachable with current contact 
> info. 
>
> Does anyone have a good solution for that?
>
> Thanks!
> Oren
>
> On Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 1:55:11 PM UTC-6, Megan Holcomb wrote:
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I am exploring options for a flexible mail delivery system. Currently we 
>> have small, square, stacked mailboxes with member names on labels 
>> (alphabetized). We sort the mail ourselves into the member's mailbox and 
>> they (members) are responsible for checking their box. But every time we 
>> get a new member the labels have to be shifted. Some members have 
>> overflowing mail or rarely check their box. Often mail arrives for 
>> past/non-members. For reference we have between 100-200 members.
>>
>> Maybe there are some creative mail management solutions out there?! New 
>> to this google group so thought Id ask. Haven't seen it in previous topic 
>> threads.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>

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[Coworking] Re: Ideas for flexible mail delivery?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Well hell.  Screwed up the embed code.  And it was such fun, too.  Sorry.  

On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 8:09:34 PM UTC+1, Jeannine van der Linden 
wrote:
>
> Hi, Oren,
>
> I think the King has the answer for you my friend:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/embed/YUWMSVDPdGQ"; frameborder="0" 
> allowfullscreen>
>
> Aanyway.
>
> Whether you are a CMRA depends on the A it seems to me.  That is to say, 
> whether you are an agent and handle your coworkers' mail.  There was a 
> dustup about thisover Regus and similar at the USPS some years ago, and my 
> recollection is that they published some amendments to the regs defining 
> how you know whether youa are a CMRA (which is a mail drop) or an OBC.  And 
> it amounted to whether you are or are not the agent of your coworkers, whch 
> then amounts to, do they actually have space or are they primarily 
> receiving business services.  See the Postal Service Mail Manual 
> <http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/508.pdf>, on this link you 
> can start at page 10 to get to the meat of it.
>
> The Global Workspace Association reccommends becoming one, they explan it 
> and give their reasons here 
> <http://www.globalworkspace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Virtual-Office-Best-Practices-International.pdf>
> .
>
> I had a big (I mean big, large, like in, Texas size) ol' rubber stamp made 
> which says (in Dutch obviously), "No Longer Coworking in Kamer52".  It was 
> big enough to cover the bar code at the bottom becuse all these things are 
> automated now and (here) if you do not cover the bar code the damn thing 
> turns up again like a bad penny.
>
> I think the very best thing to do is to wander on down to your local Post 
> Office and have a chat with the Postmaster.  OR send them an email if they 
> don;t have those any more.
>
> Cheers
>
> Jeannine
>
>
>
> On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 6:51:25 PM UTC+1, oren.s...@gmail.com 
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Megan, 
>>
>> Thanks for raising the question and thanks for the colorful responses 
>> everyone, especially Jeanine's photo-narrated reply. 
>>
>> There's one point Megan raised that we face a lot of as well, which is, 
>> what to do with mail for past/non-members. 
>>
>> So far our solution has been to end up stashing it, but it's beginning to 
>> pile up and some people have moved or are unreachable with current contact 
>> info. 
>>
>> Does anyone have a good solution for that?
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Oren
>>
>> On Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 1:55:11 PM UTC-6, Megan Holcomb wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> I am exploring options for a flexible mail delivery system. Currently we 
>>> have small, square, stacked mailboxes with member names on labels 
>>> (alphabetized). We sort the mail ourselves into the member's mailbox and 
>>> they (members) are responsible for checking their box. But every time we 
>>> get a new member the labels have to be shifted. Some members have 
>>> overflowing mail or rarely check their box. Often mail arrives for 
>>> past/non-members. For reference we have between 100-200 members.
>>>
>>> Maybe there are some creative mail management solutions out there?! New 
>>> to this google group so thought Id ask. Haven't seen it in previous topic 
>>> threads.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>>

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[Coworking] Re: Amenities Offered - Feedback

[Jeannine van der Linden]

>
> The thing we sold at the beginning was the ability to make the space your 
> own.  I took care of (and still do!) all the stuiff that is not fun to shop 
> for or buy -- like desks and chairs and cabinets and so on.  Every single 
> other thing here was brought by a coworker and gifted to the community when 
> they left.  I bought a table and chairs for the garden, but the 
> translator's circle, which meets outside weather permitting, bought a much 
> bnetter one so we replaced it.  All of the basic furniture I bought is 
> removed when a coworker feels ready to put their own stamp on things.
>

Our art is also all from the painter's group that meets here on Tuesdays, 
and we have a special corner in that room for paintings in progress so 
folks who are not here on Tuesdays can see them as they develop.  We now 
have two printers, mine which is a good printer but nothing to say wow 
about, and one a coworker bought and put on the network which is.  The 
music system was installed by a coworker for a party, the barbecue same. 
 If anybody wants some cool thing they can make a pitch which we send to 
all the coworkers and sometimes it gets bought.

We have an active book sharing corner and a basket where people can share 
craft/handwork supplies and so on.  Never met a person who does handwork 
who does not have a pile of extra stuff they intended to use once and are 
keeping because they might use it someday.  They enjoy very much the chance 
to swap out and get something they otherwise would not have thought of.

So you facilitate relationships and the ability to get things, you don't 
hand people a package and expect them to like it.  I can go through your 
list if you like:

- Snacks in kitchen (Mixed nuts, m&ms, cereal, milk, some fruits):  We have 
fruit pretty much all the time, people bring it or I buy some.  Food is 
shared unless you indicate it is not to be shared, I cannot remember the 
last time this happened.  It just works out, sometimes you buy and 
sometimes somebody else does.

- Beer on tap (Keg)  We only get beer in for parties.  Pretty often on a 
Friday the beer does appear in the frig, but a keg is an event for us.

- Fresh fruit water:  Nope, not a thing here.
- Awesome coffee machine (not just for coffee but also for espresso, capp, 
coffee, hot choc):  We cycled through several of these,  In the end most 
folks just keep using the regular coffee maker like your mom had.  :-)

- Color printing/copying (with a limit) Yes.  This I did buy.

- Notary Public: I think it is important to have at least a connection with 
th eprofessionals your coworkers may bneed.  A time comes when you have 
them in house; until then, I think it is good to serve a concierge 
function.  I just interviewed a bunch, you will find that professionals 
whoa re not stupid are eager to establish a relationship with a coworking 
space once they figure out what a coworking space is.

- Arcades: I think I have the wrong demographic for that.

- Photography studio (Basic setup, no electronics/photo equipment, just the 
lighting hardware and setup):  Nope.  One location had a music studio, and 
anothe rmay be getting one, but the partner at the new location does sound 
and lighting so it';s a natural development.
.
- 3D Printer / Laser cutter (members pay for materials): Not yet.  Two 
years ago we had a guy who gave classes on 3D printer use and he had it 
here on occasion but it was not used that much.

- Lockers (where desk members can store their belongings).I go back and 
forth on this.  This is the kind of thing I would get and occasionally get 
asked about but it's a space suck.  We do have metal cabinets in our 
warehouse location and product cages in another location -- both cater to 
retail, transport, webshops and import/export -- but not in the office 
locations. But I might go there yet.

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[Coworking] Re: New Venture Hub / Coworking Space in Toronto - Looking for some fresh ideas!

[Jeannine van der Linden]

There are some very interesting areas for coworking now developing.  Off 
the top of my head, I can think of 1) online retail/import/export and 
trade; 2) Makerspaces of all kinds; 3) specialty coworking --for instance 
cooking and baking and restauraunt fusions, or medical services coworking 
with related businesses.  

But the real value you can offer is not to be found in this group (happy as 
we are to hear from you!),  it is to be found by asking your coworkers. 
 What they want and what they need is the best indicator of what you should 
offer.  What they can offer each other is the best sourcce of innovative 
offerings.

Also, by checking in with Coworking Toronto  
and Coworking Ontario.   If there is a 
regional collective you should certainly  check them out, together is 
better.

Cheers,

Jeannine

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking Financial Model?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Ibrahim,

The very best I have seen is indeed Ramon's canvas.

But are you looking for a spreadsheet kind of tool or are you looking for a 
conceptual approach?

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[Coworking] Re: The Coworking Outdoor Centre...

[Jeannine van der Linden]

>
> You might want to have a gander at the history of the Esalen Instiitute 
> at Big Sur  which has as its ambition the saving 
> of humanity.  So your concept is probably more specific as to yoru target 
> (anythign smaller than the whole of humanity would be after all).  But it 
> remains the case that Esalen draws people from all over the word and has 
> had a disproportionate impact in thought leadership.  
>

It is not, I hasten to add, a coworking institution.  But I think you can 
draw many lessons from their history and development  if I understand your 
ambition correctly. 

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[Coworking] Re: introduction: a blended community

[Jeannine van der Linden]

OMG Andie, is the building you are in the old Caterpillar Tractor plant? 
That takes me back. There is an old story about that location; the owner 
was about to go bust from rising prices and so on, and local businesses 
passed the hat and gave the oweber 20K to stay in the community. It's a 
great story.

I have hammered out a model not dissimilar to that which works well in 
smaller commmunities (it does not work well in large cities so far).  The 
for us has been to find the coworkers as they are still working at the 
kitchen table -- and San Leandro has a long history of that also.  If you 
keep your barrier to entry low at entry and make stepping up from one level 
to another easy and painless, then it does start to work.  We also found 
that making it possible to step back as necessary is also key in this 
particular approach.  

Absolutely vital for us have been:

1) to  treat all coworkers with equal dignity; every one of them, from the 
ones who are travelling and have no more connection to the communty thatn a 
correspondence address or events membership;
2) to keep bringing them in contact with each other by any means necessary; 
:-)
3) to encourage a culture of looking in the community first for whatever 
you need. I have found tht the best way to start with this is to do it 
yourself;
4) to encourage a culture in which we acknowledge that none of us is good 
at everything, so together we can do it better;
5) to speak, think, communicate, breathe, and live the notion that it is 
all one seamless solution, from the kitchen table/garage to an 
international enterprise.

Artists can be challenging in terms of community, boundaries are important 
in my experience it is the nature of an srtist to seek boundaries and kick 
againstr them very hard.  :-)

I find that so far the best approach to hotdeskers has been to treat them 
as guests to our home, as it were,   
 
I also have partnerships witih building owners, who "get"  the community 
thing in varying degrees.  Ahem.


 

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[Coworking] Re: Member 30 day notice policy

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Our basic contract calls for one calendar month to be paid in advance.  At 
any time during a calendar month, a coworker can let us know that in the 
following month they want to terminate or upgrade or downgrade to a 
different plan.  The last day is also good though almost nobody does that; 
in that case we issue a credit for the invoice which has already issued but 
is not yet late.

Several coworkers have asked for longer arrangements, quarterly is the most 
popular.  But we have several who pay semi annually or annually in advance.

It does solve a number of problems.

On Friday, March 11, 2016 at 1:06:56 AM UTC+1, Elizabeth Trice wrote:
>
> When members sign up they sign an agreement that says they need to give 30 
> days notice to the first of the month if they want to discontinue their 
> membership. We've done this both to not have surprise drops in revenue, but 
> also to because we've noticed that it results in members who haven't been 
> coming in much to start coming in again. Recently a few people got angry 
> when they requested a change only a week in advance. How do others handle 
> this?
>

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[Coworking] Re: Private Office & additional users

[Jeannine van der Linden]

We have a basic price for using the space and after that you pay for what 
you use.  We also have a private office arrangement.  

For the private office, if somebody has rented an office and it is theirs, 
they have a key and can do with it what they like, it is none of my 
business unless it causes problems with other coworkers.

For the use of space +, they pay for what they use. But who is using it is 
not really my problem unless again they are causing problems with the other 
coworkers.

It is important to keep these separated.  My current private rental 
coworker has a shop in products for atheletes in the front space.  It's his 
and he can let anybody he likes use it.  He also has a massage therapist 
who comes once a quarter to the location and does sport massage.  This is 
not the kind of thing you want to do in a shop, so she books the upstairs 
space (which is for small meetings) and he gets it on his bill.  How he 
works it out with her is not my problem either.

He is not stupid and is aware that getting things for free is fun, but it 
is less fun if the space has to closed because it doesn' t make any money. 
 That is also part of being a memebr of a community.

I am in general not a fan of categorizing things in little boxes, but in 
this case I am:  it is important that your coworkers know what they are and 
are not paying for and what the boundaries are.

On Friday, March 11, 2016 at 4:34:47 AM UTC+1, Adam Gullett wrote:
>
> We have just opened our coworking space and have ran into a few scenarios 
> we didn't think through. 
>
> We currently have 6 private offices and 2 are currently occupied. My 
> question is how does everyone handle additional members sharing an office? 
> Do you allow a certain amount to be added for free, or do you charge an 
> additional fee for additional users? 
>
> I ask this question because we have a company wanting to reserve an office 
> and they also want to add a business partner and their wives to the office 
> and as members. Which means we will obviously increase some cost on us 
> (security badges, additional utility costs, toiletry supplies etc) marginal 
> cost increase but still an increase. 
>
> What's some of your policies? 
>
> Thanks!

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[Coworking] Re: Your best print marketing material?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Stickers.  Absolutely, stickers.

Or refrigerator magnets but those don't go so big in this part of the 
world.  Nobody's got a refrigerator of the kind you stick things to.



On Sunday, March 27, 2016 at 3:50:01 PM UTC+2, Keith Pandeloglou wrote:
>
> I'm having challenges in what type of physical media to create to help 
> promote our space. I know the best promotion will come from us getting out 
> and speaking to people, but I'd like everyone's feedback on what they've 
> used - aka business cards with "free day", 8.5x11 flyers, smaller 4x6 
> cards, etc.

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[Coworking] Re: Window Blinds

[Jeannine van der Linden]

We went with window stickers too. We have panes so the central logo is for 
the space and it is surrounded by logos or whatever of the coworkers who 
wanted to do that.

It gives nifty effects if you use a cutout, with the image walking across 
the room as the sun moves.  One of the former coworkers used an image on a 
bicycle so his moved through the space as the day went on. .Wings would 
also be good I think.

There is also glas frosting paint for a temporary solution, we sometimes do 
this in the back space in the summer because it's a seasonal problem.  Get 
the coworkers to make stencils and throw a party, it's fun.

And a tip from a military brat:  you can paint in watercolors over the 
windows for the same problem, depends on how bad it is.  I remember my mom 
painted the background in light blue, then drew with a black marker on the 
windows and we painted it in. Depends on how artistic your coworkers are 
and how much mess you can take. :-) 


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Re: [Coworking] Three Case Studies on Joint Ventures with Landlords

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Drop me an email.  I can probably write you one up easier than translating 
it.  I think mine will not help you as 1) it's in Dutch and 2) it 
specifically says it is not a JV.  

Jeannine dot vdlinden at gmail dot com.  :-)

On Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at 2:14:32 PM UTC+2, Tim Gummer wrote:
>
> I'm picking up on this very late jeannine - but if you still have any 'JV' 
> CW  type contracts handy I'd be really interested.  Am potentially 
> developing a space for an organisation with will want to limit it's 
> exposure, anyone knows of any working links to the old webinar that would 
> be great.
>
> Thanks - tim 
>
> On Wednesday, 4 February 2015 21:53:13 UTC+13, Jeannine van der Linden 
> wrote:
>>
>> Brace yourself for radicality. :-)
>>
>> I have one space which is a sharing arrangement with a landlord (sorry, 
>> the words joint venture and partnership make me twitch, as I am a lawyer 
>> and those words have specific meanings to us, and this is not that) and one 
>> which is a shop-in-shop arrangement with an executive office/flexoffice.  I 
>> hope to be launching two more in the first quarter 2015.  One is with one 
>> of my coworkers who graduated to a larger space, the other is with another 
>> flexoffice.
>>
>> The arrangement in both is that I handle the coworking, they make the 
>> space available and open the door,  I pay the costs from the income and 
>> then we split what is left.  The splitting varies, in one location it is 
>> half, in the other it is 80/20 (their favor).  Certain charges they get 
>> 100% of, they are the ones for which I don't do anything.  For the 
>> Executive office, if a coworker steps over to a permanent rental or virtual 
>> office, I get the first month's rent.
>>
>> This requires a landlord who is already on site, not a landlord who is 
>> getting paid for an empty building.  An existing business with extra space 
>> is perfect.  It als requires a landlord with a gambling turn of mind (less 
>> money in the beginning, more at the backend).
>>
>> Getting the model right and the sharing right has beenan adventure. 
>>  :-)  But at this moment I am feeling very good about its sustainabliity.  
>>
>> I have a contract lying here, it is in Dutch.  i think i may have one 
>> lying around which I made up for a space in Italy that didn't go anywhere, 
>> if you want me to dig it up let me know.  (Shameless plug:  I am actively 
>> looking for partners in Europe and the UK. The Dutch love to do business 
>> overseas).  It is a long term contract but has a 30 day termination clause 
>> for any reason, because everybody is afraid of a new model and wants an out 
>> if it goes south.  And it's a principle thing with me, I am for no-fault 
>> divorce and no fault termination of contracts usually. :-)
>>
>> Fire away.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jeannine
>>
>> On Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at 9:04:57 AM UTC+1, Loren Tripp wrote:
>>>
>>> Thank you to everyone who participated in this webinar- it was a great 
>>> introduction to the idea of joint-venturing with a landlord. It also shed 
>>> some light on how the large spaces in NYC and Santa Monica may afford to 
>>> run out of those gorgeous buildings. 
>>>
>>> I've been building my community for CoStudio Pasadena for a few years 
>>> and for this cooperative art studio concept to work I'll need a lot of 
>>> space. I have a historic building in mind with 15,000 sq ft of glorious 
>>> warehouse space- the landlord is on board with my idea, the rent is good 
>>> for this expensive city ($2sf/month), and he will even let me runway the 
>>> build-out; but no matter how I finesse my P&L estimates, it's just too dang 
>>> much rent. (By my cautious P&L estimate, rent would be 2/3rds of my 
>>> revenue! One bad month and I'd be in big trouble.) It didn't occur to me to 
>>> actually partner with him. 
>>>
>>> So here are my questions:
>>>
>>> How does the 50/50 partnership actually work- would I really propose he 
>>> give me the space rent-free in exchange for half my revenues?  How could I 
>>> pitch this to him knowing it will take a year+ to get to capacity and for 
>>> him to actually* get* any revenue?  Are there any examples of contracts 
>>> with landlords that someone could share? Problems to look out for? (ie: My 
>>> potential landlord prefers month-to-month- is that a big risk or a good 
>>> escape route?)  Finally, I keep reading in th

[Coworking] Re: Guest Policy In A Coworking Space

[Jeannine van der Linden]

One of our spaces has an entry/front room which, because both the front 
door and the stairs are in it, never really found its groove.  After some 
years of this, we found a great use for it:  we put storefront use in it. 
 Webshops, services of all kinds, and business with foot traffic goes 
there.  Because the foot traffic is exactly the problem in that particular 
part of the space, so it is idea for people who need and want foot traffic, 
they catalyze each other.

Right now it is hosting a web retailer who is exploring having a bricks and 
mortar experience as well.  But certainly a repair business would be a use 
we would put there.

It worked out so nicely that we are doing similar in some other locations. 
 But police relaeted incidents are right out.

In general I find that if you can  channel the use of the space based on 
need it works out better.

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[Coworking] Re: Signage Around Space

[Jeannine van der Linden]

We have a door with glass panels and glass internal half walls.  So we 
laminate reusable signage, get it wet, and stick it to the glass.  Lasts 
about three days which is generally longer than we ned.  This is also how 
we do coworker signage:  whoever is in the space on any day has a sign up 
on the door that day.  This also makes it easier for folks the coworkers 
have appointments with to work out whether they are in the right place.

If the Coworker doesn't want to do it themselves, sometimes I make them, 
sometimes the community manager does it, sometimes one of the graphic 
designers does it.  It costs a couple of euros.  Depends on how close a 
deadline it is really.

Events in the space go up on the calendar and not in the space itself.

If I warned people that we were cleaning out the refrigerator, nobody would 
come that day lol.  I am pleased to see that you have responsible 
coworkers.  :-)

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking in smaller towns

[Jeannine van der Linden]

>
> Our original space was opened in Oosterhout, population not quite 50,000, 
> second in Den Bosch, pop 140,000 ish, then in RIjsenhout, just over 3,000 
> (yes you read that right.) and the most recent in Brunssum, pop 28,000.
>

So other folks have covered the waterfront pretty well but I do want to add 
this:  Every place has a different vibe, a different energy.  If I am 
feeling mystical on a different day, I might opine that a place has a soul. 
 You have to find that, and work with that.  All our spaces are very, very 
different to walk into, because the identity of the place they are is very 
different and that is a good thing.

The best approach for a small local population is to position the space as 
a connector or catalyst between your coworkers and the people they need and 
want to come in contact with, to make their businesses flourish. 
 Internally of course (community); but externally as well.

I have long believed that we need a special place for coworking in smaller 
towns and cities (what we used to call rural coworking) because the way it 
works really is very different.  I barely know what hotdesking is.  :-)

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking in smaller towns

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Oh wait, I forgot.  Also, the best way to go in small towns (unless you are 
yourself rooted there) is in my experience either 1) own the building; 2) 
have a cooperative arrangement with the owner; or 3) have a profit share 
with the owner.  It has many, many advantages over and above the obvious " 
don't have to cough up the rent every month" advantage.

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[Coworking] Re: Best advice to keep/get coworking space to full capcity

[Jeannine van der Linden]

This: 

My boss hasn't given me any advice necessarily on how she got the space 
> filled to full capacity now


bothers me.   You are supposed to sign up something on the order of one a 
day, every day, for a couple months without any kind of support?

I am also a little curious also about the hard number:  is that 250 
irrespective of level of use of the physical space?  

Anyway, the only way I know of to achieve 250 in a couple of months is to 
set up a sales funnel and move them on through.  What's your closing rate? 
 I mean at 10% which is a nice round number, you have to have 250 (sales)/ 
.1 (success rate) =  2500 prospects X .25 (3 months selling cycle) =  625 
prospects in funnel at any given time.

Those kinds of numbers require discipline and data.  Not just for the sales 
but as Alex says, for the onboarding and integration into the existing.

It is an interesting challenge, really, but what kind of budget and/or 
resources do you have to work with?





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[Coworking] Re: Best advice to keep/get coworking space to full capcity

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Justin, that your open rate for mass mail merges was too low, would be a 
reccommendation in some places.  :-)  Look for those,  

It is never fun when things don't work out, but in the long run you know 
are better off somewhere else.  Thanks for coming back and keep us posted!

Best,

Jeannine

On Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at 9:41:20 PM UTC+2, Justin Baron wrote:
>
> Unfortunately things did not work out.  As you all made mention, there was 
> not anything that would done to help me succeed.  As the trial finished up 
> today and I was informed by my boss that things would not continue, she 
> finally explained what the expectations were.  Apparently without being 
> told I was supposed to get at least 10-20 people in a two week span to come 
> and tour the office space.  My open rate for mass mail merges was not what 
> she was looking for, and she stated other bs.  All in all, it was a role 
> that was not really an easy place to succeed in.  I still really want to 
> work for a coworking space in the NYC area, so onto the next one.  But 
> thank you for the advice as it was useful for me.
>
> On Friday, June 10, 2016 at 8:24:35 AM UTC-4, Jeannine van der Linden 
> wrote:
>>
>>
>> This: 
>>
>> My boss hasn't given me any advice necessarily on how she got the space 
>>> filled to full capacity now
>>
>>
>> bothers me.   You are supposed to sign up something on the order of one a 
>> day, every day, for a couple months without any kind of support?
>>
>> I am also a little curious also about the hard number:  is that 250 
>> irrespective of level of use of the physical space?  
>>
>> Anyway, the only way I know of to achieve 250 in a couple of months is to 
>> set up a sales funnel and move them on through.  What's your closing rate? 
>>  I mean at 10% which is a nice round number, you have to have 250 (sales)/ 
>> .1 (success rate) =  2500 prospects X .25 (3 months selling cycle) =  625 
>> prospects in funnel at any given time.
>>
>> Those kinds of numbers require discipline and data.  Not just for the 
>> sales but as Alex says, for the onboarding and integration into the 
>> existing.
>>
>> It is an interesting challenge, really, but what kind of budget and/or 
>> resources do you have to work with?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>

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[Coworking] Re: Known, not liked and a criminal record. What can i do?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Matt,

I have dealt with similar problems more than once and the answer is to talk 
about it. Your job is to protect your community, both in the short and the 
long term, and if he becomes a member that includes him also.   You should 
say this explicitly. He knows what his past is better than you do so no 
need to pussyfoot around it.  It isn't like you are telling him anything he 
doesn't know, and it can be a great relief to get some straight talk in 
smaller communities, lol.

In my Terms of Use can be found the following language:

The agreement may be terminated unilaterally by the management if:


   - 
   
   the Coworker does not comply with the rules and agreements made in the 
   contract or otherwise comply with the law of the Netherlands, the business' 
   place of creation, or any place it operates;
   - 
   
   the Coworker does not pay an invoice,
   

   - 
   
   in case of bankruptcy or placement under a curator of a Coworker,
   - 
   
   the Coworker or its employees or associates harms the coworking space or 
   any of its coworkers, or harms third parties in the course of its business 
   in any way. 
   
You will also find this further on:

We do not provide information about Coworkers to third parties without 
prior consent of Coworkers or a valid Court Order or other legal 
requirement that it do so, except as follows: 

a) upon suspicion or investigation of fraud;

b) in the event that Coworker is unreachable or fails to respond to efforts 
by the Coworkign space to communicate with Coworker on behalf of creditors, 
customers, or other third parties unable to locate Coworker;

c) upon official request from the police or other government authorities.


Our contract states very explicitly that if we see evidence of fraud or 
illegal practices, we will report any and all such activities to the 
relevant authorities and let them sort it out.  That's what they are for.  I 
do not f*ck around with this; our purpose is to be able to work in a 
community of earned trust. Good boundaries are important as is a clear 
vision of what you are doing.

All that tough language quite aside, we have also admitted as coworkers 
people with a very checkered past because I think if you have done your 
time then you are entitled to a chance to do better and to be sincerely 
supported in doing that. Otherwise why would you ever even try to do 
better?  

So I have a special three month contract, for people with various 
background problems. During that three months the Community Manger is 
actively involved with them, in a supportive role and also -- and we say 
this quite explicitly -- to keep an eye on things. At the end of it the 
Community Manger gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down. If all goes well they 
get a long term contract and it can be a truly transformative experience. 
 If not then we tell them they need to find somewhere else, alas.

But in general I have to tell you that every time I have gone against my 
gut on this, I have been sorry.  So I support you in going with your gut at 
the end of the day.

If I missed anything you want to talk about, let me know!

Best,

Jeannine

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[Coworking] Re: previous threads on having multiple locations?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

HI. Alex,

We are at five locations now, and we have the same vision as you describe: 
 the separate locations are very much particular to their cities.  This is 
partly because around here the identity of a city is a firmly established 
fact for the Dutch and is important to the identity of the people and 
businesses located there.  It is also partly due to my own belief that 
every place has a sort of energy, almost a soul, which ought to be 
respected. :-)  Each of our locations has a speciallty and each is a 
differnt kind of space with different sectors involved in its community as 
well.

It is important to be clear in communication abotu what they all share, and 
in how they all are different.  I made a great bollocks of this in the 
beginning and found it very tricky to get right.  In the end I settled on 
what we guarantee and why people should go with us instead of somebody else 
as what we share, which seems to work well.

To answer your quesitons:
:
*- the pros and cons of members of each location having membership at all 
the locations. (Most members at the main location will not want to switch, 
and all will want the ability to come to our main location, but about 1 in 
10 people are interested in mainly being at the third location.)*

After some fooling around we settled on everyone being a coworker in a home 
space and letting them use the facilities and attend events at the others 
"as if they were" or "on the same basis as" members in the other spaces. 
 Very few people are able it turns out to think of themselves as being 
members of a network coworking space and they are more comfortable having a 
home place and being welcome in the others like a cousin or something. 
 Everything int he other spaces is still organized by the one point of 
contact, usually the Community Manager in the home space.  SOme of my long 
term coworkers still have me do it even knowing that it isn';t really my 
job. I don't mind it, it really is just an excuse to touch base I think. .
 
*- the pros and cons of having multiple web pages, one for each location.*

We are just in development on one web page for all the locations, because 
it was a pain int he butt to have separate ones.  Probably if you are 
better organized than I am you can manage it; but if you are doing it you 
shoudl probably link them to each other to encourage the free flow of 
communicatiuon and information.
 
- *local experimentation: the best ways to try new policies at one 
location, and when to try something and when to not try something.*

We try new things out in whichever location dreams it up or has most need 
of it, and then we let the folsk in the other locations know anbotu it as 
it develops.  If it works well we then offer it to all the locations when 
it is out of beta as it were.

*- pros and cons of local parties vs combining locations for parties? Do 
you rotate locations sometimes, and combine sometimes?*

We have one monthly gathering to which everyone is invitied and it rolls 
from location to location, from north to south in the country actually, so 
nobody has it more than once every couple of months.  Coworkers have the 
option of inviting coworkers to their events/workshops/courses/what have 
you or only inviting members of their own space.  Each space is free to 
arrange anything other than the monthly gathering and invite whomever they 
wish.
  
*- local governance: including, when applicable, what benefits have your 
members said they've had from being involved in governance? Do any places 
have local representatives from each location get together to talk 
governance for the organization overall?*

The 80-20 rule applies here.  Though I have found that the people 
interested in governance also often want to run their own space. This has 
happenned so far twice adn is in the process of happening for one more.  I 
am considering creating a formal process to encourage this as it is a good 
deal of fun.

Let me know if you have any more questions, it's an inexhaustible source of 
conversation!

Best,

Jeannine

On Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 4:37:25 AM UTC+2, Alex Linsker wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Other than searching the Google Group for "multiple locations", what would 
> you recommend searching for, for info on coworking places with multiple 
> locations? Collective Agency is almost signed on our third location in 
> Portland and I'm curious to see what questions have come up for people 
> who've done this before. 
>
> The vision is for each location to be slightly different, with locally 
> influenced community and different amenities, but a similar overall feel. 
> This will be our second location for members (the other location is just 
> for event rentals right now, but could become for members in the future).
>
> Questions I have:
> - the pros and cons of members of each location having membership at all 
> the locations. (Most members at the main location will not want to switch, 
> and all will want the ability 

[Coworking] Re: Known, not liked and a criminal record. What can i do?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Yes.  I have found tbat making clear that we are working towards a community of 
earned trust does go quite a long way towards making some folks not come in.

My mother made a point of inviting all of our unsuitable friends and dates over 
quite a lot when I was young. This had a similar effect: often they went away 
or we saw them differently in the family context.  A little community-fu I 
learned at home. 😀

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[Coworking] Re: previous threads on having multiple locations?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

The rule of thumb for me now is: when the physical space is 50% full on an 
ongoing basis, it is time to start looking at real estate. Because for us 
that has been the tipping point/warning that it is about to get a lot less 
flxible with sharing, and that is not really negotiable for us.

This does not always mean moving, when the amsterdam location got a little 
too friendly recently we expanded within the building we were already in.  

We do not have any spaces in the same town or city.  We have one location 
near Schiphol Airport which is spitting distance to the location in 
Amsterdam but as the Real Amsterdammers *and* the people fo Rijsenhout keep 
telling me, outside the Ring (the perimeter highway around Amsterdam)  is 
Not Amsterdam in terms of identity. :-)

I would myself only try that under certain conditions, and thise conditions 
involve differentiation.  Either a different coworker community or a 
different type of space, something like that.  I woudl for example take on 
a new office type location in Den Bosch, because the current location is in 
a warehouse space and so the community is primarily retail.  FO rme that 
would be necessary to dare it; I think I would not try to balance the same 
community over two spaces.  I could manage two allied communities over two 
spaces though.

Does that make sense?

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Re: [Coworking] Re: previous threads on having multiple locations?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hiya, Alex.

Jeannine, I love thinking about cities and places in the way you wrote at 
> the start of your email, would like to talk more and hear how you think 
> about that, either on a phone call or online, whichever you prefer. 
>
> Could you say more about what all your places share and how they are 
> different?
>

Oh, I can go on and on.  I promise not to though. :-)  I think if you try 
to put the same formula in a differnt place, you get punished for violating 
its soul by the distance people feel from your business. And they are right 
of course, because it is not then in fact about them but about your 
formula. It can work or not work, but if it does work, you find that what 
works is a lot of people striving towards being something they are not.  Or 
people who are displaced, feeling at home for once.  Which is a differnt 
kind of distance.

Everywhere in Europe you will find a thing called an American Bar.  I like 
them, actually, as I am an American in Europe.  But there is an 
artificiality, which is what there is to like, about them.Its authenticity 
is a meta-authenticity:  we are authentically playiong at having an 
American Experience in and as imagined by people who are not now nor do 
they really want to be American -- except for that couple of hours. 

It is a beautiful experience, But not an organic one.

What we all have in common are a few things:  We have the same contracts 
and the same terms of use with a few additions -- the spaces with storage 
and logistics have some bits about insurance which the others do not; and 
the office spaces have bits about leaving your stuff there which the 
warehouse spaces do not.  But in general they are the same.  We have the 
same invoicing.  We have the same onboarding and graduation practices.

In all of the locations in principle coworkers are renting the entire space 
on the basis of sharing it with everybody else, and our job is to manage 
the sharing so it is seamless and keep track of use and bill it out so 
everybody pays for what they use.  All coworkers have the ability to move 
back and forth in membership plan from moth to month.  They all pay in 
advance for a calendar month, and they all can cancel or change at any time 
durng a calendar month which is already paid.  They all have access to the 
internal network.

In all our spaces the fiorst principle is to hire, recruit, buy and sell 
within a community of earned trust.  We think the first place to look for 
anything is within the community.

In all of them every coworker is valued as a member of the community, 
whether they are at the entry level of membership or almost ready to 
graduate.

We approach the coworkers at each location as a community in its own right, 
but consider them allied to the other communities in the network and 
encourage cross-community contact.

How they are different might take me all day.  The physically smallest 
setting is in Rijsenhout, a village with 3000 residents and the largest is, 
well, Amsterdam.  But the physically smallest location is I think in 
Amsterdam (though this may not be true any more, just expanded from half a 
floor to a whole floor in the building).

You write 'the Community Manager in the home space' is the main organizer 
> for each location; do you mean there's one person at one main location for 
> you, who is contacted for all the locations, or each location has a person 
> who is physically there most of the time who is the organizer?
>
> No, all our coworkers have the one point of contact, usually the Community 
Manager in their home space, who is officially responsible for arranging 
things for them. So if one of the coworkers in Kamer52 in Oosterhout wants 
to go to Amsterdam, the Community Manager in Oosterhout, arranges whatever 
needs to be arranged.

For my long term coworkers it is sometimes me still, because I was doing 
all the jobs when they came in.

By preference the Community Manger is a coworker on conhtract, usually 
somebody in adminstrative services, management services, or bokkeeping 
which I think is logical.

You write it's a lot of fun when members start their own locations; could 
> you write more about why/how it's fun? (Collective Agency members have 
> independently started at least 5 locations of which at least 3 are still 
> continuing, plus private offices often modeled on us, often when there is a 
> split in a requirement, like another city/location, a specific demographic 
> niche, a corporate request, or when a certain ethos or experiment is 
> desired by two or more members that wouldn't fit within the Community 
> Guidelines. Gangplank in Chandler Arizona has a licensing model that I 
> always love hearing about.)
>
> So far everyone who has started a new space has done it with some kind of 
relationship with the mothership as it were.  For all of them we are a 
source of new members and information and so on.  Most of them are branded 
as a member of the network, some are branded as i

[Coworking] Re: App for community interactions

[Jeannine van der Linden]

We have just launched mrWatson  on a three month 
pilot.  We are now in month 2.  I like it very well so far, the coworkers 
seem to like it as well.  It does require making a profile, and I find that 
new coworkers make one right away as it is part of their welcome packet; 
existing coworkers tend to make a profile at the moment that there is 
something in it for them.  :-)

So far therefore I think the key is to make sure there is something in it 
for them, other than a shiny new tool.  Since we all have logins enough in 
this world.  

The good news is that to date none of the notifications from mrWatson seem 
to be landing in the spambox, which has been a real and present problem for 
email based systems.

So, early days yet.  But it is looking good.

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[Coworking] Re: Can you help me find other Woman-Owned Coworking Spaces? Spotlighting for Int'l Coworking Day 2016!

[Jeannine van der Linden]

>
>
> Hi!

My name is Jeannine van der Linden <https://about.me/jvdlinden>, I am the 
founder, chief cook and bottle washer for deKamer, <http://dekamer.eu/> a 
network of 5 coworking spaces in the Netherlands. The first was launched in 
2010, the most recent in March 2016. Our new website is still in 
production, here is the orginal website <http://www.kamer52.nl/>, and our 
Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/De-Kamer-133200870061618/>. 

I am also involved with Open Coworking <http://opencoworking.org/>. and am 
presently Managing Partner.  

I am Stateside at the moment, in Atlanta now, until the end of August. 
 Which makes working with timezones that much easier. :-)

Dina Eisenberg did a video series on Women in Coworking in 2013 which was 
quite good, you can find it here. 
<http://speakuppowerfully.com/category/coworking/>

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[Coworking] Re: Promoting desk spaces in a company versus desk spaces in a coworking building?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hiya!

Are you trying to develop a coworking space within/as part of an existing 
company which does something else entirely?

It is quite different, if so; two of the five spaces in our network are 
doing exactly this.  It is doable and it is also fun to do, but it is 
indeed different in important ways from developing a coworking community in 
a dedicated space.

We'll be glad to help but I think you need to clarify what it is you want 
the help with and what you are trying to do.

Let us know!

Jeannine

On Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 3:33:19 PM UTC+2, Prisc wrote:
>
> Hi there,
>
> I may have already posted this but I couldn't find it-I'm new here. 
> Apologies if I have.  
>
> I understand that hiring a desk in a company versus hiring a desk in a 
> huge coworking building (like the ones wework establishes) are both in some 
> ways quite different; or are they?
>
> From what I understand, people tend to look into coworking when they want:
>
> *-To set a routine for their lives and their work as self employed 
> individuals*
> *-To work alongside like minded people or those in the same position*
> *-To network with others*
> *-To be a part of a bigger community*
>
> So my question is; how do you promote the idea of desk spaces in a company 
> versus in a community of freelancers? How can you make it sound more 
> appealing, and how do you reach a market that would rather do their work in 
> an office with zero distractions and good amenities in a great location? 
>
> I've posted advertisements for our office on so many websites, tried to 
> promote on facebook groups, and I've been looking on freelancer websites, 
> yahoo, quora, and now google-how can I reach the kind of audience we want?
>
> All help is super, super appreciated.
>

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[Coworking] Re: Member Mail

[Jeannine van der Linden]

>
> +1 to what Alex said, our Community Manger regularly says to people, "Um, 
> about that mail?  It looks like something you might want to, say, I dunno, 
> OPEN?".  Or words to that effect.


I think a lot of mail is not picked up because of the inscrutable habit the 
government, banks, etc have of sendng both electronically and via regular 
post.  So I thnk sometimes it's because they already have the mail.

Our system allows people to say what they want to happen when their mail 
comes in.  Some folks just come by every so often anyway, and they just 
want it where they can get it.  Some folks want us to app them a picture of 
their mail when it comes in.  Some folks want us to scan it and email it to 
them, or physically mail it to wherever they are in the world, which 
service is offered by one of the other coworkers.  

We have a central office storage cabinet like this sort of 

[image: Image result for office storage cabinets]

And it contains coworker stuff.  Many of our coworkers who come regularly 
anyway, have an archive box in the cabinet for their post.  Like this here:

[image: Image result for document archive box]

Or for smaller companies, like this:

[image: Image result for file folder documents]

For folks who just have a one-off delivery or our more nomadic members, we 
have an alphabetical sorter like this: 

[image: Image result for alphabetical file sorter]

All of these items are in the cabinet.  Folks who have a door code can just 
get their stuff.  Folks who do not, have to wait for the Community Manager 
to give them their stuff.

Small packages can be accepted and handled in all the spaces; large 
packages, pallets, machines, and other unwieldy items are sent to one of 
our two spaces which have warehouse space.  Anything not picked up in a 
month is subject to a storage fee unless arrangements are made.  I did this 
last because for whatever reason, people will pick up their mail to avoid 
paying very small amounts of money.  *shrug*. But otherwise (for some 
folks) it threatens to compost while waiting to be picked up. :-)

Jeannine

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Re: [Coworking] Anyone use Meshwork?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Alex, what do you mean by membership managemnet?  What do you want it to do?



On Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 4:39:22 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote:
>
> I'm with Jon on this one. The all-in-one approach just doesn't make sense 
> to me. 
>
> Instead, we've assembled a toolchain of individual apps that let us 
> incrementally improve and focus our efforts where we know it'll get us the 
> most results. This reddit comment I made about a year ago is *slightly* 
> outdated, 
> but includes a large part of our toolkit. 
> https://www.reddit.com/r/CoWorking/comments/30ltlx/coworking_software_recommendations/cptm1og/
>
> Case in point - I've been hunting for a tool to handle a collaborative 
> community calendar for YEARS and finally found it!
>
> One recent addition that's missing from that comment is Teamup Calendar 
> , which is the BEST calendar tool I've found by a 
> longshot. Google Calendar is a common default, but it requires giving 
> people permission to be able to add things to it and even then, there's no 
> audit trail of activity.  Teamup is awesome because it doesn't even require 
> logins - it uses URLs for permissions e.g. admins get a special URL, 
> members get a different special URL, and the pubic website gets yet another 
> special URL. 
>
> As a result, members can add stuff to the calendar without needing to 
> remember a login, meaning more stuff ends up on the calendar and more 
> people actually LOOK at the calendar, too. We can embed the calendar in our 
> member site, directly link to it, and people can still subscribe to the 
> feeds in their iCal or Google Calendars. We have members across time zones 
> who even remarked how awesome it is that Teamup automatically adjusts for 
> time zones. 
>
> It's so f'ing awesome. It's *so* affordable. And we'd never get to use it 
> if we relied on an all-in-one!
>
> Ironically, the one thing missing from our kit right now is a membership 
> manager that *just* does membership management. We've definitely outgrown 
> our current solution, but every other option I look at is trying to do a 
> dozen things at once and none of them especially well! :( And I can't help 
> but laugh every time a new app launches that promises "build more 
> community" and then designs their entire app around managing desks. 
> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
>
> So much love for my software peeps - for real, it's the world I came from 
> before I started Indy Hall. But I'd love to see more single-serving 
> apps that pick one problem and solve it REALLY well. There's a lot of money 
> to be made there. 
>
> -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, Oct 26, 2016 at 10:07 AM, Jonathan Markwell  > wrote:
>
>> Swiss Army Knives look great and are extremely useful in an emergency. 
>> But how would you feel depending on one to solve the same series of 
>> problems every day? Switching to using another multitool might improve 
>> things a little but for how long?
>>
>> Member communication, room bookings, CRM and billing are worlds apart. I 
>> can't imagine any one provider being able to do a good job of all of them 
>> in one go.
>>
>> Meshwork might be able to put together something that works well for a 
>> small number of spaces. But those spaces would have to work within a very 
>> strict set constraints. If they try to be all things for all coworking 
>> spaces you'll have to put up with ever increasing complexity in the user 
>> experience.
>>
>> I'm much happier using simple single purpose tools that do a really good 
>> job of solving one or two specific problems
>>
>> Why not consider different providers for each of the problems you have?
>>
>> On Tue, 25 Oct 2016 at 16:02, Stacy Kessler > > wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> We are thinking of switching coworking software. We currently use Cobot, 
>>> and while there are a lot of great things about that, there are still 
>>> limitations. We have talked many times with product development and 
>>> customer service. While they are open to feedback, there are still things 
>>> we want out of our coworking software that have not come to fruition. For 
>>> example communication with and between members (no need to use Slack), 
>>> doing room bookings and invoicing for non-member revenue, some funky stuff 
>>> with user experience, etc. Just got a Meshwork demo and it seemed pretty 
>>> great. Some of these features aren't live yet, but if they live up to their 
>>> promises, seems they should have most everything we need with a few 
>>> shortages in customization on a few items, but more of the items we are 
>>> currently missing.
>>>
>>> Anyone have any experience using Meshwork or any of the other new 
>>> software providers? There was a thread on Nexudus about 3 years ago, but I 
>>> think that was the

[Coworking] Re: Opening a coworking space

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Wait. Hold the phone.  They let somebody who is actually from Atlanta 
escape?  Pretty sure that's not allowed, I think you need to check into 
City Hall right away. 

:-)

Where are you looking to open your coworking space?

On Tuesday, November 22, 2016 at 10:19:48 PM UTC+1, ZSHOS wrote:
>
> Hi all- I'm looking to open a coworking space outside of the US (although 
> I'm originally from Atlanta GA) and have a host of questions. I would so 
> appreciate y'alls thoughts on any or all of these questions.
>
>
>1. Revenue sources: private office, conference room, designated seats, 
>hot seats, and events.
>2. How do we forecast revenue for these various sources? What kind of 
>blend can we project?
>3. Do you offer daily, weekly memberships in addition to monthly?
>4. What is the recommended ratio of designated seats to hot seats?
>5. What is the recommended square footage per occupant?
>6. What occupancy to seat ratio can we assume for the hot seats?
>7. Are there resources or data that can help us understand the 
>potential market even with other players out there?
>8. What kind of premium are occupants willing to pay for WeWork? At 
>what discount can we offer our location?
>9. How do we determine our membership price point?
>10. Should we offer private offices in addition to designated/hot 
>seats?
>11. Are there other sources of revenue we can tap into when conference 
>room isn't being utilized? 
>12. Is there a recommended ratio for cost per square foot to 
>recommended membership pricing?
>13. What ancillary services or offerings are necessary to run a 
>successful workspace?
>
>

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Re: [Coworking] Is it possible for a space manager to leave for 2 weeks? What should I do to prepare?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I cannot speak for Alex but that was surely my experience.  Just like 
having kids, once you have two you must accept the reality that you cannot 
be all things to both of them all the time, unless you do not sleep or have 
managed bilocation.  And when you get to three it's Kitty bar the door.

I leave the country every year for at least six weeks, so this came up 
early for us and had to be factored in.  But I think one of the most 
important things about running a business -- or being part of a community 
actually -- is the notion that everyone is replaceable including me. If 
they are not I think i am doing it wrong.

This may also be traceable to a high tolerance for uncertainty and a form 
conviction that there are few things that cannot be corrected after they go 
terribly wrong . :-)

There are several 1's in running this group we have here, but few of them 
require my physical presence at any given moment.  



On Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at 2:41:54 PM UTC+1, Alex Hillman wrote:
>
> Thanks Alex :) that exercise is adapted from the community masterclass 
> that Tony, Adam and I designed a few years back. 
>
> Genuine "1s" in this case are generally pretty limited, like you said. 
> Operationally, it can include ownership & authorizations that aren't 
> readily shareable without major changes to the org. Naturally this depends 
> heavily on how you set up your org in the first place :)
>
> Curious what you mean by "two is easier than one"? Do you mean that by 
> having to run two spaces, you're essentially *forced* to 
> federate/delegate more?
>
> -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 Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 3:52 PM, Alex Linsker  > wrote:
>
>> Alex, I super-like how you wrote that. The 1 2 3 4 is a great system, it 
>> gives words to what I've been observing the past few months without words 
>> for it, many things went from 1 and 2 to 4 once our second membership 
>> location opened; two is easier than one.
>>
>> I'd be curious, what are 1's? I think nothing is a 1 except being 
>> oneself/being fully human/sharing of oneself/being assertive/asking and 
>> making what one very much wants.
>>
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>
>

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Re: [Coworking] Is it possible for a space manager to leave for 2 weeks? What should I do to prepare?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hiya, Alex!

I have enjoyed very much your governance guidelines.  I am very curious 
about number 4 and why it is there.

Individuals have freedom of speech and association, freedom of travel and 
> choice of residence, employment, and education
>

I am not sure I think that is actually a meaningfully true statement so I 
would have to revise it a little.  But as a practical matter, i am fairly 
certain I would get a lot of blank stares if I included it in any kind of 
communication to coworkers.  Maybe there is a differnt line for what is 
private and public between there and here; but I wil say that my coworkers 
have clearly expressed that while they like having a combination of 
business, nonprofit, clubls, and individuals, they do not want political 
parties or political funding, lobbyists, or any kind of entity whose 
purpose is explicitly to alter the political landscape. 

When I think about it it seems to me a question of accessibility over 
openness when we look at the core values of Open Coworking; I think if I 
substituted a statment about radical inclusion in the space they would go 
for it.

(Please see founder bias?  :-))

But trying to apply that statement to a coworking space leaves me a bit 
puzzled.  Help me out?
.

>
>>>
>>>

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[Coworking] Re: jiminy, why are nice, big trash cans so expensive? (p.s. I FINALLY found an affordable option!)

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I have a similar tale about mail boxes, specificallly package boxes/. We 
have a couple of members in internet retail and they get theiir returns 
here.  So many, many packages.

Stateside I had a mailbox dedicated to packages for this reason,when I made 
custom perfumes and scented products, so I didn't have to wait for the UPS 
guy. (There is probably a name for this but I cannot think of it now).

I looked everywhere and every option was hugely expensive.  

At the end of the day I got a... wait for itgarbage can, cut a hole in 
the lid, threw a chain around the lid and called it industrial art. 
>
>
If it's for busi8ness or industrial use it costs three times as much as far 
as I can tell, that seems to be the rule.

Well done for solving the problem.

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Re: [Coworking] Re: Seeking recommendations for glass walls/offices

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I would like to second this.  We have glass fronts on the small meeting 
rooms in Amsterdam, primarily for architectural reasons -- Dutch canal 
houses (which is what the Amsterdam location is in) tend to the narrow and 
deep, and get their light and ventilation from one side only. The fishbowl 
effect is therefore magnified.  

Entertainingly, local code requires either partial glass walls, frosted 
glass, or stickers on the glass to avoid people walking into them.  :-)

 
On Monday, April 3, 2017 at 8:15:14 PM UTC+2, Jerome wrote:
>
> I agree x100…if it’s glass all the way around.
> I’ve been using glass on just one wall and the feedback has been 
> excellent. I also use partial height, either lower or upper half.
> Basically, use them judiciously - your wallet will thank you as well
>
>
> *JEROME CHANG*
>
> talk to us: (323) 330-9505
> chat w/ us: http://www.BLANKSPACES.com/chat 
>
> *WEST: Santa Monica* | 1450 2nd St (@Broadway)
> *CENTRAL: Mid-Wilshire* | 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
> *EAST: Downtown* | 529 S. Broadway, Ste 4000 (@Pershing Square)
>
> On Apr 3, 2017, at 11:05 AM, Chad Ballantyne  > wrote:
>
> Agreed x100
>
> Chad Ballantyne
> 705.812.0689
> ch...@thecreativespace.ca 
>
> 
>
>
>
>
>
> Barrie's Coworking Community
> Perfect for small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs.
> 12 Dunlop St E, Barrie Ontario, L4M 1A3
> Memberships start at $25/mth
> www.thecreativespace.ca
> 705-812-0689
>
> On Apr 3, 2017, at 2:03 PM, Alex Hillman  > wrote:
>
> I'm gonna toss a perspective in here that hasn't been mentioned:
>
> Glass walls *can* look amazing, though I hear from a lot of people that 
> they hate feeling like they're in a fishbowl. I personally think it's a 
> weird architectural hack for trying to bend office-demand into a 
> misunderstood open aesthetic. But that's a longer debate, and for another 
> day.
>
> The bigger issue is that glass walls turn small rooms into *awful* echo 
> monsters. Yes, you can temper it with acoustic treatment, but that's yet 
> another expense on top of the glass. Especially when the goal is to create 
> spaces for phone calls, I'd be doing everything imaginable to get rid of 
> echo'y surfaces. 
>
> Fundamentally, floor to ceiling glass is one of those style trends that I 
> see doing more damage than good. Maybe an unpopular opinion? I'm not sure. 
> I know we ruled them out as a usability concern very early in our 
> renovation.
>
> -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 Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 2:09 AM, SphereMail SphereMail  > wrote:
>
>> Tempered glass gets very expensive, Ask for store-front type glass with 
>> aluminum frame around it, it would be a quarter of the tempered glass price.
>>
>> Hasan Mirjan
>> SphereMail.co 
>>
>> On Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at 1:30:21 PM UTC-7, Lauren McDaniel wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I'm exploring the possibility of adding some glass-walled offices to our 
>>> coworking space and curious how much these typically cost. I'm looking for 
>>> enclosed (with door) floor-to-ceiling options since the purpose would be to 
>>> create more privacy for phone calls. Seeking an option that could fit one 
>>> desk and another that could fit a desk of four. 
>>>
>>> I'd welcome all suggestions and manufacturers! 
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Lauren McDaniel 
>>>
>>
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>
>
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[Coworking] Re: Coworking space name

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I think that a name does not make or break you but havign a reason for a 
name does help in clarity in future.

My busness is called "de Kamer"  which means "the room" in Dutch.  It is 
used in Dutch for many things, which gave me many punning opportunities. It 
is used for the houses of parliament (the "first kamer" is cognate of the 
US Senate and the "tweede kamer" is of the House of Representatives.  If 
you rent a place or go away to school you live "op kamers".  And there are 
some other puns which require too much explanation.

Each location is named Kamer+the street number.  So in Oosterhout Kamer52 
is located on the street called Zandheuvel, at number 52. (Actually 52B but 
details). In Den Bosch it is on the Zilverenberg number 36 and is called 
Kamer36.  And so on.

This means people always know where we are if they are local and can 
remember the street name.  It actually worked because one of our more 
popular searches if you dig into this stuff turns out to be "city+Kamer" or 
"Kamer in >City name<".  Also for cities we are not in; it is nice to know 
people are ambitious for me lol.

If you are looking at many spaces in future, it is well to think about this 
beforehand, having some logic to the name does help in keeping things clear.

Though we wrestled for a ridiculous amount of time over whether it should 
be "de Kamer" or "de Kamers".  we settled on the former becauwse coworkers 
identify with one, which is theirs. The do not identify with the whole 
network. Even the ones who use it a lot.



On Saturday, April 8, 2017 at 8:42:48 AM UTC+2, Kevin Haggerty wrote:
>
> We are still searching for a name for our coworking space in Gloucester, 
> VA, and I had an idea I wanted to run by this group for feedback.
>
> I'm thinking either "Pulse" or "The Pulse." I did a quick Google search 
> and didn't see any other cowork spaces with this name (are there any?), and 
> I like the idea of our space representing the heartbeat of the community. 
> We're on our community's main street, so we're basically in the heart of 
> Gloucester.
>
> What do you guys think?
>
>

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Re: [Coworking] Re: rent-a-company

[Jeannine van der Linden]

They are findmentally commission agents, they handle administrative tasks 
for a percentage.  It saes them having to pay or file VAT taxes for 
example, and will for some folks decrease their corporate income taxes and 
business costs related to maintaining the company to zero, though this 
analysis only applies if they were planning to set up a separate legal 
entity in the first instance.

It will be targeted at Europe and Asia, in the US we don' t have these 
problems so they do not need to be solved. :-)  And the US government has 
historically been very agressive about creating treaties and accords 
allowing international business without having to deal with a lot of double 
taxation and so on.  If you are doing business EU - not EU it would be a 
great timesaver for a certain target market.  And I predict a great market 
for this kind of stuff when Brexit actually makes itself felt; Brexit is 
fat city for these guys.

It is also a tried and true method for some not terribly legal 
transactions, and I expect the company has somechallenges related to 
that.  Whitewashing, human trafficking, gunrunning, oh my.  But this is not 
the fault of the service: about 5 minutes after you come up with any 
innovative idea, the crooks are all over ways to use it too.  Nothing like 
crime for innovation, it must be said.

It points at a real sharing economy solution, but is (like Uber) an on 
demand solution, not a sharing solution.  Or at least, I don't see any 
sharing going on. A sharign solution would look something like a coop with 
a buyin for certain services.  Something like that.





On Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 12:27:55 AM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote:
>
> The actual product is very confusing to me:
>
> https://www.winglio.com
>
> This seems like Paypal meets business back office services? Or maybe kinda 
> like a "lite" version of Stripe Atlas? https://stripe.com/atlas
>
> Who exactly is this for? What problem is it designed to solve? I *think* 
> this is more geared towards folks living in places where even basic 
> incorporation and/or banking make internet business complex or impossible.
>
> Which makes sense...but I'm not sure that's what this is. The more I read 
> about it the less I understand :) anybody know what's actually going on 
> here?
>
> -Alex
>
>
> On Apr 11, 2017, 5:42 PM -0400, Robert Kropp  >, wrote:
>
> Interesting. Do you know of a coworking space that this is being tried?
>
> On Saturday, April 8, 2017 at 6:29:54 PM UTC-4, Caner Onoglu wrote: 
>>
>> This concept of "rent-a-company" is my dream framework for the coworking. 
>> (link below) Why bother about having many companies if one is enough for 
>> most cases?  
>>
>>
>> https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianrashid/2017/04/05/4-reasons-why-renting-a-company-is-becoming-a-new-trend-among-freelancers/#610128ed7f94
>>  
>> 
>>
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[Coworking] Re: Update on Coworking in Gloucester, VA

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Kevin!

I like joint ventures very well, I run a network of 6 spaces all but one of 
which are joint ventures of various types.  The one I own so I never had 
any landlord problems with it. :-)

I think they are a good way to do business when done well.  You have been 
doing very well! Um, right up to the part where it was time to close the 
deal which is not at all uncommon.  We are not born knowing how to think 
about this stuff.

I think you are selling yourself and your nascent community too cheaply and 
overvaluing what they are offering.  Here's the thing:  you value what they 
have because you do not have it.  Your job now is to cause them to value 
what you have because they do not have it.

*A joint venture works only if everyone is valued.  Also you and your 
community.*

Begin as you mean to go on, my mother told me when I was dating.  This 
means you do not start off on one foot (slanted in their direction) and 
then shift as you go.  It means you start off as people working together 
and you stay that way. Much easier for everybody.

Let's think out of the box a little bit.

Why do you want a lease agreement at all?  

Why not have a joint venture with the building owner? They let you use the 
space on the following terms, blah blah blah.  You exploit the space on the 
following terms, blah blah blah.  You pay these costs, they pay those 
costs. You keep the books in x program and they have collaborator access to 
the books.  You maintain your community in this way and they have/do not 
have access to the CMS. You split the income like this. They give you 
permission to sublet to your coworkers and give you a Power of Attorney to 
sign contracts to that effect.

Just for example.  Where the boundaries are varies greatly from space to 
space I have found, I have one location where the owner opens the door and 
that's pretty much all they do, I have another where they do nearly all of 
it but the administration.  And everything in between.

If liability is a concern you can still set up an LLC for your side of the 
agreement.  You probably should

My approach is pretty radical, my contract is for example terminable on 30 
day notice.  But I figure if we are not happy together what's the point of 
dragging it out? And it does give us all great motivation to work together 
and keep each other happy.

Anyway, how you do it depends on you and on them.  But I really do urge you 
to not sell yourself and your community short.  They have what you don't 
and you have what they don't. Sounds like a win-win to me.

>

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Re: [Coworking] Closet Phone Booth

[Jeannine van der Linden]

We do tend to think of wheelchairs when we think of the ADA, but it is of 
course a much broader question.  

There are to my certain knowledge at least three members of this google 
group who are disabledand for whom an absence of the ADA means in greater 
or lesser degree an inability to work, go to school, socialize, eat out, 
and do many other things.  And in all of our coworking spaces there are 
certainly people with disabilities, some of whom have chosen to keep this 
from us and also people who did not join because of accessibility issues 
which we know nothing about.  It's a blindness, a case of "you don't knwo 
what you don't know".

Approximately 20% of Americans has a disability.  All of us will have at 
least one between borth and death, folks who do not have one now are the 
temporarily abled. Disability rights are civil rights.

Anybody who wants to talk about accessibility issues and coworking has my 
full attention and support. It's mah thing. I can be found every Tuesday at 
9 pm Amsterdam, 3 pm New York, on Twitter taking part in #AXSChat 
 on accessibility and a11y issues and everybody is 
welcome to join us.  Today we are chatting with Joe Devon, one of the 
founders of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. (June 18th for the curious)

People who work with physical structures and accessibility regularly come 
on; many structural problems are easily solved shortly after there is the 
will to do it. There are many ways to skin any particular cat when 
inclusion and accesssibility are important. Compliance is not the same 
thing as inclusion and sometimes works agoinst it of course.


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[Coworking] Re: New to group - Coworking Management and New Business Ventures

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Mark,

I am fairly certain that Fumbally Exchange  
started out just where you are now.  I 
think you might want to get in touch with them and see if you can start a 
conversation, They are as far as I know only expanding in Ireland now but 
1) I could be wrong and 2) they appear to be open to all kinds of 
collaboration.

Looks like a promising fit to me.

If you feel shy, drop me an email and I will be more than pleased to put 
you in touch with each other.

Best,

Jeannine

On Sunday, October 1, 2017 at 8:44:04 PM UTC+2, Mark wrote:
>
> Hi all, 
>
> I'm new to the group and currently looking at opening a coworking space in 
> Leicester, UK.
>
> One of the reasons why I'm interested in building a community is to make 
> connections with developers and other contacts as potential collaborators 
> in the various entrepreneurial ideas that I have.
>
> Currently I run a traditional design agency which is predominantly print 
> based and because we're based in a "standard" office at an out of town 
> office park the opportunities to meet new people and make new contacts are 
> limited, particularly in the web/app development arena.
>
> As I'm looking at moving on and doing something different in the not too 
> distant future, coworking looks like a really good fit for me personally 
> and also professionally, and I was wondering if any other coworking 
> managers/hosts have any experiences of working with people who operate in 
> their spaces?
>
> Thanks in advance for any feedback!
>
> Mark
>

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Re: [Coworking] Monthly costs

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Oh yes a cleaning service.  Do that.

The two core problems I have noticed in coworking spaces generally are 1) 
nobody answers the phone or returns calls; and 2) they are not all that 
clean.

Nothing says "settling for less" like a dusty space.

And get an answering service or forward your calls.  And return them. The 
way to return calls is to have specific times that you return calls that 
are not urgent, adn communicate this.  My rule is, I answer not urgent 
calls at 10 and at 2.  If I didn;t call you at 10, I will call you at 2.

And I have an answering service (it's one of my coworkers actually) and I 
tell them exactly where I am if I am not available; I have been known to 
have them tell people that I am off the grid for a day and will call back 
tomorrow.  Whatever, people understand anythign except uncertainty. The 
answering seervice I use will also call people back if the answer is 
simple, I just send the answering service an email.  Like this"  yes, you 
are confirmed for a tour next Tuesday at 10; yes we can/no we can;t 
reschedule for thursday, tell that jerk the next available booking is after 
Christmas.  Christmas 2025.  :-)

Okay, not that last.  That was a joke.

That's it.  It cuts down on anxiety considerably and really makes people 
happy.

And hire your coworkers if you can, as soon as you can.  You are the only 
landlord in the world who makes more money in th eexact degree that your 
coworkers are doing well.

Best,

Jeannine

On Monday, October 9, 2017 at 3:58:38 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote:
>
> Two big ones not on your list are both human service costs: 
>
> - *staff* (unless you want to be chained to a desk, you're gonna want 
> someone at least part time to help steer the ship on a daily basis)
> - *cleaning service* (I'm a big advocate of setting an expectation that 
> members help take care of the space, but at the very least bathrooms need 
> generally need professional care and normal foot traffic means floors will 
> need to be cleaned at least weekly if not more often. 
>
> Another big one that people often forget but adds up quickly is business 
> software. That's your website, billing/management software (including 
> payment processing fees), communication and support tools, etc. There's 
> quite a bit of decent free stuff out there, but biz software does start to 
> add up fast!
>
> -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 Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 9:45 AM, Mark > 
> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>> Alongside meeting people and making contacts within my local community 
>> I’m putting together the outline of a business plan - more for my own 
>> information than anything else.
>>
>> As part of that process I’m compiling a list of (very) loose monthly 
>> outgoings and I was wondering if anyone might share theirs - not figures, 
>> just items.
>>
>> There are going to be all the obvious ones - rent, internet’s, rates, 
>> coffee (!) etc. - but it’s the less obvious ones I’m hoping to discover - 
>> the slightly left field stuff that nobody thinks about until after they’ve 
>> launched!
>>
>> Thanks in advance, all feedback is gratefully received by this 
>> enthusiastic wannabe!
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> --
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>>
>
>

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Re: [Coworking] New to group - Coworking Management and New Business Ventures

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hello, all,

I think this is a very good moment to mention that the European Coworking 
Assembly is organizing the Friday Farewell, after-conference get together 
after Coworking Europe.

And that we are now talking about having smaller meetups during the 
conference, in the runup to the Friday Farewell.  It seems to me that we 
might work together on this!

Woo hoo, collaboration.  :-)

We are mostly working in a Whatsapp group, though we can also work through 
email. Or we can brainstorm here on this group, I don't mind dancing in 
public.

Mark, I owe you an email which you will be getting today.

Best,

Jeannine

On Thursday, October 12, 2017 at 11:45:35 PM UTC+2, Mark wrote:
>
> Let's do it! 
>
> I'm sure there's space (in the corner of a pub somewhere) to put some UK 
> folks together. We might be a little backward (so far) when it comes to 
> coworking but if nothing else we're a curious bunch and keen to learn. 
>
> We are however "british" which means that some of us will be reserved, 
> cautious and downright suspicious of other people telling us how things 
> "could" be done but screw those people, this is the new age!
>
>
>
> On 12 October 2017 at 21:18, Tony Bacigalupo  > wrote:
>
>> Awesome Mark! 
>>
>> Perhaps we can get a gathering of UK coworking people going at Coworking 
>> Europe. Seems like a lot of folks are popping up from various corners, and 
>> the opportunities for collaboration abound!
>>
>> Tony
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 4, 2017 at 3:00 AM, Sabrina > > wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Mark,
>>> I started a coworking space in Plymouth England  - another city that 
>>> didn't have a coworking space, nor more than a few people who knew what it 
>>> was. I spent over a year, almost two, running pop-up coworking days 
>>> (jellies) to introduce the concept to people, went to every networking and 
>>> meetup group I could find, and eventually - after joining with another 
>>> person - felt confident that we could get a space and make it work. It was 
>>> a hard slog, but the space is now running reasonably well, (although I have 
>>> now moved on to other things, and still enjoy working there!). Mostly 
>>> though, the space has been a catalyst for bringing together like-passioned 
>>> people for various community efforts that have been great for the City. We 
>>> collaborate with the City Council, the University, and the Arts College, 
>>> not to mention all the digital professionals and creatives. It truly has 
>>> become a community hub.
>>>
>>> Happy to share more of my experiences separately and listen to your 
>>> ideas. You are right to look to this group for ideas and feedback - it is a 
>>> fantastic group, and a genuine positive spirit which is a joy to find these 
>>> days! 
>>>
>>> I'll ping you off line to continue the discussion,
>>>
>>> All best,
>>>
>>> Sabrina
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 4:49:40 PM UTC+1, Mark wrote:

 Hi Tony - that really does seem like a good solution doesn't it?! 

 Sadly, after 7 years together my business partner and I have stopped 
 seeing eye to eye on a number of details - one of which is around where 
 the 
 company is located, so alas, moving my existing company isn't on the 
 table... :( in fact, it's got to the point where me staying at my existing 
 company isn't really on the table! 

 I think coworking will become a new venture for me, one that I'm very 
 excited to be a part of, and to begin with I like the idea of being able 
 to 
 focus on building a community and a space, without the distractions of 
 running an agency at the same time and in time, I hope to explore other 
 options.

 No doubt I will be frequenting this forum on countless occasions in the 
 months and years to come - it certainly seems like an amazing resource and 
 the feeling of community among operators is unlike anything I've come 
 across in any industry! 


 Mark 

 On Sunday, 1 October 2017 20:30:14 UTC+1, Tony Bacigalupo wrote:
>
> Welcome to the movement, Mark!
>
> Have you considered getting a larger space that your current agency 
> could be the anchor tenant of?
>
> There is a ton of precedent for agencies that create "hybrid" spaces 
> that are part company office, part community space. Each side of the 
> business helps to support the other. 
>
> It's one of the few sustainable models I've found for coworking on a 
> smaller scale!
>
> Tony
> *---*
> *New Work Cities  - I help people build better 
> coworking spaces for a living, and I love it.*
>
>
> On Sun, Oct 1, 2017 at 2:28 PM, Mark  wrote:
>
>> Hi all, 
>>
>> I'm new to the group and currently looking at opening a coworking 
>> space in Leicester, UK.
>>
>> One of the reasons why I'm interested in building a community is to 
>> make connections with developers and other

[Coworking] Re: Coworking Software with Roll Over Days

[Jeannine van der Linden]

What Jerome said, people who regularly need the space but on a project 
based, seasonal, or other schedule, (rather than monthly every month) we 
offer prepaid days.  We call this a "strippenkaart" because that was the 
name for the punch card on the bus back in the day and every Dutch person 
understands that.  Some people don't work on a traditional office hours 
kind of schedule, so it makes no sense for them to set up their pricing 
that way..

I would regard unused days at the end of the month to be evidence that 
somebody is on the wrong plan, barring some unforseen event.



On Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 6:34:41 PM UTC+2, Craig Baute - Creative 
Density Coworking wrote:
>
> Do any of the coworking management software players have roll-over days 
> for memberships?
>
> For example, if someone signs up for 12 days a month but only uses 10 then 
> they will have 14 days the next month.
>

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking Software with Roll Over Days

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I think some of this is in how you conceptualize it with your coworkers.

My motto is (loosely translated) "where the space changes to suit your 
work, not the other way around".  

Everybody has a contract which says they are renting the entire space, on 
the basis of sharing it with the other coworkers, and the amount they pay 
is based on their use of the space.  More use of resources costs more; less 
use of resources costs less.  But all the resources count, not just the 
desks.

We don't even talk about desks or days, unless the conversation is about 
classes, or workshops or something similar.  They are paying for 
membership, with all that implies, and not for days using a desk.

Our part time and full time memberships are sort of loosely defined, and if 
somebody comes in one or two days extra in a month nobody gets excited.  If 
it occurs structurally, then it is time to graduate to the next level 
membership and hurray time for a party.

If somebody starts needing to exclude others from a part of the space for 
their work on a structural basis, it's time to graduate from a full time to 
a permanent establishment (this does not translate well, sorry) an hurray, 
another reason for a party.

We like parties,  :-)

So you don't have to be radical like that, I have noticed that I am 
unusually comfortable in loosely defined relationships :-)  but it is 
helpful to consider how you are thinking about your memberships and how you 
are communicating with your coworkers about them.  I find that if I 
regularly have a problem with how people respond to somethign I do, ,the 
problem is usually me.



On Monday, November 20, 2017 at 7:28:20 PM UTC+1, Craig Baute - Creative 
Density Coworking wrote:
>
> Ray,
>
> I respect your view and fully understand why a space would do that. It's 
> how I currently run my space. I view roll over days as a potential way of 
> retaining members that would otherwise just cancel. If an individual 
> doesn't use their days but can bank them then they are less likely to leave 
> completely but downgrade to a low level plan because if they cancel their 
> plan then they will loose all of their days banked. I think it would be 
> interesting model to test.
>

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[Coworking] Re: Small Coworking Space: Is it too small? (Slight math problem)

[Jeannine van der Linden]

All of the spaces in our network are small.  About half of them operate 
from a "spare space" kind of model, where the coworking space is not the 
owner/tenant. So the total space is larger than the space available for 
coworking.

It is certainly doable, how you do it depends very much on where the space 
is located.  One of our spaces is in a village of 3,072 souls unless Mrs. 
Janssen has had the baby in which case it is 3,073. :-) Coworking looks 
very different there than in Amsterdam, even though the square footage is 
roughly the same.

When looking at small spaces it is important to have a deep understanding 
of the location and the people who live there, and is worth quite a lot of 
research.

But the very first thing I think is to do your very best to *divorce 
yourself completely from the rental arbitrage model of coworking*, because 
that model does not work in small towns or in small spaces,and go over to a 
sharing model.  (Or something else, but sharing is what we have come up 
with).  Think of your furniture as a prop on a stage and not as a permanent 
installation.  

Critical mass for us is this:  if the space is 50% occupied on an ongoing 
basis -- not just on popular days but structurally -- it is time to start 
looking for a new space.  At about 70% it becomes uncomfortable and 
inflexible and you lose the benefits of the coworking setup I think.



On Sunday, October 15, 2017 at 4:09:59 PM UTC+2, 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
>
>

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[Coworking] Re: Question for space owners: Do you offer member perks like AWS or gym discounts? Is your community taking advantage of them? (more in comments)

[Jeannine van der Linden]

We do, though ours are tightly focused on what the coworkers have expressed 
a need for.  We have for example a shipping account with FedEx/DHL/GLS for 
the space, which a number of our members use to send their products.  This 
is then invoiced through to each.  We have a couple of these kinds of 
shared accounts for business inteligence, that kind of stuff that can be 
used by multiple companies on a shared basis.  It is not really that 
different from a shared desk.

We arrive at these by the extremely scientific method of regularly bringing 
the subject up every sevral months and then going lookng when enough 
coworkers chime in that they would like that also.  :-)

We have another class of perks which are offered by the coworkers to the 
cowowrkers.  These are mostly B2B but also include yoga lessons and 
Mindfulness and coaching.

For third party perks though, we use included.co.  They have a lot more 
clout and reach than we have, and they do a better job at it than we ever 
did.



On Tuesday, November 21, 2017 at 6:25:01 PM UTC+1, mic...@portalsoft.io 
wrote:
>
> This question boils down to a few key insights I'm trying to take away:
>
> 1. Is this an effective marketing tactic to both reduce member 
> attrition and increase marketability/differentiation?
> 2. Do members use these perks enough that any referral fees might be a 
> substantial second/third rev stream?
> 3. Is it worth it to pay for a service that provides a pre-negotiated 
> group of business and lifestyle perks?
>
> Cheers! 
>

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[Coworking] Re: Do's and Dont's regarding Guests in a coworking space

[Jeannine van der Linden]

There are several ways to go about this and which one you choose depends 
very much on how you think about what you are doing.

Everybody needs to be able to meet with their clients in the space I should 
think, otherwise having a membership doesn't seem that useful.  Meeting 
with clients being part of the work. But having use of your space be 
(essentially) a perk that coworkers offer to their clients for free is a 
very different thing.  It is a good thing in many cases, it is of course a 
good way to get to know new members and also it helps your coworkers to be 
able to show off a bit.

Your space is in a location we used to call "rural" coworking, that is, in 
a place  less than 50,000 population,  This number keeps coming up as a 
break point in terms of approach and in many ways it is still valid as such 
(though I think we will see some change int his as time goes on).  In rural 
coworking, flexibility is all.  Many basic notions about how coworking 
works have to be discarded to make a go of rural coworking I think.  

It all comes down to what a membership is, doesn't it?  We have a "classes 
and workshops" membership, and I am not charging extra for the attendees 
because that's what a class/workshop is.  A part time or full time 
membership includes meetings because that's what it is for, among other 
things.  A return and pickup membership for online retail includes somebody 
at the counter or the loading bay to deal with boxes because that's what it 
is for.  You may have a disconnect between what your members think it is 
for and what you think it is for.  This means you have to talk about it.

The options are many: you can have a membership which includes the right to 
invite your guests to use the space, and price it accordingly.  Both a full 
time and a part time membership here includes this, the time guests use is 
simply counted as time the member uses.  You can also have guest passes 
which members can ask for or that you include X number of as part of their 
onboarding.  

You can also approach it on a pure "per seat" basis, in which case guests 
are  treated just like coworkers.  This works for Seats2Meet, but it is 
part of a whole model which is certainly worth looking at.  As a piecemeal 
approach I do not think it would work. 

For us coworkers are renting the whole spae on the basis of sharing it and 
everybody pays based on what they use, keeping i mind that whatever they 
are using is then not free to be used by everybody else as a result of 
that.  So booking a desk is the act of letting everybody else know that you 
will be on that desk at that time, and that means as many people as you can 
sit at a desk, more than that and you are booking a room or part of a 
space.  We work in in half day increments for this, and within that half 
day pretty much anything they want to do at that desk or in that room is 
okay with me so long as it does not bother the other coworkers.  If they 
want to bring in the local footie team and a marching band for a half day, 
that's fine as long as there are no problems with noise complaints and they 
bring their own beer.  (You laugh.  But somebody once did bring in a 
travelling circus).

Key to all this though is certainly getting clear to your coworkers what 
they are doing and what you are doing adn what the other coworkers aare 
doing as members of the space.

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[Coworking] Re: Holiday Promotion Ideas

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Focus on New Year.  Resolutions ,starting with a lean slate, peace and 
uninterrupted time to get down to work and get stuff done resonate at year 
end.  From St Nicholas (December 5) to Christmas here is a complete 
wastela- er, a very quiet period around here for new members, but right 
after that comes New Year and it's tsunami time and Kitty Bar the Door.

Your prospective members are right now harried and worried, waking up at 5 
am thinking, "oh shit did I forget to",  and tired of feeling that way, 
they want to start the New Year right and really dig into all that stuff 
they didn't get done.

Such is my experience. :-)

Cheers,

Jeannine

On Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at 11:45:11 PM UTC+1, Lauren McDaniel wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Has anyone offered some holiday promotions for their spaces that they 
> deemed successful? 
>
> I'm about to do a mailing to local home-based businesses and want to offer 
> them something compelling to try out our space.
>
> Any ideas or recommendations would be very much appreciated. Thanks in 
> advance! 
>
> -Lauren McDaniel
>

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[Coworking] Re: Do's and Dont's regarding Guests in a coworking space

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Good morning!

Half day passes run from 8 - 12, from 1300 - 1700, from 1800 - 2000, and 
from 2100 - opening time the next day where a night owl pass is offered 
(not all our spaces offer an evening or  night owl pass).

You will see that there is an horu between them: this hour is for tidying 
up between "shifts".

Generally if somebody comes through tidying up, people work out that it is 
time to go or to get another pass.

It is not dissimilar to how restauraunts turn over tables when you get 
right down to it: it's a signal that it's time to go without actually 
having to say "it's time to go".

I don;t think I understand this: *We are only afraid that two people will 
share a monthly pass, one being a guest.*   

Can you help me out?

  
On Friday, December 15, 2017 at 9:06:12 PM UTC+1, Eveline Vinet wrote:
>
> Hi Jeannine!
> I totally agree with the user experience.  Also, we would also like to 
> offer half-day passes. How do you manage when time is up?
> Eveline
> We are only afraid that two people will share a monthly pass, one being a 
> guest.   
>
>

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[Coworking] Re: Favorite Amenities

[Jeannine van der Linden]

We do too. and they certainly stay busy.

Though I never thought of it as an amenity, I guess it is one really.

On Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 6:45:17 PM UTC+1, Craig Baute - Creative 
Density Coworking wrote:
>
> We have extra monitors. They are by far the most popular amenity that most 
> spaces don't have.
>

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[Coworking] Re: How to market to non-office needing coworkers?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

In between the community and the private office is a whole world.  :-)

We are a network so different spaces have different offerings.

We have 
1) a basic plan, a part time plan, a full time plan for officing.
2) two punch cards which are used respectively by folks who 1) work on a 
project basis, and 2) give classes, workshops, and the like. 
3) one private office plan. 
4) a similar series of plans (basic, part time, full time) for folks who 
never need an office -- that is, folks in online retail or online services 
or who work at their client's location (this includes plumbers and roofers 
and so on)..

.Nowhere are all those plans on one page. Too confusing.

Anyone who really need a custom solution signals this very early in the 
process, so we deal with that on an individual basis. It comes up less than 
you might think.
 
I find the best source of part time memberships is basic memberships. You 
have to grow your own, it is rare for us that anyone comes in at this level.

I sometimes consider breaking a group of cowrkers up into a class of sorts, 
so they can grow together.  but have not yet worked this one out.  I may be 
doing a beta soon with a group which seems to be forming of folks who do 
coaching and continuing professional education.

Just my thoughts, stay close to your memebrs and they will tell you what to 
do.  :-)

Best,

Jeannine

>

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[Coworking] Re: When to say goodbye to a member?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Sounds like a problem I would have a conversation about, or maybe several 
conversations.  I encourage you to consider whether his intention is to be 
rude. 

Some people lack social skills and they do well to have a partner or 
business associate who has them, which it sounds like he has. Usuall these 
people have some other skills which that same partner lacks.

When I see a dynamic occurring which involves this kind of dynamic I think 
it is important to find out if indeed, the coworker is just like that and 
if so if there is a reason for that. I do this because there are quite a 
lot of hidden disabilities amouong the entrepreneurial class.  If the space 
itself is for him problematic, then while the partner is telling you "he's 
just like that", the partner is also telling  him "a coworking space is 
just like that".  Neither of which is necessarily true.

Now, having a disability is in no way a disqualifying condition for being a 
jerk, it is possible for these two things to be comorbid. :-)

But it would be a terrible shame I think if some fairly simple adjustment 
would make the space more accessible to the coworker, and thus end the 
problem in that way, and I missed it because I never explored the 
possibility.

The key is to ask him if there is anything you can do to help him feel more 
comfortable and welcome, not to ask him if he has a disability. And then I 
would prceed from there.

I think talking to his partner is not enough to know at this stage what you 
are dealing with. I would talk to him. You might be surprised.

On Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 7:28:05 PM UTC+1, Kevin Haggerty wrote:
>
> Hey guys! I need some advice/wisdom on how to handle a particular member.
>
> In December, we rented out one of our private offices to a company owned 
> by two guys, so they are technically both members. The guy who came in to 
> sign up is a great guy. However, I wish I had met his partner before I had 
> approved their membership, because he's kind of a jerk.
>
> Quick recap:
>
> - When they had not even moved in yet, my co-owner and I were in a 
> quandary concerning the potential of converting one of our two conference 
> rooms to an office, as we had had more interest in office rentals than 
> conference room space at that point in time. 
>
> We sent out a message to our current members, as well as those two 
> gentlemen (who had signed up but not moved in yet) to get their input on 
> the matter, and also to see if any of them would be interested in the new, 
> larger office (former conference room). The majority of the feedback we 
> received from the members was negative, with most of them stating that they 
> felt like they would be getting cheated a little if we only had the one, 
> smaller conference room. The two guys who had just signed up didn't get 
> back to me right away, but I had enough input from the others to determine 
> it wasn't the right move for our community. So I contacted everyone to 
> inform them we were just going to keep it as a conference room for now.
>
> Apparently, that whole scenario rubbed the other guy (the one who I hadn't 
> yet met) wrong, as he felt like we were offering them a larger office then 
> just took it back, which isn't at all what happened. He never expressed 
> that to me personally, and I was never made aware of this until, at a 
> networking event with a lot of people, he pretty much was going around the 
> room shitting on us, saying how his office was so small that they could 
> barely move around in it, etc, etc, and not saying anything good about his 
> office, our space, or his experience.
>
> After it happened, I opted to go to the first guy (the one who I had met 
> and who had signed up for them) because he seemed more level-headed and 
> approachable, and also because he was the signing party for their business. 
> I told him about the experience and how it had left me (and others) with 
> not a great impression. I asked him if they were still happy with their 
> arrangement. He was emphatic about loving the office and the space. He 
> apologized for his partner and basically said, "That's just how he is."
>
> I reiterated that we wanted them to be happy, and if they were not happy, 
> they were free to leave. He promised me that they loved the space and said 
> he'd talk to his partner. This was about a month ago.
>
> Yesterday, we had another social event. I was unable to attend due to 
> illness, but today, one of my members let me know that this same guy was 
> making rude comments again, in the meeting and in front of a large group of 
> people, about how small their office was, how they were always bumping into 
> each other, etc, etc. She said it was uncomfortable for everyone.
>
> In addition to his lack of couth and public speaking skills, the guy has 
> kind of just been a little off-putting to everyone. To put it short, he's a 
> dick. He also has recently taken to leaving his office door open and 
> playing music loudl

[Coworking] Re: Co-working space onboarded direct competitor

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I agree with Miroslav on this I have to say.

I have indeed onboarded people in direct competition with my existing 
coworkers.  I have done this in collaboration and conversation with the 
existing coworker adn the onboarding coworker, and whatever boundaries 
people felt were called for were developed in that conversation.

I have also found out later that we had onboarded someone in direct 
competition with an existing coworker, and then had that conversation 
later. We are not a thematically limited space so I do not necessarily know 
enough about the market in which my coworkers are busy, to know that a new 
coworker might be problematic.  

I am curious what the new coworker has to say about it: if it is a problem 
for you then it seems to me it is also a problem for them.



On Sunday, February 11, 2018 at 12:27:45 PM UTC+1, Miroslav Miroslavov 
wrote:
>
> As a member of a coworking space, startup founder and working with 
> hundreds of coworking spaces, I would add that one of the key features of a 
> coworking space is to:
>
>1. Make you feel that you belong to a community. *A place where you 
>are safe*!
>2. *Help you grow* your business by removing barriers. 
>3. Help you *find opportunities*.
>
> The community managers should be the biggest *evangelist* of your 
> business.
>
> In my opinion, bringing direct competitor without speaking with the member 
> first, is a violation of all points. In case the member agrees that 
> actually, having the competitor will be fine and even it might open doors 
> and create opportunities, then it's all good. 
> Otherwise, if this breaks the safety zone and even may reduce the 
> opportunities for the member, then it's surely not OK.
>
> @Ivo, if I was you, I would probably leave and give them direct feedback 
> that they should consider a better community service. 
>
> On Friday, February 2, 2018 at 8:40:01 PM UTC+11, Ivo wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Our startup team has been a member of a co-working space in central 
>> London for a year.
>> Our ambition has always been to build up a team there, be a member of a 
>> community, and have a longer-term recognised place for our company.
>>
>> Now, the co-working space has on-boarded a direct competitor into the 
>> community.
>> Their response is they will not do anything about it.
>>
>> It makes our situation unmanageable:
>> 1. We cannot discuss our work in the co-working space and the community 
>> anymore.
>> 2. Our team cannot engage with the community (which is a perk for people 
>> joining a startup team)
>> 3. Our investors and partners raise serious questions about the situation.
>>
>> The current situation cannot hold and will force us to leave if nothing 
>> changes.
>>
>> In our view, this situation is very unfair.
>> Our team has done nothing wrong and because of an error by the co-working 
>> team, we are forced out.
>>
>> Does anyone have an idea how to go about this?
>>
>> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Thank you.
>> Ivo
>>
>>
>>
>>  
>>
>

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Re: [Coworking] Re: My morbid curiosity with Coworking Space Closings

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Ooo, can I come?  Just under the wire, July 2010. :-)

On Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at 6:01:13 AM UTC+1, Jerome wrote:
>
> Haha. Ok, then a gathering of, say, owners of 6+ year old operations. We 
> can talk about “the good ‘ole days.”
>
> Jerome
> www.BLANKSPACES.com
>
> On Feb 12, 2018, at 11:10 AM, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace <
> wi...@locusworkspace.com > wrote:
>
> Thanks for the feedback, Jerome. 
>
> It's nice to hear that felt like a special event from others who have been 
> around for a while. Definitely did for me, but I don't make it to a lot of 
> coworking owner/manager events.
>
> I like the idea of a 10+ year event, but you'll have to give me 2+ years. 
> :)
>
> On Monday, February 12, 2018 at 6:02:05 PM UTC+1, Jerome wrote:
>>
>> Hi all.
>>
>> I recall that Oct 2011 gathering at my space. It was truly collaborative, 
>> and a milestone in my eyes of coworking history. I never thought of the 
>> other participants as competitors as no one was even in the same geography, 
>> and even if so, the industry was growing so quickly.
>>
>> Thank you Will for your honest revelation about closing your first 
>> location. I did the same last month after 10 years in our original Wilshire 
>> location, which I believe was the first in the SoCal/Southwestern US area. 
>> I agree that it’s hard to let go of the original, which I consider a 
>> prototype. Nonetheless, the memories of how we started, and how the photos 
>> were used in a lot of PR/press...are now just photos of memories.
>>
>> I would say that closing that location didn’t exactly get me to work “on 
>> my business,” but I really don’t miss having either that location, or a 4th 
>> - not sure yet. That said, I’m a glutton for punishment and plan to open a 
>> downtown Long Beach location this Spring. Yikes. :-/
>>
>> Maybe it’s time for another gathering of folks, not with 1 year 
>> experience, but 10+? :-)
>>
>> Jerome, founder & architect
>> www.BLANKSPACES.com
>>
>> On Feb 11, 2018, at 11:36 PM, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace <
>> wi...@locusworkspace.com> wrote:
>>
>> Thank you so much for this feedback, Steve. Really cool to hear about 
>> your influences and experiences with my father's writing. He was actually 
>> sitting in the back of the room at a long-ago small coworking conference 
>> that you were at, I think the only time I met you in person (a meeting at 
>> Blankspaces in Santa Monica for coworking space owners who had been in 
>> business for a year or more, maybe in 2012 or so). He kind of just wanted 
>> to sneak in and see what his son was working on, but was truly inspired by 
>> the optimism and willingness to openly collaborate among a roomful of 
>> competitors. I know you're in most many ways the same kind of observer, but 
>> thought you'd be interested to know.
>>
>> On Sunday, February 11, 2018 at 6:38:59 PM UTC+1, Steve King wrote:
>>>
>>> Will: Excellent essay that I enjoyed on several levels. First, your 
>>> father's work had a major impact on my career. I was slugging it out 
>>> climbing the corporate ladder in the late 80's and 90's. On Becoming a 
>>> Leader and his other work greatly helped me shift from being a front line 
>>> manager to an exec. In particular, his work made me understands the 
>>> importance of  developing and communicating what George Bush senior called 
>>> "the vision thing".  I was also fortunate enough to hear your father speak 
>>> several times. He was very inspiring. 
>>>
>>> Second, in our work advising startups we often find startup CEO's and 
>>> other execs struggle making the shift from working for the company to on 
>>> the company. This is a very hard transition - especially for founders - and 
>>> many fail because of their inability to do so.
>>>
>>> And I also agree with your points on the importance of environment and 
>>> its importance to independent workers. 
>>>
>>> Good luck with the new location.
>>>
>>> Steve
>>>
>>>
>>> On Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 5:42:37 AM UTC-8, Will Bennis, Locus 
>>> Workspace wrote:

 Finally finished the final post 
 
  
 in a long promised three part series about closing a branch of my 
 coworking 
 space.

 It's about the *optimism *that can come from scaling down, about 
 overcoming the entrepreneur's central challenge of transitioning from 
 "working for your company to working on your company" (from *maintaining 
 *your business *to developing *it), about the role of external context 
 in work success, and a tribute to my father (who was a pioneer in 
 leadership studies and who passed away in 2014).

 Would love to hear others' thoughts, as I think it has a lot to do with 
 common challenges we all face, and not much to do with my particular 
 coworking space!

 On Tuesday, August 1, 2017 at 6:10:23 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote:
>
> Thanks for sharing this, Will

Re: [Coworking] Do you have an broad age mix of members?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Who's the kid?

:-)

On Monday, February 12, 2018 at 7:59:47 PM UTC+1, Will Bennis, Locus 
Workspace wrote:
>
> Age # %
> <21 1 1%
> 21-30 23 24%
> 31-40 39 41%
> 41-50 23 24%
> 51-60 5 5%
> 61-70 2 2%
> Don't know 2 2%
> On Monday, February 12, 2018 at 6:03:44 PM UTC+1, Trevor Twining wrote:
>>
>> Cowork Niagara
>> Youngest member: 22. 
>> Oldest member: 70ish
>>
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Feb 12, 2018, at 12:01 PM, Carolyn Cirillo  
>> wrote:
>>
>> Doing some research on membership at coworking spaces and would love to 
>> hear from any operators who have a broad mix of ages. 
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Carolyn Cirillo
>> car...@carolyncirillo.com
>>
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>>
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[Coworking] Member access when ownership/management is not there

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I remember how scary this was for me. So I sympathize.

But we have keypad access now for pretty much anybody who needs to come in. 
There is akways someone around and the coworkers here would surely not hesitate 
to speak up should something odd be seen. And I am oretty sure it would always 
bee seen.

 Honestly if I don't trust somebody alone in the space I think they would not 
be a coworker. But admittedly this space is in a small town, with a small town 
mentality.  In Amsterdam you have to be buzzed into the building and this is 
normal there.

We have twice had situations where coworkers were in a dispute (about something 
else but it had its impact) and then we did have a practice that one could only 
come in if the CM or I was there. This was to protect them both -- they were so 
mad that if a ballpoint pen had gone missing it would have been accusations of 
theft and derring-do all over the community. 

Other than that it has not been an issue. The thing about a jeypad is you know 
who was there when the Unnamed Bad Thing occurred and this makes it easier to 
resolve.

Just my thoughts. You make the decision that's best for your group. Ypu 
probably alreasy know what it is in your quiet heart. 😊

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[Coworking] Re: How to market to non-office needing coworkers?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Our tagline for this is (translated), "Where the space adjusts to fit your 
work and not the other way around"

It is snappier in Dutch, because "adjusts to fit" is one verb.

Aaanyway, for people who want a bespoke solution we have a "tell us what 
you need" button which brings them into the email so we can make them a 
bespoke offer. Often these are the folks who are perfectly happy working 
from home in general, it is also small and medium sized businesses with 
expansion plans into the Benelux.

As a subset of that last it is often international businesses with a 
distributed team.  Also, online retail.

But I think it depends very much on your location, the Netherlands is I 
gather choice in Europe as a point of entry for import/export and the 
associated logistics.  So online retail is already looking here.  You have 
to look at your location to work out who is looking there and if it is a 
good fit with your own community and offerings.  Your local chamber of 
commerce will probably have good data on that.  What you want to do for 
analysis is work out 1) who is already there, then 2)  what barriers to 
entry exist for their competition, and 3) look at whether you can sensibly 
sweep any one of those barriers away.



On Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 2:19:15 PM UTC+1, Kevin Haggerty wrote:
>
> Since this original post, we've taken all of the feedback from all of you 
> to heart, and we've made significant changes.
>
> You'll be glad to know that we've narrowed our membership options down to 
> 3. It was hard, but I think it was needed and will be fruitful.
>
> I'm still curious about those of you who have been successful in selling 
> those "in-between"/hot desk memberships.
>
> What's been a strategy that has worked to promote that? Who have you 
> specifically targeted and how have you targeted them? Is there a specific 
> niche or industry you've noticed are most interested in this kind of 
> membership?
>
> Thanks!
>
>

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[Coworking] Re: Do you have an broad age mix of members?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

How did you handle the contract for the 16 year olds?

I am sort of idly curious, we had this once and they ended up having to 
have all their contracts countersigned by their moms.  

They were good sports about it but it was a continual issue for them until 
the first one turned 18. 

On Monday, March 5, 2018 at 8:37:33 AM UTC+1, Alex Linsker wrote:
>
> Our youngest members were two guys who were 16 years old, they joined in 
> our first year or two, were doing a startup, and both ended up getting a 
> lot of press for separate projects. Our oldest member is in his 80's or 
> 90's, he's been a member on and off for the past six years. Joining just 
> after college is rare for us. 26 to 40 is our most common age bracket. 40's 
> to early 70's is a less common age bracket (and there isn't a sharp line; 
> age isn't at all a differentiator for who becomes friends).
>
> Members can have visitors, and bringing children happens sometimes; 
> they're never disruptive and always within the community guidelines we 
> have. Members having children is much more common than when we started. The 
> most common ages for children here now and then are 3 to 10 years old, some 
> are frequent visitors over the years and feel like extended family.
>
> -Alex Linsker, Collective Agency, Portland Oregon 
> https://collectiveagency.co/
>
> On Monday, February 12, 2018 at 9:01:57 AM UTC-8, Carolyn Cirillo wrote:
>>
>> Doing some research on membership at coworking spaces and would love to 
>> hear from any operators who have a broad mix of ages. 
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Carolyn Cirillo
>> car...@carolyncirillo.com
>>
>

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[Coworking] Re: Vaping in the space

[Jeannine van der Linden]

For two years we had a seller of vaping products as a coworker.  Our entry 
room has after some years of trying to figure out what to do with it become 
a dedicated retail space.

They had lots of events and parties and so on, generally not during normal 
work hours. They have since graduated to their own space down the street 
here, but they still participate in the collective shipping service we 
have.  Only they got a better quote than we did from the shippers, so 
instead of their shipping with our collective account, we ship with  
theirs. :-)

That quite aside we did find out that there are a number of people who are 
sensitive to vaping.  I don't really know anything about it but there were 
coworkers who knew when people had been vaping and did not like it.  So we 
put in a ventilation system and then everybody was happy. The vaping guys 
paid for half of it and the community paid for the other half as I recall.

There are also people who have Very Strong Feelings about minors vaping: 
happily the guys who ran the vaping shop were amoung those people and so 
this turned out also not to be an issue.  But it is a thing to be aware of, 
if the coworker is not in agreement with that.


On Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 9:05:18 PM UTC+1, Kevin Haggerty wrote:
>
> Would love to have as many of you as possible weigh in with what your 
> personal policies are. It's honestly not something I even thought about 
> until I found out what of our members had been vaping in their office. I 
> have never smoked and know very little about vaping, so I don't want to be 
> reactionary.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>

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[Coworking] Re: Vaping in the space

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Oh that happens a lot, I have grown used to it over the years :-)

I think the primary difference, as was pointed out somewhere else in 
another thread, is that this kind of thing depends very much on how we see 
our role.

My brand is, that it isn't my decision (beyond legal questions of course).  
It is the decision of the coworkers and is looked at differently in each 
location. Several of the spaces in the network do not have retail at all 
for example, online or otherwise.

My job is to facilitate the discussion where necessary.  In theory I would 
make a call if it were close: but I have the advantage that he Dutch are 
culturally very good at this kind of thing.  They even have a word for it: 
they call it *polderen* and that means, the process of reaching consensus.  

It has been a real education to see it in action.  

In any event, I am not at all sorry to have the coworker, they have been a 
great asset and a joy to know.



On Thursday, March 8, 2018 at 2:45:46 PM UTC+1, Matt G wrote:
>
> Jeannine your answer is so interesting! 
>
> We definitely have a zero tolerance to smoking, electronic or not. Like 
> others have commented it's discomforting for other members, and quite 
> frankly I don't think it's attractive nor professional in todays society. 
> So for me, it's not something we want to be associated with our brand. 
>
>
>

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[Coworking] Re: Sharing space with another company

[Jeannine van der Linden]

How great to see Coworking Frederick thriving!

I think the idea situation is owning the building and would not give that 
up.  And moving is not I think all that easy for a community.

Is it possible to open another location instead of moving?  It is what we 
have done.  All the locations we have are joint venture or revenue sharing, 
except the original which is in a building I own.  All new memberships, 
approaches, ideas, and what have you start in that location, because owning 
the place gives you so much more flexibility to try things out.

It is not an approach I recommend for everybody, because for starters it is 
important to be able to work with the expectations and wishes of the 
partner and not everybody is really up for that. In general landlords are 
in a different head space than spae operators and it is necessary to be 
very clear about what they expect and what you expect.  People do tend to 
be rather more hopeful than clear in approaching this kind of project and 
that can make things difficult two yearws out just when everything starts 
rocking along.

Just some thoughts, always open to more discussion!

Jeannine

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[Coworking] Re: Welcome packs?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I am deeply interested in this -- as in all things onboarding really -- and 
am responding mostly so I can find out what genius ideas other people have.

I have not gotten my ducks in a row on this, but I really think it is a 
great idea and want to do it.

Best,

Jeannine

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[Coworking] Re: "Coworking" vs. "Co-working"

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Well you could refer them to the definitive authority:

http://doescoworkinghaveahyphen.com/

On Monday, March 5, 2018 at 7:54:52 PM UTC+1, Lauren McDaniel wrote:
>
> I know many in the industry prefer "coworking" vs. "co-working" 
> (hyphenating it). In New Mexico one of the prominent Business Journals is 
> publishing a new coworking list but the survey states 'co-working.' When I 
> approached the list editor that industry standard has become 'coworking' 
> she said they follow AP style (but appreciated the heads up). I wonder what 
> it might take to get AP to change it to one word? That might be what others 
> are following as well (beyond just media). Any thoughts? 
>
> Lauren McDaniel 
>

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[Coworking] Re: "Coworking" vs. "Co-working"

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Oops hit send too soon.

Anyway, here is the process to change it, as worked out byanother 
Lauren, lol.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/coworking/co-working$20ap$20style%7Csort:date/coworking/m5nk75rfKk8/7ckh8YtiMGoJ

On Monday, March 5, 2018 at 7:54:52 PM UTC+1, Lauren McDaniel wrote:
>
> I know many in the industry prefer "coworking" vs. "co-working" 
> (hyphenating it). In New Mexico one of the prominent Business Journals is 
> publishing a new coworking list but the survey states 'co-working.' When I 
> approached the list editor that industry standard has become 'coworking' 
> she said they follow AP style (but appreciated the heads up). I wonder what 
> it might take to get AP to change it to one word? That might be what others 
> are following as well (beyond just media). Any thoughts? 
>
> Lauren McDaniel 
>

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[Coworking] Re: GCUC NYC 2018? Free Coworking Space Tours on April 25

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Sounds like fun!

In the runup to the Coworking Europe Conference 
 last year, we put together a Coworking 
Conference Survival Guide, which might also be useful for peopel attending 
their first conference.

It is here 

.

Enjoy!



On Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at 8:25:56 PM UTC+2, Nicole Vasquez wrote:
>
> Who's going to GCUC NYC this year? This will be my fifth year going! 
>
> Just a heads up that *NYC Coworking Space Tour Day 2018* is on Wednesday 
> April 25 and is *free* event - all are welcome to join! 
> April 25 is the day after the GCUC conference. 
> You do NOT have to be attending the GCUC conference to be able to take 
> tours of the spaces. 
>
> I'll post a longer description of the event below, but if you want to skip 
> the read and just sign up for free tours jump to: 
> http://gcuc.deskpass.com/tour/
>
> Hope to see many of you in NYC!
>
>
> DESCRIPTION
>
> There are hundreds of coworking spaces in New York. How many have you been 
> to?
>
> On Wednesday April 25, 2018 between 9am-5pm, you can tour a bunch of New 
> York’s finest coworking spaces during the full day NYC Coworking Space 
> Tours 2018 event, hosted by Deskpass  and GCUC 
> .
>
> Want to join the fun?
> Register to attend here: http://gcuc.deskpass.com/tour/
>
> Once registered (Its free!) you will be emailed the following information:
>
>- A list of all spaces participating
>- Link to Google map of all participating spaces
>- An invitation to sign up for a free group tour
>
> Scheduled tour times for each space will vary, and some will have open 
> drop-in times all day – meaning you can choose your own best route with 
> plenty of time for food, drinks, and fun along the way. However, we 
> recommend touring with one of the free group tours for the most fun! 
>
> This event is free, but you must register to attend through the tour 
> signup link: http://gcuc.deskpass.com/tour/
>
>

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[Coworking] Re: New Coworking Operator using Nexudus

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I hope my commiseration is some comfort, I really like Nexudus' flexibility 
and many options but I think I am just to stupid to use it.  

Mostly responding in hope of somebody seeing some light at the end of this 
relentless long tunnel.



On Sunday, April 29, 2018 at 2:42:49 PM UTC+2, Isabelle Sheffield wrote:
>
> Hi All
>
> My name is isabelle and I have just opened a coworking space on the Gold 
> Coast in Australia! I have a coaching and business background and I'm 
> really excited about my new space!
>
> I am desperately seeking to connect with other nexudus operators - its  
> steep learning curve and have not enjoyed the onboarding process much lol! 
> Would love any invitation to facebook groups and/or slack channels for 
> nexudus users I have been told they exist but are private :/
>
> I hope to get some great tips, share and support on this group
>
> Look forward to chatting with you all :)
>

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[Coworking] Re: New Coworking Operator using Nexudus

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Everybody,

I wonder if we could keep this thread on topic?

Here's the question:

>
>
> *I am desperately seeking to connect with other nexudus operators - its  
> steep learning curve and have not enjoyed the onboarding process much lol! 
> Would love any invitation to facebook groups and/or slack channels for 
> nexudus users I have been told they exist but are private :/*
>
> *I hope to get some great tips, share and support on this group*
>
>
>
Thanks a bunch!

Jeannine
 

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Re: [Coworking] Re: New Coworking Operator using Nexudus

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Seriously. Can sales folks stop bombing the thread?

Maybe you could make another thread, about how great you are. I am sure you
are great.

But that's not what we are talking about now.

Thanks!
Jeannine

On Mon, May 14, 2018, 16:17 Barbara Sprenger 
wrote:

> Hi All,
> I also don't mean to bomb the thread, but you might look at Satellite
> Deskworks. We run centers (since 2009), and developed the software
> initially for our own use. And we help you with onboarding and training, so
> you're not left on your own.
>
> On Sunday, April 29, 2018 at 5:42:49 AM UTC-7, Isabelle Sheffield wrote:
>>
>> Hi All
>>
>> My name is isabelle and I have just opened a coworking space on the Gold
>> Coast in Australia! I have a coaching and business background and I'm
>> really excited about my new space!
>>
>> I am desperately seeking to connect with other nexudus operators - its
>> steep learning curve and have not enjoyed the onboarding process much lol!
>> Would love any invitation to facebook groups and/or slack channels for
>> nexudus users I have been told they exist but are private :/
>>
>> I hope to get some great tips, share and support on this group
>>
>> Look forward to chatting with you all :)
>>
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Re: [Coworking] Re: New Coworking Operator using Nexudus

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Dave,

Great, good to know!

Best,

Jeannine

__

Jeannine van der Linden Kamer52 <http://www.kamer52.nl/>

Zandheuvel 52b
4901 HW
Oosterhout
Tel: 06. 112 176 24
<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flexkantoor-Kamer52/133200870061618>
<https://twitter.com/#!/kameraad52>
<http://www.linkedin.com/company/kamer52>

On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 4:33 PM, David Lundy  wrote:

> Jeannine
>
> Just for the record, I'm not a sales guy. I own/operate Evolve Workplace:.
> evolveworkplace.com.
>
> Dave
>
> On Mon, May 14, 2018, 9:20 AM Jeannine van der Linden <
> flexkantoorkame...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Seriously. Can sales folks stop bombing the thread?
>>
>> Maybe you could make another thread, about how great you are. I am sure
>> you are great.
>>
>> But that's not what we are talking about now.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Jeannine
>>
>> On Mon, May 14, 2018, 16:17 Barbara Sprenger <
>> bspren...@thesatelliteinc.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>> I also don't mean to bomb the thread, but you might look at Satellite
>>> Deskworks. We run centers (since 2009), and developed the software
>>> initially for our own use. And we help you with onboarding and training, so
>>> you're not left on your own.
>>>
>>> On Sunday, April 29, 2018 at 5:42:49 AM UTC-7, Isabelle Sheffield wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi All
>>>>
>>>> My name is isabelle and I have just opened a coworking space on the
>>>> Gold Coast in Australia! I have a coaching and business background and I'm
>>>> really excited about my new space!
>>>>
>>>> I am desperately seeking to connect with other nexudus operators - its
>>>> steep learning curve and have not enjoyed the onboarding process much lol!
>>>> Would love any invitation to facebook groups and/or slack channels for
>>>> nexudus users I have been told they exist but are private :/
>>>>
>>>> I hope to get some great tips, share and support on this group
>>>>
>>>> Look forward to chatting with you all :)
>>>>
>>> --
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[Coworking] So about data security, sharing and the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU for coworking worldwide

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, all,

As you may have noticed (koff) the EU's Data Protection regulations are in 
ful effect as of next week, 25 May.

The European Coworking Assembly,  together 
with Linkilaw , Ouishare  
and Included.co, would like to cordially invite you all to join us on *the 
Hero's Journey, GDPR and Coworking* (how's that for a title)

It is a journey in five parts; The first part is already live.  It starts 
with figuring out what GDPR is about, and deciding to do something about it. 


The next part is an interview looking into what GDPR covers and what that 
has to do with coworking.

Next up is a Q&A so coworking spaces and coworkers can ask specifically 
about use cases, their data, how GDPR will or could affect them (that's 
you!)

After that is a free webinar which will be informed by the Q&A, focused on 
GDPR and coworking

Finally there will be a wrapup, with summaries (and handouts!) and an 
opportunity to ask more questions and get real answers from experts int he 
field.


Please join us.  

Since we can't send most of you an email now, we have arranged to release 
instructions to take part in each step via our Twitter and Facebook pages.  
So if you want to join us all you have to do is, well, follow us on Facebook 
 and Twitter 
, or follow along on the Blog 










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[Coworking] Re: So about data security, sharing and the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU for coworking worldwide

[Jeannine van der Linden]

The next chapter of the Hero's Journey: Coworking, Coworkers, and GDPR has 
been released!

The first chapter is Alex's article on data and is here. 
<https://medium.com/@shhared/a-heros-journey-being-afraid-of-data-bf02af315ad7>

The second chapter is an interview with our GDPR expert, and is here 
<https://soundcloud.com/theledge80/everything-you-need-to-know-about-gdpr-the-interview>

The third chapter is the Q&A, where you can submit a the questions you 
have, and is here. <https://included.co/qa/gdpr-coworking/>

Fourth up, will be on 24 May and will be the webinar which will be fcused 
on GDPR and coworking.  I will add the link here, 

or you can follow us on FB or Twitter to get notifications of each chapter 
as  it is released.

Warm Regards,

Jeannine


On Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at 9:51:43 PM UTC+2, Hector Kolonas wrote:
>
> Have had similar questions come up in quite a few coworking groups across 
> the different social networks.
>
> So good to see this being tackled for all coworking space operators who 
> may 'touch' the data of EU nationals in some way or form.
>
> :) And the link for those who'd like to submit questions to be answered 
> and possibly discussed in the webinar is: 
> https://included.co/qa/gdpr-coworking/
>
>
>
> On Tuesday, 15 May 2018 10:19:53 UTC-4, Jeannine van der Linden wrote:
>>
>> Hi, all,
>>
>> As you may have noticed (koff) the EU's Data Protection regulations are 
>> in ful effect as of next week, 25 May.
>>
>> The European Coworking Assembly, <https://coworkingassembly.eu/> 
>> together with Linkilaw <http://linkilaw.com/>, Ouishare 
>> <https://www.ouishare.net/> and Included.co, would like to cordially 
>> invite you all to join us on *the Hero's Journey, GDPR and Coworking* 
>> (how's that for a title)
>>
>> It is a journey in five parts; The first part is already live.  It starts 
>> with figuring out what GDPR is about, and deciding to do something about 
>> it. 
>> <https://medium.com/@shhared/a-heros-journey-being-afraid-of-data-bf02af315ad7>
>>
>> The next part is an interview looking into what GDPR covers and what that 
>> has to do with coworking.
>>
>> Next up is a Q&A so coworking spaces and coworkers can ask specifically 
>> about use cases, their data, how GDPR will or could affect them (that's 
>> you!)
>>
>> After that is a free webinar which will be informed by the Q&A, focused 
>> on GDPR and coworking
>>
>> Finally there will be a wrapup, with summaries (and handouts!) and an 
>> opportunity to ask more questions and get real answers from experts int he 
>> field.
>>
>>
>> Please join us.  
>>
>> Since we can't send most of you an email now, we have arranged to release 
>> instructions to take part in each step via our Twitter and Facebook pages.  
>> So if you want to join us all you have to do is, well, follow us on 
>> Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/europeancoworkingassembly/> and 
>> Twitter <https://twitter.com/CoAssemblyEU>, or follow along on the Blog 
>> <https://coworkingassembly.eu/blog/>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7p7JQ0WOU4w/WvrsW0uiwLI/ZTk/Luf4b0_HT0YGxfIPn5vyF81FGZUEMDNxgCLcBGAs/s1600/GDPR%2BJourney%2B%25281%2529.jpg>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>

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[Coworking] Re: So about data security, sharing and the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU for coworking worldwide

[Jeannine van der Linden]

It's today!

The webinar portion of the Hero's Journey: Coworking, Coworkers, and GDPR 
> has been released!
>
> The first chapter is Alex's article on data and is here. 
> <https://medium.com/@shhared/a-heros-journey-being-afraid-of-data-bf02af315ad7>
>
> The second chapter is an interview with our GDPR expert, and is here 
> <https://soundcloud.com/theledge80/everything-you-need-to-know-about-gdpr-the-interview>
>
> The third chapter is the Q&A, where you can submit a the questions you 
> have, and is here. <https://included.co/qa/gdpr-coworking/>
>
> Fourth up is the webinar today at 10:30 London. You can join us here:  
> https://zoom.us/j/297372233
>
> or you can follow us on FB or Twitter to get notifications of each chapter 
> as  it is released.
>
> Warm Regards,
>
> Jeannine
>
>
> On Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at 9:51:43 PM UTC+2, Hector Kolonas wrote:
>>
>> Have had similar questions come up in quite a few coworking groups across 
>> the different social networks.
>>
>> So good to see this being tackled for all coworking space operators who 
>> may 'touch' the data of EU nationals in some way or form.
>>
>> :) And the link for those who'd like to submit questions to be answered 
>> and possibly discussed in the webinar is: 
>> https://included.co/qa/gdpr-coworking/
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tuesday, 15 May 2018 10:19:53 UTC-4, Jeannine van der Linden wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi, all,
>>>
>>> As you may have noticed (koff) the EU's Data Protection regulations are 
>>> in ful effect as of next week, 25 May.
>>>
>>> The European Coworking Assembly, <https://coworkingassembly.eu/> 
>>> together with Linkilaw <http://linkilaw.com/>, Ouishare 
>>> <https://www.ouishare.net/> and Included.co, would like to cordially 
>>> invite you all to join us on *the Hero's Journey, GDPR and Coworking* 
>>> (how's that for a title)
>>>
>>> It is a journey in five parts; The first part is already live.  It 
>>> starts with figuring out what GDPR is about, and deciding to do 
>>> something about it. 
>>> <https://medium.com/@shhared/a-heros-journey-being-afraid-of-data-bf02af315ad7>
>>>
>>> The next part is an interview looking into what GDPR covers and what 
>>> that has to do with coworking.
>>>
>>> Next up is a Q&A so coworking spaces and coworkers can ask specifically 
>>> about use cases, their data, how GDPR will or could affect them (that's 
>>> you!)
>>>
>>> After that is a free webinar which will be informed by the Q&A, focused 
>>> on GDPR and coworking
>>>
>>> Finally there will be a wrapup, with summaries (and handouts!) and an 
>>> opportunity to ask more questions and get real answers from experts int he 
>>> field.
>>>
>>>
>>> Please join us.  
>>>
>>> Since we can't send most of you an email now, we have arranged to 
>>> release instructions to take part in each step via our Twitter and Facebook 
>>> pages.  So if you want to join us all you have to do is, well, follow us on 
>>> Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/europeancoworkingassembly/> and 
>>> Twitter <https://twitter.com/CoAssemblyEU>, or follow along on the Blog 
>>> <https://coworkingassembly.eu/blog/>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7p7JQ0WOU4w/WvrsW0uiwLI/ZTk/Luf4b0_HT0YGxfIPn5vyF81FGZUEMDNxgCLcBGAs/s1600/GDPR%2BJourney%2B%25281%2529.jpg>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>

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[Coworking] Re: Price Increases - Notice Given? Grandfather Members? Other advice?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Congratulations and happy birthday!


> 1.  How old was your space before you increased your prices?
>

Three years.
 

> 2.  Do you grandfather current members?  Permanently?  For a time period?
>

I grandfathered folks who had already been there a year and who either 
would 1) pay a year in advance for the lower price or 2) had gone a year 
never being late with the rent.  
 

> 3.  How much notice do you give prior to the increase?
>

Three months
 

> 4.  What do you want me to know that I'm not asking?
>

About half my coworkers reacted by saying, "you should have done it 
sooner".  

Make sure you raise the rent enough that you wil not have to do it again in 
the short term.  Nickel and diming people is not a good business strategy.
 

> 5.  I also have private offices I (month-by-month...no leases).  If your 
> answers above are different for this situation, please share your expertise.
>

It really depends:  we raised the rent for our basic membership, because it 
was breaking even but not making money.  I told the coworkers that and 
explained that this means having them in the space is a hobby and not a 
business, which is not sustainable. 

The other memberships were making money so I left them alone.

>
> Thank you so much!  The increase is needed to help close the income to 
> expense gap, but I have a concern about continuing to grow the base with a 
> new price structure.
>
> You cannot grow your business with the existing price structure if there 
> is an income to expense gap.  This is the reality and your coworkers should 
> know this. A profitable coworking space is free to make choices and that is 
> important for them also. 
>
 
 

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[Coworking] Re: Mail for your members

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I am curious if anyone is using Spheremail for this and what input they 
have about it.

We notify people either via Whatsapp or email, their choice.

About once a quarter we send people whose mail has been hanging around, a 
reminder to come get mail within two weeks and if they do not we charge 
them for archiving.  This charge amounts to like nothing but for some 
reason it does get the people who have not, to show up.


On Wednesday, June 13, 2018 at 12:08:43 AM UTC+2, Gretchen Bilbro wrote:
>
> Hi everyone. If you accept mail for your members what is your process for 
> letting them know they have mail, how do you keep the mail and do you have 
> a log to show when they were notified and when they picked up mail? I am 
> having an issue with a member saying they received a notification email 
> from us that they had mail but then coming in and it not being in their 
> folder. We have a log through COBOT of all emails sent to members and do 
> not show that an email was sent to them. Just curious what your process is 
> for mail pick up and notification. Thanks!
>

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[Coworking] Re: Nonprofit Memberships

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I do not have a blanket discount for anything except businesses structured 
with multiple entities.

We have in the past had a sponsored nonprofit: this is like the artist in 
residence program, we give a nonprofit a free membership for a year.  They 
submit an application for the membership and the coworkers decide who gets 
it.  It's fun to do and a lot more engaging than a flat policy.

There are several ways to approach this, so that it has added value for 
your space and for your coworkers, and I would think about those things 
before making a policy.  If they are chosing you because you are the 
cheapest, the relationship is based on exploitation and that's no way to 
start a relationship.

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[Coworking] Re: How to expand and offer Virtual Office

[Jeannine van der Linden]

You need to speak with a lawyer in your city: laws governing commercial 
real estate vary greatly from place to place.

Nobody on this forum can tell you how to go about this without knowing 
where you are and what the law is in your jurisdiction, you need a lawyer 
for that.

The options are licensing, subleasing, and rental on the basis of sharing, 
but that covers quite a lot of ground and there are a number of issues that 
need to be looked at.



On Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at 10:56:54 AM UTC+2, andy wrote:
>
> Good day, I'd just like to ask for your professional opinions. We are 
> renting for a small space here for a coworking space and some clients would 
> like to set up a virtual office. However, our contract with the building 
> owner says that subleasing is not allowed. However, letting someone use the 
> space's address non-exclusively is not called subleasing right? If so, how 
> do we go about it where we can still offer virtual office without it 
> appearing as a subleasing kind of contract.
>

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[Coworking] Re: Commissions on rentals by a real estate company or agent

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Steve,

Whether it is legal or not will depend on where you are, laws very 
substantially. But in principle I can't think of any reason it would not be.

Within the network of coworking spaces I operate, we generally pay the 
first month's rent for new signups; but this assumes a longer term 
relationship.  I would think hard about how to bring the new folks into the 
space, temporary coworkers have caused issues at many coworking spaces.  
Not to say itś a bad idea but I would think about how to handle it 
beforehand.

Cheers,

Jeannine



On Friday, October 26, 2018 at 2:47:05 AM UTC+2, Steve Suard wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> I have a real estate agent that is interesting providing me clients for a 
> coworking desk room (2X2 square meter cubicle) based on several months
>
> Is it legal? how much percent per month can I give him? My space 
> subscription is about 250USD /month. (ex: 10% will mean $25,00 per month 
> commission).
>
> Thank you.
>

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking for Therapists/Counselors

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I have not, but I have had  psychiatrists and massage therapists and other 
therapists as members in my space.

Another consideration to keep in mind, as with other professionals, is that 
this group has ethical obligations as well as contractual ones (for 
malpractice insurance for example) regarding privacy and patient records. 
Accessibility issues -- both physical and in terms of the atmosphere in the 
space itself -- are also key, as this group often works with a vulnerable 
population.

Reserving a private space ahead of time for meetings is a fairly common 
circumstance for coworking spaces and not likely to have any unique 
features other than the privacy related ones, or such was my experience.

Happy to talk about our experience, can you say a little more about what 
questions you have?

Warm Regards,

Jeannine

On Sunday, October 28, 2018 at 8:26:22 PM UTC+1, Penny Mechley-Porter wrote:
>
> Hello, Do any of you have experience starting a coworking space for 
> psychotherapists (or massage therapists, even) as some considerations are 
> unique for this group. I am writing up a business plan for this type of 
> space but would like to converse with other therapists who have a coworking 
> space. 
>
> One of our unique considerations is that therapists will need an 
> individual office for a specific amount of time, and must be able to 
> reserve it ahead of time. The length of time could be 2 hours, or 4 hours 
> or 8 hours, and a single office could have 5 different therapists using it 
> on any given 12 hour day.
>
> I'm planning for 6 offices, one group therapy room, and a Therapist-only 
> hang out room where therapists can get a coffee, commune with other 
> therapists, do their notes, etc. Has anyone else in this group created a 
> therapist coworking space? Thank you. 
>

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Re: [Coworking] Re: Running Coworking During a Recession....

[Jeannine van der Linden]

This right here.

I opened my first space just as the last recession was hitting -- though it 
was a slower, shallower curve here in Europe, the sudden shift to mandatory 
entrepreneurship came in like a bomb.  Suddenly people were being 
confronted with doing the same job they always had done as an employee, as 
a freelancer. They were nervous and worried and not at all sure they were 
up for this Brave New World.

I intentionally made that space homey and personal and intimate.  A shiny, 
corporate environment was exactly what they did not want.  We had a guy 
from the tax office come in and give lessons on how to keep books and 
records as a freelancer, we had intentional freelancers come in and talk 
about what it's like to freelance, we had folks come in and talk about how 
to manage your retirement now you are a freelancer. 

We are now two cycles away from that and have changed a lot of things since 
then. I sort of miss it sometimes, though I am glad those folks are settled 
now mostly.

Tip for Coworking in a recession:  keep your costs low and your powder 
dry.  :-)

On Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 6:09:25 PM UTC+1, Alex Hillman wrote:
>
>
>
> Another thing is that when we opened (at the beginning of the last 
> recession) we had an INFLUX of people who were "newly independent" - some 
> by choice, many by force. They weren't looking for an office, they were 
> *looking 
> for people* who were already independent and they might be able to learn 
> from. That was literally the foundation of our first wave of growth. 
>
> In our next economic downturn, I expect we're going to see something 
> similar except that a decade later the physical and social infrastructure 
> to support a newly minted independent is WAY better. I think this will 
> likely be a good thing for coworking spaces, with a caveat that people see 
> and feel a sense of connection to the other members. If not, the coworking 
> space is simply a cost that can be removed/reduced. And I think *that's* 
> going to hurt a lot of spaces, especially the larger ones.   
>
>
>>

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[Coworking] Re: Want to start up...should I buy or lease a co-working space?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I opened my first coworking space in the former stable attached to my 
house.  The house is over 400 years old and was (we think) originally a 
guest house for the 16th century cloister up the road.

(As an American can I just take a moment to boggle at this.  Y'all from 
eastern europe, I know a 16th century cloister is new construction for you, 
bear with me here. ) 

Aaaanyway, the former stable was converted by a former owner to office 
space and it is now coworking space.  The advantages of a carriage house 
coworking are legion, I have to say.  Amoung other things, you have a very 
reasonable landlord.

 It was important in all this to present the space as what it is, it is a 
home for small business and freelancers and so everything about it is 
informal and cosy and homey.  It was hard not to give in to the urge to 
make everything all corporate, but I did and am glad.   I find this is key 
to all of the spaces I have worked with:  the first thing I do is find out 
a lot about the location itself, the people who live there, and its 
history.  Everything about it is informed by that.  Even the types of 
memberships are different depending on the surrounding community.


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Re: [Coworking] Re: Running Coworking During a Recession....

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Oh yes, so much this.

I find it sort of humorous that we are now talking about whether coworking 
can survive a recession, there are serious articles from back then (and it 
wasn't that long ago) about whether coworking was really just a 
manifestation of recession and whether it would go away as soon as the 
economy took an upturn.

To which I sad then as I say now, come back in ten years, we'll see then 
who's still standing.

On Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 4:22:10 PM UTC+1, Angel Kwiatkowski wrote:
>
> Jeanine,
> I remember this woman who was familiar with Cohere but was working in a 
> regular job in the next town. She showed up on our doorstep one day after 
> lunch and proclaimed, "I just got laid off. I didn't want to go home so I 
> came here instead."
>
> A
>
> On Wednesday, October 31, 2018 at 3:37:30 AM UTC-6, Jeannine van der 
> Linden wrote:
>>
>> This right here.
>>
>> I opened my first space just as the last recession was hitting -- though 
>> it was a slower, shallower curve here in Europe, the sudden shift to 
>> mandatory entrepreneurship came in like a bomb.  Suddenly people were being 
>> confronted with doing the same job they always had done as an employee, as 
>> a freelancer. They were nervous and worried and not at all sure they were 
>> up for this Brave New World.
>>
>> I intentionally made that space homey and personal and intimate.  A 
>> shiny, corporate environment was exactly what they did not want.  We had a 
>> guy from the tax office come in and give lessons on how to keep books and 
>> records as a freelancer, we had intentional freelancers come in and talk 
>> about what it's like to freelance, we had folks come in and talk about how 
>> to manage your retirement now you are a freelancer. 
>>
>> We are now two cycles away from that and have changed a lot of things 
>> since then. I sort of miss it sometimes, though I am glad those folks are 
>> settled now mostly.
>>
>> Tip for Coworking in a recession:  keep your costs low and your powder 
>> dry.  :-)
>>
>> On Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 6:09:25 PM UTC+1, Alex Hillman wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Another thing is that when we opened (at the beginning of the last 
>>> recession) we had an INFLUX of people who were "newly independent" - some 
>>> by choice, many by force. They weren't looking for an office, they were 
>>> *looking 
>>> for people* who were already independent and they might be able to 
>>> learn from. That was literally the foundation of our first wave of growth. 
>>>
>>> In our next economic downturn, I expect we're going to see something 
>>> similar except that a decade later the physical and social infrastructure 
>>> to support a newly minted independent is WAY better. I think this will 
>>> likely be a good thing for coworking spaces, with a caveat that people see 
>>> and feel a sense of connection to the other members. If not, the coworking 
>>> space is simply a cost that can be removed/reduced. And I think *that's* 
>>> going to hurt a lot of spaces, especially the larger ones.   
>>>
>>>
>>>>

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[Coworking] Time for the Coworking Gift Exchange/Secret Santa!

[Jeannine van der Linden]

HI, all,

For the third year running, the Coworking Secret Santa/Gift Exchange is 
here, hurrah!

For the first year, you don't have to be a member of included.co to take 
part!

You can do it as a space owner and be matched with other space owners, or 
you can send the link to your coworkers and they can take part.  My 
coworkers had so much fun with it last yer that I am doing it this year too.

I am almost certainly sending stroopwafels this year, I mean just so you 
know.  :-)

Sign up here: https://included.co/secretsanta/

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[Coworking] Re: No room for a kitchen--what do I do?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

So here's the thing.  You have to work with what you have of course, and my 
experience has been that the coworkers solve this problem for me if I 
approach it in the right way.

Our basic motto (loosely translated) is "where the space changes to suit 
you and not the other way around"

This has a pun in Dutch which is untranslatable I am afraid.

So we provide the basic amenities and the coworkers can:  bring in their 
own furniture, move the furniture, ask for this and that from the furniture 
budget, ask to have furniture moved or removed.

It does help that I have a background in theater :-)

One of the more interesting things is to see the space change as the micro 
communities change within the space.  At one time we had a catering company 
as a coworker and our largest conference room became a large, eat in 
kitchen complete with baking cookies which was very homey.  We also had a 
yoga/meditation space for a while as we had a coworker who did mindfulness 
courses; at one time we had a near art gallery because the artist in 
residence was a whole group of painters who were quite prolific.

I give them the ground, the coworkers have to seed it.

All of this is to say, if they want a kitchen and they have to tools and 
agency to make a kitchen, they will make a kitchen.

Warm regards,

Jeannine

On Monday, November 19, 2018 at 10:36:00 PM UTC+1, AK wrote:
>
> Our space is small (under 1500 ft )  so we are thinking of foregoing a 
> kitchen and having a counter with a sink and small under counter fridge.  
>
> I seek ideas and photo of other spaces who have a similar situation ( no 
> full kitchen)
>
> Thoughts on the whole idea are welcome.
>
> Thank you.
>

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[Coworking] Re: When a member moves in :( How to deal with a member who is living in their office.

[Jeannine van der Linden]

> SInce talking in person is not working, I would stop doing that.  I think 
> it is time to go to written communication.  Like this:
>

Dear coworker,

As you know,  you have terminated your contract for a private office with 
us as of 30 November.  At that time you requested to change to a 24/7 
contract, and that request was honored.  However, in the mean time a number 
of issues have arisen:

1) It appears that you are living in the space.  Eugene Mindworks is not 
suitable for residential use, and is also not zoned for residential use.  
Living in the space is not an option.
2) There has been at least one violent incident in the space to which the 
police had to be called. This is not safe for you, the space, or the other 
community members.
3) You have refused to allow anyone to enter the private office to show it 
to prospective new coworkers.  This is harmful to Eugene Mindworks and to 
its community.
4) When I or the Community Manager have tried to talk to you about this, 
you have rebuffed each attempt, closing the door in the Community manager's 
face.  We are concerned about you as well as about the space and our other 
members, but refusing to communicate is harmful to our community and our 
relationship with you.

Accordingly, as of 30 November with the termination of your private office 
contract, I see no choice other than to ask you to remove all of your 
belongings and leave the space.  A 24/7 membership is not possible under 
these circumstances.  I regret that I cannot extend your contract but as 
things are I do not see how I can.

Sincerely,

Aloma

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[Coworking] Re: What is your favorite coworking management software?

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hiya!

Here is a crowdsourced list that might be helpful to you, it covers I think 
everything in the world. And if it doesn;t, you can add what you don't see. 
It hasn a sorting function as well which is helpful.

https://inztinkt.com/big-bodacious-list-of-coworking-software/

There is also a Facebook group for questions about coworking software, once 
you have some: https://www.facebook.com/groups/coworkingsoftware/

I have tried Nexudus and was thrilled with it, I think it is the most 
powerful software available. However its usability and accessibility are 
not quite as thrilling, and for several of my community managers the 
interface was a hard no, they would not even log in.  We had some startup 
issues as well, when I was considering hiring a dev to install it, I 
decided it was too much work for me.

I have tried Cobot and I love the product and the company, but much of what 
I need is CRM and coworker related processes standardized for regulatory 
reasons, and I was not able to do that with Cobot.

I talked to the folks at Office R&D, and they agreed with me that their 
product was not suitable for what I need, which I think deserves a 
compliment.  Well done, team Office R&D.  :-)

De Kamer which I run  is a network of spaces in the Netherlands, where 
English is a second language, and so we are a little complicated.  The 
problems I have to solve are unusual; I am not sure my personal experience 
will be helpful because of that, and it is why I included the links above.

I went with Zapfloor HQ, we are, just like Joshua, just rolling it out and 
so I can;t give you great feedback in that sense; but they are so far 
stellar in terms of understanding my needs and setting the system up to 
accommodate them.  They are the only ones in the industry as far as I can 
tell who are aware of the requirements for onboarding under the new KYC 
regulations and prepared to automate that process to the extent that it can 
be automated.  This was important to me.

Will report back as things progress.  :-)


On Thursday, January 24, 2019 at 3:01:34 AM UTC+1, ir...@plazida.com wrote:
>
> Hi colleagues!
>
> I am trying to automate my coworking management and would like to choose 
> the best software available. Which one would you recommend and why?
> Thank you! 
> Irene
>

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Re: [Coworking] Starting a cowork group community before opening a spca

[Jeannine van der Linden]

So glad you asked!

Coworking Values Podcast, but the European Coworking Assembly and Ouishare
https://ouishareradio.com/show/coworking-values-podcast/

Coworking Conversations, by Claire Carpenter 
https://player.fm/series/coworking-conversations

Coworking Out loud, by Cat Johnson
https://player.fm/series/coworking-out-loud-2359748

Everything Coworking by Jamie Russo
https://www.everythingcoworking.com/podcast/

Coworking With Iris by Iris Kavanagh
http://coworkingwithiris.co/

Alex Hillan did the Coworking Weekly show for a long time, but it may since 
have become something else?  Nevertheless the back episodes are worth 
listening to
https://listen.coworkingweekly.com/

I undoubtledly missed some but that should start you.  

Everybody add on, we can pu tthe definitive list out at coworking.com and 
the European Coworking Assembly.

On Wednesday, January 30, 2019 at 2:01:25 AM UTC+1, Trey Downes wrote:
>
> Names of podcasts?
>
>
>>
>>

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[Coworking] Re: Courses To Offer Members

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hey, Aloma, that online course is perfect for Included.co, you might want 
to look at offering it there.

Also, +1 for SCORE, I used SCORE heavily in my early days as an 
entrepreneur and I think everybody should.  An amazing, underutilized 
resource. 

On Tuesday, February 19, 2019 at 10:40:00 PM UTC+1, Aloma Loren wrote:
>
> We have various events and workshops throughout the year. We've partnered 
> with orgs like the SBDC (Small Business Development Center) and SCORE 
> Mentors to offer some, others have been taught by members or other people 
> in the community. 
>
> We recently also launched an Online Business Accelerator 
>  (taught by my husband and 
> business partner) that we offer at a steep discount to coworking members. 
> It's also available for other coworking spaces! And we'll be launching an 
> affiliate program soon so spaces can make a little profit when one of their 
> members signs up. The program includes training material and a weekly group 
> coaching session.
>
>
>

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[Coworking] Re: coworking building without parking spaces

[Jeannine van der Linden]

This will depend a lot on where you are.  In the Netherlands free parking 
is a much more exciting perk than,almost anything else.  Though bike 
parking is as much in demand as car parking and in the large cities like 
Amsterdam it simply does not exist and everybody knows that already.

I think your best bet is to arrange something for parking, and then 
communicate it clearly.   Maybe you can make a deal with a nearby lot or 
similar; the option of a park and ride where you leave your car outside the 
city and ride a shuttle in is increasingly popular in the NL.

Do you expect your coworkers to drive in?  If so, then you need to arrange 
something,  If not, then it won;t make a difference.



On Friday, February 22, 2019 at 2:26:41 AM UTC+1, Michael Jon wrote:
>
> I've spent about 6 months now looking at properties for opening a 
> coworking space.  The first building I looked at still looks to be the best 
> option and is still on the market today.  This building has everything that 
> I am looking for - big and open, located in a popular part of the city next 
> to coffee shops and restaurants,  has two apartments attached to it which I 
> can rent out for additional income.  However, there is no parking besides a 
> small alley way that could probably only fit 2 cars.  Is this something 
> that I should be concerned about?  This building is also located in an area 
> of the city where parking seems to always be difficult to find.   
>
> Thank you!
>

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[Coworking] Re: Mailbox Services for Non-Coworkers

[Jeannine van der Linden]

Hi, Eric,

In the Netherlands specifically the provision of this service is subject to 
anti-terrorism financing, anti-whitewashing, and anti-fraud laws (wwft).  
In both Europe and the US it is covered by the KYC (know your client) 
regulations.

It is an excellent service and extremely popular;  it is also important to 
get right the first time, as the fines for violation are really not 
trivial.  So your basic approach is good I think but you will need to 
include in your pricing the cost of compliance.  

I have also already gone nine rounds with the KvK and the BD about what is 
necessary and what is not.  It is not that they have to more or less 
permanently use the space, it is that they have to have the right to do 
so.  Under certain circumstances the tax authorities require what is called 
a permanent establishment for the issuance of a VAT number but this does 
not affect the KvK address.
 
Feel free to contact me if you want to talk about it in detail (or in 
Dutch. :-))

Warm regards,

Jeannine
deKamer.eu

On Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 12:01:03 AM UTC+1, Eric Haas wrote:
>
> Hey Paula, I have recently took over a coworking space in Amsterdam. Now 
> in the process of setting up all the policies. A couple of weeks ago a 
> client asked me whether or not I would be able to help him with the 
> possibility for a legal registration on the physical address. My small 
> investigation proves that this can be done as a coworking space (or multi 
> tenant office building). My initial idea for the  pricing is to charge 
> €25/month and let the client choose the usage plan that goes along with it. 
> From basic (€50/month) to flex (€150/month) and fixed (€250/month). In the 
> latter the registration is already included in the package. Somewhere I've 
> read that the registration is only legally valid if the person or company 
> can prove they can more or less permanently use the space. 8 leave the 
> choice and responsibility for accounting with my client. 
> So far my thoughts on this! Happy to learn more from you guys. 
> Eric Haas

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