Meetup Groups, Lite Memberships, Bid as Teams, Innovation Sessions Meetup Groups/Presentations Angel's way is a great approach to generating revenue because it adds incredible value to the community and brings in additional income. I have started doing a similar approach and bring in outside groups every once in a while to host events here with the requirement that any coworking members must be able to attend the event for free. This way I can charge a slightly lower rate to rent out the boardroom space (still generating revenue) but also add great value to the community, driving participation here, and bringing in new people to the space.
We have a new Meetup group this year that will give the members an opportunity to give a presentation and then charge for non-members to attend. I then will split the revenue with the member that presents. This model isn't a huge generator but it gives the members a chance to talk about their skills and their company, brings in new people, and makes everyone a bit of money. Plus, it's easily scalable. In fact, with a community of 10 you can easily reach up to a dozen events in the first 2 or 3 months. This will also brand your space as a hub for entrepreneurial activity. Great opportunity for everyone. Lite Memberships Indy Hall has a lite membership for $25 that doesn't include any desk space. I was always confused by this until Alex wrote me an e-mail describing it and I immediately saw the value it offers. The Lite memberships let the individual to have a discount on the drop-in rate but also lets them attend the events that Indy Hall puts on. This could include the Meetups, lunch-ins, debates, seminars, etc. Most importantly it grows your community and more entrepreneurs in the area identify as members without taking up the only limiting source to coworking - space. It's a great way for people to ease into the community and contribute in alternative ways like volunteering for events, going to evening seminars, and drop in every once in awhile. Bid on projects as a unit Conjectured has another creative solution that is beneficial to the members and the space. They will team up and bid on a project as something like Conjectured Consulting whenever a project bid may require more than one or two individuals. Conjectured then takes a small percentage and puts it back into the space. This idea is a clever win-win because then freelancing members can suddenly bid on larger project to diversify their clients base, work as a team with their amazing coworkers, and generates some extra income for everyone. I think this is a great idea and opportunity for everyone involved. Innovation Session Team (similar idea to teaming up to bid on projects) Note: This hasn't been executed yet but an idea I'm discussing with the members and companies. I was a marketing consultant for several years and worked on innovation session for companies that wanted to plan out their strategies for 3 to 5 years out. It was a lot of fun for everyone involved and we would usually do it at a space similar to a coworking spot and bring in 4 to 6 outside professionals to brainstorm with. Why not offer that service to local businesses if members are willing to work a few hours as a unit. (IMPORTANT: You need to get a core coworking team for different backgrounds to like the idea and set aside time when it happens. However, it will be a new outlet for more income, right?) The business rents out a room for the day at your spot, if available at your space, and then there is a one or two day innovation session where the company presents their ideas, problems, and research and the coworking team offers their perspective, ideas, and experiences as outside professionals/consultants. It's fun and offers a new source of revenue for the coworkers and the space. Each participating coworking member earns a few hundred dollars, the space gets the rental income and maybe an extra hundred or two on top of it all. I wouldn't overdo the consulting team or the innovation sessions because they take up time and it depends on your community willingness. You might be able to do one of them each month or every other month. The innovation is fun and from my experience in the boutique marketing world there is a real need to access energetic and smart individuals to run ideas and brainstorm with for an over caffeinated one or two day power session. The big project consulting team is more traditional and opens up a lot of new doors of opportunity for everyone. Remember: All of these ideas are based on the community's willingness to organize and participate as such units. You must listen to the members and only do projects that benefit the members and the community. On Jan 3, 11:48 am, Angel Kwiatkowski <fccowork...@gmail.com> wrote: > Here's a link to our meetup group. I've used meetup to organize and > schedule 14 different classes that are 100% member taught. Members > attend for free, non-members pay a fee to attend. We've already got > non-members signed up to take the classes. Course fees are split 50/50 > between the member-facilitator and the space owner(me) to bring in > extra revenue.http://www.meetup.com/Coherecommunity/ > > Angel > > On Jan 2, 7:16 pm, Rob Hudson <caveat...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > Set up paid seminars using the expertise of your coworkers. You don't have > > to charge much. Just keep the interest going and the experts talking. You > > can pitch your coworking space and memberships along with the seminars, > > encouraging people to join and solicit (in a community manner) some basic > > advice from other coworkers as a lead-in to purchasing their services full > > time. > > > You can take a % of a variety of things in the process that you think is > > fair. > > > On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 12:37 AM, sheldon <sheldon.griz...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Clearly there is a ton of interest around the world about coworking. > > > It's no different in my hometown as we have multiple groups THINKING > > > about starting a space. I am one of those people working on a plan. My > > > only issue right now is that I'd like to be above break-even so it can > > > live on it's own without some kind of subsidization from a wealthy > > > entrepreneur, foundation, philanthropist, etc. > > > > So, I am trying to find good models for generating other sources of > > > revenue (i.e. business services, events, introductions, etc). If you > > > have any ideas along these lines, or any others, I would love to hear > > > feedback. > > > > Thanks! > > > > -- > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > > "Coworking" group. > > > To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com. > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups > > > .com> > > > . > > > For more options, visit this group at > > >http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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