Thanks so much to Brent for asking these questions that I have been pondering for a couple of months now and to you Alex for your response. There are those of us who aren't entrepreneurs and have an interest in setting up our coworking spaces to make a profit. I firmly believe in this concept but am in need of the income as well. Thanks again !
-------------- Original message -------------- From: "Alex Hillman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Brent, While I think you're asking the right questions, it's in the wrong order. Before you are concerned with the financial viability, you should be looking to see if there is any existing community with a need for shared office space, or if there is a need for the community to be built around a shared office. I can tell you that Independents Hall, coworking based in Old City Philadelphia, has broken even after a few months of being open but that was after MANY months of hard work polling for interest and finding out what people wanted and needed. Even now that our monthly expenses are covered by our membership, we're not making a ton of money, and that was never our goal: we're all independent entrepreneurs who appreciate the increased value that Independents Hall gives us to our individual businesses. We've discussed this time and time again, and while there is nothing WRONG with being a for-profit coworking space, maintaining the values of: Openness, Creativity, Community, Sustainability, and Accessibility are hard if making a mint is always at the forefront of your mind. People first, plain and simple, is the way to a happy and active coworking space, and community. Without the people, you're back at the executive suites that you previously had considered. And there's nothing wrong with that, it's just a different need serving a different purpose! Cheers, and good luck! -Alex, IndyHall, Philadelphia On 1/7/08, GroovyBrent <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hello all - This is a long story that I'll make as short as possible... I operate a video production company in San Diego. We recently purchased a building. However, the building is too large for our purposes, so we're planning to rent out space. Primarily we're going to rent space as "executive suites" that cater to creative businesses. As I was describing my idea to a very smart (and very progressive) business person, he said to me "It sounds like what you're describing is a co-working space. Maybe you should think about that." Looking at information about co-working online, I'm a <i>little</i> concerned about the viability of the concept (I have yet to read a blog or news article where a co-working space has to turn away tenants because they're wildly successful and full to capacity), so I'm thinking about making a portion of the available space a co-working location. I have a couple questions for the group before I make the plunge: 1) ARE people having financial success operating a space using the co- working concept? 2) Is there interest for a co-working space in San Diego? 2a) Is there interest even if the space isn't downtown, but still centrally located (Kearny Mesa)? 3) What do clients of co-working spaces seem to enjoy? Are there amenities or services that make some co-working spaces more appealing than others? 4) Any "gotchas" I should avoid? Thanks and I look forward to participating in the co-working community! -- Brent Altomare Executive Producer Groovy Like a Movie vocal: 484.597.6256 digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | skype: dangerouslyawesome visual: www.weknowhtml.com | www.dangerouslyawesome.com local: www.indyhall.org --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
