Hi Raines, Thank you for all the fabulous feedback. I will take some time to digest it. We recently got a website marketing guru on board in exchange for co-working at Cubes&Crayons so we are definitely in the rework stages on the website.
When I started this whole adventure, I was less aware of the co- working title, but am now becoming ingrained in it all. I hope to see you down at our campus for a visit when you have time. I am sure you will have additional feedback. I am not onsite all the time, so be sure to let me know if you are coming. All the best, Felicity On Feb 20, 3:50 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Felicity - > > Welcome to Coworking! That's a great vision you've got with Cubes & > Crayons, very empowering for parents who otherwise wouldn't have as > many options and who still face barriers in workforce integration, > even in the progressive, welcoming coworking movement, where in the > pioneering spaces, a mostly younger, mostly male (mostly nonparent?) > workforce has not (so far as I've seen) had childcare and the needs of > families as an explicit priority. Here's a couple of notes from a > quick trip 'round your website, worth what you paid for 'em: > > - If you want to be a part of the coworking movement (and it does > sound like you've got some valuable pieces of the puzzle, tools and > models that can inspire other spaces), it would be nice if your site > used the term and/or linked to other coworking sites. As it is, it > doesn't look like you have any outbound links at all, even in the > Press section. In my experience, the best way to get "link love" (web > pointers that lead to web traffic and therefore customers) is to give > it. > > - The co-op workshare membership contribution element didn't show up > anywhere except in the FAQ and press articles (the rates page is kinda > sparse). This seems like an important aspect of your model, both in > terms of expectations of prospective members for their commitment and > in the customer service and child care received and who will be > involved in providing it. Given that even some non-kid-friendly > coworking spaces are talking about background/reference checks for > prospective members/keyholders, I'm curious whether this issue has > come up for members in terms of the childcare services. Its also not > clear whether the co-op hours requirement applies to office-only > members... could a non-parent be involved in childcare and related > areas? > > I'm curious about all this because we run into a lot of similar issues > in the cohousing movement, and we're always looking for innovative > solutions. I hope to get down there soon for a visit. > > - You might want to compare notes with MyDayOffice and other coworking > and related groups that have similar franchise multi-location > models... obviously, whole different sets of issues emerge related to > branding and staffing and management that are not as significant for > the D-I-Y cooperative one-off workspaces. Given regional variations in > space and childcare prices, as well as different regulatory schemes in > each state, I'd imagine that the rates won't be universal across all > of your spaces. > > - I'd love to know whether your gender balance of members mirrors that > of other coworking spaces. > > [the rest of this msg is less about coworking so everyone else can > feel free to ignore] > > Technical and Typo and Territorial notes: > > - The menus seem to behave oddly in Safari after the first minute or > so on a given page, unpopping before sub-items can be selected, and > then not responding to clicks on the main item. The Community page's > menus seem to work when others don't. > > - In the Press section, "Read more..." links open a new window.. but > the Palo Alto Weekly article has a "Return to Press section" link at > the bottom that doesn't switch back to the original window or close > the new window. > > - I had to read the PA Weekly article to get it (without doing the > math) that rates drop to as little as $9 an hour for members including > childcare... the membership info page might want to be a little bit > more explicit about the value. > > - Typo in the Press section: "tele-communtes" has an extra n > - Typo in the Press section: "choosed" should be present tense > - Typo on the FAQ: "What happens if I can't volunteers" should be singular > - Typo on the House Rules page: "recption" missing an e > > - While OnRamping and OffRamping sounds interesting; there's no link > or context on the Community page's workshops & events calendar to fill > in somebody who hadn't heard of it before. It helped once I discovered > that your founder's blog is athttp://YourOnRamp.com/(a side note > there: a blog that doesn't display dates for posts and then references > current events can be a bit confusing.. and there isn't anything > obvious over there that I could find actually referencing those > terms.... Google eventually led me > tohttp://www.youronramp.com/youronramp-presents-onramping-offramping-wo... > but there's still nothing linking to actual definitions of the terms > of what the workshop includes. I eventually found a definition in a > Boston Globe article. Maybe this is Human Resources jargon? WIkipedia > has it here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-Ramping-- although > IMNSHO the entry has issues related to NPOV and promotion of the > particular website) > > Raines Cohen, Coworking Coach / Cohousing Coach > Planning for Sustainable Communities > in Berkeley, CA > > who recently learned at a National Aging In Place Council meeting in > Denver that some large employers are setting up ELDERCARE facilities > to help employees who are taking lots of time off work to care for > family members and in web surfing for alternative options. Perhaps > there's a future in Cubes & Crayons & Paintbrushes? ;-) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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