Just an FYI...Citizen Space is not a profit-making space. We have a part-time general manager (Hi April!), but only put enough money in the bank for a rainy day...of which we've had a few. I actually have about $25-30k sunk into the space I doubt I'll ever see back. I consider it an investment in the community and the world as a better place.
Why the altruism? Well, I used to do it to get me laid (kidding! it never helped with that...), but now I realize that my investment there makes it possible for me to move forward quicker with my other business pursuits. I meet great people because of it, I have built trust in a wider community and the businesses helped by Citizen Space have supported me along the way. It's a contribution to a great ecosystem and cost me WAY less than a radio ad or a fancy SEO person. T On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 1:16 PM, Craig Baute <baut...@gmail.com> wrote: > This groups has been a great group to follow. I'm from Grand Rapids, > MI where two coworking spaces have opened up in the last year. I > recently graduated with my MBA and have been a marketing consultant > for the last three years and would like to start a new career. I would > like to spend a year or two as an office manager or marketing member > for an existing space and learn about the business and the exact needs > of the community. I am open to moving to any location for this > experience. Please let me know if you know of any opportunities. > > I'm excited about the concept and would like to start a new facility > with the intent of managing it and expanding. The goal here is to > provide an open creative space, but also generate a profit with a > possibility of multipul locations. It seems most coworking spaces are > opened by a small team of people that operate the facility and > performing consulting work on the side with a goal of breaking-even or > generating a small profit, but not substantial sum. > > I believe, if coworking is going to change the way people work on a > mass scale then it needs to be a profitable venture for people. It > seems Citizen Space and Sandbox in San Francisco are successful > ventures and are hiring staff or opening second locations. Does anyone > know of any other coworking spaces that have matched their success? > > Here are my take-a-ways to being a profitable coworking space (with a > brainstorm of ideas on way to improve coworking following): > > Space to fit 30 to 40 people (starting around 2500 - 3000 sf, please > let me know if these numbers seem wrong) > Conference rooms (1 or 2) that fit 6 to 12 people > T1 internet access with wireless, of course > Coffee and snacks, partnerships with a local cafe seems popular. > Community effieciency kitchen > High quality printer > Common area with a comfortable sofa and chairs in the greeting area > Magazine and newspaper selections - Wired, NYT, Fast Company, Business > Week, etc. > A diverse set of members ranging from graphic designers, interior > designers, consultants, online marketing, etc. > Community events once or twice a week based on business education/ > networking/art/business launch events > Flexible rates with an introduction rate at $250 and going up to $450/ > month. Small team package available. > LOTS of flexible space furniture and whiteboards > Downtown location with a bit of personality > 24/7 card access > Lockers or someway for people to store items > > Brainstorming ways to improve coworking: > Some of these ideas I've taking from visiting a local FedEx Office > (Kinkos) location > > 1-2 Public heavy duty desktop computer for tasking visual editing work > with Adobe CS available for everyone > 2-3 Public large monitors for laptops to hook up to for comfort and > other editing purposes > Teleconferencing rooms designed for soundproof phone or video > conversations (this is present at a Grand Rapids location) > Membership discounts on cell plans or local restaurants > Bike and scooter storage > > > If you opened a coworking space: > What are the starting cost for opening up a coworking space in your > area? Where are you located? How many members do you currently have or > average? > > If you participate in coworking: > Please let me know what you have noticed to be consistant among > successful coworking spaces? What are features that people don't seem > to care for? How did you discover coworking? > > > I'm very interested in coworking and would like to start a career in > it. Any information would be helpful and greatly appreciated. > > If you would like to contact me personally please feel free to contact > me at BauteCM [at] Gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from everyone > and I apologize about the long starting post. > > > > -- > 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. > > -- tara 'missrogue' hunt Company: Shwowp (http://www.shwowp.com) Book: The Whuffie Factor (http://www.thewhuffiefactor.com) Blog: HorsePigCow: Marketing Uncommon (http://horsepigcow.com) Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/missrogue phone: 514-679-2951 -- 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. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
