Wow, thank you, Tony! We are under a very aggressive time constraint to at least show that this is a concept that could be profitable. It's a bit nerve-wracking and yes, right now we don't have one magnet out in the community attracting those who are like-minded into the space, but the space is really unique, industrial-artsy and very open, so by itself encourages or discourages a lot of the the right and wrong types of folks from wanting to participate.
1) There is one small community housed by one of our business' existing contacts, actually! And another space is being renovated to open sometime relatively soon but I am not sure when. It's amazing how devoid St. Louis is of coworking! It seems like we really are often the last in the country to get on board with great ideas, ha. 2) What you said about the community being shaped by the business is a factor that I had not defined and thank you for helping me see that. We have our own vision for the space but it must dance in accordance with the personality and responsibility already in place. Also yes, our agency has many connections with the type of folk that could really benefit from this space so we're hitting the pavement with them! 3) Thank you for this, I definitely plan on opening it up and showing people what's going on! I will have to use more discretion than I would with an independent space, however, because of the more formal reputation of the greater business we are within. Thank you so much for the very specific pointers and the well-wishes, they are greatly appreciated! I will now be in this group frequently to give updates and, I'm sure, look for some support on this awesome new rollercoaster! Best, Jenn On Jul 29, 10:53 pm, Tony Bacigalupo <[email protected]> wrote: > Congrats Jenn! St Louis has been due. > > Your biggest challenge starting off will be cultivating the proper community > quickly to make use of the space. I don't know what kind of time pressure > you're under to ramp the space up to a minimum level of activity, but if you > can take the necessary time to develop the community organically it will pay > off in the long run. > > A few notes: > > 1. Are there existing coworking-type communities you could join up with? A > Jelly or similar group already doing something? > > 2. Your agency likely already has connections to potential coworkers > (vendors, coworkers, clients, friends)... is the plan to start with them and > spread from there? Community-within-a-business means that the community's > personality is going to be shaped by that of the business. Focus on what > that identity is and who fits in with that the best. > > 3. Open up as much as you possibly can. Share everything you're doing. > Tweet, blog, twitpic, whatever. Get people engaged. The more your > (potential) members get to participate in the development of your space and > community, the better everything will be. > > Best of luck! > > Cheers, > Tony > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > New Work City - People who can work anywhere work here. > Web: http://nwc.co > Blog: http://nwc2.tumblr.com > Twitter:http://twitter.com/nwc > Phone: (347) 559-1437 > Address: 394 Broadway, Fifth Floor > Help NWC build its new home. Support us on Kickstarter!http://nwc.co/kick > > On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 9:28 PM, Jenn Cloud <[email protected]>wrote: > > > Hello, all! > > > My name is Jenn Cloud and through a series of amazing events, the > > building I worked in with my little startup interactive agency had an > > incredible space that became available and the building owners were > > open to making it into a coworking space! It's the pet project of the > > CTO of my agency and we have worked out for me to become the manager > > of our new space. Everything has been moving REALLY fast and from the > > research I've conducted it seems like we have an incredibly unique > > story being able to have premium downtown city space right off the bat > > to start this up. > > > What were your experiences like at the beginning? What was your > > process like finding space and getting this concept rolling in your > > community? > > > I apologize if this is an older topic that's been discussed, but I'd > > love to hear other stories as I'm basically managing a community built > > within a business and it's an incredibly strange and exciting feeling! > > > Thank you! > > > Jenn Cloud > > Saint Louis Coworking > > [email protected] > > > -- > > 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]<coworking%[email protected]> > > . > > 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. 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.
