Hi Jodie great post, thanks for sharing! we'll use your lessons, cause we are preparing to open up this year.
good luck Mindaugas Danys www.hubvilnius.lt On Aug 19, 6:53 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > Looking back vision is always 20/20. In developing OurSpace in Fort > Wayne, here are the mistakes I have made: (I hope that my mistakes > help those in coworking to not do the same.) > > 1. Fell into peer pressure and didn't build the community strong > enough - Although I was building community and working hard to do so, > I developed professional relations with 2 individuals that were > looking at the coworking market in Fort Wayne. One individual was the > head of the innovation center and one was a private investor, and both > wanted to do their own thing, outside of OurSpace! So instead of > working hard to build my community until the Spring or Summer of 2010, > I quietly opened in 2010. While I have an amazingly good deal with > the landlord, I very much wished I had open in the summer, as I have > built a better community lately. > 2 - Not hanging out in bars! Yes I do drink, but I did not frequent > the bars like I should have done so. Some of my best conversations > have been at pubs, even if it is talking about someone's favorite > drink, business cards are usually traded at the end. I have seriously > learned to bar hop this summer, and through that I have developed some > amazing contacts! > 3. I hung with wrong crowd! Being one with an education and > nonprofit management ground, I didn't have experience with geeks! > Although the geeks in my community were talking about coworking, and I > wanted to join their conversations and help them out, they had a > problem - I was a woman. In Fort Wayne, the community is VERY > conservative (I am not so much!), and the majority of those in the > tech community were men, under 35, and had wives at home raising > children. Coming on the geek community as a single female really > threatened them, and they were very much taken back by my ability to > lead, thus they were and still are hesitant to join the community. I > have had much more success with the general business community and > those who are freelancers and etc. I am still working hard to meet the > right people who don't accept the glass ceiling!!! > > Good luck with your ventures, OurSpace, LLC seems to be obtaining some > really good people and getting some great media buzz. It's taken some > time to get where I am at, but through this journey I have seriously > been able to impact local community development, obtained an awesome > sales job and meet really, really dynamic people! I really grateful > everyday that there the great people that have helped me - without the > coworking community, I would never be where I am at now. > > Sincerely, > > Jodi Dean, Founderwww.oursapcefw.com -- 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.
