Thanks Catherine for sharing. I want to learn from others as much as I can.
One thing I am starting with is a weekly Jelly gathering (weird name ya) to gauge interest, build community around the concept. I also discovered a downtown church in a former business that has a great feel for a co-working space, so I am hoping to have the meetups there. I like Gangplank's approach in doing something simple. Their original space was an open, large room with basic tables and chairs. The secret sauce was in the design of how people collaborated together. That I can muster without having a large initial capital expenditure. I may look into a gov't grant to hire a young uni grad to help run the space, whenever it's ready to go. FEDNOR will cover 75% of income for a for-profit, 90% for a non-profit. Curious to know how many co-working spaces are for-profit vs. non-profit? - Gerry On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 5:21 PM, Catharine <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Gerry, > > Thanks! We are working out our model as we go. It took three founders > willing to put in either time, money and/ or both. So we are > completely privately (self) funded. Jake and Michael each put in > funds. I put in time and labour. > > What I've found: It is a FULL time job to have one person run the > space. Although I created the space I have hired a new person to run > it. It will be "managed" in exchange for using the space and > collecting a stipend. I found I need to be a member only - as I am not > able to run the space and work on my own company / projects. This is a > huge thing to consider if you are starting your own space. One of our > main obstacles seems to be the restricted hours of operation 10am - > 6pm. > > Still I must say that joining this co-working group was the best thing > I did! Even if no one is in our space I never feel alone. I'm sure we > just need to kick our promotion up a notch and keep moving forward. > The new person is David Pakula, who will join this group soon. He is > full of new energy and enthusiasm and I look forward to passing the > torch! Good luck with your own space. It's a rewarding experience. > > Best, > Catharine. > > On Mar 18, 2:31 pm, Gerry Kirk <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Catherine! > > > > That is an amazing place you have, and a great story of reclaiming the > > space. > > > > How have you funded all of the work up to now? > > > > What is your pricing model? Do you have several options people can choose > > from? > > > > I'm not part of a co-working space, but I hope to start one this year in > > Sault Ste. Marie, ON. :) > > > > All the best! > > > > - Gerry > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 11:07 AM, Catharine <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > > It's Catharine. When I introduced myself a long way back I'm not even > > > sure we had a name! We certainly didn't have our "work email" or > > > website up. It has been an amazing (and amazingly exhausting!) four > > > months. > > > > > I put together our little story of how Foundery came about. I'd like > > > to share it here for anyone who is interested. > > > > >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdIa7Cvb4qw > > > > > The name of our Co-working space is "Foundery". Yes, it does have an > > > 'e' - which refers to "founder" and was easier to register :) Our > > > website iswww.foundery.isand our blog iswww.foudery.is/blogging/ > > > Currently they are not linked :( but as some might relate to - we tend > > > to do everything ourselves in the name of saving funds until "the > > > people" come so.......all in time. > > > > > Actually there are thousands of "in time" things but for the moment we > > > really need to get more than one paying coworker in here! (help god? > > > lol) I'm working on it.... (thankfully all of you exist!). We have > > > had a couple of events and made co-working in February free, but were > > > surprised at how many people who came for free in February just > > > stopped coming in March. We recently put out a craigslist ad and > > > also created fb and linkedIn profiles. That's about it for now. > > > Thanks everyone. > > > > > Have a fantastic day! > > > > > Catharine. > > > > > -- > > > 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. > > -- > 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. > > -- 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]. 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