Small communities are GREAT, and they can become the seeds for bigger communities. I think this is an excellent approach.
You're worried about things that don't actually exist. Focus on making it a great place to be now, and more importantly, a great group of people to be around. Focus on participation as one of the elements of joining the community, and encourage people not to treat it as a place to work but a place to contribute to making it better. Make it your job to help them contribute rather than do things for them, and the time commitment problems start to fade. Involve them, include them, even in the little stuff. "When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute." - Simon Sineck You can worry about what it might become "if things go well" when things go well. You should be so lucky. :) -Alex -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 12:10 PM, Michael Hopkins wrote: > Just to clarify, there is one empty desk. There are two chairs and a couch > around a table as well. We would be willing to go up to two more desks and we > actually have those somewhere else. But yes, we do want a small community. > > As soon as you said that, Alex, I felt silly. You are right. :) What are my > fears? I suppose they are that we would ruin the current casual atmosphere > trying to do something too deliberate. Also, we are willing to spend time on > this but we wouldn't want to commit to too much time. The risk there is we > wouldn't be able to follow through. > > Michael > > On Thursday, August 2, 2012 11:01:00 AM UTC-5, Anca Mosoiu wrote: > > Since you're only trying to fill one desk, you can just go into your > > community and see if you can find someone you want to hang out with (or > > several someones). You can throw parties, or have an open house or a > > project night or something. > > > > The key is to attract the particular kind of people you want to hang out > > with - and this is something that you should work on with the existing > > community. > > > > Cheers, > > > > Anca. > > > > On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 7:54 AM, Jerome Chang <jer...@blankspaces.com > > (mailto:jer...@blankspaces.com)> wrote: > > > Just to clarify: there are 3 current dedicated desks plus a 4th open? > > > > > > If so, this would be a very small community. I would think that you would > > > have to program events and such. > > > > > > Jerome > > > http://wew.BLANKSPACES.com > > > > > > On Aug 2, 2012, at 7:43 AM, Jonathan Graham <j...@bizcasual.co > > > (mailto:j...@bizcasual.co)> wrote: > > > > > > > Have you ever though about joining an existing coworking community? It > > > > could be a great place to meet other folks and might even be cheaper > > > > than your rent. > > > > > > > > On Thursday, August 2, 2012, Alex Hillman wrote: > > > > > > I'm especially unsure how to create the small community without > > > > > > making the existing people feel uncomfortable. > > > > > Can you explain a bit more about what you're concerned about here? > > > > > > > > > > It sounds like you've got some fears that are holding you back from > > > > > creating something potentially great. Lets get those fears out in the > > > > > open so we can get rid of them! :) > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > /ah > > > > > indyhall.org (http://indyhall.org) > > > > > coworking in philadelphia > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 2:49 AM, Michael Hopkins wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > Hi, my company (2 people) shares office space with another company > > > > > > (1 person.) The space is open floor plan. We keep the extra > > > > > > desk/couch/table area open in the spirit of co-working. Two people > > > > > > use it semi-regularly. > > > > > > > > > > > > We would really like to see a *few* more people use it and grow a > > > > > > very tight, entrepreneurial co-working community out of it. We have > > > > > > absolutely no plans to make money off of it so long as our > > > > > > companies can keep paying the rent, although we'd consider > > > > > > splitting rent with someone who wanted to work there full-time. > > > > > > > > > > > > How should we proceed effectively here? I'm especially unsure how > > > > > > to create the small community without making the existing people > > > > > > feel uncomfortable. Happy to answer any follow-up questions. > > > > > > > > > > > > Michael > > > > > > > > > > > > P.S. One more caveat: we had a full-fledged co-working space in our > > > > > > city close a year ago, and we're "refugees" from that. There's no > > > > > > bad blood but we do not want to undertake any kind of aggressive > > > > > > campaign to publicize this. > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > > > > > Groups "Coworking" group. > > > > > > To view this discussion on the web visit > > > > > > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/g8cvAnuGdW0J. > > > > > > To post to this group, send email to coworking@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. > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > > > > Groups "Coworking" group. > > > > > To post to this group, send email to coworking@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. > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Sent from Gmail Mobile > > > > -- > > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > > > Groups "Coworking" group. > > > > To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com > > > > (mailto:coworking@googlegroups.com). > > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > > > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > > > > (mailto:coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com). > > > > 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 coworking@googlegroups.com > > > (mailto:coworking@googlegroups.com). > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > > > (mailto:coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com). > > > For more options, visit this group at > > > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > > > > > > > -- > > -=-=-=- > > Anca Mosoiu | Tech Liminal > > a...@techliminal.com (mailto:a...@techliminal.com) > > M: (510) 220-6660 > > http://techliminal.com | T: @techliminal | F: facebook.com/techliminal > > (http://facebook.com/techliminal) > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/Wy_WHbOPtagJ. > To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com > (mailto:coworking@googlegroups.com). > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > (mailto:coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com). > 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. 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