Actually TWO organizations came out of that meeting. Both LExC and Open Coworking were manifestations of the conversations we had that weekend.
Jacob --- Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500 On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 9:13 AM, Jerome Chang <jer...@blankspaces.com>wrote: > I don't mean to drudge up any old debates, but one of the major > initiatives I had pushed for in last year's Coworking Owners' weekend was > to have some national association/alliance/etc. so that we could > harness these national-level services > accelerate or even fund projects like Open Coworking > "study groups" for reviewing business models > etc. > > Unfortunately, no such national org came to fruition from the 30 of us who > had met. > > Perhaps we can readdress this @GCUC or the next Coworking Owners Weekend > in June in SF @Nextspace. > or like Craig mentioned, LExC could perhaps take on some of these > initiatives. > > > > Jerome > ______________ > BLANKSPACES > "work FOR yourself, not BY yourself" > > www.blankspaces.com > 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) Los Angeles, CA 90036 > 323.330.9505 (office) > > On Nov 15, 2012, at 8:57 AM, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking < > baut...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Jacob and Mojo, > > I have always loved this idea of getting sponsorships on a more national > level for services that are truly beneficial to our communities. I > was approached about six months ago by an ad agency in California that had > a client that was trying to enter new markets and sponsor coworking spaces. > It seemed like a good match of company and community because many of the > members would be interested in interested as it was based on a problem we > recently brainstormed. I thought of it as a win-win, but ultimately we were > not selected. As the coworking's awareness grows in the next few years I > could see more services wanting to reach our members. We just need to > remember to be proper gatekeepers with clear approval guidelines so we > aren't promoting services to our members that are obtrusive > or worthless just so an extra dollar can be made. > > I could see LeXC eventually adding this as a revenue stream for their > members but opening it up to a broader group would help more coworking > spaces with Open Coworking. Most importantly, it would be a benefit to our > members if it involved tools that many of community members already used at > a discount and helped them run their businesses more efficiently. > > > > On Nov 15, 2012, at 7:46 AM, Mojo <cr...@mojocoworking.com> wrote: > > Craig and others, there seems to be little question that the primary > revenue stream for coworking communities is *work space* memberships. > After that there has been a hodge podge of experiments within each > community to see what works best, most efficiently and for the greatest > benefit to the space and its members. At Mojo, our second biggest stream > is meeting space - mostly conference room rentals for non-members. We also > do printing for local business and believe that this can become a > significant profit source. (we lease a printer and pay 1¢ for black prints > and 10¢ for color ... we charge 5¢ for black and 35¢ for color to > non-members. We just did a 3,500 page print job ... the math is pretty > simple there. > > The trick I find is to *keep it simple*. Do what is best within the > limits of your current system resources and then look for "plug ins" that > don't over tax your time/energy ... but can deliver benefits to you and > your membership. > > A few of you mentioned local sponsorships as a revenue stream. The trick > is finding the right sponsors (who fit your member audience) and also > having the resources to deliver what they expect in a > professional/meaningful way. It can be done, surely, but it'll be > important to look at the cost/benefits of each. > > I'm beginning work on an idea that I think offers a better solution to > tapping sponsorship as a revenue stream for the coworking movement. I > consider it a "plug in" for sponsorship. Instead of each coworking space > identifying and negotiating with local sponsors, We've started to build a > network of coworking spaces and will facilitate the relationships with > national level sponsors on a larger scale. By creating a more complete > national footprint we can attract bigger companies with brands that have an > *authentic fit with the coworking movement* and will inject energy and > value into the membership at each space. Think Intel, Apple, Cartoon > Network/Adult Swim, Converse, Acer, REI, Prius, Cannondale, Canon, Belkin, > Clif Bar, 5 Hour Energy Drink, etc. Having larger/national sponsors should > also provide higher "sponsorship fees" to coworking owners - and demand > less time/energy to activate. > > I guess I should mention that my "day job" is running an advertising > agency with multiple Fortune 500 clients who are looking for this sort of > experiential connection to the smart, young, entrepreneurial audience. > > Our network concept is just getting started, and I plan to have more > details to present at GCUC, so I'd love to hear any feedback on this idea > as well as talk with anyone interested in possibly joining our "network" of > spaces. > > > > On Wednesday, November 14, 2012 11:39:52 AM UTC-5, Craig Baute - Creative > Density Coworking wrote: >> >> I do think the coworking business model is immature but proven to work. >> The coworking world has many successful stories and many failures, but we >> are within the failure and success rates of any other business and in many >> cases doing better. What I think the coworking business model does need to >> explore is additional revenue sources beyond just memberships that benefit >> the members. There have been several previous discussions in this groups >> about alternative sources - sponsorships, classes, add ons like mail or >> printing - but these models and the process of launching them have not >> fully developed. I think these need to explored more in the open because I >> don't think a lot of us share these stories. >> >> I also think keeping new spaces expectations in check and doing a proper >> cost and revenue analysis combined with proper runway funding would be the >> biggest benefit to discuss. My gut instinct is that a coworking space is >> many space owners first time taking on a large sum of fixed expenses versus >> having a service based company and can have new challenges. >> >> I'm finishing up a book right now and Alex is working on one as well that >> discusses the business aspect of coworking to address some of these >> problems. I would be happy to contribute some of the spreadsheets and >> pricing models and insights that will be in the book to the conversation. >> >> Craig >> Creative Density >> > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
