Liz, just wanted to say that I'm doing something very similar in the Chicago suburbs. My argument is that most coworking spaces skew male in both membership numbers, amenities, and even aesthetic design. The needs of women (especially moms) are unique. Two more spaces for you to check out, for inspiration, are The Wing in NYC and The Riveter, soon to open in Seattle. The Wing is exclusively women-only, whereas The Riveter positions itself as woman-focused...that's probably what we'll do.
I look forward to hearing about your progress! Jen On Sunday, April 9, 2017 at 3:18:31 PM UTC-5, Elizabeth Jackson wrote: > > Hello All, > > > I started the ground work to introduce a women-focused coworking space in > Prince George's County in Maryland; a suburb of Washington, DC. I have > pitched the coworking space to investors and county development officials > as I have gone far enough with my own funding and crowdfunding campaigns > and have secured a two-story building, insurance, and furniture on my own > :-). Although I have done this on my own; I have encountered a lot of > hesitation about this concept due to the fact that it is a women-centric > space. The goal is not to exclude men because we need men too, but to focus > on the unique needs of women led business (we will offer childcare on the > 1st floor and video/podcasting suites just to name a few non-traditional > amenities). I am often told to be "broader" but, I have done my research > and women entrepreneurs in this county lead the charge in opening new > businesses. Also, there are so many other coworking spaces that skew > towards male founders in the DC metro area and women often share that these > spaces really don't fit their needs, and a little balance would be awesome. > So far I have over 300 (more joining each day) women interested in joining > a coworking space for women (we will open up membership pre-sales in July) > from my meetup group and I intend to have building renovations completed on > the building by Fall of 2017. My intuition is telling me YES!!! but, I > would like to have data to validate it can be successful to those who don't > believe that a women-led and focused coworking space can be successful. > > > Here are some examples of successful coworking spaces for women that are > similar to the one I am opening: > > Open For Business <http://www.openforbusiness.space> > > Behind the Grind <http://www.behindthegrindwcp.com> > > COTERIE <http://www.coteriecompany.com> > > HeraHub DC <https://herahub.com/dc/> > > > Here are the questions I have for the group: > > > Are there any metrics available that can show whether this model is > successful or not? > > What are some of the biggest challenges to that you had to overcome? > > > Best, > > Liz > > > (Please excuse any typos) > > > -- 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. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
