This sounds super, super messy. Part of the reason Indy Hall has been around for a decade is because my #1 goal from the beginning was for the community to be self-sufficient in supporting the space it calls home. Can bad things happen? Of course, that's life, and we went through some of the hardest times in the last 2 years when our landlord tried to strong arm me into buying the building we were in, and I called their bluff. But I knew that our worst case scenario there was that our community supported itself. We weren't bound to that landlord, just like we're not bound to anybody but ourselves. (sidenote: during our real estate search I interacted with >120 landlords, and from them found two that I'd even *consider* working with, and one of them who I'd consider a joint venture with. the only reason I'd consider a JV is because of his industry credibility and ours are reasonably matched, and we both bring value *besides *the deal to the table.
It lets us say yes to stuff other people wouldn't be able to, and lets us say no to stuff that other coworking spaces feel obligated to. Own your shit. Future you (and your future community members) will thank you. All of the "ifs" in your proposal mean that this scenario is based around ambiguity and protecting *your* downsides. On their end, you're interchangeable with any other tenant, and they're in the drivers seat. If your job is looking out for the best long-term interests of your community (p.s. that's what your job is), then this would put the community at risk of being "homeless" and unable to support ourselves. It might seem harder now, but learning to be self-sufficient when you're tiny is a LOT easier than learning it later, and when the pressure is on. When you listen to that chapter about partnership, I talk a bit about managing upsides and downsides, including an example of a landlord coming to someone who runs a coworking space and offering them the world...a deal that seemed great on paper but meant that the landlord had all of the leverage to put his community out on their asses when a better biz opportunity came along. And guess what happened.... I know there are people on this list who have done Joint Ventures, and some people who advocate strongly for them. I'm not one of them, because I've seen far more go south than have worked out. Obviously, your milage may vary. -Alex ------------------ *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 12:12 PM, Kevin Haggerty <kevinrhagge...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hey Alex, > > I just purchased your audiobook and plan to listen to it today. I'm > excited about it! > > Here's the deal with my situation. I had been posting on FB for a while > about coworking, when a person I've known for a few years messaged me and > asked if we could meet. She and her husband (I've known them both for > several years.) had bought a house on Main St that used to be a law office > building. They'd been kind of sitting on it more or less for a few months > not really having much of an idea what to do with it. Then, they saw my > posts, and thought it was an interesting idea. > > So we met at the house and started walking through. I told them my > thoughts, and I even started to give specifics on potential layout. > > This all transitioned to a meeting where they suggested allowing me to > have the run of the first floor for coworking. They would pay for all the > upfitting and furnishing and even get the exact furniture I specified on. > They would pay for the networking of the building, security, insurance, > maintenance and landscaping, and even the monthly internet bill. > > This all sounded great to me because I have little to no capital right > now, and it allowed me the opportunity to get started right away without > having to fundraise, etc. They seem really excited about the idea, about > working with me, and how it could be positive for our community. They've > even said they will be limiting the upstairs tenants to one-year leases so > that if the coworking space takes off, we can have the upstairs too for > expansion. > > I've tried a couple times to bring up what our lease agreement would be, > as well as what our business relationship would be, specifically. So far, > all they have said is that they want to give the space the best chance to > succeed, so instead of giving a hard number or specific lease, they would > just take a percentage of what comes in at first as we get on our feet. > There's been no discussion beyond that. I wasn't really anxious about it > until a week or so ago when multiple mentors in my life advised me to get > things nailed down. > > Here's what I'm proposing. (I would LOVE your feedback!): > > - I will go ahead and incorporate under an LLC for the coworking business > so I'm protected. > - I will pay for the internet for the downstairs to keep things neater. > - I'll also have my own insurance/liability policy for the downstairs and > my business. > - I will suggest that if they are indeed paying for 100% of the upfit, > they will get 100% of what comes in, minus my monthly bills/expenses > (internet, insurance, coffee/amenities, Nexudus subscription, maintenance), > until they recoup all of their expenses for upfit. (I run my own > web/graphic design company, and I do not intend for the coworking space to > be a source of revenue for me at first. I hear that a lot of spaces are not > profitable for the first year anyway, so it seems this would work out.) > - If the space fails (don't want to think that way but things happen) my > company and I would not be on the hook for the rest of the expenses, but we > also would not get to keep anything. They bought it. They keep it. > - Once they've recouped everything, we'd convert to a standard lease > agreement and negotiate at that point as to what the terms would be. > > I understand that puts me a little more at their mercy when it comes to > the negotiating later down the road because if the space really takes off, > they could ask an arm and a leg for rent. However, it allows me to start > without capital, and to really get the model on its feet with no overhead > or debt, and then if they do end up being unreasonable about the rent > amount, I still own the business and can take it elsewhere as an attractive > commodity. > > I'm pretty much begging for input. :) > > Thanks! > > -- > 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. > -- 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. 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