Thanks Tracy! If a recession comes, I'll be SO curious to see how it affects coworking esp. if there is a major difference in chain vs. indie coworking.
Angel On Friday, October 26, 2018 at 4:25:59 PM UTC-6, Tracy Wilson wrote: > > Angel - This is great. I hope that operators keep this in a handy spot to > pull out when (assuming) the next economic downturn comes. As someone that > opened centers in both 2008 and 2009 - when I thought things were tough but > had no idea what misery was to come - I would say a lot of this is 'right > on.' There is no substitution for the creativity and flexibility required > to keep things going during those times - and your piece will be a good > framework for those people needing some fresh ideas for looking at their > operation. Probably the hardest thing was finding the balance between > holding to optimism and making the really tough decisions, and having the > faith to know when each was the required course. And, that no matter what, > I'd survive. > > On Wednesday, October 24, 2018 at 1:34:13 PM UTC-7, Angel Kwiatkowski > wrote: >> >> I *just* wrote an article on Recession-Proofing your Coworking Business >> >> https://www.diycoworking.com/blog/2018/10/24/how-to-recession-proof-your-coworking-business >> >> Angel >> >> On Tuesday, October 23, 2018 at 5:04:27 PM UTC-6, Carl Sullivan wrote: >>> >>> Hey Guys, >>> >>> I have seen with increasing regularity, news articles are not being >>> written daily about the "impending market crash/correction" both in >>> Australia, in Asia, across Europe and in the US. >>> >>> I founded Your Desk in 2011, three years after the GFC hit the world, >>> but unlike almost every other country, Australia never saw any real >>> negative effects from that time in history. So it would be fair to say that >>> while I started coworking in the aftermath of one of the (only) market >>> crashes I have experienced in my adult life I know there were many others >>> that successfully navigated that market correction. >>> >>> So when the next negative cycle hits the world's economies (and with >>> Australia poised to be hit harder than almost any other country) I am >>> curious about how others successfully navigated or pivoted to keep the >>> business going and support their members? >>> >>> The areas I am currently looking at being stronger in are: >>> >>> *Community:* >>> Our community is great, but not well supported right now, with our >>> approach to date to simply leave them be to do their work. I am looking at >>> rolling out an internal referral program as both a cheap way to source new >>> members and as a jump start on those members already having at least one >>> meaningful connection with another member in our space. >>> >>> *Message:* >>> As we grow and as other coworking spaces set up (weekly) we are going >>> back to the basics of "what do we stand for". As a suggestion from Alex >>> from Indy Hall, I will start to do Town Hall meetings with the members to >>> allow them additional opportunities to voice concerns, observations and >>> suggestions on how we can improve our ecosystem to best suit them >>> >>> *Operations: * >>> We already have a lean team, and while I will be hiring some (sorely >>> needed) additions from February 2019, we will purposefully keep our team >>> small and agile. >>> >>> *Finance Operations:* >>> An initiative by my brother Oliver, we will continue to review every >>> transaction monthly and ask ourselves if we can reduce the cost here while >>> maintaining our service, feedback from the Town Hall Meetings will also >>> help inform this process >>> >>> *Business Intelligence:* >>> I work with a business coach, who monthly comes into our space, review >>> our finance, operations, team and culture, and asks the hard questions that >>> we as a team have not yet considered. This process has already allowed us >>> to grow our profit from 6% to 30% in 1 year, while at the same time growing >>> member satisfaction (measured through the NPS survey) from bad (NPS of -36) >>> to great (NPS of 53) >>> >>> >>> What I am most interested in is understanding what other spaces >>> experienced with member churn, specific way that churns happened and if in >>> hindsight there was a way that you could have supported that member more to >>> stay in your community. >>> >>> Also any other tips, tricks or observations would be welcomed. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Carl >>> Your Desk >>> >> -- 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.
