[Coworking] Re: Membership Perks

2014-10-07 Thread Jessica Hill
Thanks Tyler! You've been super helpful. 

Jessica 

On Saturday, September 27, 2014 11:18:55 AM UTC-4, Tyler Byrd wrote:

 Hey Jessica, we do this with our members. Each of our members has a 
 keycard to access the space, which includes their picture, name, company, 
 and our space's logo. We have been negotiating with businesses around town 
 to offer between 15-25% off their services if our member comes in with 
 their badge. 

 We decided on the businesses to approach based on suggestions from our 
 members and how far they were from our space. So far we have mostly coffee 
 shops, restaurants, and bars but we are talking to a couple of more 
 traditional businesses such as gyms and printing services now. 

 When we approached the business we showed them the keycard our members 
 used and explained how many people we have and how we would promote them. 
 Promotion included being featured in our newsletter, keeping a menu of 
 services in our space for members to review, listing them in our member 
 services directory, and in our sign up packages. We are also going to begin 
 featuring them on our website and social media profiles. 

 So far the response from both members and businesses has been positive. We 
 had a couple businesses push back on the discount amount we were asking 
 for, but we explained that those were the minimum thresholds to be included 
 with us.

 Hope this helps.

 Tyler

 Good Morning, 


 We starting to think about creating  perks (discounts from local 
 businesses, and services) for our members. Do any of you have this at your 
 coworking spaces? I am not exactly sure how go about asking businesses for 
 discounts for our members especially since we are so new. 

 Thanks!

 Jessica 



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Re: [Coworking] Re: Membership Perks

2014-10-07 Thread Jessica Hill
Love that, Tom! 

On Thursday, October 2, 2014 3:00:39 PM UTC-4, Tom Brandt - Workantile 
wrote:

 The most successful partnerships we have had are massage therapists who 
 come once a week for a couple of hours and give discounted massages to our 
 members. The members loved it, the massage therapists, all of whom were 
 just starting out, built up a clientele of satisfied members, and it was a 
 non-disruptive activity.

 On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 2:50 PM, Susan Dorsch su...@officenomads.com 
 javascript: wrote:

 Hi all,

 This is one of many situations where you should put yourself in the shoes 
 of your members and figure out what they'd want. We've had various 
 so-called partnerships pitched to us in the past to provide discounts to 
 our members that generally fall flat because they don't offer anything of 
 actual value to our members. I don't join a coworking space to get a 
 discount on Zipcar or 10% off a local restaurant. I join a coworking space 
 because I want to get great work done, meet other interesting people, and 
 get support in my progress. 

 Just some food for thought - starting a network of partnerships is 
 tempting, but it's a lot of work for what I'd argue isn't much value.

 S

 __
 Office Nomads 
 officenomads.com  
 206-323-6500(o)
 206-484-5859(m)

 On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 11:06 AM, Lisa Anne Logan lisa...@hattery.com 
 javascript: wrote:

 Hi Jessica,

 +1 to Tyler's approach - it works out well. We do a few 'personal' 
 services like gym, but mostly focus on business service discounts. I 
 occasionally ask our members what services they're using, and then I pick a 
 few from that list to approach about a discount.  Just position yourself as 
 an influencer amongst a great group of candidates in their target market, 
 and detail the internal marketing you'll do, and they're usually happy to 
 offer something. 

 We do all the same marketing Tyler mentioned, plus announce them at our 
 monthly happy hour. One idea that I tried *unsuccessfully* was inviting 
 a partner to do a quick preso of their own to the happy hour group about 
 their product and discount. Seemed like a great way to create a personal 
 connection - the partner loved it, got to talk directly with interested 
 members, etc. - but it just didn't feel right in the moment. I could read 
 my members' faces and they felt like they were being held captive for an 
 advertising campaign. So we won't be doing that again :)


 On Friday, September 26, 2014 8:40:31 AM UTC-7, Jessica Hill wrote:

 Good Morning, 


 We starting to think about creating  perks (discounts from local 
 businesses, and services) for our members. Do any of you have this at your 
 coworking spaces? I am not exactly sure how go about asking businesses for 
 discounts for our members especially since we are so new. 

 Thanks!

 Jessica 

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 member, Workantile http://workantile.com/
 @twbrandt
  

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Re: [Coworking] Re: Membership Perks

2014-10-07 Thread Jessica Hill
Thanks, Susan. Makes sense. 

Jessica 

On Thursday, October 2, 2014 2:51:09 PM UTC-4, Susan Evans wrote:

 Hi all,

 This is one of many situations where you should put yourself in the shoes 
 of your members and figure out what they'd want. We've had various 
 so-called partnerships pitched to us in the past to provide discounts to 
 our members that generally fall flat because they don't offer anything of 
 actual value to our members. I don't join a coworking space to get a 
 discount on Zipcar or 10% off a local restaurant. I join a coworking space 
 because I want to get great work done, meet other interesting people, and 
 get support in my progress. 

 Just some food for thought - starting a network of partnerships is 
 tempting, but it's a lot of work for what I'd argue isn't much value.

 S

 __
 Office Nomads 
 officenomads.com  
 206-323-6500(o)
 206-484-5859(m)

 On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 11:06 AM, Lisa Anne Logan lisa...@hattery.com 
 javascript: wrote:

 Hi Jessica,

 +1 to Tyler's approach - it works out well. We do a few 'personal' 
 services like gym, but mostly focus on business service discounts. I 
 occasionally ask our members what services they're using, and then I pick a 
 few from that list to approach about a discount.  Just position yourself as 
 an influencer amongst a great group of candidates in their target market, 
 and detail the internal marketing you'll do, and they're usually happy to 
 offer something. 

 We do all the same marketing Tyler mentioned, plus announce them at our 
 monthly happy hour. One idea that I tried *unsuccessfully* was inviting 
 a partner to do a quick preso of their own to the happy hour group about 
 their product and discount. Seemed like a great way to create a personal 
 connection - the partner loved it, got to talk directly with interested 
 members, etc. - but it just didn't feel right in the moment. I could read 
 my members' faces and they felt like they were being held captive for an 
 advertising campaign. So we won't be doing that again :)


 On Friday, September 26, 2014 8:40:31 AM UTC-7, Jessica Hill wrote:

 Good Morning, 


 We starting to think about creating  perks (discounts from local 
 businesses, and services) for our members. Do any of you have this at your 
 coworking spaces? I am not exactly sure how go about asking businesses for 
 discounts for our members especially since we are so new. 

 Thanks!

 Jessica 

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Re: [Coworking] Re: Membership Perks

2014-10-07 Thread Jessica Hill
Yes, makes sense. I am not sure I would want a business to come in and just 
advertise their product. You live and you learn right? Thanks Alex. 

Jessica

On Thursday, October 2, 2014 2:21:22 PM UTC-4, Alex Hillman wrote:

 *We do all the same marketing Tyler mentioned, plus announce them at our 
 monthly happy hour. One idea that I tried unsuccessfully was inviting a 
 partner to do a quick preso of their own to the happy hour group about 
 their product and discount. Seemed like a great way to create a personal 
 connection - the partner loved it, got to talk directly with interested 
 members, etc. - but it just didn't feel right in the moment. I could read 
 my members' faces and they felt like they were being held captive for an 
 advertising campaign. So we won't be doing that again :)”*

  An alternative to this that we’ve done very successfully is encouraging 
 the partner to TEACH something, or give actionable advice, rather than use 
 that time to talk about themselves.

 Most people don’t like a sales pitch, but they DO like learning things 
 that can help them in their lives and their businesses. When a vendor 
 shares something useful, it not only keeps your members interested but also 
 helps establish their trust in the vendor, and helps the vendor become a 
 “go-to” resource (which turns into recommendations, etc).

 Many vendors who pitch us wanting to reach our members aren’t willing to 
 put in even a little bit of time to earn our members’ trust, but ALL of the 
 ones who do have built strong connections into the community and are often 
 recommended by members over and over and over. Way, way more effective than 
 the yawn-worthy sales pitch!

 -Alex



 On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 2:06 PM, Lisa Anne Logan lisa...@hattery.com 
 javascript: wrote:

 Hi Jessica,

 +1 to Tyler's approach - it works out well. We do a few 'personal' 
 services like gym, but mostly focus on business service discounts. I 
 occasionally ask our members what services they're using, and then I pick a 
 few from that list to approach about a discount.  Just position yourself as 
 an influencer amongst a great group of candidates in their target market, 
 and detail the internal marketing you'll do, and they're usually happy to 
 offer something. 

 We do all the same marketing Tyler mentioned, plus announce them at our 
 monthly happy hour. One idea that I tried *unsuccessfully* was inviting 
 a partner to do a quick preso of their own to the happy hour group about 
 their product and discount. Seemed like a great way to create a personal 
 connection - the partner loved it, got to talk directly with interested 
 members, etc. - but it just didn't feel right in the moment. I could read 
 my members' faces and they felt like they were being held captive for an 
 advertising campaign. So we won't be doing that again :)

  
 On Friday, September 26, 2014 8:40:31 AM UTC-7, Jessica Hill wrote:

 Good Morning, 


 We starting to think about creating  perks (discounts from local 
 businesses, and services) for our members. Do any of you have this at your 
 coworking spaces? I am not exactly sure how go about asking businesses for 
 discounts for our members especially since we are so new. 

 Thanks!

 Jessica 

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Re: [Coworking] Coworking space run by Members

2014-10-07 Thread Jessica Hill
Wow, that's awesome! Thanks Tom. 

Jessica 

On Saturday, September 27, 2014 11:49:49 AM UTC-4, Tom Brandt - Workantile 
wrote:

 I am one of the co-owners (should co-owner have a hyphen :)) of 
 Workantile, a coworking community in Ann Arbor. We are very much like a 
 co-op. We have no paid staff, no front desk, and in fact the two other 
 co-owners and I are dues paying members like all other members.

 We set the expectation right away that members contribute to the community 
 by doing whatever needs doing. One of our members organizes monthly 
 cleanings, where the space is cleaned top to bottom. We have maybe half a 
 dozen people show up, and we get it done in around an hour. Members take 
 out the trash when the trash containers get full. Other members organize 
 social activities, or order supplies, or work with me on the billing 
 system. It all works quite well. Some people participate more than others, 
 but everything gets done that needs to get done.

 The keys are setting the expectation right up front, before someone joins, 
 that this is the way things work; and the subtle peer pressure that is 
 created when members see other members doing things.

 On Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 11:47 AM, Jessica Hill jessicar...@gmail.com 
 javascript: wrote:


 Hello again, 


 Any coworking spaces out there, strictly maned by members or workshare 
 members?  How is it working out for you?  Seems like a great idea. Any tips 
 you may have would be great.  We are starting to do this, but we are having 
 an issue with people calling out. It's somewhat frustrating because myself 
 and the other co-owner work full time jobs that are not in the local area 
 of the space , and it is hard for us to get out of work and cover.  We run 
 the front desk in the evenings only.



 Thanks
 Jessica  

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 @twbrandt
  

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Re: [Coworking] Re: Basic elements for a definition of coworking

2014-10-07 Thread Ramon Suarez
Thanks for that reply Alex. With that included here's the whole list

Calls itself a coworking space.

Has a fully dedicated space for coworking (not just a few hours or a
cafeteria shared with patrons).

Has an active community of members, not just clients.

Has  a facilitator dedicated to connect the members and build trust among
them, engaging in activities to build the coworking community.

Treats coworkers as 1st class clients.

Promotes and encourages collaboration, interaction and serendipity.
Offers one or many kinds of membership (full or part time)
Open decision-making: sets explicit, transparent, public limits on who can
be a member and how they can participate; does not have implicit or hidden
rules or processes for determining or excluding potential members.
We will review the map of coworking spaces in Belgium
http://coworkingbelgium.be/belgium-coworking-spaces-map based on this
list.

Now for the 1 Million question: should we weight this criteria? How? :)

Ramon Suarez
Serendipity Accelerator, Betacowork
Author: http://coworkinghandbook.com
email  hangouts: ra...@betacowork.com
Phone: +3227376769
GSM: +32497556284
Twitter:http://twitter.com/ramonsuarez
Skype: ramonsuarez
Try coworking: http://betacowork.com
http://betacowork.com/free-coworking-tryout/?utm_source=emailutm_medium=468x60_bannerutm_content=girl-homeutm_campaign=ramon-signature

On Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 6:35 PM, Steve King sk...@emergentresearch.com
wrote:

 I like the list as well as Alex's add on open membership decision-making.


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Re: [Coworking] Competing Spaces

2014-10-07 Thread Jonathan Markwell
This has been a common question over the years in my relatively small city
(Brighton, England population 273,400). I've just written about it and
created a checklist for future community founders to consider here:

http://jonathanmarkwell.com/2014/10/06/multiple-coworking-spaces/

On 3 March 2013 18:20, Cameron Goldsmith shreveportcollect...@gmail.com
wrote:

 Curious how everyone feels about cities that have multiple coworking
 spots Do you think this is generally a good idea? I know competition is
 supposed to be good for the market, but what if the city is small??

 Im asking because I'm looking to relocate soon. The city Im interested in,
 St. Louis, already has a coworking spot. Ive been looking and researching
 to open one for awhile now, but am now hesitant after finding out StL has a
 fairly large spot already.

 Do you think this is something that is sustainable, or do you feel like I
 would be stepping on the toes of a community catalyst by opening a new
 business doing a very similar thing?


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-- 
Jonathan Markwell

Follow my adventures in space, time and code: http://jot.is/sustainablyindy

The Skiff: Brighton Coworking Community http://jot.is/sharing-space
Coder Founders: Digital Product Consultancy http://jot.is/investing-time
CoGrid: Meeting Room Booking Software http://jot.is/writing-code

+44 (0)7766 021 485
skype: jlmarkwell | twitter: http://twitter.com/jot

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Re: [Coworking] Competing Spaces

2014-10-07 Thread Susan Dorsch
Great post, Jonathan!

#4 is a particularly important point that I've seen a lot of people miss
over the years. We've gotten so much support  great ideas out of the Seattle
Collaborative Space Alliance http://collaborativespaces.org/ and I know
others would say the same. Working with other coworking spaces in your area
is one way to really walk the talk when it comes to coworking. We encourage
our members to get to know one another and support one another, we can
easily do the same with our fellow coworking spaces!

S

__
Office Nomads
officenomads.com
206-323-6500(o)
206-484-5859(m)

On Tue, Oct 7, 2014 at 3:25 PM, Jonathan Markwell 
jonathan.markw...@gmail.com wrote:

 This has been a common question over the years in my relatively small city
 (Brighton, England population 273,400). I've just written about it and
 created a checklist for future community founders to consider here:

 http://jonathanmarkwell.com/2014/10/06/multiple-coworking-spaces/

 On 3 March 2013 18:20, Cameron Goldsmith shreveportcollect...@gmail.com
 wrote:

 Curious how everyone feels about cities that have multiple coworking
 spots Do you think this is generally a good idea? I know competition is
 supposed to be good for the market, but what if the city is small??

 Im asking because I'm looking to relocate soon. The city Im interested
 in, St. Louis, already has a coworking spot. Ive been looking and
 researching to open one for awhile now, but am now hesitant after finding
 out StL has a fairly large spot already.

 Do you think this is something that is sustainable, or do you feel like I
 would be stepping on the toes of a community catalyst by opening a new
 business doing a very similar thing?


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 --
 Jonathan Markwell

 Follow my adventures in space, time and code:
 http://jot.is/sustainablyindy

 The Skiff: Brighton Coworking Community http://jot.is/sharing-space
 Coder Founders: Digital Product Consultancy http://jot.is/investing-time
 CoGrid: Meeting Room Booking Software http://jot.is/writing-code

 +44 (0)7766 021 485
 skype: jlmarkwell | twitter: http://twitter.com/jot

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Re: [Coworking] Competing Spaces

2014-10-07 Thread Aaron Cruikshank
One perspective to consider is what is the total addressable market?
Vancouver has many coworking spaces and I get asked often by the media if I
think the coworking market in Vancouver is saturated.

By my math, if you consider every micro entrepreneur as a potential user,
Vancouver is addressing around 1.5% of the total addressable market. Far
from saturated, surely.

Yet some of these spaces are struggling to fill desks. The problem isn't
the size of the market - it's lack of knowledge in the potential market
about coworking.

More spaces = more potential awareness. There must be some critical mass in
a city or region that pushes coworking from obscurity to mainstream
recognition.

Thoughts?

___
Aaron Cruikshank
Principal, CRUIKSHANK
Phone: 778.908.4560
email: aa...@cruikshank.me
web: cruikshank.me
twitter: @cruikshank
book a meeting: doodle.com/cruikshank
linkedin: linkedin.com/in/cruikshank
On Oct 7, 2014 3:25 PM, Jonathan Markwell jonathan.markw...@gmail.com
wrote:

 This has been a common question over the years in my relatively small city
 (Brighton, England population 273,400). I've just written about it and
 created a checklist for future community founders to consider here:

 http://jonathanmarkwell.com/2014/10/06/multiple-coworking-spaces/

 On 3 March 2013 18:20, Cameron Goldsmith shreveportcollect...@gmail.com
 wrote:

 Curious how everyone feels about cities that have multiple coworking
 spots Do you think this is generally a good idea? I know competition is
 supposed to be good for the market, but what if the city is small??

 Im asking because I'm looking to relocate soon. The city Im interested
 in, St. Louis, already has a coworking spot. Ive been looking and
 researching to open one for awhile now, but am now hesitant after finding
 out StL has a fairly large spot already.

 Do you think this is something that is sustainable, or do you feel like I
 would be stepping on the toes of a community catalyst by opening a new
 business doing a very similar thing?


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 --
 Jonathan Markwell

 Follow my adventures in space, time and code:
 http://jot.is/sustainablyindy

 The Skiff: Brighton Coworking Community http://jot.is/sharing-space
 Coder Founders: Digital Product Consultancy http://jot.is/investing-time
 CoGrid: Meeting Room Booking Software http://jot.is/writing-code

 +44 (0)7766 021 485
 skype: jlmarkwell | twitter: http://twitter.com/jot

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Re: [Coworking] Competing Spaces

2014-10-07 Thread Ashley Proctor
When we launched our first spaces, there were few others in the market.
We spent the majority of our time explaining the concept, a lot of effort on 
education and outreach.
As more and more spaces launched in our city, we definitely all began to 
benefit from the mainstream recognition, as well as the new opportunity to 
collaborate with each other.

You have a choice to 'compete' or to 'collaborate'.
I feel our unique coworking communities in Toronto have a lot in common, and a 
lot to offer each other in terms of support, advice and experience.
I believe our Coworking Toronto and Coworking Ontario collectives are similar 
to this google group - we genuinely like each other and want each other to 
succeed.

We are all fiercely independent, but I think we all gravitated towards 
participating in a regional collective because were all facing similar 
challenges, and were looking for other like-mided friends, mentors and 
colleagues to connect with in Toronto. The same way our members want to connect.
We can also benefit from collective advertising (the concept rather than the 
space) and our members benefit when we leverage collective bargaining power to 
create programs like COHIP.
We might have different missions and mandates and markets, but we can agree 
that we all want our members to be happy and healthy and productive.

Since coworking spaces in Toronto and Ontario began collaborating, we've seen a 
steady increase in coworking awareness, and community participation in our 
events.
Since launching a collective website, we've seen more traffic, more tours, more 
media attention and more members.
Our spaces are all better spaces and our communities are all stronger 
communities because we share best practices.

And yes, the market is growing along with the number of active spaces.
It's a beautiful cycle of supply and demand.
If coworking is truly the future of work as we claim, I can't see a saturation 
point here anytime soon...

Choose to be a champion and a collaborator rather than a competitor when you 
arrive, and introduce yourself as such.
Then start to imagine what's possible if you work together.

Ashley


Ashley Proctor

Creative Blueprint  Foundery
www.creativeblueprint.ca
www.foundery.is

The Foundery Buildings
376 Bathurst Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada



On 2014-10-07, at 6:50 PM, Aaron Cruikshank wrote:

 One perspective to consider is what is the total addressable market? 
 Vancouver has many coworking spaces and I get asked often by the media if I 
 think the coworking market in Vancouver is saturated.
 
 By my math, if you consider every micro entrepreneur as a potential user, 
 Vancouver is addressing around 1.5% of the total addressable market. Far from 
 saturated, surely.
 
 Yet some of these spaces are struggling to fill desks. The problem isn't the 
 size of the market - it's lack of knowledge in the potential market about 
 coworking.
 
 More spaces = more potential awareness. There must be some critical mass in a 
 city or region that pushes coworking from obscurity to mainstream recognition.
 
 Thoughts?
 
 ___
 Aaron Cruikshank
 Principal, CRUIKSHANK
 Phone: 778.908.4560
 email: aa...@cruikshank.me
 web: cruikshank.me
 twitter: @cruikshank
 book a meeting: doodle.com/cruikshank
 linkedin: linkedin.com/in/cruikshank
 
 On Oct 7, 2014 3:25 PM, Jonathan Markwell jonathan.markw...@gmail.com 
 wrote:
 This has been a common question over the years in my relatively small city 
 (Brighton, England population 273,400). I've just written about it and 
 created a checklist for future community founders to consider here: 
 
 http://jonathanmarkwell.com/2014/10/06/multiple-coworking-spaces/
 
 On 3 March 2013 18:20, Cameron Goldsmith shreveportcollect...@gmail.com 
 wrote:
 Curious how everyone feels about cities that have multiple coworking 
 spots Do you think this is generally a good idea? I know competition is 
 supposed to be good for the market, but what if the city is small?? 
 
 Im asking because I'm looking to relocate soon. The city Im interested in, 
 St. Louis, already has a coworking spot. Ive been looking and researching to 
 open one for awhile now, but am now hesitant after finding out StL has a 
 fairly large spot already.
 
 Do you think this is something that is sustainable, or do you feel like I 
 would be stepping on the toes of a community catalyst by opening a new 
 business doing a very similar thing?
 
 
 
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 Jonathan Markwell
 
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 The Skiff: Brighton Coworking Community http://jot.is/sharing-space