[Coworking] Re: Room scheduling
This solution requires a fair amount of technical know-how, but we built a custom solution for displays at both Salt Mines locations. We mounted some spare monitors on the wall, connected them to a couple of Raspberry Pi boards (which can be bought for around $25) and installed a modified version of the Dashings framework. Code is open-sourced and available on GitHub: https://github.com/TheSaltMines/dashboard Ours is configured to show the conference room schedule, activity on our message boards, upcoming weather and what's playing on the radio. On Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 5:43:30 PM UTC+2, Kevin Haggerty wrote: > > Do any of you use any kind of digital marquee or display for tracking room > use/scheduling? I was thinking of getting a couple of tablets and setting > them up outside our meeting rooms. Does Nexudus support anything like this? > I'd basically like it to show what slots are full, but also allow people to > sign up for slots there too. Input appreciated! -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] Managing email in a coworking environment
Hi Jacob! Integrations are definitely on the roadmap, most likely first to come via simple webhooks and possibly Zapier / IFTTT integration. We have a definite list of features we want to add, but a large part of the prioritization process will likely come from feedback we get from folks using it. -- 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.
[Coworking] Managing email in a coworking environment
Hi all! Just wanted to drop a quick note about a project that I've been working on that I think some people here might be interested in— I've been helping operate The Salt Mines <http://saltmines.us> coworking community in Columbus, Ohio for the past several years, and in the time since we opened our doors things have grown to the point where it's more than a single person can manage. Our community has done an awesome job of stepping up and helping out with tasks like giving tours, doing the dishes (most of the time), and making sure new members feel welcome, but one area that we've struggled with is making the process of addressing incoming emails a collaborative effort. To that end, we've been slowly building a new product to help out with this sort of thing. It's called *Saffron <https://saffron.email/for-coworking>*, and it's something I definitely would have wanted to know about when we first started out. It's essentially a shared inbox application that you can open up to some of your trusted community members, where you can discuss and assign out incoming email before hitting the "reply" button. There are already a few other tools out there like this—and some of them are actually really great—but what makes Saffron different is that we're trying to structure the pricing around the *volume of email handled*, and *not on the number of users* in the system. This way you can bring in your whole community to help field questions about how you do coworking, schedule tours, and generally let your members' enthusiasm shine through. We're just now rolling it out to a few groups who are interested in helping us refine how things work, and I wanted to see if this sounded interesting to any of my coworking brothers and sisters. You can find out more about it at https://saffron.email/for-coworking or just let me know if you'd like a personal tour and I'd be happy to show it off in a screen sharing session. Thanks all! Andy Soell // The Salt Mines -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] Nominate 3 people to be among the top 30 people in coworking
> can the nominees be members of coworking spaces? > > I love that this is where your brain went, too. I'd like to nominate at least half of the members of The Salt Mines. -- 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.
[Coworking] Advice for a baby coworking space.
This is an easy one: build your core member base first. 8-10 people, minimum, should be on board and committed to the cause. We opened with zero members and we paid the price for the next five months. It was lonely and an uphill battle. So build the community before you get the space. -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] What metrics do you all gauge to decide whether a location will work well for a coworking space?
I know this isn't exactly what you're asking, but Alex's post reminded me of one of the most interesting and unexpected things I've found since we opened our space nearly 3 years ago. I expected that we would have around 80% of our members coming from the immediate neighborhood, but I've found that people are more than willing to commute if the place they're commuting to is a place they enjoy working. I just took a quick scan of our member roster and less than a quarter of our members live in what I would consider the neighborhood of either of our spaces. Several of those 25% are in the neighborhood because they've specifically moved here after joining us, which is even more incredible. So yeah, it's not necessarily about proximity as much as what you're offering and the kind of community you're cultivating. On Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 9:44:02 PM UTC-4, Alex Hillman wrote: How many people are in a radius doesn't really matter, if none of those people care about or need Coworking. We did something counterintuitive when we began: we put Indy Hall in a place where NONE of our community members already were. We chose a neighborhood that was easily accessible my public transit (something important to our community), but all of our early members lived in 3 main parts of the city and we chose to open in an area that was relatively central to all 3. If we had picked any one of those three parts, the other 2/3rds of our community would've felt more disconnected. Bur I say relative because that's important. There is ALWAYS someone who will say that you're too far away. In our case, that can be as far away as 4 subway stops. It depends on what people are used to. All of this stems from answering a bigger question and asking: who are your members? Not a demographic, or people you hope to reach...but who are the ACTUAL people that you CAN reach. Where are they, and where do they already go? Do they cross neighborhoods? How do they get there? What kind of work do they do? Can they work from anywhere? Do they have the power to choose where they work? Do they like the way they work, or is there a problem or set of problems? I'm a HUGE supporter of doing pop-up Coworking (aka Jelly, workatjelly.com) for a while before selecting any space because it's the ideal way of seeing who actually shows up, and where, and most importantly WHY. Is it because they need a place to work? Or...is it because they're lonely at home and cafes are awkward to be a professional. And you can find all of that our before ever wasting time on finding the perfect location (which doesn't exist, that's a fantasy) and without spending a dollar, unsure if you'll ever see that dollar again. -Alex -- *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com Listen to the podcast: http://listen.coworkingweekly.com On Wednesday, April 1, 2015, Cassidy bartolomei.contract...@gmail.com wrote: What metrics do you all gauge to decide whether a location will work? Like, - at least 100,000 people in a 5 mile radius - at least 100,000 small businesses in a 5 mile radius etc. Thanks! Cassidy -- 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. -- -- *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast -- 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.
[Coworking] Re: Anyone been through a move?
We went through a move in October of 2013 from our initial 450 square foot space (!!) to a whopping 1500 square feet. Everything Angel said was right on the money—make sure your utilities (most importantly Internet) are overlapping in service so you have no downtime, and schedule the move over the weekend. If you get your members on board to help out, the only expenses you should incur are the pizza and beer, and possibly the moving truck. A few of our members had pickup trucks, so we didn't even have to worry about that part. If I could have changed one thing, it would have been thinking through the layout a little better. We didn't put *any* planning into that, and just set up desks wherever. It happened to work out ok, but we could have definitely laid the space out better with a little initial planning. The big takeaway from those two points is this: get the members involved in the move. Let them take ownership of it. This is for philosophical reasons even more than the practical ones: you want the members to be excited about the move and feel like it was *their* move and not *your *move. The end result being that they're going to be the ones excited about the new space, and that energy and excitement is going to shine through when you get people coming through the door interested in joining. On Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 5:18:48 PM UTC-5, Jensen Yancey wrote: Hi Everyone, I'm curious to know if anyone on here has ever dealt with moving locations and wouldn't mind talking a bit about it. If so, shoot me an email at jensen...@gmail.com javascript: Thanks! Jensen -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] My morbid curiosity with Coworking Space Closings
I think there's a great deal of truth here, and I'm really curious about other space's approaches to different membership levels (we're getting way off topic here, but whatever). I think Jerome is absolutely right that it's much harder to keep a part timer on board, probably due to their lack of commitment and the fact that they just by nature of their membership aren't around very much. At the same time, I also completely believe that a good community is a diverse community, and that includes an even distribution of people across different membership levels. Looking at our own membership levels (we have full time, 3 days/week, 1 day/week, 1 day/month), far and away the highest churn rates are in that 1 day/week level. 40% of all cancelations we've had are from that level. I'm not sure what—if anything—is to be done about it, but I'm curious what people have found useful in keeping people coming back who aren't coming every day. I like offering once-a-week memberships, because I really think everyone needs to get out of the house at least once a week, but it seems like that's the level at which people eventually forget about the coworking space and just drop off the face of the earth. On Friday, January 30, 2015 at 11:18:22 AM UTC-5, Jerome wrote: I think the below typically applies to smaller coworking spaces. Well, let me rephrase: the below is required for smaller spaces larger spaces does not need to follow the below rule; BUT, should they, yes, I agree that the below would be ideal. That said, from my experience of being in the trenches for now, 7 years, I can comfortably say that recruiting full-timers is MUCH easier than part-timers. Part-timers have to me, seem only part-ly motivated to join, whether due to (1) they don’t want to spend $; (2) they’re so attached with their status quo of their home office; (3) their interest is so 50/50 fickle, any little thing can wane their interest. Also, if you were to spend, say, 1 hour per new part-timer member, between the tour, follow-up(s), onboarding…to yield $100, and your goal is 10 members, then you’ll spend 10 hours for those “sales”. If you were to spend, say, the same 1 hour per new full-timer to yield $300, then you’d only need to spend a little over 3 hours for those “sales”. The spread worsens if you seek $10k, or $20k. The very same many DIY/automated billing and other admin procedures you’ve focused to minimize, is being offset by exponentially more labor time to sell, or “cost of sales”. Is that the reason why exec suites probably only ‘rent’ full-time office spaces? Yes. Same efforts that yield way more $ revenue. Is there a better mix between the below strategy and exec suites? Yes. And that will depend upon how you operate, your demographics, your size space, etc. *JEROME CHANG* *WEST: Santa Monica* 1450 2nd Street (@Broadway) | Santa Monica CA 90401 ph: (310) 526-2255 *CENTRAL: Mid-Wilshire* 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) | Los Angeles CA 90036 ph: (323) 330-9505 *EAST: Downtown* 529 S. Broadway, Suite 4000 (@Pershing Square) | Los Angeles CA 90013 ph: (213) 550-2235 http://www.yelp.com/biz/blankspaces-los-angeles https://twitter.com/BLANKSPACES https://www.facebook.com/pages/BLANKSPACES/132257631339 https://www.facebook.com/pages/BLANKSPACES/132257631339 http://www.linkedin.com/company/blankspaces?trk=top_nav_home http://vimeo.com/blankspaces http://vimeo.com/blankspaces On Jan 30, 2015, at 6:11 AM, rachel young rac...@camaraderie.ca javascript: wrote: I'll add another item to Jonathan\s list: 4 - Less diversity. 100 members with a flex or part time membership is 3x as many different occupations, passions, life experiences, and hobbies than 35 members with a full time membership, so the mix of people that members interact with will be much less with full time people packed in, but you can cap the number of full time members and ensure there are more part time or flex to make that diversity even more apparent and effective. We have three membership levels: lite, part time, and full time. I always aim for a mix of approximately 30%, 50%, 20%, respectively, with no cap on daypass users or non-space usage memberships (virtual/non-space usage network membership only). r. *rachel young*rac...@camaraderie.ca javascript: *We're located at 2241 Dundas St W, 3rd floor* *(between Bloor and Roncesvalles)* *Chat with me *via 10KCoffees http://t.signaledue.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7t5XZs1qwymMW5wLM1s8rBvDjF51mVDt7mBxf5z9bGz03?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tenthousandcoffees.com%2Fprofile%2Frachel-youngsi=5437397447737344pi=86732968-f3b7-4c9d-93d9-049ee0b7d3d5 *Find us online:* Website/blog
Re: [Coworking] My morbid curiosity with Coworking Space Closings
Our membership breakdown is pretty symmetrical: Full Time: 30% 3 day/week: 20% 1 day/week: 20% 1 day/month: 30% The skew comes in when you look at cancellations. Of our history of cancellations, they’ve come from: Full Time: 15% 3 day/week: 5% 1 day/week: 40% 1 day/month: 40% It’s worth noting that our overall churn rate is actually decent: 5% month-over-month average last year. But the pattern is still there: Weekly members stop coming around and either a) cancel or b) downgrade to monthly memberships, stick around for a while, then cancel. I’m curious if anybody else has seen this and what they’ve done to curtail it. -Original Message- From: Glen Ferguson g...@coworkfrederick.com Reply: coworking@googlegroups.com coworking@googlegroups.com Date: February 6, 2015 at 6:23:09 PM To: coworking@googlegroups.com coworking@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [Coworking] My morbid curiosity with Coworking Space Closings * Looking at our own membership levels (we have full time, 3 days/week, 1 day/week, 1 day/month), far and away the highest churn rates are in that 1 day/week level. 40% of all cancelations we’ve had are from that level. * 1 day a week churns *more* than 1 day a month. That’s a pretty HUGE clue about what the problem is. I'm curious what percentage of your membership is on that 1 day/week plan. When we opened, we didn't have that level, but people wanted to join at that level, so we created it. We've consistently had between 40-50% of members on our 5 days/month level (it's easier to bill as days per month, and more flexible for the member). I'd expect the percentage of churn to reflect the percentage of membership, but now you're giving me homework to do this weekend and further break down my churn stats by membership tier to see if that holds true. --- Glen Ferguson Cowork Frederick 122 E Patrick St Frederick, MD 21701-5630 +1 (301) 732-5165 www.coworkfrederick.com @CoworkFrederick On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 4:58 PM, Alex Hillman wrote: * Looking at our own membership levels (we have full time, 3 days/week, 1 day/week, 1 day/month), far and away the highest churn rates are in that 1 day/week level. 40% of all cancelations we’ve had are from that level. * 1 day a week churns *more* than 1 day a month. That’s a pretty HUGE clue about what the problem is. -Alex -- *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com Listen to the podcast: http://listen.coworkingweekly.com On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 4:29 PM, Andy Soell wrote: I think there's a great deal of truth here, and I'm really curious about other space's approaches to different membership levels (we're getting way off topic here, but whatever). I think Jerome is absolutely right that it's much harder to keep a part timer on board, probably due to their lack of commitment and the fact that they just by nature of their membership aren't around very much. At the same time, I also completely believe that a good community is a diverse community, and that includes an even distribution of people across different membership levels. Looking at our own membership levels (we have full time, 3 days/week, 1 day/week, 1 day/month), far and away the highest churn rates are in that 1 day/week level. 40% of all cancelations we've had are from that level. I'm not sure what—if anything—is to be done about it, but I'm curious what people have found useful in keeping people coming back who aren't coming every day. I like offering once-a-week memberships, because I really think everyone needs to get out of the house at least once a week, but it seems like that's the level at which people eventually forget about the coworking space and just drop off the face of the earth. On Friday, January 30, 2015 at 11:18:22 AM UTC-5, Jerome wrote: I think the below typically applies to smaller coworking spaces. Well, let me rephrase: the below is required for smaller spaces larger spaces does not need to follow the below rule; BUT, should they, yes, I agree that the below would be ideal. That said, from my experience of being in the trenches for now, 7 years, I can comfortably say that recruiting full-timers is MUCH easier than part-timers. Part-timers have to me, seem only part-ly motivated to join, whether due to (1) they don’t want to spend $; (2) they’re so attached with their status quo of their home office; (3) their interest is so 50/50 fickle, any little thing can wane their interest. Also, if you were to spend, say, 1 hour per new part-timer member, between the tour, follow-up(s), onboarding…to yield $100, and your goal is 10 members, then you’ll spend 10 hours for those “sales”. If you were to spend, say, the same 1 hour per new full-timer to yield $300, then you’d only need to spend a little over 3 hours for those “sales
[Coworking] Re: Coworking Survey
Hi Piotr, You have to remember, coworking space operators and owners (and even members) get asked to fill out surveys like this ALL. THE. TIME. It's a weekly occurrence for me. I used to complete them as asked, but it gets repetitive and I've mostly stopped—I'm not surprised you've only gotten a few dozen responses. If you really want to get a large volume of responses, you want consider giving an incentive for people to complete it. Good luck! -- 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.
[Coworking] Re: Starting a new coworking space while employed fulltime
I may be the exception here, though I'm not totally sure why. I opened a coworking space back in 2012 while working a full-time, remote job. While there were absolutely challenges, I never felt like I was being torn between my day job and running the space. Reflecting on it a bit, I think there are two keys to pulling it off: 1) Ideally, get a crew to help you open the space. The more hands you have involved, the less responsibity is going to rest on your shoulders day-to-day 2) Set new member expectations and stick with them. From day one, we emphasize to our members that we're a coop at heart and everything is everyone's responsibility—nobody is here to wash your dishes and clean up your mess. The day you start doing all the dishes is the day you lose that battle and you'll find the responibilities of running the space interfering with the day job. Beyond this, I would also suggest requiring dropins and people asking for tours to schedule a specific time to come in. That definitely helped me continue to keep up with the day job while also being available to sign up new members and do the tasks that come along with running a coworking space. -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] So...where are all the space managers?
I’d still love an invite if that’s ok. a...@saltmines.us On Oct 17, 2014, at 12:13 PM, Melissa Geissinger meli...@beawimp.org wrote: Yann, Email me at invit...@wimpspace.com and I'll add you to the Slack group. We need to all try and hang out in there more often though so make the most out of it :) Melissa Geissinger President COO | WIMP LLC http://www.beawimp.org/ WIMPspace: Cowork • Colearn • Coexist http://www.wimpspace.com/ p 707 827 1334 x1 c 707 888 0225 On Friday, October 17, 2014 2:45:45 AM UTC-7, Yann Heurtaux wrote: Hi guys, Would you be so kind to count me in please? -Yann Former Betacowork coworker ;) VP co-founder Hackuarium.ch Tummler co-founder UniverCity.ch -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com http://discuss.coworking.com/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups Coworking group. To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/coworking/TKWCKxHlHE0/unsubscribe https://groups.google.com/d/topic/coworking/TKWCKxHlHE0/unsubscribe. To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com mailto:coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout 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. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
[Coworking] Integrating existing teams into a coworking community
For the past two years, since we first opened our doors, we've been chugging right along serving the needs of independent and remote professionals on the *individual* level—freelancers (with the occasional intern), remote employees, one-man startups, etc. And that's been great; New members are quickly welcomed in and find community where they previously had none. Last month we had our first experience bringing in an existing team: Two women working remotely for a consumer product group. Naturally, they selected desks right next to each other and didn't spend much time talking with anyone else unless they were approached first. We didn't have any serious conflicts, but I sensed some regular annoyance from them about the occasionally increased noise level, as well as the inability to reliably find space where they could take long conference calls on speaker phone. Not surprisingly, they cancelled their memberships after a month because all they could see was the inconvenience of having people around, without any of the upsides. And really, I can't blame them. Their experience wasn't optimal, and we failed to properly show them the benefits of coworking. We have a team of 3 people starting on Monday, and I want to do whatever we can to make this experience different. What do you guys do to help ensure that incoming teams have what they need to be their own community, but also help them fit into the existing community rather than have to battle against it? The obvious first step that we're definitely trying out is making sure that the team is spread throughout the space, sitting by people they don't already know, but I was curious if there was something more we ought to try. Any suggestions? -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] So...where are all the space managers?
I'd love an invite for this Slack group as well! We just started up a member Slack group at The Salt Mines, and it's been really fun and helpful. I think it would be awesome to be able to collaborate with other space managers in a more real-time fashion—if I can get an invite at a...@saltmines.us I'd appreciate it! -- 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.
[Coworking] Re: Google Cal conference room booking by many different domains
We've been using SuperSaaS http://www.supersaas.com (horrible name, decent product) for the past few months and it's worked great. Worth far more than the $8/month they charge, and I believe it integrates with Google Calendar and will let you use your own custom domain name. Best of all you can set up the bookable resources so you don't even need to log in to use it. The last thing a coworker need is one more password to remember. andy On Sunday, July 20, 2014 2:40:03 PM UTC-4, Lisa Anne Logan wrote: Hi there, We've been using the ol' write your name on the door method for booking conference rooms, and I'd like to implement a Google Calendar system instead. And, of course, by tomorrow ;) Ideally, everyone on a specific Google Groups distro (e.g. mem...@hattery.com javascript:) would have access to all our conference room resource calendars for booking. I would add and remove people from that group as they join or leave Hattery, and that would update their calendar access. Access would always by synched between that group and the resource list. It seems like this should just work as described, but it doesn't. The kicker may be that our members use dozens of different domain names, so the typical share with everyone in my domain choices don't apply. Looking for a Google Calendar whiz who might be able to lend some ideas... Thanks! LA Lisa Anne Logan Director of Marketing and Operations Hattery l...@hattery.com javascript: 415.205.5325 -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] Who's shopping for electronic door locks?
The one thing I would recommend, if you're looking at Kevo, is to make sure you understand how their ekey pricing model works. Unless I'm grossly misunderstanding, it looks like the way it works is that you have to pay for packs of virtual keys to give to people before they can unlock it with their phone. It seems a bit ridiculous to me that you have to pay for the hardware and then pay again for each user you want to be able to unlock the hardware. If you have a lot of members, the cost for the Kevo system could end up being quite a bit higher than expected if you were only looking at the cost of the hardware. On Jul 12, 2014, at 11:43 PM, Rachel Cline rclineconsult...@gmail.com wrote: Kevo looks great! thanks for sharing. Have you found any additional information or reviews? On Friday, June 6, 2014 2:49:10 PM UTC-7, Andy Soell wrote: Love all these reviews, thanks for all the guidance everyone! Does anyone have any experience with a newer Bluetooth-enabled locked called Kevo? Works with iOS devices, and also supports key fobs for users with other mobile phone platforms. http://www.kwikset.com/Kevo/ Looks promising, but I'm always a little wary of newer, untested products. -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups Coworking group. To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/coworking/LhlCVViGlfY/unsubscribe. To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, 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. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [Coworking] Who's shopping for electronic door locks?
As long as we're back on electronic locks, we're looking for a good solution for our new location. The existing door is glass with a narrow stile http://www.customstorefronts.com/products/doors/aluminum/aluminum.htm frame that won't accommodate a standard deadbolt sized solution. If you search for door-code style locks for door like this on Amazon, you get a lot of results but none of them with enough purchases to figure out if they're good or not. Angel mentioned one earlier in this thread that would work, but it wasn't very favorably reviewed by her. Does anyone have any tips on a door code lock like this that they would recommend? I definitely want something with easily programmable codes we can give our members and not fobs or smartphone integration. andy On Monday, July 14, 2014 1:17:49 PM UTC-4, Jacob Sayles wrote: I'm down here in San Francisco now, knee deep in renovations for The Red Victorian http://www.redvic.com and working on their door lock solution. We don't want to use any smart phone systems (Kevo, Lockitron, August, etc) because we can't know for sure what kind of phone our guests will have, if they will even have phones, or if they are charged when they arrive. We want to go with a personalized key code that can be generated and emailed to them using the reservation system we built. For that we are hooking up the existing electric strike on the front gate to a raspberry pi and a wiegand keypad. The next bit of magic will be to hook up each room with a Kwikset SmartCode lock and push the generated code to the given room, and turn off the previous occupants code. The advantages of going with the Kwikset are that it can use the existing lock tumblers so we can keep the large amount of room keys we already have. Also at around $120-$150 the price is right for outfitting 20+ doors. People have been getting really excited about the idea of outfitting each door with a raspberry pi but by the time we get power, servos, and a durable enclosure hooked up it's going to be a lot more expensive. One pi at the front door calling all the shots is all we need. Of course I have to figure out how to send the key codes to each door so there is more RD needed. I'm also working to figure out the Wiegand protocol to hook up the keypad. If anyone has played with this, please reach out. Jacob --- Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500 On Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 6:34 AM, rachel cline rclineco...@gmail.com javascript: wrote: Good info, I saw the fobs cost about $25, I didn't notice you had to pay for each virtual key also. Rachel Cline 702-577-8627 Sent from my iPhone On Jul 14, 2014, at 6:30 AM, Andy Soell aso...@gmail.com javascript: wrote: The one thing I would recommend, if you’re looking at Kevo, is to make sure you understand how their “ekey” pricing model works. Unless I’m grossly misunderstanding, it looks like the way it works is that you have to pay for packs of virtual “keys” to give to people before they can unlock it with their phone. It seems a bit ridiculous to me that you have to pay for the hardware and *then* pay again for each user you want to be able to unlock the hardware. If you have a lot of members, the cost for the Kevo system could end up being quite a bit higher than expected if you were only looking at the cost of the hardware. On Jul 12, 2014, at 11:43 PM, Rachel Cline rclineco...@gmail.com javascript: wrote: Kevo looks great! thanks for sharing. Have you found any additional information or reviews? On Friday, June 6, 2014 2:49:10 PM UTC-7, Andy Soell wrote: Love all these reviews, thanks for all the guidance everyone! Does anyone have any experience with a newer Bluetooth-enabled locked called Kevo? Works with iOS devices, and also supports key fobs for users with other mobile phone platforms. http://www.kwikset.com/Kevo/ Looks promising, but I'm always a little wary of newer, untested products. -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups Coworking group. To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/coworking/LhlCVViGlfY/unsubscribe. To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com javascript:. 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 a topic in the Google Groups Coworking group. To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/coworking/LhlCVViGlfY/unsubscribe. To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com javascript:. For more options, visit https
[Coworking] Re: How did you get the first members to sign in? Just opening a coworking space
This sounds *ridiculously* familiar. This was us a little more than a year ago. In addition to launching without an established community, we opened up with punchcard rates ($xx for y days to use whenever they want), which didn't encourage any sort of regular usage. We took extreme measures to combat five months of loneliness: We switched up to a membership based system, promoted the hell of it, and had a membership drive week: Free for everyone for a solid week, and members who signed up during that week got 50% off their membership for the first six months. I can't say whether or not that will work in all situations, but it was what finally got us a good, solid crew of 13 members coming in on a regular basis. From that point on, we've had continual 7-10% growth each month. On Tuesday, June 17, 2014 7:56:27 PM UTC-4, Tamara Acosta wrote: Hello community, I am just opening the first coworking space in Merida Yucatán (mexico) ( www.nodocowork.com) We are just 3 weeks of starting with this great project but struggling with the first members to sign in. They come, they try the coworking, get great reviews from them but then I don´t get them to come pack and decide to pay. How did you all managed with this? We are starting to organize different events to create more community bunds which I hope it works. One thing I am not liking is that when they come and try it out there is nobody but me working here so they don´t really feel like coworking. I was thinking to invite like brand embassadors to work from here during one week and on that week invite all the interested people on coworking to give it a try, to feel the real coworking effect and then if you pay in the next few days you get a week for free Any other suggestions? I am still waiting for the first coworker to open the dance floor! Thanks a lot, Tamara -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] Re: Who's shopping for electronic door locks?
Love all these reviews, thanks for all the guidance everyone! Does anyone have any experience with a newer Bluetooth-enabled locked called Kevo? Works with iOS devices, and also supports key fobs for users with other mobile phone platforms. http://www.kwikset.com/Kevo/ Looks promising, but I'm always a little wary of newer, untested products. -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] Meeting with coworkers for space improvements - any advice?
We have a monthly member lunch where we order a bunch of pizza and catch up on what everyone's up to. A part of that is always giving updates on the space, talking about issues that come up and ideas for improvement. It's always been a super positive experience for us, even when people do have legitimate issues they've been unhappy with. Something about free pizza probably helps :) -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] Re: Who's shopping for electronic door locks?
Resurrecting a very old thread here, but I'm curious to hear some more recent recommendations for entry security. We've been using a Nexia/Schlage door lock (mentioned in this thread) and it's worked great for us. The problem is that we're quickly approaching our 30-code limit and will need to move on to something that works for more users. I'd love to keep the cost in the same ballpark, what relatively inexpensive options have people found? I'm not adverse to DIY options, as long as it's reliable and not *too* complex to set up. andy On Thursday, November 25, 2010 3:46:14 PM UTC-5, Frederik Denkens wrote: Jacob, Thanks for the pointers! I just sent them both an email, let's see what comes back. In any case if we do come up with something working, we'll be sure to share our experience. Regards, Frederik. *Fre*derik Denkens Initiatiefnemer ASPACE coworking +32 475 96 04 93 http://twitter.com/fdenkens http://twitter.com/aspace *http://aspace.be http://aspace.be* -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] Industry Churn
We're right around 6% as well, though the number varies wildly from month to month. It seems to fluctuate between 11% and 0%. -- 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.
[Coworking] Water boiler recommendations
Overall I'm really loving how everyone in our community pitches in on things like cleaning up, washing dishes, making coffee, etc. but there's one thing that everyone forgets and it DRIVES ME CRAZY. We have a hot water pothttp://www.amazon.com/HOMEIMAGE-3-2-Liter-Electric-Thermo/dp/B007WWKIKG/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8qid=1396622207sr=8-20keywords=water+boilerthat we use to keep 3 liters of water ready to go for tea or coffee at a moment's notice, and it's ALWAYS empty. I'm as much to blame as anyone else in our community, but it left me wondering if something like this exists that includes hardware to connect directly into the waterline so it automatically keeps filled. Has anyone come across something like that? Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] Water boiler recommendations
Thanks Alex—I saw that post a while back, but I think I would have a mutiny on my hands if I even *suggested* we switch away from French press. I'm really looking for something that just handles the boiling water. Did a little more searching and found this one from Bunnhttp://amzn.com/BDIWV2 but was a little sticker shocked. I guess that's the difference between consumer and professional level equipment, though. On Friday, April 4, 2014 11:00:41 AM UTC-4, Alex Hillman wrote: Yep, our coffee maker (and water cooler) are both wired into a water line. More here: http://www.quora.com/Coworking/Whats-the-best-way-of-providing-coffee-in-my-new-coworking-space We rent a higher-end water cooler from a local company (they do the maintenance for us), but you can get more basic ones on Amazon, just search for bottle-less water coolers. Most of them have hot water built in, too. -Alex -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 10:41 AM, Andy Soell aso...@gmail.comjavascript: wrote: Overall I'm really loving how everyone in our community pitches in on things like cleaning up, washing dishes, making coffee, etc. but there's one thing that everyone forgets and it DRIVES ME CRAZY. We have a hot water pothttp://www.amazon.com/HOMEIMAGE-3-2-Liter-Electric-Thermo/dp/B007WWKIKG/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8qid=1396622207sr=8-20keywords=water+boilerthat we use to keep 3 liters of water ready to go for tea or coffee at a moment's notice, and it's ALWAYS empty. I'm as much to blame as anyone else in our community, but it left me wondering if something like this exists that includes hardware to connect directly into the waterline so it automatically keeps filled. Has anyone come across something like that? Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us -- 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+...@googlegroups.com javascript:. 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. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
[Coworking] Re: Member survey - posted to group
I realize this is a very old post, but does this files section of Google Groups still exist? I can't seem to find the referenced survey document. On Thursday, January 28, 2010 7:45:18 PM UTC-5, Susan Evans wrote: Hi all, I just uploaded the basic list of questions that Office Nomads recently asked our members to the Coworking Google Group's files section. Check it out. I have recently spoken with several other coworking space owners, all of which who have been dabbling with the idea of member surveys and I'd like to highly recommend it! Not only have we enabled our members to give us solid feedback (beyond what they casually give us at events, happy hours, etc.), but we kicked off an entire new level of engagement with our members to ensure that we were serving their needs properly and that they were getting what they wanted out of membership. After running this survey, we were inspired by our members to: * Create another survey that we will send out to folks who have tried out Office Nomads but have *not* become members to see what we can learn from these folks about how we're doing. * Host regular gatherings of particularly interested members to brainstorm how we can make our business better and to ensure that we are addressing the needs of our members as best as possible. (which we decided to host, and then they asked us to host again in 6 months to check in on our progress - how awesome is that??) * Follow up on a variety of suggestions given to us by members via the survey. All in all, a huge win for us. Yes, it means more work for us. Yes, it exposes us to feedback both positive and constructive. But in the end this step has definitely enabled us to strengthen our business, spark us to reinvigorate a few aspects of our business that have slowed a little bit, and get our new members into the conversation a bit. All are welcome to use and adapt the survey for their own uses! I utilized the Google Form program (wow, a HUGE step up after the disaster which is Survey Monkey), and allowed all of our members access to the survey results so they could see what we could see. Transparency. It's not just for Obama anymore. :) Enjoy, and feel free to contact me with questions! As soon as I complete our non-member survey I'll be sure to post it to the group's files and let y'all know. Word, coworkers. Susan __ Office Nomads www.officenomads.com 206-323-6500 -- 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.
Re: [Coworking] Re: Coworking Visa Map
While you're at it :) The Salt Mines, Columbus, OH (saltmines.us) Thanks! On Thursday, February 13, 2014 7:07:35 AM UTC-5, Kristin Baker wrote: Jay, Could you also add CoWork155, York, PA (www.CoWork155.com). This is such a great way to show the visual impact of coworking. Kristin Baker On Monday, July 8, 2013 1:31:57 PM UTC-4, Jay | TheNetworkHub.ca wrote: Thanks so much Alex! We've updated the list with your site :) The next iteration of the map, we'll give out logins to space managers so we can all update the info on the map, we just wanted to be careful with this so that the map does not get spammy, that'd suck - jay On Sunday, 7 July 2013 20:42:08 UTC-7, Alex Hillman wrote: Totally love this. Beautifully simple. Absolutely adding this to our site and member material! I just tweeted at you that Indy Hall doesn't seem to be on the list but we're on the wiki page - could you add us when you get a chance? Thanks so much! -Alex -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 8:28 PM, Jay | TheNetworkHub.ca jayca...@gmail.com wrote: Got some update for those interested in embedding the map on their websites. We've received some feedback and feature requests since we released the original coworking visa map, so we've taken them into consideration and incorporated what we could in the last couple of weeks, you can check it out at coworkingvisamap.com The new page will let you resize the map and enable or disable the listings. Let us know what you think :) We'll keep the other one up, if you've already embedded it, but we do recommend embedding this new map instead. Any future improvements or added features, we'll be working on them with this new version. Also, we've updated the map with the new spaces that have posted on this thread once we've verified the info on the wiki and that their site is online. If they aren't on there, that means the coworking space's website is down or have not updated the visa page of the wiki yet. As we mentioned previously, we are doing this manually for the moment until we can get a more reliable way to automate this verification process. On Tuesday, 18 June 2013 04:24:34 UTC-7, Moha Alsouli wrote: Really great work! We are opening now a new coworking space in Saudi Arabia and would love to be added, we've added the space details to the visa wiki page, here: http://wiki.coworking.com/w/page/16583744/CoworkingVisa#saudi We'll definitely embed the map to our new site ;) Cheers On Monday, 15 April 2013 04:56:27 UTC+3, Jay | TheNetworkHub.ca wrote: Hey everyone, We recently updated our website and decided to embed a google maps page of other spaces that participate in the Coworking Visa program. We found that a visual representation of coworking spaces globally generates a lot of excitement for those that are brand new to coworking, especially our more mobile members. The thought of being able to travel across the world, have a desk waiting for you, and be able to connect to a local community of likeminded people is a revolutionary idea, one that we should probably promote more often. We used the info from the coworking wiki to generate the list of coworking visa participants, but if your space is new or we missed adding your space, please let us know and we'd love to add you onto the page: http://www.thenetworkhub.ca/free-workspace/ Thanks! jay -- 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+...@googlegroups.com. 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. 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/groups/opt_out.
[Coworking] Experience with Stamps.com?
Hey all, I had a quick question (for my US counterparts) about sending mail from coworking spaces. Up until now, everyone has just kind of done their own thing. Our previous location was just a few blocks from a post office, so it made sense for people to just walk down and take care of any shipping they needed in an on-demand fashion. Since our move, though, we're a bit further and yesterday one of my members brought the idea of investing in a postage scale for everyone. This got me to thinking about taking it a step further with some sort of on-demand postage printing service like Stamps.com Personally, I don't send much mail in my business so I don't have much of a frame of reference for this sort of thing; Have any other spaces gone this route, with a centralized mailing service offered to members? Have you found it to be worth the added effort of keeping track of who spent what and charging them back for printed postage and materials? Thanks so much! Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us -- 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/groups/opt_out.
Re: [Coworking] Re: What does coworking has in common with the craft brewing movement?
More coworking spaces in an area means a greater chance of discovery of the concept, which means a larger potential market. Good for everybody. This, 100%. In the 16 months since we opened our space, I've had a constant struggle keeping my lizard brain in check whenever I hear about new coworking options in town. I think it's natural to view other coworking options as competition, but Alex is absolutely right that they're actually allies. I've made a point to try to meet up with managers of other coworking spaces in town, and more often than not we come away from these meetings recognizing that there are different spaces for different needs, and it makes so much more sense to work together to help independents find the space that's right for them (do they need private offices? Land lines? Conference space?) rather than race to the bottom on price or dump money into amenities that are there purely to attract new members. Another thing to ask yourself is Where are my new members coming from? We've had a grand total of one member gained from conversion from a different coworking space. The other 96% of our members had never been in a coworking environment before. There are so many potential members out there, it really doesn't make any sense to worry about competition with other spaces. Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us -- 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/groups/opt_out.
[Coworking] Re: Update from Office Nomads
This is a question I've been struggling with lately too... up until now our membership has been mostly individual freelancers, but several are starting to bring on interns and contractors. What we've landed with is allowing members who bring on other members at half price, with the following conditions: 1) The new member is only there working on projects directly related to the host member's work 2) The new member is at the same or lower membership level than the host member 3) Both memberships are paid for by the same credit card (to avoid collections hassles) Under this setup, the new member gets all of the perks of a regular member, and the host member gets a bit of a discount to help their growth. I spoke with another space operator here in town yesterday, and while they don't offer discounts for additional memberships like this, they do allow full-time desk renters to split their desk with another person for a $25/month surcharge. I'm sure there are a million ways to handle this situation, but this is what we're running with for the time being. Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us On Wednesday, January 15, 2014 6:26:30 PM UTC-5, Liane J. wrote: Hi Susan - your new website looks great - clean and inviting! I just opened a coworking space in Chicago, Free Range Office, and I was interested in your pricing structure, as I'm struggling with what to charge teams. For example, I have someone in a semi-private space who brought on two other people, and I wasn't sure what to charge. I see that you offer Team rates, but I couldn't tell if that meant that for the price of $540/month, all four team members could utilize the space together at the same time. Any advice folks have on this issue would be helpful! thanks, Liane On Tuesday, January 14, 2014 3:56:08 PM UTC-6, Susan Dorsch wrote: Hi folks! It's been an age since I chimed in on the ol' list, so first - hello everyone! Hope that 2014 is treating you all fabulously well. I wanted to do a little celebrating of the new Office Nomads website - we just relaunched it last week and so far all is running smoothly: http://www.officenomads.com. Please take a look and let me know what you think! A couple of key changes for us: - *New membership options http://officenomads.com/join/* based off of member feedback, including a student rate and a team rate for small teams of 2-4. We've also separated out 24/7 access so that our part time members can add after-hours access to their memberships if they choose. On the flip side of that, Residents can have dedicated desks without 24/7 access now, cutting the price down for them. So far, people are really happy with the changes. - A *contact form http://officenomads.com/contact/* on the site - it turns out that people really use these things! I have been absolutely surprised at the number of folks who have written in using this form already in the first week. It could be something for you all to consider if/when you are making changes to your sites. - Making a clear connection - right up there on the front page - to the *coworking movement*. We couldn't really believe that we didn't shout it out as loud before, and we're proud to now include the core values right there on our front page, as well as linking straight to coworking.org. A huge shout-out to our fine friends at New Work City http://nwc.co/, Indy Hall http://indyhall.org/, and The Factory http://workthefactory.com/ for their awesome websites. They provided a lot of inspiration for us as we made our changes! That's all for now. Much coworking love to all! Susan __ Office Nomads officenomads.com 206-323-6500(o) 206-484-5859(m) -- 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/groups/opt_out.
[Coworking] High school intern
Our coworking space has been asked to take on a high school senior for a two month long internship. I searched and read a few threads about coworking interns, but I was curious if anybody has specifically been in a situation with high school aged interns. There are a few obvious tasks that come to mind that they could be tasked with (coordinating social media, greeting walk-ins, light cleaning, etc.) but I was curious if there were practical tasks that I might be overlooking that would both benefit the space as well as help prepare the intern for college or career. Thanks! Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us -- 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/groups/opt_out.
Re: [Coworking] Idea Phase Market Research
I totally agree with the spirit of what's being said here, but I just want to reinforce that it's never too late to right the ship after going about things the wrong way. We launched our coworking space in the worst possible way: Signed the lease ourselves, fixed it up while not telling too many people about it, and opened the doors just expecting people to flock to us. After four months of loneliness, it was clear that we weren't going about it the right way, and we changed tack to focus more on building a community rather than filling a space. In the eight months that followed, we built up a thriving, supportive core of nearly two dozen members and, as a side effect, have outgrown our original space If I had it to do over again, I would absolutely do it differently—that said, we've still managed to get to a good place despite our initial missteps. It's never too late to turn things around once you get your focus where it should be. Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us On Thursday, November 7, 2013 8:25:57 AM UTC-5, Trevor Twining wrote: Hey all, I just want to reinforce what Alex is saying. The community building model isn't just the best approach to use when setting up a space. It's the only model that creates the transformative effects most of us are looking for when setting up such a space in the first place. Cowork Niagara has been using this model. Over the past 18 months, we've been gathering regularly at a local cafe Wed afternoons. We started out with three people (!). We now have a group of well over 100 that are loosely connected and interested. Of those, 50 come out to a few meetups a quarter. But we've found our core of 30 people who come out almost weekly and have agreed that they want to get a dedicated space. We're sourcing real estate now, and just getting our corporation papers filed (co-ops are a great model for this financially, btw). Once you start working with that many people, it is literally amazing and seems almost magical how the power of the group to solve problems takes over. To be honest, while at first I thought the idea of community-first was nice but not necessary, it wasn't until I was immersed in it that I realized just how powerful this approach is. The difficult part is that it takes time, and most people don't seem to realize just how much time it takes. Anyway, kind of rambling right now, but all this to say that if I hadn't listed to Alex and others talking about community first, we wouldn't be where we are today. TT Trevor Twining Cowork Niagara On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 4:33 AM, Susan Jones su...@readysetstartup.comjavascript: wrote: Alex, I'm just launching a once a week coworking day at my house for 5 weeks before the end of the year. This is to draw together some of the people I've been talking to about coworking and develop some community. a bit of a pilot project in community development if you like. :-) Do you think I should be asking people to make a (small) financial commitment at this stage to participate for these 5 weeks? Thanks Susan On Thursday, 7 November 2013 01:28:30 UTC+11, Alex Hillman wrote: Not market research, but community building. It serves both purposes and solves countless other problems at the same time: from location selection to financing and more. Here are a bunch of resources and recommended reading on the topic that I've compiled over the years and share most often: http://betterwork.co/recommended-reading -Alex -- /ah indyhall.org betterwork.co On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 2:13 PM, Adam Warnke warnk...@gmail.com wrote: Hey guys, I am in the idea phase for a coworking space in Alabama. I want to know if any of you did any market research before starting up or if you just did it and hoped there was enough people who had a need for you space. If you did do some market research, what all did you do? 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+...@googlegroups.com. 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. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com javascript:. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- Trevor Twining skype:trevortwining -- 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
Re: [Coworking] Re: Hosting a gallery showing
become active in the coworking community and people form relationships with them. Buying an awesome piece of art from someone you know and potentially care about has a profound impact on the meaning and value of that piece. Having done it myself, I can say it's awesome to support a friend through their art. - *Our members are people who value art. *This may not be every community, but art appears in the top 10 reasons that people join and stay at Indy Hall. In talking to people about it, I've learned that it's not the fact that there's art on the wall...but the fact that we've even chosen for there to be art here is a signal to people of what we value. People who value art walk in here and know they're among likeminded people. At the end of the day, art in a coworking space can play a HUGE role: culturally, creatively, collaboratively, and in some cases financially. Just be sure to keep the long game in mind! -Alex -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 3:07 AM, Andy Soell aso...@gmail.comjavascript: wrote: Yes, thank you Ashley and Sam for the advice! We're definitely planning to set expectations accordingly for what we're able to offer, and won't be charging a commission. I like the idea of charging a flat hanging fee just so that there is an understanding of a transaction taking place, but we'll probably set that price based on whether the person organizing the show is a member of the space or not. They're talking about running the show in November, I'll be sure to report back on how it went, and anything we learned in the process. Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us On Saturday, September 7, 2013 1:51:32 PM UTC-4, Andy Soell wrote: In exciting news, our coworking space is expanding—next month we'll be moving into a new space 3x the size of what we've started with. We're excited about the things we'll be able to do for the community with all the extra space, and we've gotten a bit of interest in doing gallery shows. Have any of you had experience hosting galleries? Any considerations or pitfalls in particular we should be aware of? Thanks! andy -- 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+...@googlegroups.com javascript:. 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. 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/groups/opt_out.
[Coworking] Re: Hosting a gallery showing
Yes, thank you Ashley and Sam for the advice! We're definitely planning to set expectations accordingly for what we're able to offer, and won't be charging a commission. I like the idea of charging a flat hanging fee just so that there is an understanding of a transaction taking place, but we'll probably set that price based on whether the person organizing the show is a member of the space or not. They're talking about running the show in November, I'll be sure to report back on how it went, and anything we learned in the process. Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us On Saturday, September 7, 2013 1:51:32 PM UTC-4, Andy Soell wrote: In exciting news, our coworking space is expanding—next month we'll be moving into a new space 3x the size of what we've started with. We're excited about the things we'll be able to do for the community with all the extra space, and we've gotten a bit of interest in doing gallery shows. Have any of you had experience hosting galleries? Any considerations or pitfalls in particular we should be aware of? Thanks! andy -- 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/groups/opt_out.
[Coworking] Re: Hello from Ohio
Thanks guys! Yeah, it's been hard work, and most of that post was a way to usefully vent about the frustrations involved, but its largely been a great experience so far. Good luck with your own spaces! andy -- 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/groups/opt_out.
[Coworking] Hello from Ohio
Just reaching out to say 'hello!' I manage an eight-month-old coworking space in Columbus, and am just keeping feelers out to see how other coworking managers are doing things. I feel like we're doing pretty well here, but we still have a lot to learn. Thanks all! Andy Soell The Salt Mines http://saltmines.us -- 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/groups/opt_out.
