[Coworking] Re: Hi

2009-07-24 Thread Liza Loop

Hi Brandy,

Great idea. You might consider partnering with an existing day care
center since a good kid environment may be harder to create than a
good coworking space.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Liza

On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 6:25 PM, ForceDotMombcol...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi,

 I am not coworking yet.  Actually - I just had the idea to open a
 space the other day, and I didn't even know that 'coworking' was a
 thing.  But here you all are.

 My thought was that it would be nice to have a coworking space that
 would incorporate childcare of some kind. I know that some
 corporations have on site daycare for working parents.  I think it
 would be so great to have something like that for people (like me) who
 work at a home office and have kids to care for.

 Would love to hear any thoughts or input from the group.

 I look forward to learning more here.

 -Brandy


 


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[Coworking] Re: Introduction/Mobile Coworking

2009-07-09 Thread Liza Loop

Hello Jimmy,

Our biggest challenge has been letting people know our coworking site
is available. Neither I nor my partner are natural publicists.

After watching these postings for about 6 months I'm beginning to
believe this is a common but under-discussed problem. We hear a lot
from the groups that are having well attended events but those that
are having difficulty bringing people in are quiet about it.

Does anyone else out there get this impression?

Liza Loop
Fiber High,
989 Commercial St.
Palo Alto, CA

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:49 AM, Jimmyjjthr...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi folks,

 My name is Jimmy Thrasher, and I live near Mebane, NC (Mebbin, 10K-
 ish people).  My interest in coworking is mainly from the working
 side, but to that end I and a friend are evaluating setting up a light-
 weight mobile coworking space that can be dropped into any of the
 number of empty office spaces in downtown Mebane.  There are enough
 telecommuters and long-distance commuters that I think it could fly
 but haven't proven it to myself yet.

 I really just want to be able to cycle to work.

 If anybody here has set up something like this, I'd be interested to
 hear your experiences.  I'm envisioning:
 - a big room
 - with two tables
 - free (included) wifi
 - free-ish coffee
 - nice chairs

 Jimmy

 


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[Coworking] Re: Creating new space - SF

2009-07-09 Thread Liza Loop

Are there already several SOMA spaces? Do they have enough members to
survive? How large is the potential market? How long can your space
survive if subscription doesn't meet your projections?

These are the questions we are facing in Palo Alto so I'd expect them
to be similar for you.

Good luck in contacting your collaborators/competitors.

Liza Loop
Fiber High, LLC
989 Commercial St.
Palo Alto, CA 94303
www.fiberhigh.com

On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 8:13 PM, Marko Gargentamarak...@gmail.com wrote:


 Hi,

 I own an office space in San Francisco Soma district. My tenant is
 leaving and I'm thinking of using this opportunity to convert it into
 a coworking environment. I've had an idea how I want to do it for a
 while but this is first time when I'm actually going to pull a plug
 and go from renting a space to one tenant to creating a community.

 I'm looking for other space owner's experiences making this
 transition. The space is about 1000sf and furnished for 6 people.
 While I love the space, my tech business is in another space so I
 wouldn't be present day-to-day.

 Cheers,
 Marko
 ...from SomaRental.com to SomaOffice.com, trying to figure out the
 transition...

 


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[Coworking] Re: An angel investor for coworking?

2009-07-09 Thread Liza Loop

Hi Yan,

For starters, make sure YOU understand your business well. And then
find out what your angel wants to get out of her investment. She may
just believe that having a coworking space is a valuable investment in
her community and not ever expect to see the money again. On the other
hand, she may view your organization as an opportunity for net income
in excess of expenses (profit).

When working in Russia I met many people from a communist background
who didn't understand the difference between gross revenue and profit.
Of course, China has a lot of capitalist experience by now. Still, I
suggest you have a serious talk with your potential benefactor before
you accept her money.

Good luck with your venture/adventure.

Liza

2009/7/1 Liu Yan liuyan.dat...@gmail.com:
 Oh man, what a hilarious first day yesterday!

 An angel investor (who used to work for us as a happy volunteer during the
 preparation phase) proposed to us with her money. I am not sure if she
 really understands our business well, but she told us she had great trust on
 us and wants to get involved in our biz more than just a volunteer. We were
 quite shocked as you could imagine, not by her unknown wealthy family
 background, but by this extra starting capital  emerged fallen from the sky.
 I know there are many many tech-related entrepreneurs out here, I am sure
 you guys have a lt more experience on how to cope with an angel investor
 like this. Please do help!

 best,


 Yan

 Liu Yan刘妍
 (+86) 135 2429 5509
 Xindanwei Coworking Playce
 Xindanwei China Coworking Network
 @theliuyan
 @xindanwei
 http://xindanwei.com

 


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[Coworking] Re: Introduction/Mobile Coworking

2009-07-09 Thread Liza Loop

Hi Mike,

We're having the same problem. Our location is in a light industrial
area, off the beaten path for pedestrians. It's ideal for quiet
cubicle residents but since the bottom has fallen out of the office
market folks can get an enclosed office for what we have to charge for
a cubicle.

We thought our fiber optic connectivity and collocation facility would
be a sufficient draw for people who need a big web pipe but so far our
expectations haven't been realized. The tenants we do have are
struggling as much as we are.

Lookers are great but they don't pay the bills. 3 or 4 who don't
actually join the club are tantalizing. We can survive for another
couple of months but without some serious support it will be curtains
for Fiber High. Our other IT business, GoQuiet, has been subsidizing
Fiber High for almost a year and we're getting very hungry.

We're trying out a series of free Up 'n Down Load-a-thons to give
folks a free taste of our high speed network (the next one is July
28th, 3-11 pm). Hopefully it will be addictive. But we're not waiting
for miracles. Rather, we're exploring other business models to provide
additional income. Any suggestions are more than welcome.

I hope that we haven't created a co-working bubble by sharing our
enthusiam online with each other and miss judged the market.

Cheers (slightly damped),m

Liza Loop

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 11:41 AM, Mike Pihlmanm...@telbitconsulting.com wrote:

 Liza:

 I'm finding it difficult to get folks in here.  But, I have a steady
 dribble of 3 or 4 lookers per week and am encouraged by that.  I am only
 2 months into itso I think / hope there is time.  Maybe when school
 starts up again there will be more lookers (especially for the tutoring
 part).

 I take heart in all the success storiesso please keep them coming!  :-)

 Mike



 Liza Loop wrote:
 Hello Jimmy,

 Our biggest challenge has been letting people know our coworking site
 is available. Neither I nor my partner are natural publicists.

 After watching these postings for about 6 months I'm beginning to
 believe this is a common but under-discussed problem. We hear a lot
 from the groups that are having well attended events but those that
 are having difficulty bringing people in are quiet about it.

 Does anyone else out there get this impression?

 Liza Loop
 Fiber High,
 989 Commercial St.
 Palo Alto, CA

 On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:49 AM, Jimmyjjthr...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi folks,

 My name is Jimmy Thrasher, and I live near Mebane, NC (Mebbin, 10K-
 ish people).  My interest in coworking is mainly from the working
 side, but to that end I and a friend are evaluating setting up a light-
 weight mobile coworking space that can be dropped into any of the
 number of empty office spaces in downtown Mebane.  There are enough
 telecommuters and long-distance commuters that I think it could fly
 but haven't proven it to myself yet.

 I really just want to be able to cycle to work.

 If anybody here has set up something like this, I'd be interested to
 hear your experiences.  I'm envisioning:
 - a big room
 - with two tables
 - free (included) wifi
 - free-ish coffee
 - nice chairs

 Jimmy



 



 --
 Mike Pihlman
 TracyVirtualOffice
 A Coworking Community
 95 W. 11th Street, Suite 203
 Tracy, CA 95376
 Mobile: 209-608-4340
 Web: TracyVirtualOffice.com
 Twitter: @TracyVirtOffice



 


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[Coworking] Re: Introduction/Mobile Coworking

2009-07-09 Thread Liza Loop

Thanks for your ideas, Mike and Jimmy. Yes I have tried Meet-ups. I'm
not any better at publicizing them than I am at promoting Fiber High
as a whole. Participating in this group is another strategy I'm using
although it may be preaching to the choir.

Several people have told me that repetition is key to getting traffic
through the space. I interpret that to mean don't give up!

We held a Free Up 'n Down Load-a-thon on Tuesday and only 2 new
people showed up so we're trying it again on Tuesday, July 28th (my
64th birthday!). So send your friends around to this event as a
birthday present to me.

I'm also looking at hosting a NetSquared Tuesday Meeting
(http://groups.drupal.org/node/4385) that same evening.

Keep the ideas coming. We never know which one will turn the trick.

Liza

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:37 PM, Mike Pihlmanm...@telbitconsulting.com wrote:


 Mike:  Thats is a great idea.  Thanks. :-)

 Liza:  That is why I started tutoring now that I am a real teacher.  5 
 students (I have 1 and it's summer) and 5 coworkers (I have 3) and I'm 
 breaking even.  Tracy is low cost compared to your location, I'm sure.

 With all your BWI will talk to you off-line about some ideas.

 Mike



 --- On Thu, 7/9/09, mikeschin...@newclarity.net mikeschin...@newclarity.net 
 wrote:

 From: mikeschin...@newclarity.net mikeschin...@newclarity.net
 Subject: [Coworking] Re: Introduction/Mobile Coworking
 To: coworking@googlegroups.com coworking@googlegroups.com
 Date: Thursday, July 9, 2009, 7:27 PM

 Have you contacted local organizers on Meetup.com and
 offered them to
 hold their meetups in your facility for free in the
 evenings? This
 could get a lot of traffic through your space. If there are
 not local
 meetups for your target demographic consider organizing
 them yourself.
 JMTCW.

 Sent from my iPhone

 On Jul 9, 2009, at 9:40 PM, Liza Loop lizal...@gmail.com
 wrote:

 
  Hi Mike,
 
  We're having the same problem. Our location is in a
 light industrial
  area, off the beaten path for pedestrians. It's ideal
 for quiet
  cubicle residents but since the bottom has fallen out
 of the office
  market folks can get an enclosed office for what we
 have to charge for
  a cubicle.
 
  We thought our fiber optic connectivity and
 collocation facility would
  be a sufficient draw for people who need a big web
 pipe but so far our
  expectations haven't been realized. The tenants we do
 have are
  struggling as much as we are.
 
  Lookers are great but they don't pay the bills. 3 or 4
 who don't
  actually join the club are tantalizing. We can survive
 for another
  couple of months but without some serious support it
 will be curtains
  for Fiber High. Our other IT business, GoQuiet, has
 been subsidizing
  Fiber High for almost a year and we're getting very
 hungry.
 
  We're trying out a series of free Up 'n Down
 Load-a-thons to give
  folks a free taste of our high speed network (the next
 one is July
  28th, 3-11 pm). Hopefully it will be addictive. But
 we're not waiting
  for miracles. Rather, we're exploring other business
 models to provide
  additional income. Any suggestions are more than
 welcome.
 
  I hope that we haven't created a co-working bubble by
 sharing our
  enthusiam online with each other and miss judged the
 market.
 
  Cheers (slightly damped),m
 
  Liza Loop
 
  On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 11:41 AM, Mike Pihlmanm...@telbitconsulting.com

   wrote:
 
  Liza:
 
  I'm finding it difficult to get folks in
 here.  But, I have a steady
  dribble of 3 or 4 lookers per week and am
 encouraged by that.  I am
  only
  2 months into itso I think / hope there is
 time.  Maybe when
  school
  starts up again there will be more lookers
 (especially for the
  tutoring
  part).
 
  I take heart in all the success storiesso
 please keep them
  coming!  :-)
 
  Mike
 
 
 
  Liza Loop wrote:
  Hello Jimmy,
 
  Our biggest challenge has been letting people
 know our coworking
  site
  is available. Neither I nor my partner are
 natural publicists.
 
  After watching these postings for about 6
 months I'm beginning to
  believe this is a common but under-discussed
 problem. We hear a lot
  from the groups that are having well attended
 events but those that
  are having difficulty bringing people in are
 quiet about it.
 
  Does anyone else out there get this
 impression?
 
  Liza Loop
  Fiber High,
  989 Commercial St.
  Palo Alto, CA
 
  On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:49 AM, Jimmyjjthr...@gmail.com
 wrote:
 
  Hi folks,
 
  My name is Jimmy Thrasher, and I live near
 Mebane, NC (Mebbin,
  10K-
  ish people).  My interest in
 coworking is mainly from the working
  side, but to that end I and a friend are
 evaluating setting up a
  light-
  weight mobile coworking space that can
 be dropped into any of the
  number of empty office spaces in downtown
 Mebane.  There are enough
  telecommuters and long-distance commuters
 that I think it could fly
  but haven't proven it to myself yet.
 
  I really just want

[Coworking] Re: Overusing Space for Personal Storage?

2009-06-22 Thread Liza Loop

The question of overusing space brings up a number of issues...

1) What is your current agreement with members? Do the desks belong
to individuals or are they all communal? If individual, do you have a
written agreement with each tenant. If not, make one right away.
Since you have two members you can involve them in the formation of
the agreement if you want to. Bring up the question of personal
storage and make sure you discuss the impact on future members.

Fiber High does not permit personal items in the co-working space.
Drop-ins and monthly members take all their belongings when they
leave. Those who want to store stuff have to rent a cubicle and stay
within it.If they need more space they can rent a second cube or a
bigger one. Of course, we, the partners, are the biggest offenders of
overflow. However, since we pay for all the unrented cubes we don't
feel too guilty.

2) How have you set up governance, policy making and policing? When I
ran a retail cooperative arcade space almost 40 years ago we had
monthly meetings with required attendance of each shop owner.
Decisions were made by universal consensus with a consent with a
heavy heart provision that I learned from Quaker meeting. This means
that you keep discussing the problem until everyone either agrees to
the solution or agrees to abide by the groups decision (consents with
a heavy heart). The meetings were long and torturous but did succeed
in building a tight community consistent with our hippy culture. If
you decide on some kind of group governance like this, be sure that
you make it clear that the meetings are for business, not group
therapy or Alcoholics Anonymous-like. You need to be able to confront
non-conformers openly and critically. It's easier to have a group bad-
guy than to carry that role alone but you won't survive if nobody take
on the bad-guy role.

3) Under what conditions can you ask someone to leave or ban them from
using the space? This is a situation we all hope never comes up but
often can't be avoided.  For example, we had one guy who wanted to
bring his dog to his shop but the dog barked at the customers. Since
the dog didn't actually bite anyone, the guy thought this was ok. The
other members decided to ban the dog. The dog problem was easy
compared to a person with criminal intent or a mental illness. Sad to
say, every society has people who cannot fit into a communal setting.
It's better to have rules and customs in place from the early stages
of your operation than to have to make them up when an unpleasant
situation arises.

I have many more ideas...let me know if these are helpful and you want
more. And best of luck with your venture.

Liza Loop
Fiber High, Palo Alto, CA www.fiberhigh.com

On Jun 18, 5:41 am, Franklen franklenraymon...@gmail.com wrote:
 Our new space is just getting started and is very informal at the
 present.  We have one person who regularly uses a desk, but also
 regularly uses another empty desk or two as well as some extra floor
 space for storing personal items, or maneuvering their own stuff
 around.

 I don' want to be a bad guy but I think I need to nip this in the
 bud.  If nothing else I think it would be better to have the place
 neat and orderly when others come to visit or look at the space.  But
 other than that, what kind of policies of resources do you have for
 storage of personal and/or business stuff on site?
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[Coworking] Calling all SF Bay Area, Sacramento and Tracy Co-workers: Help moving desparately needed

2009-06-06 Thread Liza Loop

Did you know that the Vintage Computer Festival (VintageTech) has one
of the largest collections of historic computers and ephemera in the
world? That collection is threatened by a need to move from Livermore
to Stockton ASAP!!! Please volunteer your time and muscle if you
possibly can. Email Sellam (sel...@vintavetech.com) to let him know
when you can come and get directions. Bring along friends, family,
acquaintances, anyone who can pack, lift or unpack. Here's the letter
I just received from VCF's fearless leader.

Dear VCF Fans,

The move of the VCF Archives has gone a little slower than hoped for,
but all the pieces are now in place to up the throughput from 56K to
a full T1.

We have a forklift on both ends and a 26' moving van with a liftgate
that can accomodate a small house.  We'll also be getting another
tractor trailor dropped off, probably early this coming week.

So if you missed out on all the fun over the past two weeks, here's
another opportunity to be involved in the toil, torture and torment
that is entailed by a move of 200 tons of vintage computing stuff
and its supporting infrastructure.

As I'm a week into June already the landlord at the old place is
breathing down my neck.  And believe me, the guy's breath stinks.  So
any and all help you might provide in getting me out of this place
would be greatly appreciated.  I only send out these pleas when I'm
desperate, and I only get desperate when the deck is stacked against
me, and this is one of those times :)

If you're able to help, even if for an hour, please call or e-mail
to coordinate.

My warmest regards,

Sellam Ismail
Schlepper (running on fumes)
Vintage Computer Festival

Thanks so much for your help,

Liza Loop
Co-Working Palo Alto at Fiber High

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[Coworking] Re: how do you treat guests?

2009-05-04 Thread Liza Loop

You might try charging a high price for coffee and snacks while giving
the members a steep discount. That way, if you do get a reputation as
an internet cafe, it will pay for itself nicely.

On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 4:49 AM, Nia nia.stoyk...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi, everyone!
 My name is Nia and I am writing a business plan for a coworking place
 in Istanbul.
 In my discussions with potential partners, we stumbled over the
 question of how to deal with guests of the members. We plan on having
 a lounge area that will serve coffee and snacks. We cannot agree on
 whether
 1) if a member invites a friend over for a chat but has not booked a
 conference room, we should charge the guest at the daily rate (or an
 hourly rate, or a guest rate, etc...) OR
 2) guests should be allowed in for free as long as they are invited by
 a member, only sit in the lounge and do not use the internet.

 Because the lounge is meant for the members, we do not want to get the
 reputation of a cafe with internet that is open to everyone, but on
 the other hand, we do not want to restrict members from inviting
 people for informal meetings.

 What is the policy of your respective coworking places? What do you
 think makes most sense in the context of a coworking place?

 Thanks a lot!

 Best,
 Nia

 


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[Coworking] Re: Motivation for Coworking space

2009-04-13 Thread Liza Loop

Dear Chris,

Here are some answers from one of the Fiber High partners, myself.

1. We have not been able to rent our cubicles during the last 6
months. Although we had not been familiar with the term coworking
when we started we believe it is compatible with the intent of our
facility.

2.  The coworking folks seem to have a vibrant network we are tapping into.

3.  Many coworkers have extensive experience on university campuses
and in creative companies. When they go out on their own, either
voluntarily or because they are pushed, they miss having colleagues to
collaborate with close at hand. Coworking may fill in this gap
(depending on who else shows up at the facility).

4.  Many digital natives (as compared with us older digital
immigrants) enjoy working in noisy, somewhat chaotic venues. They
understand how to work without paper and can, therefore, be quite
productive with just their brains, their laptops and some ingestable
stimulants. The rest of us benefit from the restricted visual and
auditory field created by cubicle or office walls. We need our desks
full of pens, paper and filing cabinets. Although we may be unhappy
with the enforced isolation of working at home, coworking at a commons
table in a large room doesn't appeal either.

5. As an educator, I am especially interested in how to create
environments that support learning for a wide variety of folks, both
young and old. For me, a coworking space is a laboratory for
observation of learning within a population of geeks.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Cheers,

Liza Loop

On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 1:46 PM, Chris Conrey con...@chrisconrey.com wrote:
 I'm doing some writing research here and I'm curious as to why those of you
 who have started/are starting coworking spaces are motivated to do so?
 Some high level motivations would be great for my article.
 Thanks,
 Chris Conrey
 chrisconrey.com
 Human-Geek Relations at Integrum
 Outspoken Voice at Gangplank
 @conrey on Twitter

 


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[Coworking] Re: Who Do You Exclude?

2009-04-07 Thread Liza Loop

At the Hacker Dojo meeting yesterday this question came up. The ED
decided that we didn't want potentially dangerous activities such as
welding or lab chemistry at the Dojo during our start up period. Most
of the current participants are web oriented coders although my
knitting was welcome!

Liza
www.fiberhigh.com

On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 7:46 AM, ourspacefortwa...@gmail.com
ourspacefortwa...@gmail.com wrote:

 While coworking spaces allow for a multiple number of individuals from
 graphic designers to coders to dog walkers to work away from home, are
 there any certain segments of workers that you exclude from your
 sites, i.e. massage therapist, painters, etc.?


 


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[Coworking] Re: tamales, coworking, and economies of scale

2009-04-02 Thread Liza Loop

Good questions, Rogelio. Some of the coworking postings make me feel
really OLD. I often like to work in privacy with lots of resources
around me. And I don't want to carry all of it around with me. That
means I'd like a desk in a cubicle or quiet corner with a lockable
cabinet. Sure, having lots of creative people around when I want to
take a break is important but I don't want to have to go home to get
work done.

We designed Fiber High in Palo Alto with this more individual work
style in mind. There's space for group collaboration but it isn't the
only modality.

Anybody else out there feel the same way I do?  What are the resources
you want to pay a premium for in a coworking environment?

Liza

On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 10:07 PM, Rogelio scubac...@gmail.com wrote:

 When I worked in San Diego (Sorrento Valley), we had a lady who'd come
 to our office and sell the most kickass tamales you could imagine. For
 weeks we bought from her individually until one of us suggested that we
 pool our orders. One bigass order each week meant that (a) the tamale
 lady had to break fewer bills, (b) we got a few extra tamales in each
 order, and (c) only one of us had to go order. Before long, she'd even
 bring us new recipes that she was working on, and if we paid her in
 advance, we always got a little something extra (hot sauce, salsa,
 champurrado, etc).

 I don't really see that dynamic in coworking (or, at least, not as much
 as I'd like to).

 I live in Orange County CA and travel about 50% of the time, and when I
 travel, I am willing to pay a premium for office amenities in a
 coworking sort of environment (I would easily spend that in Starbucks
 hanging out to use their wifi).  However, when I am home I have all I
 need, and the extra stuff I might pay for tends not to be offered in
 coworking environments.

 While I appreciate the camaradery and relaxed atmosphere, these sorts of
 amenities are getting harder to justify in this sort of economy. (I do
 systems/network engineering, and so my economies of scale are things
 like shared rack space in a datacenter, referrals, cross training,
 mindshare, etc.)

 I'd be curious to know what cost benefits others here get from
 coworking. Personally, I don't quite see it unless people work in a very
 similar industry.

 


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[Coworking] Fiber High - is it incubation or coworking??

2009-03-18 Thread Liza Loop

They say fools rush in where angels fear to tread...we were so sure
there was a market for our high speed internet that we just went ahead
and opened Fiber High last spring without a lot of market research. We
called it an incubator. Guess what, folks -- we still have lots of
space and we're now doing drop in coworking along side our cubicle
rental. The bottom falling out of the office rental market has created
a glut of enclosed offices stock on the San Francisco Peninsula which
doesn't make our bullpen layout look so attractive -- except to co-
workers. Are any of the rest of you having this experience?


I'm still convinced there is a lot of enthusiasm for low cost-high
speed space to work from but I don't seem to be very good at spreading
the word. How are you reaching your potential clientele? There seem to
be a lot of postings about new coworking spaces opening. Is that
because existing spaces are filling up or are we breaking new ground?


Personally, I had what we would now call a coworking retail space in
Cotati CA in 1970 so the new ground isn't exactly new to me except
that we '70s hippies were self-consciously low tech. But individual
stalls with lots of collaborative common area is an ancient idea. I'm
glad it's back.


Looking forward to your comments about attracting attracting workers
to your co-locations --


Liza Loop   www.fiberhigh.com   l...@fiberhigh.com

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