[Coworking] Re: Running Coworking During a Recession....
Angel - This is great. I hope that operators keep this in a handy spot to pull out when (assuming) the next economic downturn comes. As someone that opened centers in both 2008 and 2009 - when I thought things were tough but had no idea what misery was to come - I would say a lot of this is 'right on.' There is no substitution for the creativity and flexibility required to keep things going during those times - and your piece will be a good framework for those people needing some fresh ideas for looking at their operation. Probably the hardest thing was finding the balance between holding to optimism and making the really tough decisions, and having the faith to know when each was the required course. And, that no matter what, I'd survive. On Wednesday, October 24, 2018 at 1:34:13 PM UTC-7, Angel Kwiatkowski wrote: > > I *just* wrote an article on Recession-Proofing your Coworking Business > > https://www.diycoworking.com/blog/2018/10/24/how-to-recession-proof-your-coworking-business > > Angel > > On Tuesday, October 23, 2018 at 5:04:27 PM UTC-6, Carl Sullivan wrote: >> >> Hey Guys, >> >> I have seen with increasing regularity, news articles are not being >> written daily about the "impending market crash/correction" both in >> Australia, in Asia, across Europe and in the US. >> >> I founded Your Desk in 2011, three years after the GFC hit the world, but >> unlike almost every other country, Australia never saw any real negative >> effects from that time in history. So it would be fair to say that while I >> started coworking in the aftermath of one of the (only) market crashes I >> have experienced in my adult life I know there were many others that >> successfully navigated that market correction. >> >> So when the next negative cycle hits the world's economies (and with >> Australia poised to be hit harder than almost any other country) I am >> curious about how others successfully navigated or pivoted to keep the >> business going and support their members? >> >> The areas I am currently looking at being stronger in are: >> >> *Community:* >> Our community is great, but not well supported right now, with our >> approach to date to simply leave them be to do their work. I am looking at >> rolling out an internal referral program as both a cheap way to source new >> members and as a jump start on those members already having at least one >> meaningful connection with another member in our space. >> >> *Message:* >> As we grow and as other coworking spaces set up (weekly) we are going >> back to the basics of "what do we stand for". As a suggestion from Alex >> from Indy Hall, I will start to do Town Hall meetings with the members to >> allow them additional opportunities to voice concerns, observations and >> suggestions on how we can improve our ecosystem to best suit them >> >> *Operations: * >> We already have a lean team, and while I will be hiring some (sorely >> needed) additions from February 2019, we will purposefully keep our team >> small and agile. >> >> *Finance Operations:* >> An initiative by my brother Oliver, we will continue to review every >> transaction monthly and ask ourselves if we can reduce the cost here while >> maintaining our service, feedback from the Town Hall Meetings will also >> help inform this process >> >> *Business Intelligence:* >> I work with a business coach, who monthly comes into our space, review >> our finance, operations, team and culture, and asks the hard questions that >> we as a team have not yet considered. This process has already allowed us >> to grow our profit from 6% to 30% in 1 year, while at the same time growing >> member satisfaction (measured through the NPS survey) from bad (NPS of -36) >> to great (NPS of 53) >> >> >> What I am most interested in is understanding what other spaces >> experienced with member churn, specific way that churns happened and if in >> hindsight there was a way that you could have supported that member more to >> stay in your community. >> >> Also any other tips, tricks or observations would be welcomed. >> >> Cheers, >> Carl >> Your Desk >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
[Coworking] Re: When to say goodbye to a member?
Nice discussion ... I agree with all comments, in my years of experience approaching things honestly but with an open mind generally produces the best result and long term relationships. Sometimes, things just aren't meant to be though, and then it becomes, to Alex's point, life's too short to deal with a jerk and the relationship needs to end. On Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 6:19:51 AM UTC-8, Jeannine van der Linden wrote: > > Sounds like a problem I would have a conversation about, or maybe several > conversations. I encourage you to consider whether his intention is to be > rude. > > Some people lack social skills and they do well to have a partner or > business associate who has them, which it sounds like he has. Usuall these > people have some other skills which that same partner lacks. > > When I see a dynamic occurring which involves this kind of dynamic I think > it is important to find out if indeed, the coworker is just like that and > if so if there is a reason for that. I do this because there are quite a > lot of hidden disabilities amouong the entrepreneurial class. If the space > itself is for him problematic, then while the partner is telling you "he's > just like that", the partner is also telling him "a coworking space is > just like that". Neither of which is necessarily true. > > Now, having a disability is in no way a disqualifying condition for being > a jerk, it is possible for these two things to be comorbid. :-) > > But it would be a terrible shame I think if some fairly simple adjustment > would make the space more accessible to the coworker, and thus end the > problem in that way, and I missed it because I never explored the > possibility. > > The key is to ask him if there is anything you can do to help him feel > more comfortable and welcome, not to ask him if he has a disability. And > then I would prceed from there. > > I think talking to his partner is not enough to know at this stage what > you are dealing with. I would talk to him. You might be surprised. > > On Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at 7:28:05 PM UTC+1, Kevin Haggerty wrote: >> >> Hey guys! I need some advice/wisdom on how to handle a particular member. >> >> In December, we rented out one of our private offices to a company owned >> by two guys, so they are technically both members. The guy who came in to >> sign up is a great guy. However, I wish I had met his partner before I had >> approved their membership, because he's kind of a jerk. >> >> Quick recap: >> >> - When they had not even moved in yet, my co-owner and I were in a >> quandary concerning the potential of converting one of our two conference >> rooms to an office, as we had had more interest in office rentals than >> conference room space at that point in time. >> >> We sent out a message to our current members, as well as those two >> gentlemen (who had signed up but not moved in yet) to get their input on >> the matter, and also to see if any of them would be interested in the new, >> larger office (former conference room). The majority of the feedback we >> received from the members was negative, with most of them stating that they >> felt like they would be getting cheated a little if we only had the one, >> smaller conference room. The two guys who had just signed up didn't get >> back to me right away, but I had enough input from the others to determine >> it wasn't the right move for our community. So I contacted everyone to >> inform them we were just going to keep it as a conference room for now. >> >> Apparently, that whole scenario rubbed the other guy (the one who I >> hadn't yet met) wrong, as he felt like we were offering them a larger >> office then just took it back, which isn't at all what happened. He never >> expressed that to me personally, and I was never made aware of this until, >> at a networking event with a lot of people, he pretty much was going around >> the room shitting on us, saying how his office was so small that they could >> barely move around in it, etc, etc, and not saying anything good about his >> office, our space, or his experience. >> >> After it happened, I opted to go to the first guy (the one who I had met >> and who had signed up for them) because he seemed more level-headed and >> approachable, and also because he was the signing party for their business. >> I told him about the experience and how it had left me (and others) with >> not a great impression. I asked him if they were still happy with their >> arrangement. He was emphatic about loving the office and the space. He >> apologized for his partner and basically said, "That's just how he is." >> >> I reiterated that we wanted them to be happy, and if they were not happy, >> they were free to leave. He promised me that they loved the space and said >> he'd talk to his partner. This was about a month ago. >> >> Yesterday, we had another social event. I was unable to attend due to >>
[Coworking] Re: Coworking events in 2017
GCUC just announced this week that it will be holding its US conference in New York City from May 5th to May 7th. Tracy On Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 9:13:20 AM UTC-8, Cecilia Neher wrote: > > Hello everybody, > I would like to attend some coworking events this year and I'm wondering > if you can let me know of any event you are aware of. > I'm in the US. and although I would love to travel overseas, not sure if > the budget will resist that :-) > I checked the GCUC page and it seems like there is one in the US East > Coast in May but no location yet on the website. > Anybody knows where will it be? > Any other event you know of? > Thanks. > Cecilia > -- 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.
