Becoming Better
Reading this old letter (circa 2005) from prolific but otherwise anonymous writer/programmer/artist Why the Lucky Stiff, I’m reminded of the simplicity and playfulness that’s always driven me.
Sometimes I “get serious”, and I find that those are the times when I lose sight of what I really care about.
Anyway, you say you want to become better. I mean that’s really all you need.
_why points out to this aspiring programmer that all he needs to get better is to never lose the desire to get better. Everything else is experimentation to figure out how to get yourself there.
When I was speaking to a Drexel Alum group earlier this year, somebody asked me “why I chose to be an entrepreneur”. Frankly I’m not sure it’s something I chose, but my answer was off the cuff and still pretty accurate.
Every major decision in my life has been fueled by my unwavering intolerance of the status quo, for the static, and for the unchanging. I don’t just want me to get better, I want to be surrounded by things that are getting better all the time. My motivation to make everything around me better, even just a little bit better, and never forgetting that as my primary motivation – I’ve gotten better myself, even just a little bit better, as a result.
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How to get work in a coworking space
This is reposted from the Coworking Google Group.
Looking for work in a coworking space is like looking for love at the bar. If you walk in the door prowling, you’re likely to go home alone.
Instead, if you walk in the door friendly, charming, and interesting – your chances start to go up.
The first step to get work in a coworking space is to DO your work in a coworking space.
There’s no shortage of opportunities in a coworking space, of course. A statistically significant percentage of Indy Hall members, for instance, have gotten work from other Indy Hall members, shared work with other Indy Hall members, or even gotten work simply by virtue of the fact that they are active Indy Hall members.
But the key focus we’ve had is maintaining Indy Hall is a place to come do work, rather than a place to come get work.
If you’re doing your work from a coworking space, it’s like the best job interview/portfolio piece you can possibly have – people get to know your personality, observe your work ethic, and see your work products. These are three of the hardest things to get a grasp of when looking for talented people to work with, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the work exchange opportunities and experiences are higher at coworking spaces that make them easier for their members to share.
It’s simple and almost too obvious to say, but the fact is that the people who do work from Indy Hall also tend to get the most work from their experience at Indy Hall.
And now….translated into Italian by Stefania Burra of Lab121Coworking!
Questa è la risposta del Coworking Google Group.
Cercare lavoro in un centro per il coworking è come cercare l’amore in un bar.
Se entri dalla porta con fare diffidente, è probabile che tornerai a casa da solo.
Invece, se varchi la porta con un atteggiamento amichevole, affabile e curioso le tue possibilità iniziano a crescere.
Il primo passo per trovare lavoro in un centro per il coworking è FARE il tuo lavoro in un centro per il coworking.
Certamente in un centro per il coworking, le opportunità di collaborazione non sono scarse. Una percentuale significativa dei membri di Indy Hall, per esempio, hanno ottenuto lavoro da altri membri di Indy Hall, hanno condiviso del lavoro con altri membri di Indy Hall o semplicemente trovato lavoro in virtù del fatto di appartenere al gruppo di coworkers di Indy Hall.
Il nostro focus è di mantenere la caratteristica di Indy Hall come luogo dove venire a lavorare, anzichè uno spazio per cercare lavoro.
Se svolgi il tuo lavoro da un centro per il coworking, è come se effettuassi il tuo miglior colloquio/portfolio possibile – le altre persone hanno modo si conoscere la tua personalità, osservare che lavori con etica e vedere i lavori da te prodotti. Questi sono tre degli aspetti più difficili quando si cercano persone di talento per allacciare collaborazioni professionali; e non pensare che sia una coincidenza che gli scambi di opportunità professionali e di esperienze sono maggiori in un centro per il coworking che rende la condivizione più semplice e immediata.
E’ semplice e pare quasi ovvio da sostenere, ma la realtà è che le persone che svolgono la loro attività lavorativa presso Indy Hall hanno la tendenza a trovare la maggior parte del loro lavoro dal fatto di svolgerlo presso Indy Hall.
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More Like This, Please
Posts like these give me hope that Philadelphia’s startup community has a chance to be something special.
The Jack White School of Business
I’m noticing that the guys behind the blog that covers the Philly Startup Scene tend to have a better grasp on business fundamentals than some of the “startups” included in their coverage. I’m guessing it’s a blend of their own savvy, the fact that they’re learning from the successes and failures of industry they’re covering, or some combination of the two.
Either way, TechnicallyMedia co-founder Sean Blanda has a rock-solid post about the things he’s learned about his own priorities in business from musician and creative businessman Jack White.
Blanda focuses on the value of constraints as creative fuel, the importance of taking ownership of your work, and a focus on simplicity. The whole piece is a a worthwhile read, and is peppered with White Stripes videos for extra taste.
Startup Therapy Talks Trust
A new group of Indy Hall members have been self-organizing for the last few weeks for a self-titled meetup dubbed “Startup Therapy”. I’m excited to see what sort of antidote this group is able to provide for curing some of the most troubling issues I (and many others) have with Philly’s startup culture.
One of the members, Brian Glick, penned a brief post inspired by a conversation the group shared at last week’s meeting regarding selling into big companies. He mentions an article with some things to consider when selling to the BigCos. But I smiled as I read the next part:
One thing that this article overlooks (or maybe assumes) is that you need to build personal relationships based on openness and trust. Big companies are made up of real people.
If you’ve been following along here, I’ve been writing a lot about the importance of trust (1, 2, 3).
Startup trends come and go, but the causes and effects of trust in business are age-old. I don’t think the article assumes anything, I think that on the whole people forget the significant impact of this simple priority. Brian’s attitude towards building trust and authentic relationships is one I wish more people made a part of their public dialogue.
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Coworking Core Values 4 of 5: Community
This post is part 4 of a 5 part series exploring the 5 core values of coworking: Collaboration, Openness, Community, Accessibility, and Sustainability.
I think community is my personal favorite of the coworking core values, and perhaps one of the most misunderstood or most often taken for granted.
It’s easy to make mistakes around the idea of community. Experts in the field of sociology can’t even agree on a definition, Wikipedia mentions that by the 1950′s there were nearly 100 “discrete definitions”.
It’s the people.
In the context of coworking, though, I believe that a focus on community means putting emphasis on the people, their interactions, and the relationships that form above everything else. At Indy Hall, every decision we make considers members and their opportunities to interact with one another.
We > Me
We organize events that encourage people to explore each others interests in and outside of work. Show and Tell, Lunch & Learns, and Happy Hours provide a spectrum of formal and informal opportunities to step away from the desk and get to know a coworker.
We share rituals and experiences that allow new members to join the tribe and develop camaraderie.
We broadcast our favorite places to hang out outside of our coworking space so that people can easily gather on their own.
We attend and support other events and initiatives together, both enhancing them with the sense of “togetherness” but also showing the uninitiated that the “togetherness” is accessible to them.
We learn, share, grow, play, experiment, celebrate together. We commiserate and console each other as well.
The coworking space is a tool
A coworking space is just that – a space. It’s not a community until it has people in it.
Geoff and I wrote about Coworking as a “clubhouse”, and I think that language is more accurate of a description than “office” for most of the best coworking spaces in the world. But it’s important to remember that in order for a clubhouse to be useful, a club – a community – should be in need of a home.
This is why I stress the “community first” not just as a mental model (as in, “consider the community first”), but as an order of of operations. Can a community form because a coworking space exists? Absolutely. But it takes time, and therefore a financial runway for what might be an undeterminable amount of time.
You don’t own a community, you belong to a community.
Its that very natural sense of belonging that I think drives people to coworking spaces more than anything else. But I think that as a coworking space owner, it’s important to remember that you’re not the coworking community owner.
I think the best relationship for a coworking space owner to have is to belong to the community that inhabits the space. That connection is authentic, and therefore breeds more authentic relationships in the space. You don’t necessarily need to be a leader in that community, but you should be prepared to be an active member of that community.
I was actually remarking to my friend this morning that I absolutely love that I can come to Indy Hall as a member, far more than I care about coming to Indy Hall as an owner. The oft-forgotten truth is that coworking space owners can get the same benefits from coworking as the members do, mostly due to the fact that they themselves are (or should be) members.
Communities of Trust
People in proximity is a good first step towards community, but as I’ve said community doesn’t really happen until people are interacting. We’ve found that relationship formation is the primary event that transitions a group of people towards being a “community”.
If relationships between coworking members are like tendons, then trust is the the muscle that makes a coworking community strong and healthy.
We start by trusting our members, and knowing that sets a stage where trust is a valued part of being a part of the community. When you start the relationship with coworking members off on one where you don’t trust them, you can’t ever expect them to trust you, either.
No two communities are identical
Indy Hall’s original tagline was “this is how Philadelphia does coworking”, and we remain true and honest to that statement. We didn’t stick a CitizenSpace clone in Philly, we looked around and took the time to understand the communities that already existed, what those people were like, and how a Philly-flavored coworking space would work.
I wouldn’t ever encourage somebody to replicate Indy Hall, nor do I think it’s really replicate-able. Instead, I urge people to learn from the lessons we’ve learned, share some of our ideas, but interpret them to fit their community .
I personally think that the coolest thing is that communities, like the people in them, have personality. Squelching that personality is a waste – instead, embrace it. Own it. Live it. You’ll love it.
Want more? Here are my other essays on the core values: Collaboration, Openness, Community, Accessibility, and Sustainability
To the comments!
This is my perspective on community as it pertains to coworking. What’s yours? Leave a comment below.
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DesignPhiladelphia Design Intervention
I’m a huge fan of disruption.
Disruption, the good kind, is that experience that makes you turn your head, question where you are, why you’re seeing or doing what you’re doing. There’s usually an element of curiosity to it. In the best cases, there’s an element of participation.
P’unk Ave, with support from Indy Hall, is going to be creating Adirondack chairs made out of discarded crate pallets, and placing them in public places with the hopes of people using them to gather and converse. During DesignPhiladelphia, P’unk Ave is going to host workshops to build them. The chairs won’t be bolted down – instead people will be encouraged to move them around.
My hope is that these chairs find themselves into interesting places, scenes, photos, and discussions. I just wish I got to see what these chairs will see.
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