Just 2 weeks ago, I was worried. I’d been hit with a landslide of outreach from struggling coworking spaces. I’d put so much time into helping people start and run coworking spaces in a healthy and sustainable way, what had I done wrong?
Today, I’m much more hopeful.
It turns out that not everybody learns really well by subscribing to my blog, following my tweets, or asking questions on the google group.
There’s so much noise out there about coworking that it’s hard to find any signal about how coworking works when it works well, or how to even get to the point where coworking is happening at all.
So I decided to launch a course. With less than 2 weeks notice, I offered a 3 hour workshop where I’d share details, concepts and experiences that have helped us grow Indy Hall into an extremely healthy community and business.
Despite the short notice, the workshop sold out. I was floored.
I got some help from my veteran workshop friends Amy and Thomas on the tech side of things, and we were off to the races.
Even more gratifying, was the feedback I got both during and after the workshop:
“Not just a Coworking 101…more like 4-yr undergrad in Coworking Arts and Sciences.”
“…confirmed a lot of what I’ve been thinking and opened up a lot of things I hadn’t fully considered. It was time well spent for me.”
“…the combination of [Alex's] openness in sharing numbers, plus experiences – warts and all, plus letting people talk to each other and network, that had so much value.”
“I’m pretty sure you’ve saved me a lot of heartache and grunt-work!.”
“I wish I had the words to articulate Coworking in the way Alex does.”
“…a great guide to the pitfalls and potential of building a viable community of coworkers. And also a great explanation of what coworking actually is.”
“…the best resource I have found on what it takes to create a real, sustainable space. It took coworking out of the fad and made it legitimate.”
“..the best compiled resource for all levels of understanding about coworking, from the existing owner to the community member looking to start a space.”
And my personal favorite:
“I do NOT want a refund!”
So yeah. That’s good news. I didn’t screw it up.
The better news is that I got some great feedback about what was missing. So I’ve already put together another hour’s worth of content – cutting out some cruft and adding lots of new stuff.
I also got tired of saying “Coworking Workshop” and thanks to a suggestion from Jonathan Julian of the Shortmail crew, I’ve renamed the course to “The Coworkshop”. Easier to say. Less wasted Twitter characters.
On Sunday, October 23rd from 1-5pm EST. It’ll be the same general format, just with even more valuable information.
A limited number of early bird tickets are on sale NOW for $250 through October 2nd, before the price goes up. So snap up a spot fast. Tickets are giftable, too, just drop me a line if you want to put somebody else in your place.
All of the details are over on the ticketing site, or you can jam out right away and pick up a ticket below:
