Answering Seth’s Questions
It’s been over 4 years since I was first introduced to Seth Godin. I’ve read most of his books, and I’ve been subscribed to his blog for some time. Even though I don’t always agree with what he has to say, I’m a big fan of how he’s able to get across big ideas with short messages.
I still have a hard time self-identifying as an entrepreneur, but I found these questions interesting. They’re the sort of questions where – at least for a new entrepreneur – having the answer right away isn’t nearly as important as knowing to ask the questions in the first place.
That said, it got me thinking about how I’d have answered these questions at different points in my career. I thought it’d be a fun exercise to answer them as “young me” and “now me” to do some compare and contrast.
Are you aware of your cash flow?
Young me was aware of the implications of cashflow, but didn’t think about it in terms of cashflow. It was much simpler than that. If young me had rent due in 7 days, and my next check wasn’t going to arrive for 8 days, I had a problem. What I realized quickly was that my goal needed to be never solving that problem.
Any time spent solving that problem was time I couldn’t spend solving the problems I thought were interesting.
Now me is able to think about cashflow in terms of efficiency, not just inputs and outputs. Now me has gotten pretty good at recognizing inefficient money, and trying to reduce that. Now me has gotten pretty good at finding new, more efficient & sustainable money.
The biggest thing that’s changed about my awareness of cashflow is that fast money is rarely the best money.
The thing about a fish in the stream is that it doesn’t care if the water is six inches deep or a foot deep. As long as it never (ever) goes to zero, it’s fine. What’s your zero point? What are you doing to ensure you get to keep swimming?
That’s the difference between me and a fish. I do care if my water is 6 inches deep or a foot deep. Headroom matters.
Young me knew that my “zero point” was living expenses. Young me knew that living expenses were variable, and I always had the option to find ways to “make it cheaper to be me”. Young me didn’t need as much headroom.
Now me’s “zero point” is higher than living expenses. I have contractors and team members I’m responsible to pay on time. We have services and bills that need to be paid. And we have growth in mind. Operating at or near the zero point means room for growth.
Running my companies in 6 inch deep water means there’s more stress than when the companies have a foot of water to swim in. More stress means less productivity. Less productivity means that the water level is probably going down before it goes back up.
Are you trying to build profit or equity? A business that builds a brand, a footprint, a standard and an audience might end up being worth millions (witness Tumblr, which has many millions of value but zero profitabilty). On the other hand, a business with no exit value at all might spin off plenty of profit (consider the local doctor’s office). It would be great if you could simultaneously maximize both the value of your company and the profit it produces (in the short run), but that’s unlikely.
Young me didn’t necessarily understand equity, but young me did understand that only maximizing profits had an impact on quality, and part of my goals was to maintain a high level of quality. “Make things better” has long been a part of my drive for starting a business. Maybe I knew more about equity than I’d give myself credit for then.
Young me’s relatoinship with profitability was one of scale. It didn’t take much to be profitable, but my motivation to “maximize” profits needed to be in a healthy balance with the value I provided or else I’d feel lost.
Now me thinks a lot about profit and equity, and their relationship with one another. The challenge with equity is in converting it. I believe strongly in investing heavily in building social capital early, but I also know that the path to converting social capitol to monetary capital (and ultimately, profitability) isn’t obvious. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible. My work has proven that you can do well ($$$) by doing good (deeds).
With Indy Hall, we built a business model that has a symbiotic relationship with the equity generating elements of our community model, rather than a parasitic relationship. That is to say, when the community is healthy and growing, so is profitability. And when profitability is growing, the community has more resources and headroom to grow and evolve as well.
Now me doesn’t think that equity vs profitability is an “or” statement – it’s an “and” statement. Without one, any value in the other is diminished.
What’s your role? Do you want to be a freelancer, an entrepreneur or a business owner? A business owner is the boss, but it’s a job, a place that is stable and profitable. An entrepreneur is an artist of sorts, throwing herself into impossible situations and seeking out problems that require heart and guts to solve. Both are fine, but choose.
Young me was happy being a freelancer. I valued independence, freedom, and choices. I valued as few dependencies as possible. I didn’t mind trading my time for money.
I think that young me’s first foundations of non-freelancer thinking came while inventing Indy Hall’s business model: it was the first time I began to decouple the resource (time or space) from the cost. It took me a long time to make the transition away from “time for money”. It’s a hard transition for anyone to make.
I remember one of my first conversations with Josh Kopelman in 2007 about Indy Hall – he asked me if our members were freelancers or entrepreneurs. I didn’t understand the question, and I think Josh knew that. As Indy Hall evolved, I became much more aware of the elements of the business we created.
Now me is no longer interested in trading my time for money. I want to trade value for money. I want to create things of high value for people who appreciate them enough to open their wallets with joy.
I’m also not so interested in being the owner. I’m much more interested in building things I can give away to other people to own, and love owning. I learned this lesson working with Geoff, perhaps one of the most important he’s taught me.
I suppose by this definition, now me identifies with the “art” of entrepreneurship as a sort of craftsmanship. I believe in taking the time to understand people and the markets they comprise, and what they value. Now me’s role is more of a problem solver than ever before, and every new challenge pushes my own personal and professional boundaries. It’s a weird kind of thrill-seeking that I’m pretty sure I’m not as in control of as I’d like to like to think I am.
Now me is cautious not to glorify entrepreneurship.That’s a mistake. Now me doesn’t seek thrilling situations for thrill’s sake, though I do understand the addiction. All the while, now me thinks that hubris is the most toxic element of entrepreneurship.
The willingness to look for the next “Dare to be Great Situation” doesn’t require arrogance or pride (hat tips to Lloyd Dobbler and Van Wilder). Now me’s need for adventure doesn’t exclude humility.
Are you trying to build a team? Some business owners want to minimize cost and hassle. Others are trying to forge a culture, to train and connect and lead.
Young me was interested in the connections that came with a team, but unable to grapple with the risks and overhead. I actually developed my first company as a pseudo ‘agency’ in the fact that the full time team was really only me, but every project included a voltron-like composite of players.
Young me knew that quality players and trusting relationships was an important part of how I wanted to get work done.
Now me still believes in quality players and trusting relationships as the key to getting work done. That mode of thinking is actually the core asset that we strive to create at Indy Hall. The path is a bit unusual since the business’s team is Geoff and I on one level, but also includes our membership on many other levels. The business we created that way is also a reflection of the tools that others need to run their businesses that way.
Like we managed to find a symbiotic relationship between equity and profitability, I’d say that now me wants to minimize the cost and hassle of forging a culture, training, connecting, and leading. Another “and” statement where young me (and many others) would have considered it an “or”.
Now me’s life goal is to work on amazing things with amazing people. Amazing things alone isn’t enough. Great people on lousy things isn’t enough. It needs to be both.
Which kind of risk is okay with you? There’s financial risk, emotional risk and brand risk (among others). Are you willing to put your chips on the table daily? How about your personal reputation?
Young me’s tolerance for risk could really be mistaken for (or interchanged with) some level of naivety. More than once in my life, the things I didn’t know ended up being some of my biggest assets.
Young me took things very personally. Young me found emotional risks far scarier than financial risks.
Now me is always curious when people comment or commend on my risk taking. Both young me and now me have never been interested in gambling. Young me’s worst case scenarios were never really that bad. Now me’s worst case scenarios…still are never really that bad.
Now me likes to design the risk out of the problems I’m solving. The risk doesn’t need to be 100% gone (it almost never is) but it is usually able to be mitigated.
Now me believes that trying things is different from risk taking. Trying can includes risks, but often we’re fearful of the risks that we’ve imagined possible, not the risks we’ve actually studied.
And finally, and most important, why? Why are you doing this at all?
Young me simply believed that I could do things better than the way they were being done. Young me had an unwillingness to settle for “good enough”.
Now me believes that we can all do better, and that the status quo is disrupted by doing better, together.
2 and a half years ago I was walking across downtown Austin Texas with a friend and she asked me, “Alex, what’s your end game?”.
I want to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want. I want to know that whatever I’m doing is the right thing to be doing, and if it’s not, to be able to change it. And most importantly, I want to be able to do it with people who I care about.
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Hello, Philly Mag
Well look at that. Indy Hall and our cohousing collaboration with Postgreen Homes & DIGSAU is one of the features in this month’s Philadelphia Magazine titled, “The Indy Hall Experiment“.
Too many people to thank for this. Thank you to everyone at Indy Hall who has inspired me, and for who has given me the opportunity to inspire them. Without the people at Indy Hall, there would be no story worth telling.
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Visual Cues for Better Coworking
We’ve done a lot of experimenting with desk layouts at Indy Hall.
Among the lessons we’ve learned are that clusters of 3 are optimal for members getting to know each other – it’s much harder to be anonymous in groups of 3 than in groups of 4, 5, 6, or more. It’s like being a part of a smaller “team”.
Another lesson is how important it is to mix in full time members with flex members. In every cluster of 3 desks, we make it a point to have at least one flex desk (or at least one full time desk). The goal is two-fold: for the full time member, we want to battle complacency. Not sitting next to the exact same people very day means new people to say hi to, strike up conversation, and go from there. The benefit for a flex member is that it’s very, very difficult to sit alone at Indy Hall, and sitting next to a full time member when you’re a new member is helpful for getting a lay of the land.
That said – it’s been a bit challenging to identify a full time desk from a flex desk. The original cue was “if the desk has a monitor on it, it’s probably a full time member”. Over time, that became less obvious. Many of our flex members store monitors while they’re not here, meaning that during the day, it’s no longer obvious who’s a full time member and who’s not. That undermines part of our system, and makes it confusing for people flexing in for the day – they don’t know where they can/can’t set up for the day to work.
Starting Monday, Indy Hall is trying out a new system.
David’s not “facepalming” back there, he’s deep in thought. I promise.
Now, when you come into Indy Hall to “flex” for the day, all you have to do is find one of the light colored desks. We’ve done this to one section of desks so far, and have the rest of the office to convert later this week.
We’re hoping that this simple visual cue will help people get comfortable faster, and streamline getting settled into a pod and starting to work! We’ll be keeping a close eye out for changes and improvements!
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Coworking Core Values Series, Translated
My series of essays on the 5 coworking core values have begin being translated & interpreted!
Here they are in English:
William at Mutinerie in Paris has translated and interpreted them into French:
- Durabilité
- Communauté
- Ouverture
- Accessibilité
- Coopération
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Max from Cowo Asks: 5 Coworking Questions leading up to Coworking Europe
In just a couple of weeks I’ll be heading to Berlin, my first time in Berlin in fact, to give the opening presentation at the 2nd annual Coworking Europe Conference.
Leading into this weekend of coworking learning and exchange, Max Carraro from Cowo – a coworking network of over 50 shared workspaces across Italy and Spain. Max has been a vocal supporter of our work in Philadelphia and he asked me to answer 5 questions leading up to the Coworking Europe Conference. I’m reposting those questions and answers here as well.
1. Has your own life changed since you practice coworking?
“Changed” is an understatement. It’s hard for me to find something in my life that isn’t somehow related to Indy Hall or coworking. My days are spent, for the most part, working at Indy Hall surrounded by my coworkers (compared to sitting at home and working on projects). When I started Indy Hall I was a freelance web developer. Now I make most of my money applying lessons learned from coworking and from my time at Indy Hall to helping other businesses grow, and only writing code for fun. Many of my closest friends and loved ones I’ve met through coworking. Much of my travel involves a visit to a coworking space.
Literally, everything in my life has changed, and for the better.
2. Is coworking a commodity (i.e. the chance to be share an office with little money) or a strategic option (i.e. a platform for all kind of sinergies)?
There are elements that are commoditize-able, mostly in physical infrastructure, but those elements aren’t unique to coworking so that doesn’t make coworking a commodity – it makes desks a commodity.
Coworking is an experience, and as you said, coworking is a choice. Coworking is about who you work with and how you work. Where doesn’t matter, and it will matter less as time goes on.
You could look at food as a commodity – but consider the experience and the quality. McDonalds is commodity food (and happens to share the cheapness you mention about sharing offices). But people pay money, and spend a lot of time, finding amazing dining experiences because food is better when you share it with others and when it’s created with care. That’s how I feel about coworking – it’s the fine dining experience of the workplace.
3. After all these years of discussing, I think we should know by now if business rhymes with coworking. Does it?
Over the years, there’s been lots of question about the viability of Coworking as a business. Since day one, Geoff and I have beaten the drum of sustainability. We didn’t create Indy Hall to fill our pockets, but to contribute to the interconnectedness of Philadelphia that would ultimately pay off in ways that renting space couldn’t.
And it has.
Sustainability means that growth and retention must go hand in hand. Business and culture are symbiotic rather than parasitic in a healthy coworking space.
Our book keeper gets nervous every time I share numbers from our books in public. But in our recent year-end planning, we noticed one of our most remarkable growth trends:
In the first 9 months of 2011, our net income grew by 462.8% over the entire 12 months of 2010. And it’s not slowing any time soon.
We’re bootstrapped and have been profitable (defined: make more money than we spend) for most of our history, with some brief exceptions during expansion efforts. But this is an unprecedented growth level for us and we’ve learned a lot through the process.
This is exactly why I’m teaching my workshops. To help people understand that the business and the culture are BOTH important, and help them understand how we make decisions that keep the two in balance.
4. Considering the media craze, the flourishing of spaces, the many online tools coworking-related and… why not, this conference itself, do you envision the risk of tranforming coworking in a sort of bubble, where a minority just trying to make money spoils the beauty of the idea, ultimately depriving the word coworking of its true meaning?
The media’s job is to tell stories. If it’s not telling the stories we want it to tell, that just means that the people talking to the media aren’t doing a good job of telling the right stories.
I don’t worry about the fakers spoiling anything. Bubbles only hurt the people who lose a grip on reality. We stay true to our core values, and the fakers will burn themselves out. It’s a big world, there’s plenty of room for people who want to make mistakes.
5. What are your feelings about coworking as a public service, just like schooling or health services?
If you’re talking about coworking SPACES as a public service, you’d be describing libraries, parks, and other public spaces where people can gather and already do – they just might not call it coworking. Coworking isn’t a service. It’s an experience. You can do it anywhere. I don’t think it’s the government’s job to provide experiences. It’s to serve its citizens.
So while coworking doesn’t need to be provided by the government, I do think it needs to be understood by the government. When we first started having city officials come to Indy Hall a couple of years ago, they said things like “I didn’t even know you could get things done this way”. That’s the kind of positive disruption that a lot of stagnant and bureaucratic governments need. If coworking and government are going to get in bed together, it’s going to be to teach each other rather than provide services for one another.
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