The Coworkshop is Growing Up Fast
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.
What the participants said
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.
So, it’s happening again
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:
Find out details or sign up below. Save $75 by using the code DANGER.
Let’s Go To Coworking School
When I’m talking to coworking spaces in trouble at least once a week, when as often as three times in three days I learn a about coworking communities struggling, I cannot help but think to myself
HEY FRIENDS, THERE’S A PROBLEM HERE.
I’ve written 97 – this post will be 98 – posts tagged “coworking” on this blog alone. I’ve posted nearly 1000 messages to the global coworking google group.
I’ve shared lessons. I’ve shared financials. I’ve shared stories. I’ve shared decisions. I’ve shared insights.
And yet, in spite of the supposed booming industry growth, coworking spaces are dying.
I’m not that special.
I believe strongly in the value, importance, and possibilities of coworking. So while I have any number of other things to do including continue to develop the community I call home here in Philadelphia, I’m also a firm believer in the notion that being successful alone isn’t the kind of successful I want to be.
Indy Hall isn’t an anomaly. Philadelphia isn’t an anomaly.
And I – most certainly – am not an anomaly.
I can teach you. I can help you.
I want your coworking community and space to be successful, and sustainable, like Indyhall is.
So I’m going to take a page out of Amy Hoy‘s book. I’m uniquely qualified to do so because I’ve guest written a chapter or two of that book, and helped edit a few others in the background. Amy is one of the most unique champions in her realm – the demystification of bootstrapping a product-business based empire. There’s many good reasons we’re friends. Among those reasons are that we know something great when we see it, and we simply can’t stop ourselves from helping other people out of their own way.
So after all I’ve given here and elsewhere for free, I haven’t got a moment of hesitation to shamelessly steal one of her greatest ideas.
I’m going to host a 3 hour virtual workshop where I’m going to share as much as I’ve learned about making coworking successful, healthy, and sustainable as any human being possibly can.
I’m going to give you a little more notice than Amy did, though. My coworking workshop is going to take place on Sunday, September 18th, starting at 1pm EST.
It just so happens to be my sister’s 22nd birthday, and there’s no better gift than the gift of education. She won’t mind if you’re buying it for yourself rather than her, I promise.
$150 gets you 3 hours of workshop.
This is the three hours of workshop that can save you hundreds of hours of wasted time. Tens of thousands of dollars. And years of regret. I know, because I’ve carefully avoided wasting those hundreds of hours, tens of thousands of dollars, and years of regret that others are struggling to avoid..
Not without making mistakes. And I want to share those mistakes with you, too.
Want in? Tickets are for sale. Get your seat now.
Whatchu Talkin’ Bout, Willis?
We’re going to cover the core topics about coworking, in a few primary categories:
- What “marketing” a coworking space looks like
- An Intro to Community Dynamics
- Business Foundations for Coworking
- Operating a Coworking Space For the Long Haul
Inside the marketing segment, we’re going to talk about what marketing really is. Hint: it’s not advertising.
Inside the community dynamics segment, you’ll learn about some of the community models we’ve uncovered and explored. Find out what’s in your control – and what’s not – what you can do about it, and how it can make so many things in your life easier.
In the business foundations for coworking segment, you’ll find out the deep dark secrets to what has made the business side of Indy Hall successful. Okay they’re not so deep or dark, but they’re practical.
In the operations for the long haul segment, you’ll understand what it’s like to run a coworking space for 4+ years. The biggest challenges, as well as the biggest rewards.
Maybe you think you only need help with one topic. You’ll probably learn something in all four segments.
Q&A is for the stuff I didn’t think of
I’ve got a lot of ground I want to cover in 3 hours, so I’m going to designate the last 30 minutes to Q&A. I’ll open up for questions, text-chat-style, until we’re out of time.
Are you done giving free advice, Alex?
No. Far from it. I’m having a hard time giving advice that people don’t take even when they ask for it.
I want sharing my knowledge to make the biggest difference it can.
I’ve learned that putting even a small price tag on advice improves the likelihood that advice is heeded. If that means I need you to put some of YOUR cash on the line so that you’ll actually listen with both ears and an open mind, so be it.
So put your money where your mouth is. Let’s fix your coworking problems before they start.
Grab your tickets before Sunday, September 18th or before they sell out, whichever comes first.
Find out details or sign up below. Save $75 by using the code DANGER.
Some Frequently Asked Coworking Questions
I really do enjoy answering coworking questions that find their way into my inbox, and the best questions are the ones that are discreet and to the point. I recently was emailing with Joshua Hill, the director of a new coworking effort in Bozeman, Montana.
I visited Montana last summe with some close friends and it earned a special place in my heart, so Joshua got some “special treatment” and extended answers. I gave him a little bit of tough love, but the results were positive – he replied with a clear understanding of his newfound goals, in his own words, and that was rewarding. I asked for his permission to post his questions and my answers, and here they are.
Q. I am planning to open with a “launch week” Aug. 15 – 19. I have a speaker on innovation as part of our speaker series set for one night. An art showcase for another night. I’m wondering what you did for events at the beginning to get people in the door to see and try out the space?
A. Sounds like you’re already making it about the space and the “things” in it, rather than about the people you want to attract. You’re going to need to go out and meet people on their turf, earn trust and respect, and get them excited about how awesome THEY can be one they walk in the door.
We spent 6+ months attending OTHER peoples events, as active participants of the community. We earned a ton of trust and started rolling our own events based on what people obviously wanted but nobody else was doing. What we did doesn’t matter – what you see, the gaps of opportunities you see, will matter the most.
Q. I am working on an “orientation packet” and I have read on the google groups that no one actually reads these. However, I do think it’s important to have. My question is what do you give to your new members when they sign up and does it vary depending on the membership model they join?
A. You need to do one of our drop-in days before signing up. We’ve minimized rules, regulations, and policies so there’s really not much that goes into our first-timer one-sheet. Our goal is for somebody to go from door to sitting down and working as quickly as possible, with as few things to do/review as possible. That said, over the course of the day, needing to ask where the bathroom is, how to make a cup of coffee, etc, are social interactions that new members actually gain immense value from.
We look at every interaction carefully and determine if it’s valuable from a socialization perspective. If not, we try to automate. If it is, we work to preserve it (even if it’s more difficult than the streamlined alternative). That friction creates opportunities for people to share experiences. That’s the value we provide.
Q. How do you have your building access set up? Key, keyless, open-door, etc…
A. We’re low tech and simple – keys for entry, a front desk (with a person at the desk from 9-6) for non-keyholders to get access.
We have a social system for distributing keys, too. Only full time members are eligible to receive keys, and they must a) wait 30 days and b) get 3 signatures from other existing key holding members. This forces people to interact, and build enough trust. It’s not really about the keys, it’s about creating opportunities those interactions that make bad things less likely to happen.
Q. How do you bill coworkers?
A. We used a google spreadsheet for record keeping for 2 years until we couldn’t anymore. We accept google checkout and paypal because most people know how to use them. We use Zoho invoicing now that we’re over 100 members and rely heavily on automation of our billing systems, but if you’re looking for something to get started with a great tool, I recommend Cobot.
Q. I have been hired as director of the space. Do you act as the director or employee people to operate the space or is it run by your members?
A. I’m going to be honest: I don’t know what a “director” does. We have a single part-time office manager position to keep an eye on things and keep the space open during business hours. It’s a highly sought-after job, because this person gets to interact with the most members and gets paid a stipend (on top of free workspace at Indy Hall) to do it. It’s not a full time job – every person in this role (myself included) has had another primary source of income, and they were in this more for the opportunity than the cash. All three people (four if you count me) grew personally and professionally – inside of a year they needed me to hire a replacement because they were swamped with their “other work”, or they’d found the thing that they really loved to do as a result of the position, and wanted to focus on that for a while.
At the end of the day, we’re an LLC and a profitable company. We did that so we could be sustainable, and have the operation outlive my and my business partner’s involvement.
But the other thing we needed in order for that to happen was our “members first” approach, which has produced members who have a strong sense of ownership even though they don’t have specific titles, or even ownership of the business. They know that if they want to see something, done and it’s aligned with our goals, we’ll help THEM do it – but we don’t do it for them.
My role is and always has been being a leader and a catalyst. Apart from going out and talking about coworking, signing checks/contracts with vendors, and making strategic business decision, my most common role is two fold:
- Provide context – help people see themselves as members of Indy Hall
- Provide permission – its a societal norm that you need to ask for permission to do something. My goal is to break that apart. Most of the time people want something or want to do something, and the only thing in their way is they don’t know who to ask for permission. Even if the permission isn’t mine to grant, I do what I can to grant it.
There’s a massive industry of “innovation and entrepreneurship” that’s full of whiteboards, whitepapers, and theoretical concepts. If you look closely, nothing is really happening. My job is to look for things that are likely to happen and make sure they have a fighting chance.
Q. Last question! I know the community is the most important part for this idea to grow. Any thoughts or pitfalls on getting the community to be a community?
A. You can’t get a community to be a community, so get that idea out of your head as quickly as you can. A community is an organism. It’s like asking “how do you get a fish to be a fish”.
You don’t own the community, you don’t manage the community. You garden. You observe. You catalyze. You support. You belong to them, not the other way around.
Some recommended reading:
http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2008/12/a-roadmap-for-community-organization-and-mobilization-harvey-milk/ http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2010/09/coworking-lets-things-happen/ http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2011/03/coworking-zones-of-proximal-development/ http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2011/04/on-monocultural-coworking/ http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2011/05/should-a-coworking-space-run-itself/ http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2010/12/on-economic-development-centers-and-coworking/ http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2010/11/take-interest-dont-fake-interest/ http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2010/11/encouraging-collaboration-in-coworking/ http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2011/05/designing-coworking-for-collaboration/ http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2011/06/a-coworking-parable-the-game-of-chess/
Also, pick up a copy of this: http://www.amazon.com/Starfish-Spider-Unstoppable-Leaderless-Organizations/dp/1591841437
Lots to read through, but this should help your head get into the right place.
I hope I get to visit an epic coworking community in Montana at some point in the future. Keep me posted.
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Funding in Philadelphia –
The Empty Can Rattles the Loudest
Yesterday I shared my opinion that professional & personal relationships – not jobs – are the key to student retention in Philadelphia.
Today, I want to address the notion that a lack of investment capital is a retention issue that needs to be fixed in Philadelphia.
Fact is, people are right. The funding ecosystem sucks can be challenging. But I don’t want it fixed.
Instead, I’d like to propose that the weak funding pool is actually one of our greatest assets in terms of portraying an attitude that will attract more of the doers that this city is known for.
I’m admittedly a bit biased in addressing this point, since I have a fairly vocal bias towards bootstrapping. I’m not alone in this stance; one of the most commonly cited proponents in the startup community are the guys from 37signals, with an entire series of profiles sharing the stories of $1MM+ companies that are bootstrapped and profitable. DHH has said it eloquently during his “Unlearn your MBA” talk at Stanford University:
When you’re spending other peoples’ money, you care much less about said money. When you’re spending your own money, you care very, very deeply about this.
So to reframe this discussion, I want to make it clear that I’m not against taking outside capital. Indy Hall took on a $30,000 personal loan to grow Indy Hall in 2009, and more recently have raised over $100,000 in equity to date towards the Indy Hall house construction project. In both cases, the funding can be viewed as growth capital.
But let me be clear – I’ve turned down easy money, too. You haven’t lived until somebody offers to write a check for $1MM and you say, “no thank you”. But in that moment, if you can remember what your true goal is, you’ll often realize that the person whose money you’re being offered isn’t there to accomplish the same goal as you and the “no” becomes much, much easier to live with than the alternative.
In every case where money was turned down, it was the result of introspection, and the realization the money wasn’t holding us back from executing the next logical step in our plan, and we should push forward until we were absolutely sure it was the limiting factor.
What I’m bothered by is the notion that the lack of of venture and angel capital is limiting the potential of Philadelphia’s early stage business community.
Plain and simple, that’s a lazy, bullshit excuse, and this city deserves a better attitude towards creating great things that people want.
And then I read articles like this one, about DreamIt Ventures partnering with Ben Franklin Technology Partners to offer post-DreamIt grads a fast-track to fund-matching investment. While a fairly creative solution – it’s a fund match up to $30k under the assumption that an angel leads the investment – we need to acknowledge that this is an unsustainable extrinsic motivator designed to keep talent that DreamIt has been unable to retain after the program.
I smell a mismatch of the intentions and execution to the realities of the offering.
If there’s a known lack of funding in the region, I’m unclear on how putting a small company that’s unable to support itself on financial life support is going to do anything other than keep a leash on that companies for another few months, only to lose them again.
Why are we trying to provide resources we don’t have to companies that think they need it when they can get it elsewhere?
Why not let them go elsewhere to get it?
Why aren’t we putting resources into improving the likelihood of keeping a company that doesn’t need angel money to survive?
Don’t worry Philly, you’re not the only city with this problem. You’re not that special. In fact, it’s got nothing to do with cities, or tech communities, or startups. This pattern isn’t unique to regional funding pools, the founders seeking, or the institutions providing them.
This pattern happens to people as freelancers, as they find themselves with a difficult or needy client who doesn’t pay full rate. They hold themselves back by feeling bad and continuing to support a needy client who “can’t afford to pay this month” rather than cutting that client loose to make room for the clients who know how to win.
This patterns to software product companies. A free-account customers whines whines whines about how terrible things are, meanwhile they have other customers happy and paying. Growth is stunted when the company gives attention to the people who won’t ever pay regardless of how satisfied they are, instead of working with the customers who happily swipe a credit card every month.
The empty can rattles the loudest.
This old proverb recently shared to me by a friend and mentor, Weblinc co-founder Darren Hill says it best. Most people in Philadelphia don’t know about Weblinc, though it employs over 60 people and delivers a world-class e-commerce product that powers companies around the world. If you are active in the tech community, you probably know about Darren and his siblings’ other very successful business: National Mechanics.
My point is – both of Darren’s businesses are contributing far more to the technology and business ecosystem in Philadelphia than most of the “clanky cans” that we hear about in the news, and yet, very few people who consider themselves industry insiders even know they exist.
So before we point to a “lack of funding” as the issue that’s driving businesses we could have out of Philadelphia, why don’t we take a harder look at the existing successful companies we already have and see what they’re doing to make it.
A weak funding ecosystem aren’t holding anybody back. The could-be entrepreneurs who think they need funding in order to get started are. I’d rather they continue to leave when they feel Philadelphia is holding them back.
Like the needy client, the bitchy freemium customer, or any other empty can – I don’t want to be going out of our way to incentivize them to come to Philadelphia, or for that matter keep them here.
Instead, I’d like to see more efforts put into supporting the businesses and organizations who already have proven their will to live against the odds, and their ability to do so without begging.
That’s the type of attitude I’m continuing to find throughout the city and support. That’s the type of attitude that MY city deserves to be known for.
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What we can do about students leaving Philadelphia after graduation
Retention is a big problem everywhere, and here in Philadelphia it’s no exception.
Here’s a few patterns I hear talked about quite a bit.
- “Students leave after graduation.”
- “Talent leaves to work for better companies.”
- “Companies leave for better talent.”
- “Companies leave for easier access to funding.”
I’m going focus on the first one today.
“Students Leave After Graduation”
It’s easy to blame the universities. It’s easy to blame the companies. It’s easy to blame the government.
But it’s hard to make a change to the landscape that has an impact on something as big as over 50% of the students leaving after graduation. While the rate has improved in the last 8 years (down from over 70% in 2004), there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
I have the advantage of being someone who thinks about this problem, and still being relatively close to the age of a recent graduate. I have some insight into what they care about. And while “is there a good-paying job” is extremely important, not having to build out a network of friends, colleagues, and mentors after having spent 2-4+ years of university is just as much – if not slightly more – of a motivator.
So what if, instead of pointing fingers at the universities and the companies and the government, we built between them. What if, before students graduated, we guided them out of their classrooms and into the city, encouraging them to complete their academic work outside of the walls of the academic institution.
In speaking with students and academic leadership alike about Indy Hall, the story that seems to resonate the most with them is thinking of Indy Hall as a library. A place where you can go and research, do work, find inspiration, hustle, and collaborate. The only difference is that the knowledge isn’t being stored in shelves full of books, but instead, in the brains of people working in the careers that students aspire to have for themselves.
Among the problems with college internships that I’ve seen is that is it’s viewed as a transaction between a student and a company. It’s impersonal. People don’t have loyalty to a company like they have loyalty to a person who’s shown them attention.
If we can create a more organic mentorship path to the exceptional local professionals in Philadelphia – not companies, but the individuals – for students before they graduate, we’ll keep more students after graduation. Good mentors will help them interact not just in the professional capacity, but help them experience Philadelphia as a whole. The relationships can self-select based on interest, rather than “opportunity”.
Building a relationship with a mentor before the transaction of them being your employer can be wildly empowering.
And of course, a good mentor is going to help guide and prepare their young Skywalker to be able to find their path to post-graduate success – however they define it for themselves, in terms of joining a company, or going out on their own.
There’s a secondary effect of approaching things this way: students on this mentorship path will become a part of the effort to retain their friends, as well as inspire under/upper-classmen (and women) around them.
We’ve already seen the positive results of a process like this at Indy Hall, both in terms of our members, but also our interns and office managers.
The ripple effects of this approach helps ensure that the initial effort is sustainable, and is likely to take on a life of its own.
It’s also independent of “political” agendas – if we abstract away companies and their motives by focusing on the individuals and THEIR motives, the relationships are natural and human.
We avoid it being about someone being self-employed, starting a company, or getting a job.
Instead, I want to put the focus is on bringing people who could love Philadelphia together with people who already do.
Over the next year, we’re going to prototype this interaction at Indy Hall via a program based on these principals called “Indy Study Hall”. Students will be able to use Indy Hall as a home-base for “getting work done”, just like our members do. Some adjustments will be made to the experience to make it more conducive to students’ lifestyles, but we’ll also be baking in the opportunities for interaction with members who have the interest in becoming a mentor.
We’ve already proven that our “trusted relationships before transaction” works. And we know that it’s not so unique as to be an anomaly. Now we just need to get this practice it in the hands of students before the business world has an opportunity to teach them the bad-habit alternative.
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