Ever wonder what it looks like when a coworking space is just getting started?
What are the first steps? How do you get your community involved in the process?
Trevor Twining is the guest in today’s episode as we get a behind the scenes look at the start of Cowork Niagara – a 2 year old coworking space in Ontario, Canada.
Trevor’s been sharing more and more about their successes and some of the unique decisions they’ve made along the way…including the one to incorporate as a co-op, and in this episode we were able to get even closer to the bare metal to really understand what he’s been doing.
But we also had an unexpected conversation about the future of work as it relates to coworking – specifically the resilience of the economy and the workforce. By having a community that is bought into the success of Cowork Niagara, their members are succeeding in ways that economic development experts only dream about.
This episode is one part origin story, one part tactics, and a dash of coworking philosophy. But it’s 100% fun and I’m 100% sure that you’re going to learn a lot and enjoy as you listen.
To find our more about what Trevor and his team are up to, check out http://coworkniagara.com and follow Trevor on Twitter: http://twitter.com/trevortwining
KEY QUOTES
[5:11] “I waited and I waited…nobody built it for me…eventually I realized if this was gonna happen at all, because I wanted it so much, I was going to have to be the one to do it.”
[12:10] “Before we started we almost sold-out on our principles.”
[30:43] “We’ve got the city economic development…we’ve also got the regional economic development and they’re members in the space. They’re excited about what we’re doing because you can’t lay off 3,000 freelancers.”
[32:50] “The people who are in our coworking space represent the ideal type of worker that our cities are trying to attract. From having them participate in our community, they get a better understanding of what it’s going to take to have conversations with them that bring those types of people here or help them train people that are already in our community to do that type of work.”
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I am always thinking about the intersection of people, relationships, trust and business. I founded