Hello from Round Rock TX - the better outskirts of Austin
I host a Meetup (currently at 200+ members) and ask them several questions during their ‘sign-up’ phase, one being, "What are the pros and cons of working from home?’ With a 20% response rate to date, ‘Flexibility’ is winning out at 51% with quiet and work focus coming in at 15%. ‘Isolation’ is cited as the primary challenge of working from home (37%) with time management and distractions being the other two issues. I’m also asking this of my 165 member coworking Facebook group.
The physical space can resolve many of these challenges, but then I asked, 'What benefits of coworking can be enjoyed when not physically coworking?" How can the cowork be there when the member isn’t there? Is it only a ‘you have to be present to win’ approach? We know a benefit of coworking is reduced costs through shared resources, so how far can that extend?
Do you group purchase online resources the coworker can access from anywhere? I’m thinking time/project management tools, planners, etc.
Do you group purchase local area resources the coworker can access when they’re not in your space? Say if they don’t want to cowork that day, but want to get out of the house, a coffee discount card or pass, or if they need copies, but are at home that day?
What other ways do you extend their membership (aside from a copass or visa program to other spaces) outside the physical space?
How much is too much added value? Is there such a thing?
Thanks!
Jennifer, I would be fascinated to hear the answers to what people said about the benefits of coworking online or not in person?
To answer your last question, yes, you can offer too many things. People tend to average the value of each thing they hear in a group. So if I offer you 24/7 access, conference room access, and community activities, there are other things I could say in that group that would lower the average value and your interest.
Your members will be different from members at another place, and the people you want to be additional future members may have different priorities. Any group will value some things a lot. If they value getting a deal and price savings over other things, then that's good to know and prioritize. If they don't, then it's good to minimize.
Alex Linsker, Collective Agency in Portland Oregon
One of the things we have done in my own spaces is to serve as a betatest source for new services being offered by people who are not our members, or for existing services launching in Europe for the first time. We are poular in this area because we have a wide range of coworkers, with varying levels of tech sophistication, and also because well, the Dutch are excellent if what you are wrestling with is language barriers.
My strong preference is to make it possible for our coworkers to get their needs met within the community to the extent possible; we are working on tools to help get this done but so far the best response has been and remains old fashioned: putting it up on the bulletin board, email, and having an active space manager who knows everybody and serves as conduit and introductions maker.
We have a process for the launch of new B2B products by coworkers for instance, which makes it easy to offer products to other coworkers first; this results in real and actual buzz for the product which translates into a benefit for everybody. We are presently working on a “welcome home” package for new coworkers, which we are all having some fun with.
Recently we have seen the flip side, and had people ask us to send out a description of their business problem to see if one of the other cowrkers or a combination of them can solve it. That has been fun.
At various times we have also (for example) sent out calls when people are hiring, for collections, for automation, for website design. At new year we often start up a “new year resolutions” conversation which nearly always results in people doing business with each other. We get interns as a space and put them to work for all the coworkers, which is also fun.
For real benefits in terms of collective purchasing we need more people, which is why Open Coworking is looking at starting work on that problem again once the new organization is done. (hint, hint)
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On Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 1:12:54 PM UTC+2, Jennifer Kready wrote:
Hello from Round Rock TX - the better outskirts of Austin
I host a Meetup (currently at 200+ members) and ask them several questions during their ‘sign-up’ phase, one being, "What are the pros and cons of working from home?’ With a 20% response rate to date, ‘Flexibility’ is winning out at 51% with quiet and work focus coming in at 15%. ‘Isolation’ is cited as the primary challenge of working from home (37%) with time management and distractions being the other two issues. I’m also asking this of my 165 member coworking Facebook group.
The physical space can resolve many of these challenges, but then I asked, 'What benefits of coworking can be enjoyed when not physically coworking?" How can the cowork be there when the member isn’t there? Is it only a ‘you have to be present to win’ approach? We know a benefit of coworking is reduced costs through shared resources, so how far can that extend?
Do you group purchase online resources the coworker can access from anywhere? I’m thinking time/project management tools, planners, etc.
Do you group purchase local area resources the coworker can access when they’re not in your space? Say if they don’t want to cowork that day, but want to get out of the house, a coffee discount card or pass, or if they need copies, but are at home that day?
What other ways do you extend their membership (aside from a copass or visa program to other spaces) outside the physical space?
How much is too much added value? Is there such a thing?
Thanks!
----What other ways do you extend their membership (aside from a copass or visa program to other spaces) outside the physical space?—
We have found that our intranet system is a major reason those on our lowest plan stay with us- they only get 12 hours, and our software shows us that lots of those people hardly ever come in. We were quite puzzled by this until we asked some of them, and the sentiment we got back was that for £60 a month (ie less than $100/mo) they got access to 150 other people on our intranet, a community they could tap into and be a part of wherever they were- home or here, and that it not only bridged some of the gap when they were working from home, but it was a great resource for winning work and getting help. Someone reminded us that they paid £80/mo for BNI (networking group) and another £40 for LinkedIn, and our community did both of what they wanted those to do, much better- AND they got 12 hours of physical access time too!
The whole “it’s the community, stupid” thing can seem a bit like a cliche sometimes, but it’s true. We’re not selling a workspace, we’re promoting a lifestyle. Just as well, seeing as if all 150 members turned up here at once we’d have a major problem our hands (we have 3500 sq ft!)
Also, Christmas parties. Don’t underestimate how much people miss stuff from when they worked in an office! Our office party is insanely popular, I think 90% of our members went last year (and they each paid for it). People miss those things. See also water cooler- we just installed one and everyone LOVES it!
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On Wednesday, 14 October 2015 12:12:54 UTC+1, Jennifer Kready wrote:
Hello from Round Rock TX - the better outskirts of Austin
I host a Meetup (currently at 200+ members) and ask them several questions during their ‘sign-up’ phase, one being, "What are the pros and cons of working from home?’ With a 20% response rate to date, ‘Flexibility’ is winning out at 51% with quiet and work focus coming in at 15%. ‘Isolation’ is cited as the primary challenge of working from home (37%) with time management and distractions being the other two issues. I’m also asking this of my 165 member coworking Facebook group.
The physical space can resolve many of these challenges, but then I asked, 'What benefits of coworking can be enjoyed when not physically coworking?" How can the cowork be there when the member isn’t there? Is it only a ‘you have to be present to win’ approach? We know a benefit of coworking is reduced costs through shared resources, so how far can that extend?
Do you group purchase online resources the coworker can access from anywhere? I’m thinking time/project management tools, planners, etc.
Do you group purchase local area resources the coworker can access when they’re not in your space? Say if they don’t want to cowork that day, but want to get out of the house, a coffee discount card or pass, or if they need copies, but are at home that day?
What other ways do you extend their membership (aside from a copass or visa program to other spaces) outside the physical space?
How much is too much added value? Is there such a thing?
Thanks!
I have been working in two coworking spaces in the Netherlands so far, and these are my short impressions:
We had multiple events at the locations, from which some were for training and education purpose, and some were created for networking & socializing. The events were free for members and people who came from outside had to pay. I think the admission to events can be a part of the membership package.
Online (or offline) training materials could raise the value of the membership.
As I noticed, even if people work next to each other, breaking the ice or having deep conversations is hard without knowledge about the other person. This is especially the case in coworking spaces with more companies than less solopreneurs or freelancers. What really helps it to have online communities and/ or online collaboration tools at the coworking space level. Here I mean that coworking spaces offer a platform as part of the membership to connect their members: help them find each other, support communication, and give tools to smoothly work together.
There are various platforms that partially help in connecting members starting from chat applications to coworking management softwares. We use Bisner, which is an online collaboration & community platform that was designed to connect coworking spaces and their members, and where coworking space managers and coworking members can communicate, share files, network, and collaborate with each other.
Jennifer, I love the local area resources (discounts) and copass ideas. We’ve been building a community since February 2015 and want to explore these ideas before we secure a space. I think both would work in Belfast.
But, I’m interested in finding out about how members are encouraged to stay in touch when they’re not in the space? Or, are they even interested in doing that. So, for example, someone who buys a 1-day per week package – do coworking spaces generally maintain an open forum or channel (e.g. an always open Skype chat or similar) where people can check in and say hello or ask someone something? (I’ve worked in software development companies where this was the norm and you were automatically added to relevant project groups at various times of the year depending on what you were working on. It wasn’t obligatory, but helped me stay in touch on days I wasn’t in the office.) And, if so, is it used?
···
On Wednesday, 14 October 2015 12:12:54 UTC+1, Jennifer Kready wrote:
Hello from Round Rock TX - the better outskirts of Austin
I host a Meetup (currently at 200+ members) and ask them several questions during their ‘sign-up’ phase, one being, "What are the pros and cons of working from home?’ With a 20% response rate to date, ‘Flexibility’ is winning out at 51% with quiet and work focus coming in at 15%. ‘Isolation’ is cited as the primary challenge of working from home (37%) with time management and distractions being the other two issues. I’m also asking this of my 165 member coworking Facebook group.
The physical space can resolve many of these challenges, but then I asked, 'What benefits of coworking can be enjoyed when not physically coworking?" How can the cowork be there when the member isn’t there? Is it only a ‘you have to be present to win’ approach? We know a benefit of coworking is reduced costs through shared resources, so how far can that extend?
Do you group purchase online resources the coworker can access from anywhere? I’m thinking time/project management tools, planners, etc.
Do you group purchase local area resources the coworker can access when they’re not in your space? Say if they don’t want to cowork that day, but want to get out of the house, a coffee discount card or pass, or if they need copies, but are at home that day?
What other ways do you extend their membership (aside from a copass or visa program to other spaces) outside the physical space?
How much is too much added value? Is there such a thing?
Thanks!
Thank-you for sharing that insight. This is a totally new idea for me.
Back in the day, I managed a few intranet systems for employers and had thought that intranets were sort of going out of fashion, but I’ve had my eyes opened recently to that one.
We’re interested in discovering what seems to work best to help members (part-time or full-time) keep in touch when they’re not physically in the space or while travelling elsewhere for example. We’re especially concerned that those who’re only in a few days a month don’t get left out of the “community”.
What software do you use for your intranet system? And, do you use it purely to facilitate conversations between members (unsupervised) or do you also use it as a sort of noticeboard?
Thanks
Dawn
···
On Friday, 16 October 2015 10:36:21 UTC+1, Tom Lewis wrote:
----What other ways do you extend their membership (aside from a copass or visa program to other spaces) outside the physical space?—
We have found that our intranet system is a major reason those on our lowest plan stay with us- they only get 12 hours, and our software shows us that lots of those people hardly ever come in. We were quite puzzled by this until we asked some of them, and the sentiment we got back was that for £60 a month (ie less than $100/mo) they got access to 150 other people on our intranet, a community they could tap into and be a part of wherever they were- home or here, and that it not only bridged some of the gap when they were working from home, but it was a great resource for winning work and getting help. Someone reminded us that they paid £80/mo for BNI (networking group) and another £40 for LinkedIn, and our community did both of what they wanted those to do, much better- AND they got 12 hours of physical access time too!
The whole “it’s the community, stupid” thing can seem a bit like a cliche sometimes, but it’s true. We’re not selling a workspace, we’re promoting a lifestyle. Just as well, seeing as if all 150 members turned up here at once we’d have a major problem our hands (we have 3500 sq ft!)
Also, Christmas parties. Don’t underestimate how much people miss stuff from when they worked in an office! Our office party is insanely popular, I think 90% of our members went last year (and they each paid for it). People miss those things. See also water cooler- we just installed one and everyone LOVES it!
On Wednesday, 14 October 2015 12:12:54 UTC+1, Jennifer Kready wrote:
Hello from Round Rock TX - the better outskirts of Austin
I host a Meetup (currently at 200+ members) and ask them several questions during their ‘sign-up’ phase, one being, "What are the pros and cons of working from home?’ With a 20% response rate to date, ‘Flexibility’ is winning out at 51% with quiet and work focus coming in at 15%. ‘Isolation’ is cited as the primary challenge of working from home (37%) with time management and distractions being the other two issues. I’m also asking this of my 165 member coworking Facebook group.
The physical space can resolve many of these challenges, but then I asked, 'What benefits of coworking can be enjoyed when not physically coworking?" How can the cowork be there when the member isn’t there? Is it only a ‘you have to be present to win’ approach? We know a benefit of coworking is reduced costs through shared resources, so how far can that extend?
Do you group purchase online resources the coworker can access from anywhere? I’m thinking time/project management tools, planners, etc.
Do you group purchase local area resources the coworker can access when they’re not in your space? Say if they don’t want to cowork that day, but want to get out of the house, a coffee discount card or pass, or if they need copies, but are at home that day?
What other ways do you extend their membership (aside from a copass or visa program to other spaces) outside the physical space?
How much is too much added value? Is there such a thing?
Thanks!
