Just wanted to say how awesome this thread was to catch up on. Tons of great advice and reality checks:
Use every advantage you have. Take yourself and your community seriously (which doesn’t preclude you from having fun). Stay focused.
Speaking as someone who runs a coworking space on the larger side of the spectrum, but started much smaller (<1800 sqft, and prior to that 0 sqft), I can say with confidence that bigger isn’t better in terms of space or cities.
Small is awesome.
-Alex
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On May 30, 2016 at 4:34 PM, wrote:
Hi Jessica,
I’ve been running a space for four years in a town of 35k.
The rules are the same regardless of population:
- Running a Coworking space is running a business, is your model sustainable / viable?
- Is there demand (not simply absence of), do people need this? This is answered by something you should have read a thousand times one here already: “Build the Community first”. Which is also the same as find your customers first.
So the rules are the same, it’s how we operate within them that is the challenge for a smaller town, ie smaller client base.
When thinking about what I would suggest most of it boils down to “Don’t do this in isolation”. Find groups and organizations in your town that you can partner with in some way. A landlord that is understanding and flexible, municipal support, professional associations (chambers etc) and community groups.
At the end of the day you have to make a living and keep the lights on. I run this space, but my income comes from elsewhere. Coworking at a small scale is a very thin margin business. Be realistic, understand this, work within the resources you have and you’ll build a fantastic community resource to be proud of!
I’d love to help if I can, please feel free to reach out anytime if want to bounce ideas around.
Cheers,
Nicholas
On Friday, 20 May 2016 08:41:36 UTC-7, Jessica Knapp wrote:
Hey all,
I posted this is the GCUC group yesterday, so, sorry if you’re seeing this again!
Here’s my question: Does anyone have experience opening a coworking space in smaller towns with a much smaller population than urban centres? I would appreciate any insights, stories, tricks or tips. I’m looking at a population of about 130,000 with one small (ish) community college.
Thanks
Jessica
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