Hi There coworking group members!
I’m Coleman Hamilton. I am opening a coworking space in Torrance, CA. (Los Angeles County near the beach, 8 miles south of LAX) I already recognize some names here and am very encouraged by what I have been reading so far.
Some background on me:
30 years old, engaged, from Los Angeles area. Professionally I am an airline pilot. Personally I also want to have a ‘side gig’ that allows me to work from a coworking space. I travel a lot for work and have lots of downtime and internet business and tech have always interested me. Up to speed on big picture tech topics but nothing more fancy than setting up a wordpress to speak of in the experience column.
The Inspiration:
The idea came when eating breakfast with my Father, Russell, a commercial property manager and my fiancee . He had a space he just couldn’t rent out. We had both been wanting to find an entrepreneurial project for a while and the Aha! moment was right then. We brought in our friend Sandra, a restauranteur, to finish the team.
The Space:
We have 2700 sq ft.of space.
The main room is 19x55. We will use that for hot desks and events. Projector with retracting screen and sound system.
Big Office (Dodgers Room) 19x20 Planned for dedicated desk usage. We put in a cool combo lock to keep out lookie-loos.
Classroom 19x25. Planning on usage for meetings and courses. Two giant whiteboards and multimedia suite with 10ft projection screen that retracts.
Conference Room 10x13. Probably going with a flatscreen in here. Haven’t bought anything yet! Could be a killer little office, it has a mirrored window to the open space as well.
Future office space/open space. We have a 20x15 area that is open along a hallway. We are going to make it coworking space for now but will be able to build to suit quickly. (1-3 days)
We have already started reaching out to the community. I have read that building it is the easy part!
We are focused on finding a niche group of 10-20 users first, while also making sure to get the classroom business booked as well. Russ and Sandra have experience with meeting spaces and sales and will be pounding the pavement for customers on that business as well. We have been reaching out to some course developers who do in person classes in the area also.
I just wanted to say hi! I have Ramon Suarez’s excellent book and have been reading all kinds of blogs etc for the last 6 months including Alex Hillman’s Podcast. I’ve seen both of you on here so thanks for the great work.
I look forward to meeting and working with you all in the future!
PS, Is anyone going to the unconference in SFO?
Best,
Coleman Hamilton
PPS,
We need a name! HELP!