Currently writing policy and am fully aware that one of the big parts of freelancing is meeting with clients – how do you navigate non-office-holding members having clients come in and meet them in the lounge/coWork space?
I have this section below in the member agreement and member handbook. For “resident” members (reserved desk or private studio) we say: "occasional guest collaborators work free (within reason)” — purposely vague.
Guests
Please be aware that members pay to use BEAHIVE. You’re welcome to show the space to guests as long as it’s not disruptive to others. If a guest would like to use the space, Day Passes are available (available to buy through the member portal). Full-time members can invite collaborators to use the space according to their respective membership plan.
Of course most people don’t read these things fully. Nothing replaces simply telling members basic guidelines when they tour or during on-boarding (we give an in-person orientation).
It’s served us well for nearly 10 years.
[email protected]: Feb 06 03:15PM -0800
Currently writing policy and am fully aware that one of the big parts of
freelancing is meeting with clients – how do you navigate
non-office-holding members having clients come in and meet them in the
lounge/coWork space?
SCOTT TILLITT
PR yogi + social entrepreneur + community catalyst + meditator
// Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn
// 917.449.6356
BEAHIVE // spaces for work + community + possibilities
ANTIDOTE COLLECTIVE // communications + projects for a better world
- – - t h i n k / f e e l - – -
“…an idea or product that deserves the label ‘creative’ arises from the synergy of many sources and not only from the mind of a single person.” — Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
Like Scott, we keep this simple.
Members can have guests for a meeting up to 2 hours, and those meetings take place at common tables/lounges or meeting rooms.
Once a guest is there > 2 hours, or if that guest is working from a desk, our member is responsible for a full-rate guest pass.
Also like Scott said, people don’t often read policies unless it’s something they are actively concerned about, so it’s common for us to remind folks who have guests by asking “would you like us to charge your guests’ day pass to your account, or do you want to pay for it a different way?”
Most people don’t try to abuse the system, they’re just busy or distracted. I always assume that’s the case.
In the VERY rare event that someone seems genuinely surprised we’ll give them a free pass ONCE with the written understanding that next time, they are responsible for their guest’s day pass. The good news is that when your members are business owners, most of them they’re used to paying for things that bring them value 
-Alex
···
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org
Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com
My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten
We do the same at 91springboard. Contracts can tend to get longer and longer if you try to implement a policy for everything. The guests/visitors scenario mostly gets solved through a conversation. We allow free access up to 4 hours as long as it is in the common areas or meeting rooms.
Like Alex mentioned, my one advice would be to assume that members will ted to forget this sometimes. So be patient on that front.
Thanks,
Mithun
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On Tue, Feb 19, 2019 at 2:20 PM Alex Hillman [email protected] wrote:
Like Scott, we keep this simple.
Members can have guests for a meeting up to 2 hours, and those meetings take place at common tables/lounges or meeting rooms.
Once a guest is there > 2 hours, or if that guest is working from a desk, our member is responsible for a full-rate guest pass.
Also like Scott said, people don’t often read policies unless it’s something they are actively concerned about, so it’s common for us to remind folks who have guests by asking “would you like us to charge your guests’ day pass to your account, or do you want to pay for it a different way?”
Most people don’t try to abuse the system, they’re just busy or distracted. I always assume that’s the case.
In the VERY rare event that someone seems genuinely surprised we’ll give them a free pass ONCE with the written understanding that next time, they are responsible for their guest’s day pass. The good news is that when your members are business owners, most of them they’re used to paying for things that bring them value
-Alex
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org
Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com
My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten
On Sat, Feb 16, 2019 at 8:00 PM Scott Tillitt / BEAHIVE [email protected] wrote:
I have this section below in the member agreement and member handbook. For “resident” members (reserved desk or private studio) we say: "occasional guest collaborators work free (within reason)” — purposely vague.
Guests
Please be aware that members pay to use BEAHIVE. You’re welcome to show the space to guests as long as it’s not disruptive to others. If a guest would like to use the space, Day Passes are available (available to buy through the member portal). Full-time members can invite collaborators to use the space according to their respective membership plan.
Of course most people don’t read these things fully. Nothing replaces simply telling members basic guidelines when they tour or during on-boarding (we give an in-person orientation).
It’s served us well for nearly 10 years.
[email protected]: Feb 06 03:15PM -0800
Currently writing policy and am fully aware that one of the big parts of
freelancing is meeting with clients – how do you navigate
non-office-holding members having clients come in and meet them in the
lounge/coWork space?
SCOTT TILLITT
PR yogi + social entrepreneur + community catalyst + meditator
// 917.449.6356
BEAHIVE // spaces for work + community + possibilities
ANTIDOTE COLLECTIVE // communications + projects for a better world
- – - t h i n k / f e e l - – -
“…an idea or product that deserves the label ‘creative’ arises from the synergy of many sources and not only from the mind of a single person.” — Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
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Well for the other argument, coworkers are welcome to bring an entire marching band if they like – and at least one time a year, they do!
One of our members is the org that organizes the annual parade for summer carnaval and they always swing by.
Okay so that’s not every day and on the days of Carnaval no one is working, I hasten to add.
We allow free access for guests or employees or your mom or your marching band or anybody you want to have with you to get yor work done. This is because our basic approach is that everybody rents the whole space on the basis of sharing it and pays on the basis of their use of the space and its shared resources. Everybody’s contract specifies their intended use. Anything that goes outside of that is paid for on an incidental basis.
Freelancers are as you say expected to have meetings with clients or collaborators. Small teams are expected to work together on occasion. and so on.
Folks who have the basic level of membership pay for use of the space each time, it doen’t matter if they have someone with them. Folks who have a part time membership have use of the space included. Full time members can do whatever they like.
It’s their office after all.
Key in this is getting them to understand that it is their office; once you get folks there it is really self policing.
This is super helpful, thank you!
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Kind Regards,