A while back, I was quoted by someone as saying:

“Designing your product for monetization first, and people second will probably leave you with neither.”

Just recently, Chris and I were talking about the growing tension on the Coworking list between profit and community – a tension that shouldn’t be happening…especially so early in the game. Coworking is really about paving new ground right now. It’s setting forth to create something different. When we started out spreading the word about coworking, we didn’t have the idea to turn any of our spaces into a business. The idea was to be able to create a space where we could work amongst other web workers like in a coffee shop, but without the pressure to buy more coffee and with the ability to meet with clients, etc. and brainstorm now and then. If it was to be our living room, like Amit Gupta created with Jelly in NYC, then so be it! But the point (for us, anyway) was to get OUT of our living room and separate some of that live/work stuff.

I’m currently reading a book on the study of Social Capital and within it, each one of the sociology theorists agree, networks of people are formed through benefiting the individual first, which then positively effects the wider community, creating strong connections and abilities to collaborate, etc. through these networks. We struggled with our initial foray into coworking at Teh Space (now The Hat Factory) as we assumed everyone wanted to be part of it as a benefit to the whole community. Hell, even we didn’t go often enough because it wasn’t convenient.

So, when we started Citizen Space, we knew we would have to approach it differently. We couldn’t assume everyone would join because they wanted to see the local coworking space thrive. There would have to be something in it for them…BEYOND a place to work, BEYOND reliable wifi, BEYOND the lack of being pestered to buy coffee. So we poured our heart and souls into creating a space that would be great for people, offered it for free for those who just wanted to drop in so that desk owners would get the benefit of interesting people dropping by, involved the desk owners in everything to feel as if the space is theirs, worked hard at bringing in interesting events and offering a nice, equipped space where people can work and socialize to their hearts content, etc. And still, we have days and sometimes weeks where we have sparse attendance in the office. Why? Because it is still more convenient for many web workers to either work out of their home office or their local coffee shop. It turns out that those in our space who are there most often are quite dedicated to the idea of community…we attracted awesome people to our space because of the way we were approaching it.

And we visited the lovely Sandbox Suites the other night for their grande opening. It’s a nice space and conveniently located. They have put alot of work into making it everything that people need. Lots of meeting spaces, white boards, a T1 line, mobile, open desks as well as more privacy orientated work stations, lots of comfy sitting areas, coffee, etc. AND they are opening every day of the week from, like 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. (M-F) 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. (S-S) That’s dedication. Yet, as Sasha told me, they are still struggling for people to come by regularly. They have smatterings of people here and there, but the bulk of people are STILL filling up the coffee shops, fighting for tables, etc. The same issue is happening with Berkeley Coworking and many others, including Citizen Space of late (it’s been very slow). Even as coffee shops are getting frustrated and covering outlets, choking the wifi and putting limitations on time, people choose to go there instead of a coworking space. They are choosing to go to a place that can be hostile to web workers rather to one that is warm and welcoming…why is that?

And there we are on the coworking list talking about being for profit? We keep going back and forth on business models and arguing over how for-profit to be. Sure, go ahead, but as many of us who are GIVING IT AWAY FOR FREE* aren’t even meeting the needs of the people we want to attract, I think profit is a long ways down the line.

And, no, we don’t have rich parents or sponsors. I don’t know anyone on the list with that sort of connection. We have hard-earned money (or huge amassed debt) and a dream. We want affordable, convenient spaces that allow for collaboration, openness and community…and many of us believe that this should be done in a way that respects the environment (sustainability). And, yes, we also want to be ‘sustainable’ in the way that we don’t have to close our doors in 6 months time.

We should start looking at coffee shops closer. What is it about them that serves people so well? Is it the lack of having to commit? The regular hours? The ambient intimacy? The rotating variety of people? We all recognize the downside of coffee shop working: loud, forced coffee consumption, cramped tables, etc. but when we think about coffee shops, do we feel a natural revulsion? Me? Nope. It sounds nice. I actually need to go to one every now and then and feel the energy.

Are these discussions putting monetization before people? I don’t know. Maybe we’re just being practical…inclusive…open… That’s all well and fine, but my fear is that if we go down that path, we will end up with neither.

* we aren’t a registered non-profit, we just don’t make any profit. 🙂