Coworking Space Catalysts: Must See Coworking Videos

Many people ask me how I found out about coworking and how I learned how to do it. Here are 3 coworking videos that fired me up and helped me lay the foundation for my coworking community. If you are a space catalyst and feeling confused or overwhelmed

Contributed by Angel Kwiatkowski
Many people ask me how I found out about coworking and how I learned how to do it. Here are 3 coworking videos that fired me up and helped me lay the foundation for my coworking community. If you are a space catalyst and feeling confused or overwhelmed by the many questions you inevitably have, watch these videos. They provide a nice background for the history and evolution of coworking.

Difference Between Coworking and a Virtual Office

Coworking has been gathering momentum in the past year or two. As more and more coworking locations are established, more people learn what it is, there is more exposure, then more people learn about it. That snowball effect is at its very early stages, but, in a year or two the awareness of coworking will increase exponentially.

It’s 2010, Folks

Where does a person work when they are not commuting to a centrally located office that took 2 hours to get to…..in traffic?

Well….they can work at home, at a cafe, at the airport, in a hotel, in an executive office, virtual office, or at a coworking location. Anywhere, anytime, anyone.

The mobile workforce has arrived! Well, it CAN arrive.

For those small businesses, freelancers, independents (and the rare commuter) what are some options for “office space”? Lets take a quick look at the differences between two of the options: a virtual office and coworking.

Really Quickly

A Virtual Office is a traditional office environment; the only difference being a virtual office is shared and limited. But it follows the traditional way of thinking for an “office”: Secretary/Receptionist, phone, desk, file cabinets, 10 x 10 office with a door.

Coworking is a new way to work in a shared community. Work in an open space, use private rooms for meetings or phone calls, use your own cell phone, and do your own work…all of it. In most cases your entire work life is your laptop or other mobile device.

Please keep this in mind as you read the following. This just a guideline, places vary in what they offer, so the appropriate changes may be to be taken into account:

Receptionist:

  • Virtual Office: yes
  • Coworking: no (who needs their cell phone answered for them?)

Telephone Service:

  • Virtual Office: yes
  • Coworking: probably not (cell phones, Google Voice)

Fax:

  • Virtual Office: yes
  • Coworking: many do, some don’t (old fashioned anyway…get with the future!)

Private Office with a desk:

  • Virtual Office: yes
  • Coworking: some yes, some no

High class fancy digs:

  • Virtual Office: probably (a great place to show off your wealth and status)
  • Coworking: many, but they tend to stress casual-functionality.

Conference Room:

  • Virtual Office: yes (mostly for extra cost)
  • Coworking: most (mostly free with membership)

Access to Office:

  • Virtual Office: limited number of days / month
  • Coworking: unlimited and/or limited membership options per month

Community:

  • Virtual Office: no (close your door and work by yourself)
  • Coworking: yes (collaborate, do things together, birthday parties, help with problems….evening gatherings, meetings, seminars, classes…..!)

Free WiFi:

  • Virtual Office: probably not
  • Coworking: yes (it is ingrained in the coworking culture)

Free Coffee:

  • Virtual Office: probably not
  • Coworking: yes (again this is ingrained in the coworking culture)

Month by Month rentals:

  • Virtual Office: probably not, but, some are moving towards this
  • Coworking: probably yes, but other options available

Monthly Cost Example (valid as of Nov 17, 2010):

Most Office Hours:

Virtual Office in California (from the web site): 40 hours in office, with all the phones, mail, receptionist, etc:

$135 set up, $275 per month (12 months committed), $325 per month (3 months committed)

Nearby Coworking Space: Unlimited time in office (24×7), you answer your own cell phone, printer/scanner, free coffee, free WiFi, free IT support, conference rooms are free, mail:

$189 per month, month by month, no set up fees.

Least Office Hours:

Virtual Office: 10 hours per month in office, $135 set up, $160 per month (12 month commit), $200 per month (3 month commit)

Coworking Space: 16 hours per month in office, $49 per month, no set up fees.

Membership:

  • Virtual Office: no (it’s an office, business, you rent, period)
  • Coworking: yes (it’s a community of like minded people working, collaborating, and having fun, it’s from the heart)

Summary

Some people may need the features offered by a Virtual Office while some may fit better in a Coworking location.

A possible general rule: If you work at a cafe to get out of the house…you will like coworking. If you are a high powered future executive needing to impress…a virtual office is for you!

Quit marketing your “stuff,” and start marketing your values

After three years being open, Office Nomads is bustling with over 75 members and is contemplating the possibility of opening another space. One of the ways we got to where we are is by focusing our outreach on our values, not our stuff. So we wanted to reach out and share a little bit more about our opinion that the best way to market your coworking space is not by telling folks about all our great shared resources, but to tell folks about your great values.

Let us explain a bit further: No one’s business has been improved by our shared printer. While shared resources (internet, printer, desks, coffee, etc.) are great, they don’t make anyone’s business or work better. While it may be a contributing factor to why people step through your doors, it is certainly not the reason that they stay. Coworking space members enjoy these things, but they STAY in your space and enjoy their experience coworking because they get relief from the isolation they felt working solo and they’re able to be productive again.

If you’re trying to get people into your space by telling them about all of your “stuff,” you’re likely wasting your time (and attracting the wrong folks). If there is one thing that we’ve learned over the last three years, it is that we are not in the “stuff” business. We are in the coworking business. If we try to sell ourselves otherwise to potential new members, we wind up disappointing people. Our true selling point is our culture and our values: we believe that choosing to work along side one another makes our work AND our lives better overall. We believe this, and if we can get that message across, we wind up attracting folks who stick around and are happy.

Members are not impressed with the stuff. Alexandra, our rockstar Community Cultivator, reports that she rarely has people commenting on how great it is that we have an internet connection or a fax machine. Instead, they comment on how cool they think it is that we have rotating artwork in our space, or that we have yoga on Wednesdays. The culture of our space is what impresses people and encourages them to become a member – that’s because they see value there. They see their work life being enhanced. If you felt your work/life balance could be improved by a fax machine, well, you’d just buy one and get on with your life.

What coworking spaces have to offer is SO much more exciting than the stuff. We hope this is helpful to those of you currently hemming and hawing about how to get some new members in the door. And further we implore you: don’t waste your time telling them that you have a badass internet connection. Spend your time telling them that they don’t have to be alone anymore. 🙂

Why Coworkers Need to Organize: Thoughts from a Blankspaces Coworker

By Yelizavetta Kofman of The Lattice Group, originally published by Shareable Magazine.

Every morning, Brian Roth, a headhunter, drives from his apartment in Los Angeles to BLANKSPACES, where he pays $600 a month for a place to work. This isn’t a private office; Brian shares his “workstation” with a revolving cast of characters, including (depending on the day) a talent manager, a web designer, and a screenwriter. Thanks to an open office plan and Brian’s commanding voice, there are about thirty other BLANKSPACES members within earshot, all sharing their own workstations.

Welcome to BLANKSPACES, one of the many coworking spaces popping up around the country, offering desks and other resources to independent workers for an hourly, weekly, or monthly fee. This being Shareable, you’ve probably already heard of it. If not, you can read about it in The New York Times here and here and previously on Shareable.

These articles and others like them will tell you the same thing: that coworking is ingenious, offering independent workers a sane alternative to loud designer coffee establishments and toddler-infested home offices. Add a collegial but uncompetitive environment, a pinch of networking, some free printing, and voila, a Work 2.0 darling is born.

All the praise coworking has received to date is well deserved. The idea is extremely innovative and full of potential. And yet, even the shiniest, techiest, most flexible workspace can’t fully conceal a gaping problem with our 2.0 economy: the growing cadre of independent workers that lack the most basic worker protections and safety net. How did this situation emerge and what do the individuals affected by it really think? Of course, providing these protections and safety nets is not the goal, nor could it be, of coworking businesses.  But coworking establishments offer a unique look into the lives of independent workers, traditionally scattered across individual home offices and mixed in with casual coffee house patrons.

The Emerging Model of Coworking

What started as work space conceived, organized, and managed by and for independent workers is proving to be a good business model. Entrepreneurs in cities like San Francisco and New York, where by some estimates freelancers make up a third of the workforce, need only talk to their own friends to realize that independent work is a fast-growing career path. With the steady expansion of coworking sites–you can now find them all over the country, from Berkeley to Boise–businesses are responding to a growing need and banking on the future growth of independent work.

Just how big is the independent workforce? No one really knows.

Getting good statistics on workers that are flexible by definition is a tall order. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks “nonstandard employees,” a catch-all that includes temporary agency employees, independent contractors, freelancers, on-call workers, and consultants. According to this definition independent workers total 14.8 million workers, or about one in 10 employees.  And this isn’t even counting small business owners, which the BLS counts as employees of their own firms and therefore “standard” workers, even if these individuals have no additional employees.

Whereas temps and independent contractors were once relegated to lower wage jobs like construction and clerical, the fastest growing areas of independent work are now in well-paying professional fields like media, technology, legal, and financial services. According to Working Today, the research arm of the Freelancers Union, the average New York City freelancer has a college degree and is well-paid. Independents are innovators and risk takers, frequently touted as the heart and soul of creative centers like San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Though all workers have had to make sense of and deal with major changes in the economic landscape–the structural shift from a manufacturing economy to a service and knowledge-based one; intensified competition for U.S. companies; deregulation, union decline, and rapid technological advancements to name a few–in many ways, independent workers are the vanguard of this brave new world.

The benefits of a portfolio-based lifestyle are many: greater autonomy, creative control, flexibility of where and when to work.  Countless articles relate success stories and bestselling books offer to show us the way (The Four Hour-Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Joing the New Rich just about sums it up). But taking into consideration the costs and benefits of independent work, and trying to analyze the situation for the average Joe, not just the superstars, sociologists are on the fence.

The optimistic camp maintains that opportunity for professional, rewarding and de-institutionalized self employment in the ‘knowledge economy’ is considerable. The pessimistic theory is that precarious, non-standard contracts easily exploitable by large companies who no longer have to provide even a modicum of benefits will lead to a ‘Brazilianization’ of the West.

The few existing empirical studies of independent workers show mixed results. One study found that a majority of freelancers become self-employed to follow an interest or have always wanted to be independent. Another found that 16 percent of professionals in 2000 became independent as a result of employer demand–an obvious push factor.

Back at BLANKSPACES, where I’ve spent the last six months conducting an ethnographic study as part of my doctoral studies, I see evidence of both push and pull. Marisa, a screenwriter, has wanted to write Hollywood movies since she was a little girl growing up in the boonies of North Carolina. On the other hand Deborah, the former VP of Marketing for a large company, loved her previous job. She transitioned to consulting because the economy changed; steep budget cuts in her department made the job “less fun.” But now she’s frustrated by the lack of resources of her new clients: “Every budget item for them is a big decision,” she tells me with a tense shrug.

Organizing Coworkers

It’s hard to categorize coworkers. And that’s part of what makes coworking so great: you get to rub elbows with people from all walks of professional life, with different experiences and different expectations. Still, I’ve found that more interesting story here is not the differences, but the unacknowledged similarities. The untold story about coworking is that many of these workers lack the kind of worker benefits and protections granted traditional employees.

Take health care. Most people I talked to at BLANKSPACES pay for their own health care plans, but almost everyone admits that there have been times when they have gone uncovered. Marisa has never had health care coverage but assures me she’s really careful: “I don’t ski, I don’t roller skate, I don’t walk on crooked sidewalks!” Later, when she learns a friend has cancer, she admits it’s a wake-up call and that not having health coverage is scary. I’m pretty sure she still doesn’t have any, though.  It’s no wonder: the Freelancers Union has calculated that an independent worker living in New York City with no dependents must earn over $120,000 per year to afford the cost of an individual health care plan premium (calculated based on a 5% income-to-premium ratio with the average premium costing $521).

Sure, some independent workers receive health care coverage through their spouse–which I imagine creates its own host of problems–but a 2010 survey of 3,000 independents by the Freelancers Union reports that in 2010, 18% of respondents had to give up their health insurance all together and 35% changed plans to ones that offered fewer benefits.

In addition to the health care mess, independent workers typically don’t qualify for unemployment insurance–though according to the same survey, 49 percent of respondents experienced periods of unemployment in the preceding year. The median spell without work was a full 16 weeks.

Independent workers are also taxed unfairly, paying both self-employment tax or unincorporated business tax (notably, not in New York City) and income tax. And when deadbeat clients don’t pay, independent workers have few options. Marisa has been struggling to get one of her clients to pay her for an ongoing writing project. The client is weeks late, but keeps demanding revisions. She’s stuck between a rock and a hard-place: she wants to demand back-payment before she continues working but she’s afraid they’ll just find someone else. Independent workers rarely have the resources for a legal battle and, without an accounting department, often spend valuable work time chasing down nonpaying clients. Cash, the talent manager who shares a workstation with Brian, tells me he just takes the losses and tries to learn from the experience.

Surrounded by individuals with similar circumstances—like, ahem, at a coworking space—we might expect that independent workers would recognize that the current work system in the U.S. leaves them without important protections. At the very least, I expected to hear some kvetching among the regulars at BLANKSPACES. But I never did. The independents I’ve met are independent through and through. Most are deeply passionate about their work and grateful for the autonomy and flexibility their independent status affords them. If they have to make some sacrifices, like pay for their own health care or live with uncertainty, so be it. As an education consultant at BLANKSPACES once told me, “there are bigger problems in the world.”

That is certainly true. By most standards, the independent workers that frequent coworking spaces are privileged members of the professional elite, with their college educations and white-collar jobs. On the other hand, many of the “bigger problems” in the U.S. stem from a deeply precarious economic environment that has, for at least the last 30 years, redistributed financial burdens from employers and governments to employees. This is a huge retreat from the New Deal and in stark contrast to the growth of universal social welfare protections in other rich, industrialized countries (see here, for example). If privileged, college-educated workers don’t demand workplace benefits and protections for themselves, my feeling is that our government will continue to sleepwalk its way through the 21st century, happily ignoring the fact that our economy has changed but our public policies have not.

One problem is that as some of my fellow coworkers at BLANKSPACES and other independents reading this, will object to my characterization of employers. Some independent workers are employers themselves! And even if they don’t have employees, many see themselves as business owners—with all the bourgeois class consciousness that entails. Coworkers see themselves as freelancers or consultants or creatives or business owners. On top of that, some feel they’re only going to be independent for a short spell. Others hope to sell their start-up and retire early. In short, few would self-identify as part of the independent workforce and even fewer are itching to do something about it.

Here’s the rub, people: the very diversity that makes coworking such a dynamic workplace experience also keeps about a third of the workforce from realizing they’re in a pretty similar, shoddy, safety-net-less boat and that they’re letting the government and the larger companies that use their services off the hook. Independence at this price is bad bargain for independent workers, and for society as a whole. Independent workers shouldn’t have to shoulder all the risk. If you’re an independent worker, here’s a few tips to help you get what all workers deserve:

If you want to fight back, try these simple steps:

1. Talk to other freelancers and independents, share your experiences, and find common ground. This is the first step to collective action.

2. Get educated. Learn about the worker protections and benefits you don’t have. Demand the protections you deserve.

3. Join the Freelancers Union. Even if you don’t want their lackluster insurance benefits or are only planning to be a freelancer for a short period of time, join. In all likelihood, you will be without a traditional employer more than once in your lifetime and the more members the Freelancers have, the more they can fight for better legislation for all nonstandard workers. Plus, it’s free.

4. Contribute to the Freelancers Union PAC. This political action committee supports the campaigns of independent-friendly political candidates. Let’s face it, in D.C. money talks.

5. Support national and state campaigns for benefits that help workers focus on working, like paid parental leave, the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act (UIMA), and public child care.

By Yelizavetta Kofman of The Lattice Group, originally published by Shareable Magazine.

How I Found My Coworking Tribe

Coworker Ashok Amaran recounts his tale of how he found a coworking community and what it has meant to him.

One month. One month was all it took working in a cubicle to realize I could not continue on this path for very long. I yearned for something more fulfilling but I couldn’t quite place what that was. All I knew was that there had to be something more. Maybe it was the contrast of working from home for months and then suddenly moving to an unfamiliar city where I was living for the first time on my own, so I decided I needed to get out and meet some new people who shared similar interests with me. I started going to places I was familiar with like coffee shops, indian restaurants, tennis clubs, farmer’s markets, and libraries. I met and shared time with people at different events and cultural gatherings but there was just something missing. I was having fun, but work was always around the corner and kept dragging me down throughout the week.
Finding Coworking
I turned my focus instead to my current passions and sought out others with similar ones namely in social media, new technology, web/mobile development, and ways of making money without a job. In the process I discovered tweetups and a local one that was occurring bi-monthly in my area. I was very nervous at first to attend as I didn’t quite know what to expect at a social media tweetup. My comfort zone was certainly being squished, but I went ahead and I ended up meeting a very diverse range of self-employed individuals, from an ebay power-seller to a professional blogger and even small-business owners. It was the first time I had ever met so many people who were making a living doing what they loved doing and were passionate about it. Before I could even think where to find more people like this amazing group, the host informed me of a coworking space in my city that brought together remote workers, freelancers, artists, bloggers, and like-minded individuals to work with others who were making a living on their own terms doing what they loved. I knew I had to become a part of this community.
Night Coworking
Being a full-time worker, night coworking was the obvious choice for my schedule. Before coworking, my schedule consisted of scattered, un-organized, long nights at coffee shops, libraries, and my apartment working on projects. And while my schedule still consists of such days if there’s a pending deadline, night coworking has provided a little oasis for me, offering that refreshing balance from the daily grind exactly mid-week like a runner picking up a drink while passing the halfway point through a marathon.
Why Coworking?
If you were ever like me growing up, you believed the way to success and happiness lay in succeeding at school, getting a good job, and making lots of money. While I feel there’s still some truth to this, there’s a glaring oversight I’ve come to notice. That happiness always exists at the end; after you’ve graduated, after you’ve gotten the job, and after you’ve worked for enough money and retired. Why is this? Why can’t you be happy now and learn what you want to learn? Be happy and work doing what you want to do? Be happy and retire when you want to? The truth is you can. Especially if you pursue what you are passionate about. Coworking brings together individuals who love doing what they’re doing and are passionate about it; how many people at their current jobs can say that about what they’re doing and everyone else in their office? A coworking space will be filled with inspiration, ideas, support, motivation, and people willing to help one another succeed at whatever they’re doing. There’s no corporate drama or feelings of hierarchy because everyone is respected equally as their own boss. There are people who will show you how to grow your businesses, how to monetize your blog, how to market your products, and even help you find clients that need your services and expertise. It is truly invaluable to those seeking to pursue a living outside the 9-5.
Coworking has helped me directly and indirectly realize what truly makes people happy. And its not money. Its freedom. Freedom to pursue your passion.
Ashok is a member of the Cohere Coworking Community in Colorado, USA.

Inside the Numbers: P&L from Cincinnati Coworks

One of he pillars of coworking is Openness.  Many space catalysts are often worried about business plans, finances, and expenses, and rightly so.  Now, I’m not an accountant, but I can put together a spreadsheet.  So in the spirit of openness, behold, I give you the Cincy Coworks P&L, year-to-date.  Now, every situation is different, but hopefully this can help someone with their planning.

A little background: we were lucky enough to find a move-in ready retail space and negotiated a reasonable rent.  So we had no build-out.  Our primary start-up expense was furnishing the space and the kitchen.

Balance graph In the lower right-hand corner in the green cell, you can see our current bank balance.  Clearly, we will not be retiring on Cincy Coworks anytime soon.  But the good news is that we opened in the black, and have stayed in the black through 4 months, so we must be doing something right.

Our top expense is of course rent, followed by furniture, internet, and supplies.  Important note: supplies on the P&L mostly refer to one-time purchases like the wi-fi router, power strips, and hardware.  Consumables like paper towels, trash bags, and keeping the fridge stocked has been a 100% community effort by our members.

Other patterns: our revenue varied widely due to a surprising amount of turnover in the first few months.  Our expenses varied because every time a new member joined in the beginning, we bought a desk.  Our expenses also varied because, though I am a smart guy, I am not smart enough to figure out when our internet bill is due (thanks for nothing, Cincinnati Bell).

We would like to start a nest egg.  If you are in the Cincinnati area, interested in joining?

Coworking Is a Competitive Advantage, Not Just an Expense.

Author Craig Baute

If you have been deterred from joining a local coworking facility because of their membership fees; don’t be because it will payback multiple times. Coworking and other shared workspaces provides a vibe of energy and community that motivates people to keep moving forward with their business and have the confidence to make bolder decisions. When people are surrounded by a diverse set of talents that are in a similar situation, being a freelancer or small company operator, the freedom to open up and share ideas is likely to occur and benefit all members.

Sharing Knowledge

This open sharing leads to thought-provoking conversations that will help form your business and product. The graphic designer a few seats down might suggest some new colors for your logo, and the marketing consultants across the table might be able to offer you a more focused strategy, while the SEO expert sitting next to you teaches you a bit more about keywords. All of these conversations won’t happen when sitting at home or the coffee house, but they will happen while coworking.

5-Minute Guidance

This access to free and open exchange of ideas is the competitive advantage that your rivals don’t have. An individual or small business has many questions about several small aspects of business, and the answers don’t require a three-hour sit down with an expensive consultant. Most individuals just need a professional to answer a question or point them in the right direction, something that normally takes 5 minutes or less. Coworking provides the community and connections to make these 5 minute conversations happen so people can operate their business with the resources of a company three times their size. It’s also important to note that coworking relationships go both ways and your opinion will be asked.

Coworking is an opportunity to share your knowledge and to learn from others. It’s more than a shared workspace and is a community of professionals and friends. The expenses of coworking should not be seen as a burden or unnecessary expense because of the benefits of the community. The knowledge and interesting people that will help support your business, the energetic atmosphere, and the new physical space is a competitive advantage that is hard to match.

Keep Coworking!

Coworking Community Through Food!

Let your appetite make friends for you!

As I have come to discover at previous jobs, coffee,breaks,lunch breaks, and office meetings are synonymous with socialization. In the past this is how I’ve learned to create friendships with my coworkers. We could gripe about the last memo,or find out that we both enjoy kayaking on the weekends. Either way it’s been in these moments that I’ve learned that these are the opportunities that allow us as coworkers to get to know each other.

Now that I am actually a part of a coworking office space , I have discovered, and as I’ve read on several forums about coworking, that putting people together in an open space close together doesn’t necessarily make socialization as easy as one would think. I consider myself a social person but put me in a room with 15 or more strangers, you can find me with sweaty palms in the corner of the room,trying to figure out what to say. It’s creating and finding the right setting to put everyone at ease, that helps facilitate connections and bonds. At our office in particular I have discovered that the break room or “Cafe Disco” as we call it, has been that setting. From the first day I arrived, I was passed a menu and asked if I was in on “Fiesta Friday”, I love fiestas, and figured it would be a great intro to the group. Needless to say , it worked! We ordered and I was in my first group lunch with my new coworkers. It was great, a little awkward, but still a really cool way to get to know the people I was going to be seeing day in and day out. We are actually all employed under the same company so , we needed to find a way to include all the members of our workspace to our festive lunch breaks. Part of the difficulty in getting other companies to join us was the approach. We’re based in Downtown Miami, typically more corporate and stuffy than the rest of Miami. While the company was created by a freelance developer, we house an array of different companies, from interior designers to financial brokers, real estate agents to an Eco-friendly waste bag company. We couldn’t necessarily say we house simply one type of company. We had to find a way to grab the financial brokers, and agents attention (they’re typically the most serious out of all the members here).

So getting together with some of my the coworkers within my company we figured, “Fiesta Friday” was themed ,yeah there was only six of us but the homemade virgin margaritas, gwak’, and mariachi music we brought, really made it a fiesta. We figured if we applied a fun theme to most luncheons , it would also serve as a networking opportunity, and if we emailed all the companies within our space everyone would be aware, it could really entice all of our members . We officially had Caribbean Potluck Friday in the works! All day there was chatter about ox-tail, and coconut rice. For those who forgot to bring some traditional Caribbean dishes we told them don’t worry there’s plenty of food , just show up and embrace the Caribbean vibes! Our CEO got into it, he dressed his pup in a Rastafarian sweater, and blasted Bob Marley from the break room speakers, our idea was a success.

Here the Miami business style is all about connections, but it was always so serious,pretentious, and superficial. That day, we were able to actually create genuine connections between companies whose business and business concepts would have never lead them to one another. We found a way to appeal to all of our workspace coworkers .

Now, no one orders lunch without considering other coworking pals, if someone forgets to bring lunch and doesn’t want to order we share. We’ve just got a thing going, it’s our niche and it works for us. The old sharing is caring philosophy really works. As I read in other posts, people sitting close in an open space doesn’t just magically create a friendships or connections. You have to find something that works for all of your coworkers. If its not lunch maybe a jelly, whatever it is that grabs all your members’ attention, and can make them feel comfortable enough to join in the current social gathering.

Space Catalyst 101

As a brand new space catalyst, I am riding the highs and lows of the early process.  When I began fleshing out the idea of starting a coworking community in my town, my mind was buzzing with the excitement a new project brings.  I envisioned the utopian community, the modern and functional workspace, and the throngs of interesting people who would want to be a part of it all.  And of course, in this Hollywood-esque reverie, everything falls magically into place.  The community forms itself.  The ideal coworking space (situated on the best block of downtown) effortlessly falls into my lap.  Funding flows freely, and there are no proverbial “bumps in the road.”

Then, the actualization process begins.  Queue the squealing brakes.

As there is not a set standard for what makes a successful coworking space, I found myself absolutely inundated with information…and questions.  So many questions.  Where do I begin?  Will people join?  Is my town ready for this?  How much is this going to cost? You get the picture.  So, instead of trying to sort through it alone, I sought wise council and joined the closest coworking community to me.

My best advice to anyone who is thinking of starting a coworking space is a.)hire a professional,  and b.)find a space that you would like to mirror (and hang out there.)  Consulting with a successful space owner is the best investment, of my time and money, I have made thus far.  I have a wealth of knowledge and experience being poured into me with every meeting.  My incredible consultant has helped me form a plan, find a starting point in the process, and-most importantly- informed me what holes not to step in.  I have made new contacts, been informed of resources that I never knew existed, and given homework to complete throughout the week.  There is nothing, but nothing bad about getting the beef from someone who has been through the process of starting a coworking community and made it work.

I’m still in the process.  I still have my sights on that dreamy vision of the perfect coworking community, but now I have a plan to get there.  And with the help of a person (dare I say…new friend) who has paved the way before me, it just might all come together some sweet day soon.

Study on Coworking: The Coworker

Very few academic studies about coworking and coworkers have ever been carried. Berlin university student Lukas de Pellegrin set out to change this by conducting research on coworkers, setting out three important questions: who are coworkers, how should their workspace look like, and why?

He harvested responses from the users of coworking spaces in Berlin, and Deskmag is publishing the results. The survey is the forerunner of a worldwide study in which readers can participate.

This first survey was conducted in Berlin coworking spaces, like here at Studio 70.

The typical coworker

The typical Berlin coworker is self-employed, male and 31 years old, at least on average. Almost all coworkers are self-employed – more than 95%. Women make up 40% of coworkers. The majority of coworkers are between 30 and 40 years old. Very few are older, and slightly less than half are younger, most of them in their mid to late 20s.

Coworking Spaces are centers for programmers and web designers

Coworking spaces in Berlin have established themselves as centers for programmers and web designers, who together make up almost half of all users (42%). Yet those looking for translators or architects will also find plenty in these workspaces.

The working life of a coworker is one of projects. And most projects run for an average of six months. Many also work on shorter contracts – 25% of all projects take less than two weeks.

Loyalty to coworking spaces lasts much longer than a project

Coworkers are very loyal to their coworking space. The overwhelming majority identified very strongly with their space, and have been there for just under 18 months. (although most coworking spaces are not more than 18 months old). When a coworker chooses to leave a coworking space they do so quickly, within three or six months of arriving. Those that have been there a year often remain for much longer.

Coworkers told de Pellegrin that the thing they expect most of coworking spaces was the opportunity to interact with other self-employed people. Many coe for the interesting mixture of different professional fields. They don’t want to work at home, and see coworking spaces as a simple solution. One in twelve coworkers are on a temporary stay in Berlin.

Looking for new connections

However, the low cost of coworking spaces is the most important deciding factor when selecting a certain place to work. The second criterion was the possibility for chance discoveries and encounters with people that could have a positive impact on future work. Interacting with other people yet still remaining autonomous was the third-most important factor.

Another important factor is short travel distance. In Berlin, coworkers rarely commute more than four kilometers to their workplace, and the average distance is three kilometers. More than half go by bike, one in three uses public transport, one in five by foot, and only one in ten by car.

Once there, they make most use of a computer and desk, kitchen facilities, printers and filing cabinets. This is followed by leisure facilities and interactive spaces. Most also go to restaurants or snack bars nearby for their food.

The most important factors for coworkers are low cost, new (unexpected) connections, interaction, and staying autonomous at the same time. More pictures on Deskmag.

Starting a worldwide survey

The results are the basis for a worldwide survey that de Pellegrin will start with in the next few months at the 600 or so coworking spaces worldwide.

And users can participate directly. How do you feel about the results? What important questions were overlooked? What do you want to know more about coworkers or coworking spaces? You can send your questions and comments to Deskmag, or simply tweet on our Twitter page. Your contributions on Twitter will be included in the survey. The results will be published soon.

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study@deskmag.com

By Carsten Foertsch

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Lukas De Pellegrini is about to graduate in architecture. His home university is Berlin’s Technische Universität (TU Berlin).

Deskmag is a magazine about the new places we work, how they look, how they function and how they could be improved. We especially focus on workspaces which are home to the new breed of independent workers, such as coworking spaces, private shared studios and executive offices.