Mastering Your Quest

Co-working spaces are different from other rental properties. Their attractiveness to new members is not just based on the facilities and amenities. Their completion for members is wider and more varied than you would think. The members could be working at the library, or coffee shop, or even on their kitchen table. There must be more than just space offered. That thing is community. A successful co-working space offers a community for the members to belong to. Otherwise people might as well be at the coffee shop or all-night diner.

This community could be built up around the space or pulled in from an existing organization. Our local co-working space, Spark Plaza pulls from the successful local group, Geek South. This group has been around for years serving to bring together a mix of technology and entrepreneurs. You could not have chosen a more complementary pair.

The other option is to build a community around the space. Members could be recruited from the local entrepreneurial base. This would require developing some method of contacting them and offering them benefits that they value. It can be done but this is the harder option.

Co-working spaces have a lot in common with clubs. The members interact with one another and must feel comfortable working there. If the membership is not from an established club it may take some time to develop a core community. However once that happens you have a successful operation that will draw people to it.

Spark Plaza    www.sparkplaza.com

Geek South  www.geeksouth.com

Quest On…

Spark Plaza

I recently had the good fortune to spend some time with friends at the local co-working space, Spark Plaza. Co-working spaces are office areas that rent out desk and working areas to entrepreneurs and small businesses. If you are a single person operation, you can go there and share an office area with others like yourself. This gives you a professional office to serve as your base of operations. You have somewhere to meet with clients if you need to and be away from home if you need fewer distractions.

That alone would be a great reason to maintain a space there, however that is not the only benefit of being connected to it. Being a single person operation can be tough. Until you get a steady stream of clients, it’s pretty lonely and can be down right discouraging. Especially when the wife and neighbors think that this is a phase and that you’ll get a real job sooner or later. Being part of a co-working area you are a member of group of people that are all doing basically what you are. It’s just like when you worked at the office, only better. Everyone there is trying to make it solo. You are around people that understand and are living the solo entrepreneur situation. This is as good an opportunity to network with kindred souls as you are going to find. Just remember that everyone there is working and stay on track yourself. It can be easy to get too caught up with the social side of this kind of work environment.

So, check your yellow pages or the Internet and see if you have one near by. You will get a lot of benefit for whatever fees they charge. If you don’t have one nearby you may want to think about starting one. It’s a great networking option. You’ll meet people working on similar goals to yourself and allow you start a local support / mastermind group. Having a support group is going to increase your odds of making it tremendously. See the links below to get started.

Local Johnson City One: http://www.sparkplaza.com

General Coworking Site: http://coworking.pbworks.com/

Quest On…

Welcome new and old friends. It is time again to explore the things that give life meaning. Yes, times are tough, but our dreams remain strong. We may have fewer options now. We may have to hunker down and just get through it. There’s no dishonor in that. Tough times do not last. We will. We continue the heroic journey. Together we will explore the ideas and beliefs that will allow us to build the life we desire. So welcome back. There’s work to be done.

Quest On…