EP 24 - “We almost sold out on our principles before we even started”

03/23/16 • 47 min

Ever wonder what it looks like when a coworking space is just getting started?

What are the first steps? How do you get your community involved in the process?

Trevor Twining is the guest in today’s episode as we get a behind the scenes look at the start of Cowork Niagara - a 2 year old coworking space in Ontario, Canada. Trevor’s been sharing more and more about their successes and some of the unique decisions they’ve made along the way...including the one to incorporate as a co-op.

But we also had an unexpected conversation about the future of work as it relates to coworking - specifically the resilience of the economy and the workforce. By having a community that is bought into the success of Cowork Niagara, their members are succeeding in ways that economic development experts only dream about.

This episode is one part origin story, one part tactics, and a dash of coworking philosophy. But it’s 100% fun and I’m 100% sure that you’re going to learn a lot and enjoy as you listen.

To find our more about what Trevor and his team are up to, check out http://coworkniagara.com and follow Trevor on Twitter: http://twitter.com/trevortwining

KEY QUOTES

[5:11] “I waited and I waited...nobody built it for me...eventually I realized if this was gonna happen at all, because I wanted it so much, I was going to have to be the one to do it.”

[12:10] “Before we started we almost sold-out on our principles.”

[30:43] “We’ve got the city economic development...we’ve also got the regional economic development and they’re members in the space. They’re excited about what we’re doing because you can’t lay off 3,000 freelancers.”

[32:50] “The people who are in our coworking space represent the ideal type of worker that our cities are trying to attract. From having them participate in our community, they get a better understanding of what it’s going to take to have conversations with them that bring those types of people here or help them train people that are already in our community to do that type of work.”

HOST FRIENDS, EARN FREE TICKETS

Our upcoming event, the People at Work Summit is an entirely online “conference” about work and collaboration. A first of it’s kind, taking place over 24 consecutive hours and across 7 continents. It starts on April 21st, and you don't want to miss it.

Do you have enough space to host a minimum of 5 other attendees for the People at Work Summit?

If an online conference feels a little too "disconnected" for you, we're inviting you to help us do something about it, and earn yourself (and others) free tickets to the Summit.

Give your community something to talk about and learn from - add your coworking space (or favorite cafe) to our cohost map, and earn free tickets for yourself, your team, or your members.

Find out more about how our online conference will works, and learn more about some of our speakers at peopleatworksummit.com

Support the show and get the next episode

Lots of awesome stuff to come, I promise, and you don’t want to miss this. Subscribe however you like to subscribe, here’s some handy links for you:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever wonder what it looks like when a coworking space is just getting started?

What are the first steps? How do you get your community involved in the process?

This episode is one part origin story, one part tactics, and a dash of coworking philosophy. But it’s 100% fun and I’m 100% sure that you’re going to learn a lot and enjoy as you listen.

To find our more about what Trevor and his team are up to, check out http://coworkniagara.com and follow Trevor on Twitter: http://twitter.com/trevortwining

KEY QUOTES

[5:11] “I waited and I waited...nobody built it for me...eventually I realized if this was gonna happen at all, because I wanted it so much, I was going to have to be the one to do it.”

[12:10] “Before we started we almost sold-out on our principles.”

HOST FRIENDS, EARN FREE TICKETS

Do you have enough space to host a minimum of 5 other attendees for the People at Work Summit?

If an online conference feels a little too "disconnected" for you, we're inviting you to help us do something about it, and earn yourself (and others) free tickets to the Summit.

Give your community something to talk about and learn from - add your coworking space (or favorite cafe) to our cohost map, and earn free tickets for yourself, your team, or your members.

Find out more about how our online conference will works, and learn more about some of our speakers at peopleatworksummit.com

Support the show and get the next episode

Lots of awesome stuff to come, I promise, and you don’t want to miss this. Subscribe however you like to subscribe, here’s some handy links for you:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

EP 23 - "Free Range Interns" and other counterintuitive lessons for successful team coworking

There's a lot of folklore about successful creative and business partnerships that form in coworking spaces.

But very few people talk about how HARD it can be to succeed as a team in a coworking space. It's not all fairy tale endings...

So what exactly changes when two independent people become one company? How does the way they work together change, and how does that affect the way they work in the coworking space?

Today's guests are Christine Neuleib and Amanda Thomas, co-founders of Lanternfish Press. Each of them came to coworking for different reasons, neither specifically seeking partnership let alone with the goals of launching a publishing company. But after launching a successful Kickstarter (180% funded) for their first book and since producing several more, these two have a LOT to share about how they keep their working relationships healthy and productive.

Tune in as Adam Teterus discovers their origin story rooted in Chinese lunch, and listen carefully for their most counterintuitive (but brilliant!) piece of advice for how to help interns and employees get 1000x more out of a coworking membership just by changing one small thing. 😎

True story: this tip has helped SO many of our teams and we've even used it for our own internal team as well. I bet you'll never guess what it is...

Notable Quotes

"Both of us have always been really focused on putting people first. The people who are directly collaborating with us, the people we're sharing space with." - Christine [13:09]
"I feel like inviting people to help us was a natural extension of the process of being here." - Amanda [18:45]
"You need to have your own space where you can do your best work in a less supervised kind of way." - Amanda [26:37]

Get your tickets now!

This is going to be a great place for YOU to practice connecting the dots and getting more connected to the global coworking community.

Find out more about the event, meet more speakers, and save your seat today.

Support the show and get the next episode

Lots of awesome stuff to come, I promise, and you don’t want to miss this. Subscribe however you like to subscribe, here’s some handy links for you:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

EP25 - How to deal with tough feelings about money, taking care of yourself, and why "accountability buddies" is BS

Vanessa Gennarelli is back with a new edition of "The Stack" - a segment where we pick three seemingly random topics and weave them together with examples and lessons in community building. This one is one of my favorites that we've done yet. Enjoy!