Before you open your office ...

    As you can see from the dynamics of this blog, quite a few guys have now begun to try their hand at the “coworking” topic. This is great :) In a crisis, by the way, coworking works with a bang, so I believe that they will succeed.

    In support I decided to throw up information from our English-speaking colleagues on Habr from time to time. By the way, I want to say: guys, do not disdain the communities coworking.pbwiki.com and groups.google.com/group/coworking ! People who have already gone through all your difficulties 2-3 years ago communicate there. Both Newman and Messina communicate there, there is one very interesting PhD coworking evangelist who writes a dissertation on this movement. I don’t remember my name, but you will find.

    The first piece of information: the answer from the unfaltering guy from Worcester to a simple question like “what is the best way to start?”. IMHO, pretty useful.

    Free translation.

    How do those who try coworking start? It is clear that many use real estate market analysis to estimate the approximate income from a new office. But interestingly: does anyone use marketing methods to find potential coworkers and convenient places to collect them?

    Kelly Brown, a freelancer from Worcester, Mass., Having become interested in coworking before acting, decided to investigate market behavior. He began research in October 2008 and today has formed an opinion on a number of marketing methods. We took an interest in its results. Here is the (free) translation of his letter:

    1. Before opening your office, show more responsibility and first try to understand where in your city there are the most people who are potentially ready to unite, and which premises in this area are convenient for this.

    2. Social networks are very effective, both online and offline. This is the best method in terms of obtaining results with a minimum of costs. Any online social network with geo-targeting in your region - and you will attract quite talkative participants as if with a magnet, which will help to make an objective opinion on it. They will tell friends, family - and there is surely someone else who knows someone, who knows someone who works at home now and is a potential coworker.

    3. A very good response from the local press, both large and not very. Coworking is a pretty “sexy”, “hot” topic. Especially at this time, in today's economy, in which more and more people start their own business or at least earn extra money. But be sure to get closer with local business journalists, ask for their opinion, ask for a tip: they have VERY much information and tons of contacts of people who can help you, this is much more serious and more important than just a magazine article.

    4. Local forums. Not immediately, but still we found a couple of forums that were very similar to a place for publishing and storing all sorts of interesting mockery things. If you can join such a forum - excellent; this is the best way to access his email database. I'm not talking about spam - BUT, if you conceive some kind of event and throw in crackers and beer (which will cost you, for example, $ 100) - you will get people who, at least, will not leave without hearing you out the end. Honestly, it is after such events, if you make them “cool” for the guys, in fact, new people come - simply because someone KNEW someone who is interested in the topic and passed the news to him.

    5. If you have a website - fill it with information and promote, unwind, untwist in order to attract attention and collect feedback. A good site will bring you closer to getting new members.

    6. Go around all the cafes in the area and conduct polls. For this, I contracted two schoolchildren (my nephew and niece), and they interviewed all the people sitting in a cafe without a laptop. Offering $ 5th gift cards for the answers to our survey, we 1) got a lot more real knowledge about the market, 2) we’ll probably get some good customers. Try to conduct polls in a playful way and not bother anyone - people have their own affairs, and you must show respect for them. If you buy a person a cup of coffee, in gratitude for the time spent, in general it is perceived very well. But I would advise to interview, weekly, no more than 4-6 people in each cafe.

    7. Generate events. “Community, community, community,” as Alex Hillman says. We found that posting news, events, events, conversations
    with interesting people telling about themselves - all this attracts people very well. I know that many are trying to understand the market by talking with Jelly or Biznik. Forget about it. It is better to reserve a conference room and periodically collect at least part of your audience for meetings, conferences and seminars. You can crowd go to the park, or to a cafe, or a bar with Wi-Fi, and similar places.

    8. Do not attempt to use Direct Mail. We tried. It was a disaster.

    - Kelly Brown, 2009
    coworking@googlegroups.com

    Also popular now: