Coworking Community Builder Daily

The Platform Wars Are Missing the Point

Everyone's chasing the shiniest community platform — Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, LinkedIn groups.

Here's what actually happened with the London Coworking Assembly:

We spent months bouncing between platforms. Members are split across Slack channels; nobody checked. Discord servers that felt like ghost towns. WhatsApp groups that buried important updates under 200 unread messages.

The uncomfortable truth?

Email won. Every time.

Not because it's hip and cool.. Not because it has emojis, threads, and reactions.

But because everyone has it. Everyone checks it. Everyone knows how to use it.

Your Discord-native members might love their server. Your WhatsApp crew might be chatty as anything.

But when you need to reach everyone — from the 22-year-old developer to the 55-year-old consultant — email is the only common ground.

Start there. Build trust there. Then ask where they want to hang out.

The best community platform isn't the one with the most features. It's the one people actually show up to.

So what? Stop chasing platform perfection. Start with what works — email — then let your community tell you where they want to go next.

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise

Nobody wants your lame updates.

Think about it. When was the last time you woke up thinking, "God, I hope someone sends me some updates today"?

Never. That's when.

Yet here we are, slapping "Sign up for updates" on our websites like it's 2003 and people still get excited about email.

Your opt-in page needs to promise something specific. Something valuable. Something that makes someone think, "Yeah, I need that."

For the London Coworking Assembly, we stopped the vague "updates" nonsense and replaced it with this:

"The 5 Biggest Mistakes Coworking Community Builders Make When Starting a Space"

Specific. Useful. Solves a real problem.

Result? More signups in the first month of 2025 than the entire previous year.

Fifty people in two months might not sound massive, but for a small organisation, it's a significant achievement.

That's transformation.

Stop asking people to sign up for updates. Start offering them something they actually want.

Your move: Look at your opt-in right now. If it says "updates" or "newsletter," you're bleeding subscribers. Fix it today.

This is precisely the sort of strategic email positioning we thoroughly explore in the Community Builder's Email Engine.

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise

The "I Don't Want to Spam People" Lie

Let's end this excuse right now.

You're only spamming if you:

Buy an email list

Add people without permission

Send garbage to strangers

That's it. That's spam.

Here's what's NOT spam:

When someone types their email into your website and hits "subscribe", — that's permission. Not spam.

When you send them valuable content from your real business, that's relationship building. Not spam.

Stop using "I don't want to spam people" as an excuse to avoid email marketing. It's intellectually lazy.

You know the difference between permission-based email and actual spam.

The fix is super simple:

Put a signup form on your website

Use double opt-in (they confirm they want your emails)

Tell them it's okay to unsubscribe anytime

Send them stuff worth reading

That's not spam. That's respect.

The word "spam" has become this throwaway excuse for people scared to show up in someone's inbox.

Meanwhile, your competitors are building relationships, sharing value, and making sales.

You want to avoid spam? Don't buy lists. Don't add people without asking. Everything else is just fear dressed up as ethics.

Tomorrow: I'll show you exactly what to put on your website's front page to get permission the right way.

This connects directly to why independent coworking spaces need Educational Email Courses.

When you have permission and send value, you build the trust that turns subscribers into members. That's exactly what we master in the Community Builder's Email Engine.

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise

The performative era of coworking is over.

No more bullsh*t. The cat's out of the bag.

People are too close to real struggles—such as wealth inequality, global conflicts, and economic uncertainty—to fall for gimmicks anymore.

Those free trials that hook nobody.

The meditation rooms that are actually broom cupboards with rugs.

The rainbow stickers in windows exclude actual marginalised voices.

The superficial "community" events feel hollow.

None of it sticks.

Here's the brutal question every coworking operator needs to ask:

If all your gimmicks disappeared tomorrow, would you still have a community? Or just a shallow shell with good wifi?

Because people can smell authenticity from a mile away now. They're tired of being sold to.

They want to belong somewhere that actually stands for something.

Your members don't need another ping pong table.

They need a space that sees their humanity. That creates a genuine connection. That acknowledges the world is messy and says: "Let's figure this out together."

The coworking spaces surviving this moment? They're the ones who never relied on gimmicks in the first place.

They built on values. On real relationships. On showing up consistently for their people.

The rest are about to find out what happens when the performance comes to a stop.

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise

The "Free Membership" Trap That's Harming Coworking Spaces

I just witnessed something that gave me a headache: a brand-new coworking space offering 50 free six-month memberships to anyone who signs up quickly enough.

Here's the brutal truth about why this strategy backfires:

Free devalues everything you've built.

When you give away half your capacity for free, you're essentially telling the market that your service isn't worth paying for.

You've just trained potential customers to wait for the next discount instead of seeing real value.

Free attracts the wrong crowd.

People who chase free offers aren't community builders—they're deal hunters.

Without financial investment, they have no skin in the game and won't contribute to the collaborative culture that makes coworking spaces thrive.

I've seen this play out in London, where a shiny, investor-backed space rolled into town, undercut everyone, disrupted the entire local coworking ecosystem, then raised their prices with just one week's notice.

The damage to community relationships? Irreversible.

The lesson: Your pricing strategy isn't just about revenue—it's about attracting people who value what you're building.

When you give it away, you attract people who don't.

Your community deserves members who choose to invest, not just show up for free.

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise

The moment you hit "compose" on your newsletter, something weird happens.

You suddenly transform into Corporate Robot 3000 – all buttoned-up, businessy, and completely unrelatable.

But here's what actually works: Write like you're texting your business bestie.

Take Gemma and Caroline from the Breaker Collective.

Their newsletters read like you're sitting across from them at a coffee shop, mascara slightly smudged, spilling all the messy, brilliant details of running a business.

No corporate speak. No fake polish. Just real, human connection.

The result?

People don't just read their emails – they show up to their events and join their coworking space (which isn't even open yet).

They're building a community that's smaller than WeWork but infinitely more connected.

The secret sauce?

They write like actual humans to actual humans.

Your newsletter isn't a press release.

It's a conversation.

So drop the corporate mask and let your personality shine through – messy bits and all.

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise

The uncomfortable truth about business trust that nobody talks about:

We all think people buy from brands. But here's what actually happens—especially in consulting, coaching, and community-based businesses.

People don't connect with your logo or your company name. They connect with you.

When someone joins your coworking space or hires your services, they're not thinking about your brand values or mission statement.

They're thinking: "Do I trust this person? Do they get me?

Are we on the same wavelength?"

Here's where most business owners typically go wrong: They attempt to deploy trust as a marketing technique.

They craft the perfect messaging, optimise their about page, and strategically share personal stories.

But people can smell that manipulation from miles away.

What actually works? Just being genuinely helpful. Getting on the same frequency as the people you want to serve.

Connecting because you actually care, not because you're trying to convert.

The manipulation might yield a quick win, but an authentic connection fosters the kind of community that endures.

Bottom line: Stop trying to build trust with your brand. Start building relationships with your people.

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise

The Social Media Follower Illusion: Why Email Is Still King

I saw something that perfectly illustrates why I bang on about email lists so much.

A friend posted on social media today. They've got 4,500 LinkedIn followers—impressive, right? But here's the kicker: only 104 people actually saw their post.

Now, if they'd emailed those same 4,500 people instead, with a typical 25% business open rate, roughly 1,000 people would have seen their message. That's nearly 10 times more reach.

Think about it this way: if someone told you that you had to stand in front of 1,000 people and give a talk, you'd spend ages preparing. You'd know exactly what to say, you'd value every second of that opportunity.

But when it comes to email? Too many people think, "Oh, I'll just chuck something together and hope it works."

Here's the reality: you own your email list. Social media platforms own your audience there. Your carefully cultivated following can disappear overnight if the algorithm changes or the platform decides you're not worth showing.

Social media is still important—it's brilliant for discovery and building relationships. But when it comes to actually reaching people and building a business? Your email list is where the gold is.

Stop chasing vanity metrics. Start building something you actually control.

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise

Making Your Emails Feel Personal (Even When Sending to Thousands)

One of the biggest challenges with email marketing is making it feel personal when you know you're sending to hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people at once.

Big companies like Vodafone, 3Mobile, and Apple do this really well - but the secret isn't to copy them. It's to do the opposite.

The key: Sound like YOU, not like a corporate giant.

If you're a maker space in Lewisham, embrace that! Don't try to sound like the Hilton Hotel or 3Mobile. Make specific references to things happening in YOUR space.

Talk about that project someone's working on, the community events you're hosting, the local challenges you're solving.

Write for an informed audience. There's an education process happening with every email you send, but don't dumb things down.

If you write as if you're speaking to people who already get it, they'll meet you where you are.

Here's the reality: If someone sends me surface-level, generic community-building content, I'll scroll past it immediately.

But if it's meaty, specific, and catches my attention? I'm all in.

Your audience is smarter than you think. Respect their intelligence and speak their language.

What's your biggest email personalisation challenge? Let me know in the comments! 👇

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise

I've had some version of this conversation about 300,000 times in my life, so I thought I'd share it with you.

"Hello, coworking space owner."

"Hello."

"Do you send an email newsletter?"

"We do it every quarter."

"Why do you do it every quarter?"

"Well, because we don't have time. We don't know what to put in it."

"Okay. And so what do you need help with at the moment?"

"Oh, we need to sell more desks. We need to sell more offices. We're really low on revenue."

"So how many people are on your email list?"

"Oh, we've only got about a thousand people."

"So do you think if you emailed those thousand people every week, and say 250 of them actually opened it, you might sell more desks?"

"Well, I don't know. I haven't got time to write an email newsletter."

"What is going on in your coworking space this week?"

"Well, we just had this...

The Foo Fighters came in and played a gig in the basement, and then we had a member hosting a bring-and-share.

Kofi's running an AI workshop.

Sangeeta is running a photography class.

Yeah, that's it.

Then I found this new app I really like."

"Put that in a newsletter and send it to those thousand people and see what happens."

The content is right there. You're already living it.

Subscribe to Coworking Community Builder Daily on Soundwise