Everything Coworking

The coworking ethos promises a lot. Productivity, hospitality, community, networking, business growth, and more. I had a serious case of expectation failure when I toured two coworking spaces in the town next to mine...which was amplified when I joined one of them.

In this episode, I talk about:

- How frustrating the tour experience can be when you can’t easily find the front desk

- How going on a coworking space tour should feel like being on a great date

- How it’s easy to use industry buzzwords but much harder to actually execute on things like hospitality and community

- Why you should have someone shop your tour experience to see if your stated values align with the actual experience.

- Why I’m thinking harder about offering 10-day passes

- One approach you might take to kick-start your referral program

Link to show notes here

Phil Kirschner, Senior Expert, McKinsey Real Estate and Organizational Transformation practices, has a pretty unique perspective on coworking & flexible workspace. On this episode, he shares a personal experience using a coworking space for a last-minute client call first thing in the morning...and how that sent off both literal and figurative alarms for him.

On this episode, we talk about: 

- How is the perspective about flexible workplace / coworking changing for large enterprise companies?

- How are large enterprises using flexible workplace / coworking to inform and implement their post-pandemic workplace strategies?

- What are the benefits and challenges of increased adoption of flexible workplace / coworking by employees of large enterprises?

- What can smaller operators do to improve the experience of enterprise members, both the decision-makers and the individual user?

Link to show notes and resources mentioned here

Every time Mitch Gray spoke to a group or a new client, he heard "Our biggest business challenge is that t's really hard to find good people." He had discovered a simple approach to his own hiring practice that gave him a constant pipeline of good people. He decided to share this with others. On this episode, we talk about how to always be hiring, why Indeed may not be the best source for local talent, and how to sell our "why" to attract great candidates. Mitch is a member of coworking space Firehouse in Clovis, NM.

Mitch Gray, small business consultant and author of “How to Hire and Keep Great People” shares his insights around hiring and how to get out of the mindset that “it’s really hard to find good people right now.”

On this episode, we talk about:

• How to shift your mindset so that you can find great people even if it seems like it’s hard to find great people.
• Why you should “always be hiring” even if you’re not actually hiring. Why Indeed may not be your best source of candidates.
• Why hiring for culture fit is often more important than hiring for skills. Why you need to know your company’s “why” and sell your “why” to potential candidates.

Link to show notes

Everything Coworking Featured Resources: 

Community Manager University

Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space Creative

Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective

Resources Mentioned in this Podcast: 

www.mitchgraymedia.com

Instagram: @mgraymedia

Twitter: @mgraymedia 

Mitch Gray on Linkedin

Mitch Gray’s book on Amazon

Cofounders Amirh Davis and Christina Gutierrez met each other through a mutual friend that connected them to work on their mutual passion for coworking and childcare. They renovated a former bank building and opened in March 2, 2020, just a week before the stay-at-home order in response to COVID-19.

They give us a behind-the-scenes experience growing their business during a challenging environment for coworking and childcare.

They share how they attract their members, how they run their childcare model, and advice they’d give to new operators, and anyone considering integrating childcare into their coworking business.

Link to show notes here

MRP launched its first flexible office concept under Make Offices. Over time, MRP expanded that brand into non-owned assets.

After several years of learning, a global pandemic, and significant evolution in what tenants want from office space, they relaunched a more inclusive building services platform under the moniker “Heyday Properties.”

Link to show notes here

When I met Tessa in 2016, she had a lot of passion and a vision for Kwench that came with a big ticket buildout and a big funding gap.

Since then, she opened a 5,000 square foot beta space, redeveloped 25,000 square feet of an old rail house and moved in five months before COVID hit.

Kwench is a full-service work & culture club for creative, ambitious thinkers & doers who seek more. Tessa added a cafe/general store as an amenity in April....and has big plans for what the next location will include.

Link to show notes here.

Adam and Zach, co-owners of Workspace Collective in Ocala, Florida, opened their first coworking space in October 2019 in a house built in 1890. They opened their second location in June of 2021 in a 7,000 square foot modern, industrial building downtown.

On this episode, we talk about:

- How the business is a family affair - their wives really run the show behind the scenes.

- How Adam and Zach leverage their backgrounds in sales to fill up their locations and to support their members.

- What they learned from opening a second location

- Their plans to own the buildings they operate in going forward

- How they're going "all-in" on their micro offices

- How they market their podcast studio and more!

Link to show notes here!

Ben Wright is Head of Flexible Office Solutions, SquareFoot. He is also the founder of Upsuite, a digital platform that helps people find and book flexible work space. Ben is a former economist and a data nerd. His passion for data surfaces insights that help coworking space operators get access to market dynamics that they can act on.

On this episode, we talk about:

- The findings of Upsuite’s Q2 North American coworking data

- The return of demand in major cities such as NY and LA

- How operators are still working on getting to a cash flow positive occupancy rate

- How shopping is still lagging signing in many markets

- The challenge of digging out of deep COVID discounts for WeWork

- The return of small team demand

- 4-8 seat requirements

- How the drop in supply is making demand feel higher in some markets

- Why he’s worried that the coworking sector isn’t ready for the return of demand.

Link to show notes here!

Jenny Poon is the CEO and founder of CO+HOOTS coworking in Phoenix, AZ. She is a true OG in the coworking industry with a wealth of experience to share.

In this episode, we talk about:

- How Jenny got her first space started by doing a management agreement with her landlord way back in 2010.

- How she eventually moved her community into a building that she bought...after having her SBA loan pulled at the last minute and crowd-funding to save her business.

- How favorite automation hacks to free up her Community Managers to focus on...community!

Link to show notes here!

Justin and Kelly are co-owners of Flocc Studio in Dallas, TX. Kelly is also a sculptor and Justin is also a photographer and the founder of a digital lighting school. On this episode they share:

- Their unwavering decision to serve a creative niche at their space

- How they curate their application-based membership

- Managing a business with a spouse

- Their approach to alancing the coworking space + three more businesses

- How their intern program saves the day and how they run it and more!

Link to show notes here!