Everything Coworking

At the time of this recording, we're a few weeks out from the 2018 FlexOffice Conference. This week, I share my primary takeaways through my lens as a primary conference organizer and industry member.

Full Show Notes Here

In this episode, I go through a framework for implementing consistent team meetings as a part of your leadership system for running a successful coworking space. 

You can have the right location, a gorgeous space and a great community and still have the wheels fall of of your business if you don’t have the right systems in place to ensure that the team is aligned with and accountable to your organizational goals.

Weekly meetings are a great way to ensure a regular check-in against KPIs and also to help develop a strong culture, recognize team wins and provide consistent feedback to enhance performance. 

See full show notes here.

This week we're shifting from working on the "how" to working on the mindset challenges that often prevent us from making progress and living our best lives.

I am highly trained in the “how” department. So much so that my analytical rigor as an MBA grad from the top business school in the country might have squashed some of my intuitive side. I got to a point in my post-MBA career when I was really stuck and wasn't able to move on to the thing I could sense deep down was next for me.

Fortunately, I found Rita Hyland. Her website describes her coaching practice as "a place where leaders come to reclaim their purpose, clarify their vision, and reconnect with their true voice."

She did exactly that for me. Not just once, but twice :-) The first time I worked with her was the process that birthed Enerspace, my own coworking space. It was a life-changing process that gave me the awareness and the tools to work through mindset issues as they come up. And as entrepreneurs, we are all managing mindset issues on a daily basis.

Rita is an entrepreneur, coach, speaker, wife, and mother of three active children. In this episode, she talks with us about how to recognize common mindset barriers that keep us from pursuing our best lives.

See full post here. 

In this episode, I do a problem-solving session with Anthony Vetesse of Synchronous Solutions Coworking in Detroit.

He reached out and asked for some help figuring out why he can sell his open space memberships all day long but struggles with his offices so I invited Anthony on to work through this in real-time and record it so we could share it with you.

We go through a review of the Detroit coworking market, his unique location and culture, the health of his community, his core member profile, his product mix, his pricing, his marketing tactics and where we think his sales funnel could be improved to help solve the problem.

See more here.

What you can do to get your scheduled tours to actually show up for tours.\n\n>The DNA of the coworking space tour experience.\n\n>The tour follow-up process.\n\n"}" data-sheets-userformat= "{"2":897,"3":[null,0],"10":0,"11":4,"12":0}"> This is the final episode in a three-part series on the Coworking Sales Funnel. If you missed episode #84 and #85, make sure to go back and listen.

In this last episode of the three-part series I cover:

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• What you can do to get your scheduled tours to actually show up for tours.\n\n>The DNA of the coworking space tour experience.\n\n>The tour follow-up process.\n\n"}" data-sheets-userformat= "{"2":897,"3":[null,0],"10":0,"11":4,"12":0}"> The DNA of the coworking space tour experience.
  
  
• What you can do to get your scheduled tours to actually show up for tours.\n\n>The DNA of the coworking space tour experience.\n\n>The tour follow-up process.\n\n"}" data-sheets-userformat= "{"2":897,"3":[null,0],"10":0,"11":4,"12":0}"> The tour follow-up process.

See the full blog post here.

This is the second episode in a three-part series on the Coworking Sales Funnel.

If you missed episode #84, make sure to go back and listen.

Make sure to tune in next week for episode #86 for the third and final episode of this series.

In this second episode of the three-part series I cover:

>Converting website visitors into tours.

>Leakage points in this section of the sales funnel - the most common reasons you're losing prospective members at this stage of the sales process and how you can plug those leaks.

>An illustration of sales funnel leaks with Anna from Atlanta.

Get the full show notes here!

This is the first episode in a three-part series on the Coworking Sales Funnel.

There’s a lot to cover on this topic and I want to keep it digestible. So make sure you tune in next week for episode #85 for the second part of this series.

In this first episode of the three-part series I cover:

>Does your product mix support your pro-forma forecast and expectations? If not, suggestions for how to adjust.

>An overview of the Coworking Sales Funnel - start with the end in mind - what's your end goal for the space? Then we work back up through the funnel to make sure all of the steps in your sales process drive toward your goal.

>The top of the sales funnel - how to drive relevant visitors to your website.

See the full blog post at www.everythingcoworking.com under Coworking Resources/Blog

> Creating the right tech stack in a coworking space is critical to keeping yourself sane, creating time for strategic work for you and your team, and to creating a positive, friction-free experience for your members.

> Being committed to the core parts of your business that automate your processes as well as keep things like onboarding and conference room reservations simple for members are what separates the good from the great coworking businesses.

That being said, the tech and tools aspect of opening and running a coworking space is one of the most overwhelming for many operators.

I’ve been there myself and I work with operators like you each and every month to make sure they don’t get stuck in the land of…

...analysis paralysis!

I can tell you’re trying to stay focused, make the right decisions and keep moving!

This episode walks through the just-released 2018 Coworking Tech and Tools Guide which you can download here. 

In addition to my own experience, I see a lot of businesses, P&L's, pro-formas, etc. and have pieced together what I think are factors that contribute to the failure of a coworking space.

No matter how emotionally committed you are to getting a space up and running, make sure that you're avoiding these pitfalls as you go through the design of your business, selection of your space and fund-raising.

If you have any feedback or questions on this episode, please reach out to me at [email protected]!

I generally see two types of mindset out there on opening a coworking space. There are the folks that will start selling the story to anyone who will listen before they’ve even signed a lease. Then there are the folks that want to get the space built, furnished and wrapped up on a bow before they start touring potential members. There are shades of these types but for today, we’ll focus on these two ends of the spectrum.

The “Story Seller” as we’ll call her, is campaigning on behalf of this space on day one both through word of mouth and through social media and a strong online presence. She is both strategic and scrappy.

The “Bow Boy,” as we’ll call him, believes that people won’t buy what they can’t clearly see, touch and feel. They wait until they have a shiny new space with an “open” sign on the door to start attracting members.

The Story Seller will have a faster return on her investment.

Learn more about these two characters in this episode.