243. Blending Digital and Physical Communities to Expand the Business Model of a Small Coworking Space

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243. Blending Digital and Physical Communities to Expand the Business Model of a Small Coworking Space

00:00:01 Welcome to the Everything Coworking podcast, where you learn what you need to know about how the world wants to work. And now your host coworking space owner and trend expert, Jamie Russo, Welcome to the Everything Coworking podcast. This is your host. Jamie Russo today's guest is going to talk about her unique approach to creating a physical space that really was to support a digital community that she had grown.

00:00:44 And she knew there was demand local demand for physical space to support the types of events that she was hosting. So she had a digital community focused on empowering women. Her spaces called her power space in Broward county, Florida outside of Fort Lauderdale, and her physical network wanted space to host events, pop-up shops, workshops, family celebrations, you name it.

00:01:13 They needed easy on demand space. That was a fit for the things that they wanted to accomplish outside of work or related to work. And she wanted a podcast space. She had some dedicated space and drop-in space for people to kind of work on their businesses or their side hustles throughout the week and on the weekend. Well, Michelle opened on January 20th, sorry,

00:01:37 January 12th, 2020, and closed her doors in at the end of March, 2020. So she's really spent the last couple of years, you know, getting through COVID and trying to build what she had envisioned before she opened. And I met Michelle, we worked closely together. She was part of our Flight Group and our Community Manager group. And we did some one-on-one work and I love her persistence.

00:02:04 I love what she's creating, which is unique to her community. She really, really was in touch with what her community needed, even though it didn't look exactly like the coworking spaces that others were creating. I also think she is a really, really talented marketer. She's a really strong in email marketing and creating relationships through email being authentic, telling stories,

00:02:31 connecting. So if you want to sneak into her email list, you should do that. She's a great model for what it looks like to build relationships over time and pull people into the offers that she has. And she has some pretty interesting digital offers that she integrates into this space in particular, a program called the unchambered, which I think you'll find really interesting.

00:03:01 So I won't give away do all the spoiler before we get started. Let's just dive into our conversation with Michelle. Welcome. I have a special guest today. All my guests are special, but Michelle Talbert is founder and chief visionary officer of her power space near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Michelle. I can't remember exactly when we met, but it is always such a treat to talk to you.

00:03:33 And I also have to tell you that whenever I think of your name, I think of the Beatles song. Does this happen to other people? It should. That's what I'm named after. Is it? I really am not of the Beatles era and I don't have any, actually I just Google it to see, like, what are the lyrics of this song?

00:03:55 Part of it's in French, which I didn't even know. And so I know many Michelles and none of them invoke that song. So that is just you. That does that to me. So for a job, kudos ma totally I, yes. I love it. Wait, speaking of, I also was looking at your LinkedIn and I, did we ever talk about the fact that you went to Cornell?

00:04:21 Probably not. I don't know, because with all the stuff that we always have to talk about, that's what I thought I was like, how funny is it that we just get right into all the other things you, so I went to Ithaca college for undergrad, nice. Across the hill, the school people don't know about because Cornell is like Ivy league.

00:04:39 And if it gives like a regular school, yeah. I spent all my summers in Ithaca because I didn't want to go back home, but it's so beautiful. It's gorgeous. It's exactly. Okay. So I have to tell you that one of my vivid memories from this summer is we went, so my parents live like an hour and a half from Ithaca.

00:04:59 That's where I grew up. So I dragged my daughter. We went to visit my parents two years and we, I wanted to take her to see the campus and I promised her we could go hiking in the would go basically swimming, you know, the waterfalls, the gorgeous, what is it like a Truman state? Yeah, there's a there's buttermilk buttermilk falls.

00:05:23 And like Harry Truman state park. I think it's very German. So we drive an hour and a half and we get there and we go to the first one and they're doing like construction on the falls, like the bottom of it, where the water pools. And so I said, okay, we'll try the other one. So we'd already like paid our fee and you know,

00:05:47 done it. So we go to the other one, same thing. So I say, okay, I'm sorry, we can't wait around. We can't swim. She's 10. So I said, we're, we'll just go for a hike. She refuses. She refuses to hide. Cause you wasn't there to hike. She was there to like, you know,

00:06:03 sway the faults. I was so mad at her for like hike and she wouldn't do it. We had like a standoff in the parking lot. So no hiking for me. She was wonder who Raised you? How did this happen? Exactly. Yeah. Nature nurture what? I don't know. She certainly is opinionated anyway. Well, why don't we use the Ithaca transition to talk about like your origin as an attorney.

00:06:39 And now here you are. So can I talk about your background a little better that I was looking at your LinkedIn, that the attorney thing didn't last for a long time, Only about nine years. Right? But then you're like off onto passion things that are clearly more passionate for you than, than being an attorney. Although you still do legal work.

00:07:03 They know that. But anyway, I always think it's an interesting people. Love to hear like, well, I thought I was going to do this in life and here's what I do now. So tell us like early Michelle, what was the, and, and wine does into why you needed a co-working space that opened in March of 2020, January 20,

00:07:23 20, January of 2020, you had like a minute of thrill to be open. And then the world fell apart And we were having this conversation. This is a different Conversation. That's what I told. Yes, we should. I was always like Michelle, you would be such a good podcast guest. Let's wait until you've recovered from opening in March of 2018,

00:07:47 January of 20, 28. Sorry. Okay. So start off on the Michelle story. You're out, right? We said you're outside of Fort Lauderdale today with a coworking space and a digital community. You have such an interesting hybrid of a business that I really want to get into what that looks like. So kind of help us get to the story of how you got to where you are today.

00:08:08 Absolutely. Well, I'm really excited to be here because your podcast and you saved my patootie. I'm sure we'll get into that in a little while. Everything Coworking is truly everything I needed Coworking and continues to this day. I've been listening all the time. So the funny thing is, I don't think cats should be the only ones who are allowed to have nine lives.

00:08:32 I literally took a 16 year journey to get to the hospital graduation, right. I graduated and was straight graduated high school and went straight into the workforce. And by the time I was 22, I had a good government full-time day job was going to community college at night. And I had two kids under two, and I was divorced at 22. Right?

00:08:54 So we can to, you know, it's the three Musketeers. We continue to go to community college during the day the kids were, you know, going to the babysitter and then school and having that whole community. And I thought I wanted to go into law school and I wanted to go into policy making and possibly politics. And so fast-forward, we went up to Ithaca after about nine years of community college part time and went to Cornell.

00:09:20 We did study abroad and all kinds of cool stuff and internships in Congress and members of parliament in England and all of that because I was so sure I'm going to be a lawyer and I'm going to run for office and the kids. And I walked across the stage when I was 30 and got my undergrad. And then we went on to Penn for law school lived in Philly.

00:09:41 And like I said, it was, so it was really the 16 year Odyssey. I, my hard stop was I had to be finished with all schooling so that the kids and I could be back in time for my son. Who's my eldest to have his first year of high school. I did not want to move them once we started high school.

00:09:59 And so we graduated law school, he started high school. My daughter was still in junior high and I went into corporate practice in Washington, DC. And I did that for a while, a number of years and realized, oh, this is really not well suited to who I want to be in the world. And there were so many great lessons I learned along the journey.

00:10:21 I have no regrets. I love practicing corporate law. I didn't even take evidence because I knew I didn't want to be in a courtroom. And I love interacting with people. And so it was actually the quote unquote rainmaking that I was out networking and doing that. I was like, I love this. And the partners were like, but you're not supposed to be doing that right in that.

00:10:43 Yeah. Behind the desk. Exactly. Folders, paperwork. Yeah. So right around the time when my oldest was graduating high school, I was like, well, what else can I do? And I co-authored a book on online dating. Right. So I guess I saw that. That's the funny thing I was like, I mean, I didn't know any of this.

00:11:03 This is so fascinating. And the reason why this now ties all the way to Coworking is because we co-authored and self-published, we needed to figure out a way in 2011 to market. And so we hit Twitter, right? Where else are you going to be in 2011, when you need to do social media marketing. And nobody knows what the heck social media marketing is.

00:11:25 And I fell in love with social media and we got Ebony magazine is a huge magazine, huge publication it's free. And their, one of their editors came in my inbox and said, can we feature you? And from dad found you on Twitter. They found us on Twitter for me, just kind of bouncing around, talking about online dating when you were in your forties and after divorce and with kids and how to stay safe.

00:11:50 And we started talking all over the country. And so I would say a social media Maven was born. And from that point in 2011, I was like, whoa, I love this. And in 2012, I left and started working with the NFL and other people to help them with their social media presence the whole time, because I'm on social. That was still like the wild,

00:12:09 wild west back then. Yeah. It was a Wally insane. And I tried to help lawyers. Yeah. Right. I tried to help her out of here. She doesn't understand, we can't, this is unauthorized practice of law and they should get a picture all. But yeah, it was crazy. But I was like, oh my God, I can help you guys.

00:12:34 I can re, this is my niece. I have the legal education. I have the social media do this. They were like, get out. So I did. And what happened is that I took this journey through tech and coworking spaces. I started working out of a place called 1776 in Washington, DC. That was 2013. I was in like lean startup competitions.

00:12:58 So again, it's this really circuitous route, but everything was paving the way to where I am today. And so we want to lean startup competition. And just the whole time I was oversharing, if you want to call it that on social media. And so women started coming into my inbox saying, Michelle, how did you get this opportunity to be with Jeff Bezos in a room?

00:13:20 Like that's really rarefied air, how'd you do that? And you took us along with you. How can I do that? How can I have these conversations? How can I have access? And because I had the blogging background, the podcasting background, the social media background, I launched the, her power hustle podcast in 2015, moved here to self-learn and 20,

00:13:40 also early for podcasts. You were an early adopter of all media. My first podcast was in 2009. And again, sometimes it is very lonely to sort of be at the forefront of different technology with Coworking. It made sense for me to open her power space more so as an event venue, right. That's how we got here because I was hosting events online.

00:14:08 And in person with women entrepreneurs and launched a chapter of my community for women, her power moves. And then we had a second chapter and a third chapter, and I've always been able to stay connected with people online, but I love the in-person experience and the women were thriving. And so I said, well, let's open a space for us because I'm tired of trying to find a restaurant or someplace else owned by a woman to host our events every month.

00:14:35 And that's how her powers do it myself right before COVID starts. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. If I had a hotline about the COVID experience, I, this place would not exist. This was my first brick and mortar business. Like, oh, do that. Who does that? Who does that? Who opens it there? Most people in the digital space.

00:14:55 Don't right. So I think, so walk me through, yeah. What was the, what was the vision of kind of the physical digital overlap? Absolutely. When you started and didn't know COVID was around the corner, You know, we have this community of almost 2000 women online through the different platforms who were all focused on entrepreneurship. And so I was giving workshops and hosting events and sharing resources and connecting them to each other.

00:15:25 And that made a lot of sense. And then when we were in person, we'd say, okay, this is our in-person connections. You make these connections in person, but you continue to nurture them online. Right? So the thought was that her power space would be a place for not just our events, but because there are so many other events that are always happening from pop-up shops.

00:15:45 Pop-up shops are huge down here in south Florida, the solopreneurs and small business owners who don't have the marketing chops or access to marketing resources. And they get to sell their goods when someone else markets the event. Right. So I was like, okay, we can do pop up shops. We can host events. We can have women's empowerment events and we can have her power moves.

00:16:06 Oh yeah. And I'll do mail and stuff like that too. Like We're so Yeah. Well, I was going to say, if you look at the photos of your site, they speak volumes around kind of what you were doing in this space. You can tell like the vibe, the connection just they're fantastic photos that captured what was happening right before that was all shut down.

00:16:36 Yeah. Hey, I just wanted to jump in really quickly before we continue with our discussion. If you're working on opening a co-working space, I want to invite you to join me for my free masterclass three behind the scenes secrets to opening a coworking space. If you're working on opening a coworking space, I want to share the three decisions that I've seen successful operators make when they're creating their Coworking business.

00:17:03 The masterclass is totally free. It's about an hour and include some Q and a. If you'd like to join me, you can register at Everything. Coworking dot com forward slash masterclass. If you already have a coworking space, I want to make sure you know, about Community Manager, University, Community Manager, University is a training and development platform for community managers.

00:17:25 And it can be for owner operators. It has content training resources, templates from day one to general manager. The platform includes mini courses that cover the major buckets of the Community Manager role from community management, operations, sales, and marketing, finance, and leadership. The content is laid out in a graduated learning path. So the Community Manager can identify what content is most relevant to them,

00:17:53 depending on their experience and kind of jump in from there. We provide a live brand new training every single month for the Community Manager group. We also host a live Q and a call every single month so that the community managers can work through any challenges that they're having or opportunities get ideas from other community managers build their own peer network. We also have a private slack group for the group.

00:18:20 So if you're interested in learning more, you can go to Everything, Coworking dot com forward slash Community Manager. So, so that was the, so talk about the space and how you set it up to accomplish those goals. Cause it's a, it matches those goals, not a typical co-working space set up Cooley. And you know, we are 1062 square feet.

00:18:44 We have two private offices, one conference room, and one large open area that could be Coworking. It's flex, right. For events and things like that. And then we have a cordial courtyard with a fountain right outside. I made sure the wifi reached, like I was really thinking aesthetically about how can events happen here. And so I didn't listen to Everything Coworking podcast prior to 20 21, 20 20.

00:19:14 And so I think that's totally fair because I think that's what we, you know, when we first connected, I was like, okay, I get what you're doing. It doesn't right. Match. The traditional Coworking advice of you need a bigger space. You need offices, not what I'm doing. Totally. And you wanted everything to you're like, my people need space to do their things.

00:19:38 I need them to be able to book it when they want a bucket. Yeah. So everyone who I spoke with, because we were calling it a co-working space, everyone who I spoke with said your doors are going to close within the first two months. What do you mean? You don't have a membership requirement. Right. So That's right. You had no.

00:19:56 Right, right, right, right. I remember this now, Michelle, you need recurring revenue recurring. Right? Like even in e-commerce that like, you know, you don't even do that there, but you know, creating subscriptions and things like that. I came from that world, but I just knew that events digitally, right. You have this hybrid where people pay people pay to attend.

00:20:19 Let's be clear. People pay to attend all of the events. Right. So there is revenue that's being generated. It's just a predictability of it. I knew it would be a recurring, but COVID had other plans. So the space was to be used as a place to create art for content, creators, podcasters. They have the green screens, they bring lights,

00:20:38 all of those things. Right. And we've had everything from, you know, firearms, safety classes. This is in person safety classes, two nail tech and braiding classes and doula classes all with the babies in the whole nine. Right. And so I knew that our community needed a place, a physical space to come together. It's just that 20,

00:21:00 20 and 2021 had a little bit of other plans, but we were able to continue the relationships and host hybrid events and totally online events. But I would always be in the space. So it was always marketing the space like right now I'm sitting in. Right. So, you know, it was really keeping the space top of mind, even if you can't come in,

00:21:21 you know, just know that we're here. We have do not disturb signs that people took home so that I can't get to her power space, but I'm still building my empire. So we stay top of mind and people just continue to support us, but also to transact with us in terms of business. So the vision for the space was to be used by the community and for us,

00:21:45 and it kinda morphed into more Coworking and still having that online relationship building. So your women forward, obviously the name, I have seen men in your space when we've been on the phone before men welcoming. And I've seen men in your photos too, and you have a podcast studio. Yes. Tell me, so is 20, 22 still like a transition time?

00:22:16 Like how is this space being used now? And is that the ultimate sort of vision or is that still evolving? Ooh, 2020. So it was really interesting because, you know, the reality is I said that people were saying every co-working space owner I spoke with said, Michelle, there's no way your business will stay open if you don't have a monthly membership requirement.

00:22:38 But the reality is their businesses. Honestly, a lot of them went out of business because their communities could not afford the monthly overhead and not coming into the office. I had the reverse. So people were paying us to come in one or two at a time and still say safe, cause we could still be open once our mandates were lifted. So with that in mind,

00:23:01 our space is really still a coworking space. And now we have more people saying, I really love the vibe here. Can we have a dedicated office? So now we have a conference room is dedicated a few days a week and this office and now people are in my office and we are looking to expand so that we have more dedicated office space. So that advice I received was correct for a traditional Coworking model.

00:23:28 It's just that we ended up creating this really beautiful model of pay as you go out to cart and oh yes. If I can't afford it, I want to be here. And now we're making it possible for people who can afford it to come get dedicated space with us. Yeah. So, I mean, even before COVID you wanted a place that was accessible to your community,

00:23:50 which didn't mean full-time membership. That was always important to you. And I think through COVID, there's been a lot of sort of rethinking because ideally in Coworking it's commit, commit, commit, be a member, be a full-time member because from an operator standpoint, that's how we sleep better at night. Right. But you're finding that that flexible approach is working for your community.

00:24:15 And it's also like kind of the mindset. A lot of folks are in today. If they don't, you know, need, they want the on demand space, they want to do it when they need it. So can you mention to you, I think you were sort of trying to, you know, pull in revenue sources while you couldn't be open for events and you started a mail program,

00:24:38 which I think a struggle for small spaces because you're not there all the time. So managing, but can you just, for anybody who's listening who doesn't have a male program or has a small fate space, it isn't staffed all the time. We just, just to help them kind of learn. We just talk about your experience with the, the male program.

00:24:58 Sure. Actually we have what we call drop-in hours. So Monday through Friday, pretty much noon to six. We are available for people to come in and pick up their mail. All other times are on demand by reservation, by booking. And so someone can call me at five forty five and say, Hey, Michelle, is it possible for me to get my mail at six 15?

00:25:19 And we will stay open for them because we're community forward. But giving people set times to pick up their mail, they have no problem coming in during those times, our focus are, is a micro business owners and a lot of solo, preneurs and side hustlers, right? So these are a lot of people who work nine to five on their day job and all other times when their daydream.

00:25:40 And so we're here for them. They come in on Saturdays if we have events. So the mail program created an opportunity for people who had been using post office boxes and using their home address and not even realizing, Hey, Google my businesses and actually something I can do to, to move my business forward. And so having this space, even though our hours,

00:26:02 our drop-in hours are 12 to six. People still utilize the space. And we have hundreds of people now in our mail system, both directly with us and through third party resources, I feel like I just recorded another podcast to talk about automated coworking spaces that have ambassadors, but not staff. And we were talking about how COVID has really like there, there's been sort of a,

00:26:29 this is how Coworking is done. You have to be staffed. Full-time if you have mail, you have to have somebody there all the time. And you've just said like, look, I'm going to do it differently. And it's working. And I know you've mentioned, like, you're really a problem for some of the folks in your community, wherever you saying,

00:26:46 oh, this guy that, you know, walked across from the other office and he's, he needed a mail address for, you know, whatever. Cause you were still learning, like, why do people need addresses? But it's been a benefit to your members and it, maybe it doesn't fit with sort of the bigger vision of what you're trying to accomplish,

00:27:05 but it is a consistent revenue stream, which we like. Right. We love it. Yeah. Okay. So, oh, go ahead. No, Gonna say the guy who you talked about, he went to another third party source, got a dub, a different location. We happen to also be listed on that site. And he realized we were in his community when he went to that other location.

00:27:25 Oh, they were manned, but they wouldn't let him sign up on the spot. They told him, no, you can't sign up on the spot. You have to go on the, on the web. And he said, I just want to be able to hand you my credit card. And he walked in here and said, can I hand you my credit card?

00:27:37 I said, you have so Many different accounts, but in the course of three weeks, three accounts, he, he renews every single six months Too funny. I love it. Okay. So one of the things that I think is really interesting about your model is that, you know, you're really a community audience builder. I think this is a mindset that is a little bit foreign to a lot of folks who operate brick and mortar,

00:28:06 right. Physical spaces. So you're an amazing email marketer. You had a podcast like you are diff you're building an audience digitally and you have other things that you do that aren't specific to the space, but that overlap with the space that feed the space. Can you just kind of talk about, you know, how did you become such a, like where did the audience building come from?

00:28:37 And then in particular, I think the email marketing that you do is phenomenal. I read Michelle's emails on her list and I'm just like, wow, this girl knows that, or right. And you're super engaging and it's not always just about the space, but I'm sure some of the things you're doing overlap with the space and also sort of fit into your broader business model.

00:28:58 So I just would love to have you share kind of that, how did you build that? How did you get good at it and how do you see it benefiting your business? Absolutely. Well, let's start with the email marketing. It, it came about because when I was trying to figure out what I would do instead of practice law, real estate was really appealing to me.

00:29:20 But because I seem to have the timing of the worst person it's timing on the planet, it was around 2005 when I decided, oh, let's do residential real estate. Right. Which was right. Not, not soon before the burst. And in that time though, working with my mentor in residential real estate that had the opportunity to work under a gentleman by the name of Dean Jackson,

00:29:44 Dean Jackson is like the grandfather of email marketing. And so I was still in the room with him, not realizing that I was sitting with the godfather, even marketing then right. 20 years ago. But he taught us to think very differently about how to engage potential buyers and sellers. And so I took those lessons and have just continued to educate myself with other training and then just implementing them.

00:30:09 A lot of people teach you how to build a list, but they don't teach you how to create a community with your list and actually nurture the list. And so I've spent ever since then, so last 16 years, understanding what it means to have an email list and how to communicate with people, to help you further your business goals, by helping them get the goals achieved that they want.

00:30:32 So that's, that's my entire ethos behind email marketing. And one of the things about having a super Securitas route to where I sit today and who knows where I'll be five years from now, I may have an idea, but who knows, you know, is that I was on the sort of leading edge of a lot of different spaces and technologies and audiences and opportunities and that beat the heck out of me.

00:30:57 And so it made me tougher for now and to be able to survive now and to think on my feet and to pull from different areas, all the arrows in my Quill are also different because of all these different experiences that they fold together really beautifully. So yeah, email marketing and online and social media and our local spore and chamber of commerce calling me during COVID to say,

00:31:21 Hey, we know, you know how to use zoom, will you do zoom workshops for us? We literally enabled me to get also additional revenue to keep us alive. Right? So there's something to be said, you were doing workshops. Who else were you doing workshops for score chamber of commerce here and some other, a bunch of other folks, NASDAQ and NASDAQ entrepreneurial center.

00:31:44 Cornell. Yeah. Lots of workshops, lots of online things because that's the language that I speak. We were back in the space in may with our very first online summit that was six hours long to help micro business owners understand how do I get money if the PPP is bankrupt. And so that's the other part of it. Yeah. I have the technical skills to podcast and have a ring light and get on zoom most of the time.

00:32:10 But I also have a heart for our community. And I've been a part of this community for so long that I understand what our needs are. And so when people gave me the really great advice of Michelle, you're going to go out of business. If you don't have a recurring revenue stream, I understood enough to know that my folks can't afford nor do they want to pay that even without a pandemic.

00:32:32 And so I think that's been the route is just understanding what my community wants. Being very focused on my community. And yeah, we have lots of men. The first person to sign up for this space was a man. He signed up for six months. He's still here every six months. Our very first herd power space, a community member was a guy,

00:32:53 right. So, and we have loads of guys. And that's the other piece I think with marketing in any way, shape or form is you, you have your avatar, your persona, your target market, whatever you want to call it. And anyone else who feels like, but that resonates with me too. Don't push them away. Welcome them.

00:33:11 Right? So we do have some spaces that are women. Only some of our events are very much, this is a sacred space for women and guys don't care. And then we have co-ed events and then the guys host their own events. Men have hosted men, only events here. And they're like, Michelle, are you listening? Nope. Not at all.

00:33:29 Do you guys want to grab concierge to come in for you? Because I understand sacred spaces. I'm very much a black woman, right? So I bring all of who I am to the table. And when you show up authentically, it resonates with everyone. You know, we have a big dude came in from Missouri, drove across the country. He signed up from Missouri because he found us on Google.

00:33:51 He's like, and I have video of him saying, because in the space you were the highest rated co-working space in your area. And I knew we were coming to snowboard snowbird and do business. And I, and he's still here and he's like, I'm going to be here for a year. He just signed up these spam. So I would like to give you a high five for your Google reviews,

00:34:11 because you totally took the approach of you could have gone through 20, 20 and 2021 with none. Right. Which is what a lot of people did. And you took that really seriously. I, whatever, typed into Google to pull up your website. And I was like, well, look, there, she goes, look at all those five stars and it matters.

00:34:32 Right? So yes, your wait. So there was a little sidetrack back to the email marketing. I think your point about being authentic, you just said, like, I bring my, you know, I bring my whole self into everything that I do. And that's what comes through, I think with your emails, how can someone, if you were to give somebody advice,

00:34:53 how do they learn that? How did they practice it? What should be their mindset? And if you want to peek at Michelle and we don't want to load up your email list with accounts that are, you know, potential members, but that your emails are amazing. And I think great models for what, what are like just a real authentic relationship can look like digitally.

00:35:17 So anyway, if someone wants to get better at that. Yeah. Any advice? Yes. Number one. Yes. Be authentic. Whatever that authentic voice is for you. Right? Right. It's not necessarily Michelle's voice. You might get Michelle's you, She is authentically over what be you and be okay. I am a weirdo and I'm really goofy.

00:35:43 And I'm also very serious and yes, highly educated and all of these things fit into who I am and make up who I am be you, whoever you is. And when you figured that out, start showing up in the world, does that unapologetically and you will attract your tribe. I do believe that your vibe attracts your tribe. It sounds really trite,

00:36:05 but it is very true because when you are uncomfortable, people are uncomfortable around you. And when you are trying to be something you're not, you're in a comfortable and people just look at you, like there's something off. Like I really want to like him, but there's something off. And it's literally just your discomfort, right? So I work with introverts a lot.

00:36:23 And when it comes to even email marketing or showing up in someone's inbox, introverts struggle with this as well, even if it's not a face to face communication. And so what I like to say is find something that you have in common with the people who you want to connect with, not in an abusive kind of, oh, I'm just kind of pandering way,

00:36:43 but in a really, really legitimate, like, authentic way. What is it about you? I reached out to Jamie because Jamie's podcast resonated me in a time when I was in a puddle on the floor, just bingeing and listening. Oh my gosh, please take me. Right. I have cried so much with Jamie because Jamie showed up authentically and said,

00:37:05 I care about our Coworking community. How can I help? And she meant it. So that's the second piece. You can also hide behind the emails. You have to be who you say you are. So however you show up in the world, whatever social media platform, you care to be on, whatever you do to drive people to your site,

00:37:23 make sure that you're driving them there for a reason that aligns with number one, who you are authentically, but then who you want to be in the business world. Because sending people, my way for pet grooming is pointless. I can make this for pet grooming, but I don't have anything to sell them. I don't have any more value to give them.

00:37:40 So bring people in because you have value. And the thing that I'm working on the most now, which I'm actually having a blast with, it's called segmentation set so that you tell people about the things they care about the most, but that takes work. And, but if you do it on the backend, so if your list is already kind of not,

00:37:58 not as large as you want it to be put the levers on the police in place now, so that people funnel right into where you want them to go. So that when you talk to them, you can say, Hey, I saw you on her power space website. How can I help you? What kind of business needs do you have? And then you can automate that.

00:38:15 So it's still your voice just because it's getting sent automatically. Doesn't make it any less authentic. So use your authentic voice, really connect with people based on things that you might find in them that you admire or connect with legitimately and authentically, and then bring people in both based on your persona and your personality, but also based on what value you have to give.

00:38:38 If you are doing this for business, all those people who gave me that advice. I wasn't, I wasn't assuming their advice because I don't want the money. I was issuing their advice because I believe there was another way to earn the money and it might've been a slower way, but it was going to have a longer tail. And someone walked in here last week and was like,

00:38:54 I've been watching you for two years. I've been waiting to come in and she walked in and she's ready. And she's, she's like, now she's in the community. Right? So you can't wait for two years for your funnel to fill up. So you have to kind of continue to have those conversations at different points so that you make money, but then typically connect and add value.

00:39:16 Mike drop Michelle. Okay. Yeah. We need to have you teach an email marketing class. I think we'll talk about that some other time, but that's in it, but it's, it's, you know, I think it's challenging for folks and everything you just went through is years of you learning and getting better and practicing and putting yourself out there. Okay.

00:39:39 So let's talk about the other kind of aspects of your model. The unchambered the sales course you have, which I was like, oh, I think I need to sign up for this. I love the sample video of whatever, less day 17. I was like, I don't have a byline. I need all 30 days. Okay. Anyway, talk about the chamber.

00:40:03 I think this is a super interesting model and it fits it overlaps the digital physical also. Sure. The concept of on right, you put the on, on the front of anything and it means I'm doing a total opposite of whatever they're doing over there. So we have on networking and her power moves, which is a really rapid fire way for people to connect without telling you their entire life story and droning on,

00:40:24 but really making authentic connections that are deep. Right. And the other thing is on chamber. So before opening her power space and really understanding our business community, I was here for five years and very much part of the business community, going to loads of, we have so many chambers down here. We have chambers both based on affinity groups. So women,

00:40:47 black, black chamber county-wide, you know, all kinds of things. And every time I would show up, I would feel like these are not my people. This is not an understanding of the way that e-commerce folks do business micro business owners. Why is everything at 8:00 AM or noon? Don't, you know, some people work nine to five and then worked for the rest of the time when their businesses.

00:41:07 So the on chamber, once I had her power space up and running the chamber, wasn't the answer to that is sort of, if you don't feel like you fit in a place where you're sort of just kind of pressing business cards into palms com, we have an educational component. We meet once a month, twice that day. So we have a noon workshop.

00:41:27 That's virtual and we have a 6:00 PM workshop. That's a hybrid in the space and online, and it is also a subscription member model so that everyone can see, yes, we like recurring, oh, I said, I knew how to do it. I just said I was doing it different. Exactly. No, I love that. Yes, exactly.

00:41:51 Your, Of the on chamber. We let the workshops go out for free to the public for 24 hours. And then they go in the vault in our lifetime access. So creating opportunities for women and men to show up and to get the information and the resources they need. Right. I always say we're a brick and mortar business, right? The bricks hold up,

00:42:13 the business, the mortar are the people that's the community. And so the on chamber provides an opportunity to get access to resources and information and connect with others. Right. We have an online directory that's being built out as I speak. I'm super excited about that. And we have different groups. We have a book club, we have the, Oh my gosh,

00:42:34 I saw it. Wait, was it on your website or your social, the number of minutes that your book club has or something. Yeah. Well, yeah, we're over a few thousand minutes now because of how much listen and read time and pages, et cetera. Yeah. And it's super exciting. And again, that has no cost, right?

00:42:52 So it's this way of ensuring that we have people feel connected and meet them where they are. And then we funnel them for lack of a better term. It's a business term, right. We funnel them into the resources that they need. And then when they're ready to pay, they will, or maybe they'll find out, guess what? I actually just want to keep this a hobby.

00:43:10 Right. And that's okay too. But they know that they're safe here and they know that we're pulling for them and rooting for them. And that they have a place where they can get what they need and not get gouged financial. So the chamber, well, it serves a couple of purposes. It's part of your business model and it gender it's a subscription membership and it gets folks into the space.

00:43:35 So it's kind of a lead gen. Do you see people converting or too soon to tell, or what do you think will happen with that? It's a mixed bag. I see people coming from various places and converting to membership in the young chamber. Most of them are still more so online. But what I do see are that folks who sign up for mail then ended up joining the chamber.

00:44:00 So it's, it's interesting. I think almost everything in the space feeds into something else because people walk in because they're coming to be a guest at someone else's event and they go, oh my goodness. But I do popups, can I get your card? So it's really beautiful how things kind of bounce around and you kind of have enough services and we're hiring,

00:44:21 oh my God, we're hiring our first person. And this is a last name. So that is also a big part of it because it is a lot of my focus is building the space, the community aspect, and keeping the doors open on the building. Can you talk about the, you have a grant tire Community Manager, and I see this happening.

00:44:44 We've some Canadians who have had this. I think it's a Canadian thing sort of, I don't know, economic development, small business support that have leveraged that for Community Manager resources, which is awesome. So it sounds like you were going to do that. I saw that beautiful video with all the people who won that. It was lovely. I was so glad you sent that.

00:45:03 Can you share a little bit about that? Absolutely. So we received our first financial grant. I'll put a pin in it just for a second. We will. One of the first people selected for a Comcast rise grant, which is, was our pro provider of wifi. And as Jamie knows, my wifi bill was actually one third of our rent.

00:45:23 And Jamie was like, Michelle, do you really need all of that? And I thought I did. Right? I'm like, that's what I'm supposed to have. Right. So I say that to say that there are grants out there, both in kind and economic and not having to pay that wifi bill for all of 20, 21 saved our butts truly saved us.

00:45:44 Right. And so that was a real blessing. So the economic version is that we just were awarded at hello, Alice Small business growth fund Krantz for $5,000, which will really help us with a part-time person to come in and be I'm calling under community concierge with the Community Manager. Right. And the blessing is that now that we have those funds, I've been able to find other funds locally to help pay for training of the person and also offset some of their salary.

00:46:19 So the goal being that why leveraging these grant funds, I can step out of the space a little bit more. So focus on additional revenue generating opportunities, right? Because I'm figuring out KPIs and doing performance and all this stuff, but we also need to find another space to move into so that we can have dedicated offices because these last two months, right?

00:46:42 If you want to talk numbers, these last two months of having dedicated spaces out of the spaces that were not meant to be dedicated has actually boosted our income each month by 25%. And that's just two spaces a few days ago. Right? So it matters if you would like a model that obviously suits the needs, people are coming to us and saying they want it.

00:47:05 So it wasn't the original intent, but it's sort of putting together what people need and then giving it to them for a fee. I like that. That's what this, So, Michelle, what does your ideal space look like? Yeah. What's the setup. How, who does it serve? Absolutely. If you, if you could wave a wand,

00:47:27 oh gosh, what would the next one look like? Oh Yeah, we would definitely have a really great content creation space. We would have spaces, both indoor and outdoor for the opportunities for pop-up shops, dedicated offices conference rooms. And to be able to have things at a pricing level that, that enables people who have the, you know, the Coworking model to participate at a discounted rate and still keep our Allah cart options available.

00:47:57 So that's all I think I would make the space bigger and increased staff and amenities. That's it. And basically I turned myself into a coworking space duty, but still Community Activity. That is key. That is why we are still alive. Otherwise we would just be another coworking space that just happened to be the first one in our county on by black woman.

00:48:23 There you are. Right. So Michelle, we've, you just shared kind of what the next space would look like. If you could wave a magic wand and it sounds like what you thought would work mostly worked and that you would just expand on it. Maybe some more dedicated desks to kind of serve as an, an anchor membership so that you can do all of the Allah carton on demand,

00:48:51 things that you want to do. So knowing that the last couple of years have been really challenging outside of normal Coworking challenges. But I am curious, are there a couple of things, if someone was getting started and thinking about a smaller space, like what you've been doing, any couple of nuggets of like things that you've learned that okay. If I was going to do this again,

00:49:14 I'd do this. Or I don't know any, any watch outs. I always love people who are kind of still fresh to get their, their advice for others that are listening. Yeah. I am super fresh. Right. I feel like such a baby, An open wound. You are. No, I mean, yeah. I, I hear a lot from folks who opened in early 20,

00:49:38 20 and it's yeah. I think it's really hard to start a business and it's yeah, it's scab over, but it's still, We don't want to sit in water too long. So I think that for me, it's really important that you get a really good understanding of your community that you want to serve to ensure that they want what you are planning to provide,

00:50:11 but also can afford whatever that looks like. So if it's a low price, then you want to scale it in a way that you have enough people. And I'm a corporate lawyer. I have worked on multi-billion dollar deals and still do not have the proper performer in place. Right. Proper is in quotes. Cause it's really, I didn't have a performance.

00:50:32 It was very back of the envelope. Well, I think if we do this, this, this, this, this we're good red spade. Right. And so I think that there is a piece of this that when you begin to realize that this is something that yes, I offer this, but it can also scale. So I just hit a moment and said to my mentor yesterday that if I don't hire,

00:50:52 we will stagnate and we may die. And you have to understand that when you start something small, if you don't want it to get big, just know that you have to pick where it stops. And then what does that look like? If you're not growing, are you dying? Are you flat towing? And are you okay if you are okay there,

00:51:13 that's totally fine. But just understand what that means. And I didn't have a real picture of growth. And so I would say really think through like, Jamie just asked me, if you could wave a magic wand before opening your doors, whatever size you are, if you can wave a magic wand, what would that look like? And it may change along the way,

00:51:32 but think bigger, I guess that's the bottom line. I didn't think big enough and my community, it was like, oh, you're just only going to give us this. No, we need all of this. Right. And you know how to deliver it, Michelle. So I would say you can start small, but understand where it could go if it grows and then determine if you want it to grow.

00:51:51 And if you don't have, will you stay afloat and continue to have money coming in in the way that you want it to. But I believe that if I stopped now, we'll actually die because I have to turn away too many people and people will start saying, well, then I'll just do my mail and my other saying here. Right. So we have to serve that need.

00:52:11 Yeah. And some of the needs came about as time progressed for me. I think that's with a lot of people. So I don't know how helpful that is as advice, but that's what I've learned in the last two years. I'm a bit, my physio wasn't big enough. I had a really good idea and knowledge of my market, but I was open and am still open to it being different Because who knows in the next five years,

00:52:38 to your point, I think that's super helpful perspective because you can it's, you can't, you can't feel what it feels like to be two years in until you're two years in. Right. So being able to get inside someone's head, not everyone will have the same experience, but it's helpful to, to peak it. I think that's what everybody, every business owner wants,

00:53:02 wants to know. Right. Is, and one of my coaches, you know, she would ask the question, how would you do this? If you knew it was going to be successful, because sometimes it's a fear and a doubt, right? So how would you do this? If you knew it was going to be successful? And if I could share something personally that I know that Jamie wouldn't ask me,

00:53:30 I'm going to share it though, because it's my personal business. And I think that if you're listening and you've listened this long, then you understand scrappy. And I was blessed to find Jamie, you know, when we were very, very, in a very tough position and I spoke with Jamie, asked Jamie, could I be in her community? We were ready for me to get started.

00:53:53 And three days later, the landlord walked in with a notice to vacate. And I had never gotten one house before and I freaked out and Jamie got back on the phone with me. She helped me. She, she, she got me where I needed to be. Obviously we're still here and it's over a year later now. And I'm so thankful.

00:54:12 But the other piece of that is community matters. And as Community Manager operators, we tend to build communities for others. And we really need to ensure that we have the right community around us, as well as we're going through this. I have never talked about our eviction notice publicly before this is the community where I feel safe sharing that information. And I know that regardless of where you are on your journey,

00:54:43 you understand that there are going to be bumps and hiccups along the way. Please, please, please stay connected. Whether it's through Everything Coworking and all the Flight Group and other opportunities or whoever you have locally, it is important because this is the hardest thing that you will probably ever do in your life. And I'm a mom and I lost as a mom.

00:55:01 Like I've done some hard crap. This is hard. Okay. And if you don't have people around you who you can trust, who can give you perspective, it's just really, You have to normalize this stuff, right? Yeah. And it can only be normalized if you're around people who are ahead of you. And we're always the leaders, you have to be around people who can help you level up.

00:55:27 And so Jamie, I thank you. I thank you privately. I want to thank you publicly because you were still here because you helped me. Number one, not lose my mind. I can't work if I can't think that I'm freaked out. And then you said, these are the things that you can do. Go back to your landlord and say this,

00:55:43 that and the other. Right. And then get out there and get more stuff, get more money monetize even in your office office. Right? And so you need that. That's what you need. So Jamie, thank you. I want to take a moment publicly to say, you know, I encourage anybody. Who's going through tough times and to understand the importance of community,

00:56:04 wherever you find it, and then to do what they asked you, we tell you to do like, I didn't listen to people at the beginning and I'm glad I did it, but I'm also glad I listened to Jamie when it was time to listen to someone, right? There's a balance to that. We are better together because I get the same inspiration from each of you.

00:56:23 I mean, I was just sitting here listening to you and thinking how inspiring you are and how much I can learn from you. So it goes both ways. But thank you. Thank you. And thank you for sharing your story and for being vulnerable and for being inspiring and a model for so many things that you're doing really well. But to your point,

00:56:44 right? Even when we're doing things really well, we can still have a hard times and we need each other for that. So growth mindset. Yay. Totally. Yes. Keep learning, keep at it and stay, stay with your people. So thank you, Michelle, for taking the time today to do this and share your story and share your journey,

00:57:04 which is just getting started. So I can't wait to have you back on and see where you are in another two years. Well, look out. So Jamie, thank you for this community. Thank you for sharing. The nuts and bolts as well as the anecdotal information that we need to inspire us to keep going. Right. I literally download forms off of your site and the job description.

00:57:26 I was like highlighting stuff from the Everything Coworking description compilation, right. This is really important that we have that mixture. So thank you so much for creating this space, then your consistency with doing it. This is not an easy endeavor to keep up with From, from one podcast host to another. Yup. Agreed. But it matters. And it's my,

00:57:48 my way of connecting. So thank you Michelle, until next time, For sure. Thank you. Hope this helps someone. Hey there, thanks for sticking with us through the end of the episode, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. And if you were enjoying the podcast, please go leave us a review. It helps other folks find the podcast who are thinking about starting a coworking space or already operating a coworking space and are looking to stay up to speed on tips and trends.

00:58:21 And we started a YouTube channel. We'd love to have you catch us on video. You can join us for podcast, videos, and Q and a videos and other things that we post to the channel. We'd love to see you there.

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