284. Alaethea Hankins, VP of Ops at CommonDesk, on Leading through Change
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284. Alaethea Hankins, VP of Ops at CommonDesk, on Leading through Change
00:00:02 Welcome to the Everything Coworking podcast where every week I keep you updated on the latest trends and how-tos in Coworking. I owned and operated Coworking Spaces for eight years and then served as the executive director of the Global Workspace Association for five years. And today I work with hundreds of operators and community managers every month, allowing me to bring you thought provoking operator case studies and inspirational interviews with industry thought leaders to help you confidently stay on top of what's important and what you can apply to your own role in the Coworking industry.
00:00:44 Welcome to the Everything Coworking podcast. It's great to be here with you. Happy holiday season. Hopefully if you're listening live this week, you're about to get some downtime and spend some time with friends and family celebrating whatever holiday you celebrate and enjoying the new year. This week's guest is a Alaethea Hankins. She is the VP of Ops at Common Desk. This was a super fun conversation to have and you guys are gonna love it.
00:01:14 So Nick Clark is the c e o and Alaethea. Works closely with him, has been a part of Common Desk for six years. So she started as a part-time Community Manager and had to survive six interviews and a happy hour to get that job. And she's progressed in her role over time and Common Desk last year I think was acquired by WeWork.
00:01:37 So Common Desk is now a WeWork company still operating fairly independently. So she talks about that transition commodes. If you don't know much about them, they have 23 locations I think in Texas and North Carolina. I think they just have a relentless focus on culture and customer experience that I find really interesting. They have this kind of term for what they're trying to accomplish called Day Maker.
00:02:05 They're called, they call them deam day makers and Alaethea talks about how they celebrate that effort and when they see their team members, you know, making days. And I think that's a really, really interesting perspective given where we are in the work world today. They certainly serve enterprise customers, bigger companies and they're trying to really make a difference in how someone experiences their day,
00:02:30 not just provide workspace. I love to visit their locations. They try to really customize each location. I was just at the continental gin building in Dallas and did kind of a drive through tour with Giovanni when I was in town for a GWA meeting. And it is fabulous. The building has like an artist history, so they did themes throughout the space in their meeting rooms and their common areas around different types of like craftsmanship and artistry.
00:03:01 It's a really cool space and they have their fiction coffee in the lobby, which just adds, especially around the holidays. They had it totally decked out. Just a ton of festivity and like just vibe and action. I'm a huge fan so it was really fun. I had met Alaethea some time ago, just kind of done a call and chatted with her about the industry and that kind of thing.
00:03:24 And so she was kind enough to make some time to get on the podcast. So you're gonna love hearing her perspective and more about her role. Before we jump in, we are continuing our, how I did this series for 2023. I love this series. I love getting operators together that have, you know, kind of created an expertise in an area or doing something a little bit unique that I think you should know about.
00:03:50 So we've done this year or are just doing something really well. We've done, you know, folks who do really well with their virtual office digital mail programs. We did a C R M how I did this. We did a How I scaled to multiple locations. We did a co-housing session, which is our most recent one in November. And in January we are doing a session on how I started a podcast and used it to benefit my Coworking space.
00:04:17 And on that panel we have Rachel Mile Myers from the Collective Co, which is on the South shore in Massachusetts outside of Boston. Kim Lee who is the founder of Forge in Birmingham, Alabama. And Christie Alexander who is the founder, WorkSmart in Glen's Falls, New York. So they're gonna share how they use their podcast, how they started it, answer any questions and talk about how it's impacted their Coworking business.
00:04:43 So that is January 19th. You have to register live to participate and you do that by going to Everything Coworking dot com slash H I D T for how I did this. So we'd love to see you there if that topic is interesting for you and our academy members. Get the recording, but everybody else, you gotta make it live. So put it on your calendar by registering Everything Coworking dot com slash H I D t.
00:05:12 We will see you then in the new year. Welcome. I am here with Alaethea Hankins who is Vice President of Operations at Common Desk, which is now a WeWork company. Good to see you this morning, although it's lunchtime for you. Yeah, just right at noon, so yeah, good to see you too. Thanks for having me. What,
00:05:33 which location are you in? I'm at our continental gin building, so it's in Deep Elum in Dallas. It's one of two locations we have in Deep Elum. Perfect. Yeah, it looks cloudy outside. Yeah, it's rainy and cloudy and kind of cold. Cold for Dallas, so Yeah, totally. It was 43 here this morning, which is kind of cold for us.
00:05:52 I was like, ooh. Yeah. Yes. That's I think Weather. Yes, absolutely. We had a big cold front come in over the weekend, so last week it was like seventies, eighties and now I think our highs are in the fifties, so. So we were supposed to see that location when we were in town for the conference. Yes.
00:06:09 Yeah. You guys would have a happy hour, right? We ran late and had to go straight to dinner because there was a ton of traffic. It took us an hour to get to dinner. Absolutely. You're coming from Plano or the North, right? Also were late. I'm trying to remember why we were so late. Something happened, we were late.
00:06:23 Yeah, I was really surprised. And I Wait, have you been to the place that we went to with Nick? I don't even know it was called Krew Wolff, right? Yeah. It's like a whole Wolf. I've never been Dominoes. Yeah, I have never been but I know he loves that place. So I heard you guys had a great time.
00:06:38 We did have a great time. Although all the way there I was kind of like, I think we should turn around. There's so much traffic. The traffic Totally fine. It's my favorite place and I really wanted to share it with you guys. Yeah, I think he says it's like his top restaurant in America. Yes, That's what he said.
00:06:57 Okay. You know, I know what your scale is but I Know we'll be there. Okay. Tell us a little bit about you. So you live, do you live nearby Deep Bellum Elum? Yeah, I do. So I live in a neighborhood called Oak Cliff, which is probably like 10, 15 minutes south of our deep Bellum location. I lived in Oakcliff for like the last five years or so.
00:07:17 Moved to Texas in 2016 fr usually I'm originally from the Northeast. Oh. But moved here with my husband in 2016 and started working at commands almost immediately. So I should have realized no Dallas accent. No, no Dallas, no accent really. I grew up military, so lived all over the place, including Germany and high school. So I went to four different high schools.
00:07:38 Yeah. Moved around a bunch. Okay. Are you in Dallas? Just is, are you Dallas for life? I think so. We really, really like it here and my husband and I have been thinking a lot about this cuz he's from North Carolina. I'm kind of from everywhere but we did our underground North Carolina and so it's like, well we move home,
00:07:55 won't we? And that's why I feel like the will, we won't, we have our life right now, but Dallas, we've created such a great community here and the people here are so nice. I think it would just be really hard to replicate that. I've moved a ton so I know that you can, yeah, there's like life after the move,
00:08:09 I know that. But I think that what we have here is just so unique with our friends and our jobs. We're really happy here. So probably Great city. It is, it really is. It has so much to offer. It has like all of the feel of a big city that you would get from some of like the larger cities in the northeast,
00:08:26 but still some of the like hometown feel of a smaller one. Wait, do you ever listen to Freakonomics? I do listen, not all the time so I can't say like I can't remember. We talk about this cuz I was on a kick about this for a while, but they did a two-part episode on why Dallas is growing so quickly. Oh really?
00:08:44 Yeah. I need to listen to that. Yeah, If I was gonna say if you like it, you would enjoy those two episodes. It was, I I don't think they've ever done a two-parter. Yeah. But Yeah, I was a big podcast. Like I, listen, listen, I think I go through spurts with podcasts, you know,
00:08:57 where I'm like all I'm doing is listening to podcasts and so I'm listening to so many and then I take three months off and I'm just listening to music so I'm coming back. Mary Catherine, one of my coworkers and I were just talking about that she listens to the Daily every morning. And so usually when I'm in my podcast realm she, her and I talk about that.
00:09:13 So, okay. The Daily, what else? What? What's your, what's another favorite? Oh, love this American life. I mean I just feel like you just can't, the stories, you know, I just love a good story. Listen to a lot of Brene Brown. So unlocking, I think it's unlocking us and then Dare to Lead.
00:09:29 So listen to those and then just random other Podcast or books? Podcast. Oh okay. I Should, yeah, she has a podcast that comes out on her Dare to Lead series. It's every, I think Monday that comes out. So I've been listening to a lot of her stuff. I never listened to her much but she was on Glennon Doyle's podcast too.
00:09:48 Yeah, I don't know if you follow her. She was and they were. No, I don't. So funny, funny. I was, I bet. Oh my god, this woman is hilarious. She is, she's really fun. And we've read her books through Common Desk and so I'm just a huge Brene Brown fan. So And Do you have a book club?
00:10:03 We do have a book club. I will say that right now it's a mix of everyone's just reading whatever book they want and then you just talk about it on Thursdays. Okay. It has been very hard to reign people in to read the same book. The same book. So right now we just encourage reading and then you, we have like an hour every Thursday where you can just talk about whatever book you are reading and recommended it and Okay.
00:10:24 It's a very interesting approach to a book club. But we tried reading one book that everyone was reading. It just wasn't working for us. So this Is total like common desk culture you're guys Yeah, exactly. Making it work for you. Yeah, I think that's exactly who we are. It's like we'll do like kind of the book club concept but we'll just put our own rules around it where you read whatever you want and you can just talk about it in front of everyone.
00:10:46 Totally. I kind of like it cuz I'm always looking for like what's the next thing you know? Mara Hauser Mara was in a book club. Yes. So she'd always send me her list and then you know, go look through the list and she's taking a break from her book club and I was like, tomorrow how am I gonna get a reading List?
00:11:01 So that would be perfect. What's your favorite type of books to read? I mean I read a lot of like business books but I also love, oh who's the author? I can't remember the one who writes about like Kristin Hannah I think is her name. Okay. Kristen, I'll, I probably got that slightly wrong. I don't know, I like a lot of different stuff.
00:11:24 Yeah, yeah I do. I I love to read. Me Too. And I love to, I'm just get lost in a book but the problem is if I'm like I will will get lost in a book and like stay up too late and Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love getting lost in like the fiction of it. It's like a nice escape.
00:11:40 My husband loves TV so we watch a lot of shows together but they're always like critically acclaimed and like books are just my time for just me, you Know? So Yeah and whatever you feel like I was gonna say, I will read smart books and then I will read like just like Beach Reedy. Yeah, absolutely. Literally there I think there's a book called Beach Reed and it was great.
00:11:59 I read it this summer and it was so cute. That's too funny. Okay and it's just you and your husband? Any pets? Yes. We have a dog Jones, he's an Aussie lab mix. We adopted him right after we moved here. So in October same month that I started working at Commodes. And he's funny, he's really quirky. Kind of weird.
00:12:17 That's dog Be but we love him. Yeah. Okay. Can I tell you a quick funny story about my dog? So I have two dogs. Yeah. One is seven and one is a six month old. So yesterday morning. Oh you have a Puppy? Yeah, she, she's crazy. Her name is Charlie without an E and she is,
00:12:32 you know, puppy phase so she's totally nuts all the time. Yeah. Bar. And she barks at Louie. She wants him to play. She's a lot of work and I have to hide in the house from her because it's just, it's noisy. Anyway, so yesterday was Sunday we went for, I took them for a long walk in the morning to like tire them out and then I went for a walk with a friend of mine and then I came back and I had to catch up on like some work and whatnot and it was like one o'clock.
00:12:57 I had taken them for a walk early so I was done by, it was like one o'clock and I was like, where is Charlie? Like all of a sudden I realized she's been really quiet, which never happens and my husband had left the house and so it was just my daughter and I and so we find her on her bed and she had peed on her bed.
00:13:15 Oh no. And wouldn't get up. And so the end of the story is totally fine, but I was very anxious cuz we lost a dog in 2021. And I was like, something's very wrong with her. Like she couldn't walk straight. She was like, and she'd been sleeping so I freaked out and like emergency vet. So we get in the car,
00:13:34 go to the vet, I left my daughter at home, she had to go to her gymnastics thing. Anyway, I think there's something seriously wrong. The vet calls me like five minutes later and she's like, we think Charlie had some marijuana this morning. I know. They give me the whole like, is there any in the house? No, there's none in the house.
00:13:52 I'm like, I live in this really quiet neighborhood. Like I Oh man, Can't really, really? And she was like classic symptoms, she's gonna be fine. She like needs to sleep. Oh that is, that's crazy because I was in Raleigh last week visiting our location there and then also visiting a friend and her mom's dog had something similar where she was like,
00:14:17 took her, she had passed out, she had gone to the bathroom in the house. She was like, something is wrong. Right. Took her to the vet and the vet was like, this is classic case of marijuana. It was so, She was so confident. I was like, this must happen all the time. This is so $400 visit later.
00:14:35 Oh she's Like, she's fine. And she is totally fine today. And I was like, I texted my husband, I was like, maybe we should consider like some puppy edibles or Yeah, I think they Really kidding for all the pet lovers. But I was like, I kind of miss chill Charlie because She's back to her normal. She is just asleep.
00:14:53 Yeah. Yeah. So I mean she eats everything when we walk so she must have like Yeah she found something on the street. Yeah and it and she said it. You know it must, it can be very dangerous for them if they eat a lot of it, but yeah. Anyway. Oh man, that's funny. That's crazy. That's the second one I've heard of in the last week.
00:15:09 So Right. Everyone if you do have edibles, hide 'em cause Totally. It sounds like the dog gonna get, I was like maybe the park like I can't really, somebody must have just dropped something like yeah walking around. I don't know. Anyway, okay, so tell us about you and your role at Common Desk. So I wanna hear what you're doing now,
00:15:27 but also you started as a Community Manager and six years I did ago and nobody stays at in Coworking for six years. I so interesting. I know I tell us like what did you do before Coworking? How did you find Common Desk and Absolutely. Hi, this is Josh Fried CEO of Proximity. When we started Proximity, we did it for one reason.
00:15:50 We didn't like how hard it was to run our Coworking spaces. At first we tried testing different space management software on the market and look, we found that we had to use multiple software solutions then we spent way too much time trying to sync them all together. And then we spent even more time training our staff and worse yet our members on how to use this overcomplicated solution.
00:16:11 We ended up going circles, attempting to manage our software instead of letting software do what it's supposed to, which is help run our business. Our members were frustrated, we were frustrated, we just didn't think it should be so hard to operate a Coworking space. So we built our own solution to make Coworking spaces easier to manage all packaged up in one,
00:16:31 easy to use platform refined by feedback from hundreds of Coworking spaces over the last five years. Proximity software is simple for operators and best of all members and it is backed by our award-winning US-based customer support team. It's time to stop settling for overcomplicated software, get software that was actually purpose built for Coworking by Coworking Space operators. See it for yourself. Our team is available to chat with Everything Coworking podcast listeners and you can schedule your call today at Proximity Space slash Jamie.
00:17:05 Yeah, so my undergrad, my degree is in integrated marketing communication. So I spent the first four years out of school focused on marketing. I worked for a church, I worked for a PR firm, I worked for a Startup and actually in the Startup role in DC that was my first time being introduced to Coworking. We worked out of a Coworking space called 1776.
00:17:25 Oh yeah. If you're familiar with Yeah, yeah. I'd seen them on Twitter and like looked up what Coworking was. They were opening their very first location in DC and I had told my boss, I was like, please like I think we should sign up. And so I like ran to DC and like gave our check to be like, we're gonna be a founding member,
00:17:41 like a shared member. But it felt so legit at the time, my name, but also excited. It was really fun. So worked there and that, that was my first introduction into co-working. And then my husband and I, we had been, we dated all through college and then did four years of long distance while he was in med school and I lived in DC Wow.
00:17:58 And then he is a physician so we matched in Dallas for residency and moved down here and I was, I had loved my job but wasn't sure what I wanted to do next. And it was really when like social media was really on the rise. It's like 2012. So Instagram was becoming a thing and I had started to do a lot of social media management and just realized that was not the life I wanted.
00:18:17 I didn't want to live like in a, you know, persona behind a screen. I really wanted to be in person and I didn't know if that's what I wanted to do long term as like marketing kind of evolved that way. So looked for jobs and saw commonest, you know, like you do when you moved to a new city. You know,
00:18:33 nothing. I went to a bunch of coffee shops and we had this wifi campaign at the time where commonest sponsored all the wifi. Yeah, yeah. Of all the local coffee shops. It was like so scrappy and creative, scrappy and so I felt like it was just everywhere's. Like everywhere I would go I'd be like, I'm gonna go try this coffee shop.
00:18:50 Go try that. I didn't know anyone just Comcast. Comcast. I was like, what is, that was like brainwashing you. Yeah. I was like, oh Coworking, that's so fun. You know, maybe if I get a remote job or something like that I can work from there. And then I thought as I was just like continuing to evolve,
00:19:04 I was just like, all right, I'm gonna see if they have anything available. So I called them like, Hey do you guys, you know I'm, I'm in marketing, are you guys hiring? And they said No, but you can send us your resume. And you know how that is when you're looking for a job you're like all right cool,
00:19:16 thanks. So it's just thanks. Yeah. I'm like in the black hole of wherever resumes go. Yeah. And so I didn't at the time and then like three days later I was still thinking about it and was just like, well if I don't send my resume in then on, you know, that's on me. So I decided to send it in.
00:19:31 They called me back within like a day and actually invited me in for an interview and the only thing they had available was like a part-time job as an assistant Community Manager for our oakcliff location. And a classic nick actually he made me take the role without knowing what location I was gonna get. Cause he didn't want someone who cared more about the location. He wanted someone who like really cared about the job.
00:19:51 Yeah. So it was between Plano, our Plano location we were about to open and our Oak Cliff location. And I took it cause I just felt like called, I loved it. I like came in for my interview. I had six interviews for a part-time assistant Community Manager role. Yeah. So six interviews. I had a happy hour. I had to,
00:20:09 they made me go to a member event where I had to like work the event essentially to see like can she hang with members? So did that and I just loved it. It was so fun. I knew I really wanted to be here. So started the job in Oak Cliff and have had so many roles since then. Was assistant Community Manager, then Community Manager,
00:20:28 then I was our director of operations. Then I went into this weird phase where I just kind of was any new role we needed. Right. Never needed to get done. Yeah. I think my like Nick tried to name it like special ops is what he wanted to call me. Like director of special ops. Yeah. And he was like, I'm just like imagining you like dropping in from the ceiling.
00:20:48 I'm like, I don't think that's gonna like really work outside of this environment. I'd love a title that works beyond this. But I got to launch our first market outside of Dallas. So we acquired Link Coworking from Liz. Yeah Elam. And so got to work with her and Stormy, which was wonderful and just like a huge learning experience of like what they had created in Austin was so successful and we got to like take that and build on that and that was like the foundation of our Austin market.
00:21:15 And then got to just start like evolving all of our processes and I think that's really been my main job over time. I've had this role since 2019, August or October of 2019 is when I got VP of operations. Probably way before I deserved a vice president title. But I feel like I've grown into that now. So now I oversee all of our Coworking,
00:21:35 all of our coffee people and culture marketing, anything related to operations. Nick and I have divided out the company really related to like growth and development, which he leads and anything related to like our sustainable operations of our business. That's what I lead. Isn't it interesting how you never know, like yeah you, you never knew when you turned in your resume that six years later,
00:21:56 you know you're like going through six interviews to get to be a part-time assistant. Community Manager and now you're the VP of ops, now you're part of WeWork. It's like yes. Never know. It's absolutely, it's so interesting. I have a good friend who just got laid off from Facebook and she along with 11,000 other people. Yeah, A lot of people.
00:22:15 But she's, you know, she's really like struggling and I was just like, you never know. Like you didn't know when you started there like you Yeah. So Yeah, exactly. No, I think about that a lot. Feel really lucky with my career growth at Commodes and just lucky that I think the opportunities I've been presented, especially like at the time I came in I was employee number seven or eight and now we have a hundred something which is still small but feel so big and I feel really thankful that I got to be a part of that growth story for Commodes.
00:22:47 So do you handle hiring now? I do but we have a wonderful person, Mary Catherine Hughes, she's in charge of, She's also been there for a long time, is that right? Yes, She's been there for almost five years now. So yeah, she's been there for a long time and she started as a Community Manager. I'm actually all the people that are on my team,
00:23:04 our head of people and culture, our directors of community, the person who heads up launch, marketing's probably only one. But the rest of us all started as community managers. Which I think really shows like how serious we take that role because being a Community Manager like, I mean those are the all stars, the people, that's why members are signing up,
00:23:22 right? Like they're, we can design beautiful spaces and that's definitely part of it, but they stay and build community because of our teams. And so I love that most of the people who are making decisions around who we wanna be and like the rules we put in into place all started at the location level, which is really cool. And but she's the one,
00:23:37 Mary Catherine, she's the one who oversees all of our people. Yeah. So does everyone still go through six interviews to get her? We do not, do not do that. But they go through a lot. Yeah, they definitely go through a lot of interviews. I mean that's the most important thing. The wrong hire right can really set you back even if like,
00:23:57 you know, if they're great people just not a right fit for us or we're not the right fit for them. Yeah. So we take hiring very seriously. So we have, Mary Catherine's done an amazing job of just building out like the pipeline and what that looks like. And one of the best things through WeWork is we've been able to use like a lot of their processes and things that they've learned over the years to help just make what I think we're naturally gifted at even better.
00:24:17 Yeah, I would say from an outsider's perspective, that's one of the unique, you have such a unique culture which came up at the conference, Nick was on the, the culture panel and the tattoos and Yes I know the tattoos, everyone knows about that. But it's part of your brand, right? It's part of who you are, which makes you so unique.
00:24:37 And I think maybe the six interviews kind of laid the foundation because you, Mary Catherine, like he worked hard to find those people and to vet you and now you know, six years or five years later you're still here and contributing to the company. So yeah. What's your favorite part about your role today? My man that's a tough question. I love so many parts of it,
00:25:01 which is a wonderful thing about being here for so long is you kind of move up and the roles are what you make 'em right? But my favorite part is the fact that I think I get to develop so many young people. My like what I'm best at and what I really enjoy the most is coaching and leading. And so the fact that I get to watch so many people have like their first wins in a role,
00:25:24 especially cuz we hire pretty young people fresh outta school and like watching them grow and develop and learn, it's so exciting. And so I love seeing that and celebrating with them when like they learn how to sign up a member or they close their first deal or they have their very first hard conversation with their employee because they're 22 and had never led anyone for obviously.
00:25:43 So I just, I love that I get to be a part of that and help coach them and develop them. So hopefully they can be, you know, better employees, better people in whatever they have coming after Com desk. What is it about your experience that helped you to develop those skills? Yeah, I think Nick has a, a big role in that.
00:26:00 You know, Nick has gave me a lot of opportunities at a young age and he provided a really safe place for me to try a lot of new things and fail and I think showed me what it looks like to have a partner and a boss that would say like, go try it and if you mess up, like I'll be there waiting for you to like clean up the messes,
00:26:21 right? Like it's gonna be okay but I'd rather you go try. And so I think that was like so foundational when I was a Community Manager that as I've got to build this company with him that's like how I lead and how we coach of like it's a safe place to mess up. And I think that a lot of our success comes from that.
00:26:36 It's really interesting because I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs and smaller companies, like there's no time to mess up, right? Do you, you know what I mean? Like you just get on that and I know you guys work hard and you're growing quickly and you know with the WeWork partnership there's a lot of, you know, maybe pressure to keep going on locations and so I could,
00:26:55 yeah I could see you know, not intentionally sort of losing that commitment to like letting people, so I love that you're hanging onto that. I love that Nick had it and that you guys are like holding it because also hiring folks who it's their first job or maybe their second job is a lot of work because you're training them like how to work versus taking someone from a big company who already kind of knows all those things.
00:27:22 I always warn folks who are hiring community managers, like it probably shouldn't be their first job because that's so much work for you, right? So you have to be like, it's really passionate, you ha it clearly like fills your cup. Yes. Yeah, yeah you do. You have to. I think Commonness is a place that celebrates people's wins and their failures,
00:27:42 which is unique and I think it's in line with a lot of our values. But one of our values is keep it real and I think you own up to it, right? So when you make a bad call that happens, we're human, right? Like not every call you make, whether you're experienced or inexperience is gonna be good, right? And so I think creating that foundation for people to like celebrate both like you tried something,
00:28:01 it didn't work, not a big deal. That's not embarrassing. That just means you're trying and you're human. I think it provides people a lot of autonomy and a hopefully skills that they'll take to their next job cause they won't be afraid of messing up. What does the interaction look like across locations? Like is there, you know, kind of a,
00:28:18 an all hands or weekly, how do people Yeah sort of share what they've learned? Absolutely. We have Slack is, I think everyone uses Slack, right? But like that is definitely where our community teams communicate a lot on their sharing best practices. And especially we try to create communities. I think anyone who knows when you have lots of different locations and your location teams have to be physically in their location,
00:28:40 it can be hard to share best practices or see each other because you're spread out. So Slack has been a really pivotal part of our culture and sharing practices around how you run a space or hey I came up like this is something that's an issue for me. Any, can someone call me real quick so I can talk you through this? Our teams really rely on that.
00:28:59 And then we do have a weekly all staff. So Mary Catherine and Nick host a weekly all staff where we do a bunch of different things but share values. Nick, we do an ask me anything with Nick. So people will ask him literally anything. And I mean they do, they'll be like, what's your favorite holiday tradition? Or you know,
00:29:15 what do you hate about your job? Like they'll ask him all this stuff. But I think that like allows people to feel really connected and we do day maker shoutouts on there, which I think Nick probably, I think he talked about that in his culture chat at the conference. But you know, if you like basically catch someone living at our values is really like the concept of day maker.
00:29:32 And so, you know, you can submit like, hey this person really showed up for me this week. I had a project that I was gonna, you know, not be able to meet my deadline and they came and helped me do it. So we'll do that. And I think that allows people to stay connected to like see what everyone is up to and just be able to feel like you're a part of something even if you're not actually in the physical space with each other.
00:29:50 Wait, can you talk about the day maker concept for a minute? For Yeah, it wasn't Yeah, at the, at the conference. Yeah, absolutely. So day Maker, it's really around like we exist to make days better. That's what we do for our members and you know, we want to do that with inside office space. So you'll see most of our products,
00:30:07 you know, if it doesn't align with that then we're not gonna be doing it. But it's become a huge part of who we are. So being a day maker is, I feel like an ethos that you live out and that's like how you show up for work, it's how you show up for your customers, it's how you show up for your teammates.
00:30:20 And so we have, we have hats, we have swag, we have some people who have tattoos, but I won't go into too much detail. What happens in the tattoo parlor stays in the tattoo parlor. Yeah. Yes. So do your members know about this or is it like a behind the scenes, The day maker concept? Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:43 I don't know actually. I don't know if they would know. Like we exist to make days better, but I think from our member surveys they know that like that is a part of who we are. So I think the, the most common feedback, yeah, they can feel it. The most common feedback that we see in our member surveys, which we do quarterly,
00:30:59 is just around our teams and how much the community teams impact those members on a day-to-day. And I think maybe they don't call them day makers, but I do believe that that's exactly what they're doing. So I'm gonna give you a book recommendation. Yeah, I've been gonna talk about it on the, on the podcast, but I have to read it,
00:31:17 I listen to it. It's called Unreasonable Hospitality. Have you heard about this book yet? I have not. Will Guara, I don't know if I'm saying his last name, right. So he start, he was a restaurant guy, he started with Danny Meyer in New York and Danny Meyer is like big, you know, hospitality and there it's like kind of a similar ethos.
00:31:38 I'm trying, I I'm trying to remember the name of the restaurant, 11 Madison something. Anyway, they put this person on staff whose like job it was to do like ridiculous things for guests. Like if somebody came in and was like, oh we're from out of town and you know, it's our first snowfall ever and the kids are, you know,
00:31:58 at the hotel or whatever, they would, this was one example, he gave the the, they would run out and buy sleds and then like drive them to Central Park and have give them like a sledding party and they just, they did this a few times and they were like, we want this to be a thing. Like, and it, I keep feeling,
00:32:14 I keep thinking I, I like love the book. The book was so inspiring and I keep thinking about like how do those concepts flow through to workspace because it's not the same as the, you know, mindset you're in when you go out to this is like fine dining, really high end, you know, it's, it's not the same. What could it look like?
00:32:34 And so the day maker concept is, I just think so current and relevant, relevant, you know? Absolutely. And it reminds me of this book. I read something probably similar the Nordstrom way and I read that over the summer, which is all about Nordstrom and like their who they are and how like just valuing the customer. And I think so many people,
00:32:53 even as they get higher up, like I think that was like a gut check for me of, I haven't been on the community team in five years, so it's been quite some time. But like, you know, the managers and even like the Nordstrom family will go in and talk to their customers. And so like making sure that we don't lose that as you grow.
00:33:09 Like I never lose sight of why I'm here. I'm here to like make days better. Yes, for our staff but also for our members. And member experience isn't just on location teams to deliver like it's on everyone. And if you live that out as the leader then people will continue to do that. So my team and I, we did like a little cookie event where we went around to everyone's office and like introduced ourselves and just,
00:33:27 I wanna make sure that people know who I am and that like if they're having an issue, they can come to me too. So, Hey, I just wanted to jump in really quickly before we continue with our discussion. If you're working on opening a Coworking space, I wanna invite you to join me for my free masterclass. Three behind the Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space.
00:33:48 If you're working on opening a Coworking space, I wanna share the three decisions that I've seen successful operators make when they're creating their Coworking business. 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 slash masterclass. If you already have a Coworking space,
00:34:11 I wanna make sure you know about Community Manager University Community Manager University is a training and development platform for community managers and it can be for owner operators. It has content training resources, templates from day one to general manager. The platform includes many courses that cover the major buckets of the Community Manager role from community management operations, sales and marketing, finance and leadership.
00:34:39 The content is laid out in a graduated learning path so the Community Manager can identify what content is most relevant to them 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 Manager can work through any challenges that they're having or opportunities get ideas from other community managers,
00:35:08 build their own peer network. We also have a private Slack group for the group, so if you're interested in learning more you can go to Everything Coworking dot com slash Community Manager. Yeah, I think it's super meaningful in the book. He used this role called 95 5 and he talked about, you know, he's running a business so he can't just do ridiculous things all the time.
00:35:31 So his approach is 95% of the time he's like on budget and then, but he allocates 5% of his budget to just be like ridiculous. Like he could spend it any stupid way, you know, to make customers happy or his team happy, you know, and I, I kinda love that concept. Absolutely. It's a little bit, you know,
00:35:49 like your cookies like 95% of the time. Yeah. You're like doing, you know what you need to do 5% of the time you're gonna like take time out and go Yeah. Just like do something that's meaningful. Yeah and I think it can apply to like the, the thing I'm thinking of right now is we had a day porter at our Richardson location and it was their birthday and like the community team and the members there through a birthday party for her and like sang her happy birthday and got her a cake and it's like the members were part of that experience.
00:36:17 So I, I do think it's like a part of it, just like making people feel special. You wanna feel known wherever, especially if you're coming into work. You know, we're spend so much of your life at work and if they're gonna choose commonest to do that, I wanna make sure that everyone who comes in like feels that love and I think our community teams really show that.
00:36:32 I'm curious, what is your, has your membership changed post covid? Like who, this may vary by location a lot. Yeah. But yeah, what does your membership look like? Who tends to Yeah. Join a common desk? Absolutely. It changes by location, by market. We have both downtown locations and suburban locations and I think the biggest change has just been so many remote workers.
00:36:54 So people who used to go into an office but now their entire team is remote. I think that's like the biggest thing. So like learning how to create a culture for those people I think has been a big shift cuz it's not just like either like a one person office or just like the average, like a shared desk member who, you know, owns their own business.
00:37:14 It's a ton of people who work for larger organizations but are gonna be remote and coming into communist. And so learning how to help them feel that like part of the community. And that's been the biggest shift I've seen. And then we have lots of large teams too. So you know, people who decided they're no longer doing traditional office space and they're coming in and you know,
00:37:32 taking a 50 person suite with us, we've definitely seen an uptick in that. So what does it look like to sort of fold them into the culture? Like how do you onboard them into like Yeah. The common desk way? I mean I think that's something we're still, I'm not even sure we're totally getting right and something that I would hope we continue to evolve in,
00:37:50 but I think it's making sure that there's so many touchpoints that you're guiding them through that process and that the community teams that we never get big enough where like someone could come join our space and not be known, you know, so if, yeah, you know, if you only have two location staff at that location and there's 500 members, there's gonna be people who do not feel known in that.
00:38:10 And so making sure your staffing allocation is correct but still fits within the business model and make sure the onboarding process and that you're soliciting feedback and you're trying to check in with them. But I think that's an area that I want us to continue to like really focus on and make sure that no one is coming into our fold and then leaving and never really feeling known in that process.
00:38:29 Yeah, it's a really interesting challenge. There's a, I don't know what you wanna call it, a theory, it's called Dunbar's number that you can only like really know 150 people. So to your point, if you're applying that you have to like be really intentional or have the right systems and you have to like systematize having people feel known and how do you do that and how do you divide your team maybe almost.
00:38:52 Yeah, it's a, it's a lot to figure out. It's like a good problem to have. I think this is one of those things Coworking spaces have been waiting for, right? Like that demand boom. But it's such a different, it's like the onesie twosies almost like work harder to make themselves known because that's part of what they're there for. Yep.
00:39:09 So Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And we're, I mean we're definitely, this is a, a new era of common as we've seen a lot of growth, especially in the last year. I was just doing some of our numbers where, you know, our membership revenue has grown 62% from Q3 last year to Q3 this year. That's wild. And so yeah.
00:39:27 Amazing. Yeah that so many new members that so many new people and you know, we also have so many new staff that you're training and so yeah, I think it just makes you have to be really intentional if you're having that many people come into the fold, all those community members are learning how to service that many people. Especially that's a, a year is a short amount of time.
00:39:45 Yep. To adjust your processes and make sure you're ready for that influx of people. So making sure that our leadership team's always thinking about that, that we're constantly being a part of the conversation and thinking about what it's like to be on the front lines. Like you just can't lose sight of what it's like to be on the front lines for the community teams or the members will feel it.
00:40:01 I'm curious, you mentioned that you are in charge of coffee, so what is the coffee, because you have your own brand, can you just think about how it's interesting, it's unique, how, how does that fit into the the business model? Yeah, absolutely. So we have our very first one that we bought in 2017, it was called Method Coffee,
00:40:20 it's now fiction. We rebranded and it's like a just retail coffee shop. It's in Nick's neighborhood. So I think that was part of the draw, but that's probably gonna be the only one that is like a traditional retail. But I think our C G B location, so the one I'm in right now I think is like really showcases how you can use it and the first floor of this building is fiction coffee.
00:40:41 The second floor is co-working on the third floor are like large tenant suites. Okay. So it's the first time we've ever like fully integrated all of our products and I would say like in, you know, we did this, it opened in March of 2021, we didn't get it exactly right then, but I think we've used the last like 12 months,
00:40:57 16 months or so to like really evolve that. And so I think fiction at its best is like an introduction into the command desk brand. And so hopefully for people who are coming in and looking for just a coffee offering at fiction, you can come in and experience a little bit of who Commodes is and you know, again we exist to make days better within an office space.
00:41:17 Yeah. And fiction is a great way for us to do that. So we can do that. We can put fictions inside really any office building and make sure that people are feeling that welcoming, that people feel known that you come in order your drink and if you're a regular, like they're gonna be like, Hey it's nice to see you again and they'll know your name.
00:41:32 Is it it designed to be a source of profit or is it a building amenity? Yeah, I think it can be both. Okay. And that's actually one of the things that we are looking at right now of like what is the next phase of fiction. So fiction has, I think we've used it as amenity in the past, but we're starting to think about what that could look like to further integrate it into our product.
00:41:52 And so honestly T B D on what that looks like, but we are trying a lot of different things with fiction because I think that's one of the areas that we can still evolve into. And so like further integrating it into our, our Coworking spaces. Like what would it look like to have almost like a lounge concept. So having, you know,
00:42:09 a fiction coffee but then in the back is your Coworking space or right now it's just, it's like a little welcome in the beginning and now we're trying to make it more integrated. We'll See. So remind me, I feel like there was a period of time where the community managers were also baristas. Did you have coffee in the Yeah. Is that a phase that you moved on?
00:42:31 No. So we do idea. Yeah. But yeah, Craft coffee is definitely a part of who we are. So each of our locations, even if they don't have a full like fiction coffee, they have like what I would call like a mini fiction at their hospitality bar, which is what we would call like our front desk area. So there's usually like an espresso machine and all of our people are trained on how to pull a shot that is part of your onboarding.
00:42:54 So that is part of the experience cuz I think Kraft Coffee is one of the amenities that we offer to people, but I think it also just makes you feel good. Like there's just something about a cup of coffee that I think can really brighten people's day. So our teams are fully trained on that. Are they full baristas? No, but we partner with Counterculture Coffee,
00:43:10 they have a wonderful training program and we put all of our people through that. Oh that's really cool. Including me. I tried, I'm not very good like no you do not want me to make it. I was not very good. But I did go through the training. It's funny, I do think there's a big skill. There was a a,
00:43:29 it was in a co-working space but they had a shared kitchen and they had a cafe and the front and they would make the most amazing cappuccinos and I would always stand next to the barista and be like, could you just show me one more time how you're foaming that milk? Because I can't repeat it at home. I know our, our baristas are really good at our actual fiction copy shots.
00:43:49 Like I think we have some of the best baristas, but I think what I really love even about like we're moving and how, you know, kind of go back to our earlier conversation around hiring people who are young. I got this from the Nordstrom way, but they say to hire the smile and train the skill. And I think that's what we do at both sides.
00:44:03 Like even when it comes to coffee, yeah we can spend a lot of time training them on how to do a perfect cup of coffee, but you can't teach someone to care about someone else. And so I think really a big ethos of who we are is hiring the smile training the skill. Yep. Do you, so I also remember Nick mentioning,
00:44:20 I, I love like your, I think this is a cultural thing, not just Nick like experimenting, like okay, we're gonna try this, we're gonna, and I think that's one of the, the maybe joys of having a scaled business is you can experiment with things and see how things work. Not just at one or two locations, but kind of.
00:44:40 So for a while he was using like a personality test for new hires. Oh yes. Yeah. Are you still doing that? We do still use that. Okay. Yeah, we do still use that culture index. Yeah. Yeah. Can you like just say a couple words about that? I think that's really, Yeah, absolutely. I think,
00:44:56 I don't know a ton of details so Mary Catherine probably is better, I'll have to refresh I'll exactly how we use it. But I know that it's in the interview process and I think really what it helps is see around the team dynamic, think that's how we've utilized it the most is understanding how this person who's coming in and their natural tendencies. Cuz like any personality test is,
00:45:17 you know, it's not exactly who that person's going to be, right? Like there's variations. Totally. And people, yeah, there's a human element to it, but it can show you what their natural tendencies are and how that could work with the group. So if you have a group that is very, you know, not autonomous or just people who like really like to do like this is how we do it,
00:45:35 here's our processes and you're hiring someone who wants to like change everything, it's probably not the right fit for that particular group. Right. Because that's not how it's set up. But I think we use like, we use it both. Like there's been times where like technically on paper it said this person wasn't the right fit and then you hire them, you see them,
00:45:51 you're like absolutely they are. Yeah. It's a tool. It's a, it's a tool. Yeah. Not a rule. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. So you, how many locations did were there when you joined the company? There Were two. Two, There were two and now you have 23. Yeah. So I mean,
00:46:08 can you talk a little bit about what it's been like to scale and from your kind of hat of systems and processes? Yeah and Absolutely. Yes. So two to 23 big jump. And I think that's where someone, you have to really be able to embrace change. If you're gonna work at a company that is scaling, you have to be able and like have no pride associated with the systems you created.
00:46:32 Especially like for me, We used to Do things, it's very humbling, especially like in this position, like the systems that we had, all of them, I've basically had a hand in creating and then you look back and you're like, oh God, that was, I can't believe that was what I said we should do. Like that was a terrible idea.
00:46:49 And owning up No ego, like Okay, yeah, no ego Moving on. Yeah. Yeah. If you're gonna scale and gonna really get things right, I think you have to have people who do not hold onto the old in a way that like their work is like so tied to who they are. You have to be able to say like, that worked for the time,
00:47:06 we've gotta move on, we've gotta find something else. And you have to really be able, I think, to kind of see the train wreck before it's happening. I think where earlier me wasn't as good as like catching it of like I would have to change the system once we were already in a bind. Right. And now I've been really trying to work on seeing it ahead and be like,
00:47:24 okay, I need to start working on changing the system now because in six months from now we're not gonna be, be like the system won't work for us anymore. And helping people get adjusted to that, leading a company through that many changes. Like all of a sudden you're just like doubling in like in teams and members. Change is hard no matter what.
00:47:41 There's so many books on change management and even little changes are hard for people. And so learning how to get people bought into that and coach them and also like giving them the space to mourn that. Especially cuz sometimes they liked that system, right? They don't wanna do your new system. You're like, I hear that and today we can be sad that we're no longer using that creamer station but tomorrow we're using the new creamer.
00:48:04 So it's okay. I think that's another, you know, aspect that's challenging about scale is you have to, again, back to sort of the patience of like recognize I love change. Like I look for it and having the patience knowing that most humans don't, you know, to your point and being patient with that and he work, you know, being willing to kind of work through it and not,
00:48:30 you know Right. Just go, go along with them at their own pace. But yeah, nudge when needed. Yeah. Yeah. Can be really challenging. And your role is so, I mean Nick may be a little bit like that too. I feel like I wouldn't be, I'd be the person who needs the you to Yeah. The aia to to to kind of move everybody through those phases because yes,
00:48:52 He's definitely someone, he is like, let's just rip off the bandaid, let's go. And I'm like, Yeah, we gotta go, we gotta go down. I'm like, yeah, yeah. He's like, let's change it. No big deal. And I'm like, I agree it is no big deal. However, not everyone's gonna see it that way.
00:49:02 And so you have to think about, you know, like in any change management you think about all your different stakeholders, you think about how they're going to react and then you like make a plan for it and just knowing and people bring so much with them into work, you know, so you never know how someone's going to, you change the creamer station for example.
00:49:18 Yeah. And for whatever reason that's it. Like that is what broke that person that day. And understanding that it's really not about the creamer and usually a lot around the change, it's not about the change. It's like what it represents and allowing people to feel those feelings while also not letting those feelings like make you second guess your decision. Especially if you know it's the right one.
00:49:38 Yeah. So you got an M MBA while you in the last year? Yes. Yeah. Has that helped in May? I graduated in May. Has it helped you in your role or like Absolutely. Hands down. So glad I got my mba Now you're Glad I think now that you're not working. Yes, now I'm glad when I was That night,
00:49:57 Yes. Working full-time cuz you know, especially that last year I graduated in May but I mean we had Covid during most of that time. So I started in August of 2020. So we were still in the midst of Covid and then two years, you know those, the past two years within the flex space has been pretty insane, right? Yeah.
00:50:15 And then you add in an acquisition on top of that where we got acquired by WeWork in March and it was a very crazy, crazy time. But I'm really thankful that I did that, that I'm thankful that my, my family pushed me towards it, that Nick pushed me towards it, my coworkers, they were so supportive of me doing this. I don't think I would be able to stay in this role if I wouldn't have gotten my MBA because I just really illuminated so many different things.
00:50:40 Just learned so much, especially around finance. I did not have a background in this obviously. Like I said, I was in marketing then I started as a Community Manager and I understood oh like okay on budgets I was okay on them. But like really learning to like look at the business as a whole and make decisions around that, how they all work together.
00:50:57 I think it helped me become better about thinking about how landlords think about our management agreements. Yeah. And just like really I think rounded out my experience of what it meant to like be a Community Manager but like tag on some business acumen onto that. Yeah. So I think Commons would've outgrown my skillset had I not invested in my education. So Yeah.
00:51:18 That's great. Yeah. Although I mean it's so clear that you have exceptional like soft skills. Oh thanks. So that's not a, I also have an MBA and from a school that's not known for their soft skills. Yeah. So I appreciate that combination is pretty unique. Like sort of that athlete, like you can do both sides now. Yeah.
00:51:39 Don't underestimate because all the things I'm hearing you talk about, you know are are not really like p and l based, right? They're Yes. So critical to the phases that you've gone through. So I'm guessing like yes for your skillset and confidence it's good to have the hard skills but yes. Yeah, it's the, the two combined kind of really make the magic.
00:51:59 Absolutely. And in the acquisition I think it was really helpful to understand like what it would mean to be acquired and even like the change processes through that and why we have to do that. Cuz now all of a sudden we're part of a publicly traded company, you know, common desk wasn't maybe always doing things. Exactly. You know, like we didn't know what we were doing.
00:52:17 Right. When you start a business you don't really know what you're doing so Well and the difference between private and public company is significant. Yeah. It really is. So I think that was really helpful. And even understanding how we have to adjust and change and communicating that to our teams to understand like, here's the rule we have to follow, here's why we have to follow it.
00:52:34 Like it's not just a rule for a rule. There's actual consequences to these things and we're part of a publicly traded company and here's what we're doing now. I think that was really helpful even for me to understand too. Right. So I am curious what is it like to have been acquired and Yeah, I mean obviously you Know, it's the question everyone asked so don't worry that's,
00:52:53 yeah, It's a rollercoaster of emotions. I will say I think I would be lying if I said that like it's just been all, you know, rainbows and butterflies. That's just because I care so much. Right? Like being a part of commonest and having the opportunity to build it alongside like your baby, my coworkers. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's,
00:53:14 I mean I think probably everyone says it's like true definition of like bittersweet where it is so amazing. I feel so grateful that I got the chance to do this. Like who wouldn't be proud of being able to sell a company and be acquired but like the largest player in the game. Like I think that's such a testimony to what we built and I feel so proud of that and so honored that that's like part of a legacy.
00:53:32 But when you do that you're also giving up some parts of you, right? Where there's just other voices in the room and learning to make room for those voices. I think that has been the hardest thing of like understanding that like their opinions really matter and actually they have a lot to say and a lot of good insight that I can learn from and I just have to make room for that.
00:53:53 And I think helping our teams coach them through that of just cuz of the way we did something doesn't mean that if we have to do this, that it's wrong. It's just different and that's okay. Yeah. But we were, cuz they've been really wonderful, probably more so than they have to be, you know, like they have given us a lot of freedom.
00:54:10 They're so, they've bought us for a reason and I think they've let us really do what we do best and I'm really grateful for that cuz I did study about like mergers and acquisitions in school and I don't think that is normally the case. Most of The time they don't work. Right, right. You do all the case studies and like the, the end of the story.
00:54:26 Exactly. The moral of the stories. Like they almost never work. Yeah, exactly. And you know, I remember what it was like when WeWork came into Dallas in 2017. Right. So like, I think like even within like the local Coworking world, like WeWork just felt like this, like the big bed cuz I, and I think when you actually get to spend time with their teams and you spend time,
00:54:45 I've gone to a lot of their locations in New York, spent time with their community teams, spend time with their members, their leadership team. And they're not actually like that different, like the reason that they're there, they're community teams. They're the same as our community teams. You know, they have a heart for their members. Exactly. But I think it can,
00:55:02 you know the name of WeWork, it can get lost in there. But they really are doing a really good job in providing a wonderful service to their members. And to me I've learned so much being able to like learn from their teams. So do you feel it on a day-to-day or is it sort of here and there in terms of things you're adjusting to from like a bigger picture?
00:55:19 Yeah, I do not feel it on a day today, which I'm thankful for most days I come into work and it feels like it's felt for like the past six years. I feel I'm here with my team, I get to see my people with the people that we hired using our processes. I would say there's a lot more reporting, which actually is really wonderful.
00:55:36 There's so much structure and so much help because we have to report on certain numbers. But I love that, I love that I'm being drawn towards that and that we have these numbers. There was, you know, before we kind of just like feels like it's been a good year. Yeah, yeah. Great. But now we actually have to Right force.
00:55:56 Yeah, yeah. And force better planning and and yeah. Yeah. Making sure everybody's kind of rowing in the right direction. Yep, exactly. So I would say most of the time it feels like it's always felt and I'm so grateful for that. There's a few times where you're like, oh yeah, you know, we have to do this thing that feels very corporate.
00:56:13 Yeah. And, but WeWork has, they've been so helpful in coaching us too, like through that of like how to do this when you have to adopt a very corporate policy that feels maybe like not something our teams are used to. They've been really, really great. That's great. Yeah. What are you most excited about right now? Oh, I am really excited for next year.
00:56:34 I feel like common desk is just getting our feet under us after two years of just insanity. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like everyone feels that. But yes, like we are growing a lot. We're signing a lot of new locations. We will be opening a lot of new locations next year and I'm, I'm just really excited about the amount of people we'll get to impact member wise obviously,
00:56:54 but also staff. I'm, I can't wait to add more people to our team to watch people grow. Especially our current team. Like our, our senior Community Manager is, they're, they oversee like two to three locations at a time and that's the group. I just, I think it's the most important. Middle management's like the most important group for you to invest in and I,
00:57:12 I feel like they're right on the cusp of just something really great. And so I can't wait to watch it. That's what I'm really, really excited for, to watch them learn how to oversee even more locations to, to really just grow and develop as leaders. I can't wait to hopefully in a year from now talk about all the ways I saw them grow this year.
00:57:31 I love that. Yeah. Good. And I bet you're excited for maybe a little break over the holidays. Yeah, yeah. I'm, I it's exciting. It is. I think when you love what you do, I feel like I hate to be that person, but I mean, I love my job. It's, I really love being here.
00:57:46 So oftentimes when we have a break I'm like, well, I can't wait to get back cuz I can't see my friends. Like, I miss you guys. So I'm excited to get, see family and have a small break, but I can't wait to get back. And I think next year's just gonna be really kickass. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that on here,
00:58:01 but you Can totally say that. Okay. Yeah. And I'm excited that people feel that way because I do think, you know, the last couple of years have been so uncertain that it feels so fuzzy to look at the next year. Like when you're doing planning for the next year, it's like, I don't know, you know? Right. Totally.
00:58:19 I'm Going to, you know, put this on paper, but let's see. And I feel like now people are feeling like the momentum of positive and just more clarity so that you can Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. I feel that. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like Nick and I have, I think what's so nice about having a partner like Nick is I just feel like we are in lockstep and both have like very clear ideas of what we're working on and what we're building and what success looks like for everyone in this company.
00:58:45 And I just feel confident we won't be distracted like we are, we're gonna go out there and get it and I'm, I can't wait. I love it. Your excitement is infectious. Oh, thanks. Yeah. Well thank you. I know you guys are super busy. Thank you for taking the time to do this and Absolutely. Story And give us a little inside scoop on what's going on at Common Desk.
00:59:07 I really appreciate It. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me. This was fun. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you like what you heard, tell a friend, hit that subscribe button and leave us a rating and review. It makes a huge difference in helping others like you find us. If you'd like to learn more about our education and coaching programs,
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