293. Your Coworking Space Can Be Different If it’s Serving your Ideal Member

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293. Your Coworking Space Can Be Different If it’s Serving your Ideal Member

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.

00:00:45 Welcome to the Everything Coworking podcast. This is your host, Jamie Russo. Thank you for joining me. Okay, so I'm gonna call this episode the modifier to last week's episode. And I must be honest, I wanted to delete last week's episode because I was so fired up. I feel like recording that was like when you write an email, when you're mad about something and you send it instead of saving it to drafts.

00:01:13 I was like, I'm posting this thing and you know, I'm not sure I should have, but on the other hand, I was very passionate about the topic, but you know, I was reflecting on it. And if you're on my newsletter, then I think I added a little more sort of clarity to my thinking in the newsletter on Wednesday. So after I'd,

00:01:35 you know, slept on my frustration a little bit, but I wanted to talk even more because I, as I was writing the newsletter, I thought I said something in my newsletter that is actually true, which is that most of the people that go through my Coworking space, sorry, my Coworking, Startup School, which is our program that we have to help folks launch Coworking spaces,

00:01:56 most of them do not pursue a very traditional model. And that's either because they're a lot of people interested in pursuing nontraditional models or those that want to pursue something sort of unique and not exactly a straightforward Coworking model, recognize that they should get some professional guidance and so they're more likely to sign up for something like the Coworking Startup School. So I'm not sure which it is.

00:02:23 I see l you know, lots of unique spaces. We run a Community Manager program. So I talked to a lot of operators and a lot of community managers every month and we see all sorts of different models. And so I'm afraid that I was a little too down the middle sounding like, I think you should, you know, there's only one type of model to create that is successful in Coworking.

00:02:45 That is not the case. What is the case, and this is what I see from my students, is that they are laser-focused on finding a product market fit. And so they come to our Startup school because they have an idea of an audience they wanna serve. And it might be an audience that isn't typically served by like a traditional co-working workspace or they've been inspired by a workspace and they wanna do something slightly different for a very specific audience usually.

00:03:15 And so to me that is the right way to be thinking about this business model. The sort of frustration I was feeling about this blog post that I referenced was that you need to be different just to be different. And that is a recipe for disaster because to me that is focusing on some sort of random differentiation that is not focused on getting the business model right.

00:03:38 But if your business model is focused on serving a specific ideal member, we call that your ideal Coworking avatar or ideal customer avatar in our course, then you are defining who you want to serve and then building your business around that. And what we do in the course is try to make sure we think the model will still work. And in my email version of my,

00:04:05 you know, sort of rant from last week was basically that, look, there is a very specific model that tends to work really well if you are optimizing for profit, which some people are doing. And so we know what that looks like and we can help you pursue that in our Startup school. And we certainly see that. And that's sort of easy for me,

00:04:27 right? Because then I just have to help you make sure you find the right location and then we help you figure out what is it that optimizes that model. But we get lots of folks who are not interested in following sort of that traditional model that we know tends to work really well in terms of, you know, making sure there's, there's profit every month.

00:04:48 And so there's just more risk in that approach. But I will tell you that what I see and what is so I think much fun for me and inspiring about this industry is that there are a lot of different ways to approach it. There are a lot of different end users to serve. And that's what I think is also exciting about our industry is that most markets,

00:05:09 and that's, you know, part of my, what I was trying to get across on my last episode is most markets are still wildly underserved by great third workspaces that you just need to figure out what that market needs. And you can still do a pretty simple like 10,000 square feet, 15,000 square feet, 60% offices, 40% open space or offices in meeting rooms and sort of closed space,

00:05:39 40%, you know, flex space, cafe space, that kind of thing. Get a really great location, get a really great lease, and do really well. Again, lots of folks are interested in something more unique. So I talked about this a little bit with Alex from proximity on the podcast a few episodes ago. We just kind of spitballed a little bit about like what does he see people doing in the marketplace?

00:06:02 And you know, I wanted to reinforce that if you're working on something that doesn't sort of line up with the like really traditional model, I am definitely not saying that that is wrong. But make sure you do all the due diligence. Make sure you really understand what makes the model work. This is what I kind of tell my students, like, look,

00:06:20 here's what works really well and here's what we know is really profitable. So if you're gonna deviate from that, let's figure out how you're gonna sort of make up for that. What is it that you're doing in your model that will help you to be financially sustainable? Because while profit may not be everyone's motive, almost everybody needs the model to not lose money.

00:06:39 So we don't want that. And that's, you know, what I really care about, you know, that's, you know why I get into this is because a lot of you are, you know, raising money, using your personal savings. This is a business that often comes from personal bank accounts and so we need to get that right. So I have folks in my,

00:06:58 I was just thinking like, you know what, I'm gonna scan through my Startup school list. We see a lot of, and Alex and I talked about this, a lot of like medical therapy concepts. We're seeing a lot more of that come through. We have folks that are interested in serving very specific populations. I've mentioned this a couple times. We have a group doing attorneys.

00:07:20 I have a woman who's interested in helping people be closer to their faith at work. We have co-housing, we have a, I won't like get at everybody's personal business, but I have someone who's on an island who's building this beautiful ecosystem that will kinda support the locals on an island where there's a lot of like remote work and tourism. So she's creating a workplace,

00:07:43 a place for retreats, it's on a farm, is amazing. She's amazing. That's really fun and a big challenge for me to kind of help her kind of tackle this from scratch because it is so unique. Just looking at, we have, yeah, there's somebody else who's from another country. We have a team of women who are serving artists in their area and focusing on events.

00:08:05 So you know, some of these folks I work with one-on-one. So we have an accelerator program that goes with a Startup school and that's usually when I can really dig into people's proformas. We don't usually do a lot of pro for more work in our group calls, but when I can get in deep and work with folks they add on, you know,

00:08:22 this accelerator aspect, then we dive into their proformas and they just are super confident about their product market fit and they're, you know, being really thoughtful about who they're serving and exactly what these folks need. And actually the woman I mentioned who lives on an island, she just did a survey. I always tell my students to, you know, sort of validate,

00:08:40 understand what people are looking for. She get a hundred responses in like a day. I was like, oh my god, record-setting, it was amazing. I'm just looking for, oh we have, I see folks here and there doing spaces that are also serving again the religious theme. Like okay, churches only get used, you know, sort of on the weekends really underused and people wanna bring,

00:09:02 you know, that community and that faith aspect into more directly into the community. So I have somebody who just launched, I think he's in Ohio and it is sort of part place where he can host his, he's a pastor, he can host his services on the weekends and do evening groups and then also have a workspace in a place for community events.

00:09:23 So he probably is also not a hundred percent focused on generating profit. He wants a place that makes a really big impact for the community, but he also doesn't wanna lose money, right? We've only in another small market, she's awesome. I'm gonna get her on the podcast. She is working with entrepreneurs in a smaller market and she does coaching and really kind of like,

00:09:44 I would say economic development focused. And so her space is really for the people that she works with and the broader community. And like I said, I'm hoping if you know who you are, I'm gonna talk you into being on the podcast. And yeah, a couple more medical folks, I mean we just like super interesting across the board, women-focused,

00:10:01 two female-focused spaces. Two quite different, one smaller, one very large, one that has a great niche. I'm not gonna give away their niche, it is sort of government based. I work with them one-on-one also. So just really across-the-board folks doing, applying the shared space community workspace model to niches or serving folks that they already serve and they need space for that.

00:10:31 We just had someone finally open, she's been working Dina Saunders and I think she's Green Pines Media. I also wanna have Dina, if you're listening, please come on the podcast. She is such a unique end user. She's doing workspace but also gallery space for youth who have been in the foster system and are into music and arts and need that ecosystem to help them learn how to,

00:10:59 you know, build an income, you know, do their work and have a place where they can put their work up, they can perform and that supports them and helps them learn how to monetize their work. So amazing, right? So again, I these, I love working with these folks and I also want them to create a model that is sustainable and profitable as much as that is a focus for their business.

00:11:24 So again, a big modifier to kind of my antsy, but I, you know, the childcare thing is a really thing that sets me off because it is a very hard model and I know so many people wanna do this and that was one of the differentiating items and I, I think the writer took it off. So I talked to someone else again today and she's a new podcast listener,

00:11:42 so hello if you're listening to this one, and I feel like I'm like the bubble burster when people bring up this topic, but it is hard and I have done due diligence on this. I have spoken with people who help people launch daycares and they walk me through why it is so hard. It's a very, very hard model and every time I bring this up,

00:12:01 somebody you know, really wants to do it, but there's a lot of evidence that it's just very hard to do for Coworking spaces. So I'm not saying, and you know what? If you're listening and you have a profitable arm of your shared workspace, that is, and I know some folks do, so Pillar Coworking was on the podcast, they offer full-time daycare,

00:12:21 so lots of challenges to that. They've been on the podcast. So you can go back and listen to that one. If anyone else is listening doing well with the model, please reach out. But you know, you have to tread really carefully and I is not my job to coach people out of ideas, but it is my job to help people understand the risk that they're taking.

00:12:37 You know, I can't make decisions for folks. The decisions are ultimately yours to make, but I want you to do your due diligence and understand exactly, you know, sort of the risk you're taking in terms of deviating from what we know is, you know, a profitable model and easy to recruit for and easy for the end consumer to understand. You know,

00:12:56 I talked to somebody else today in a smaller market and I walked them through like, you know what you might have some educating to do because you are in a market that probably doesn't know much about Coworking. So know that you're gonna have a little bit of a heavier marketing lift. So I just always want people to kind of go into the risk that they're taking eyes wide open and it's hard to talk entrepreneurs out of things that they're passionate about.

00:13:17 I also would make sure to be clear that I think the exciting thing about this model is that you could have two spaces that are 10 to 15,000 square feet with 60 to 70% enclosed office space and some flex space that are entirely different, right? One could be more formal, more conservative, one could be like industrial chic, one could be for women,

00:13:43 okay, I had a woman and I have not met her yet, so hello if you're listening, she joined our academy and her space has like a Cinderella coach in it. It is fabulous. That's the only word to use. It's whimsical, fabulous, I don't know, I cannot wait to meet her cuz I can only imagine how exciting she is as a human.

00:14:02 So you, no two spaces are alike, right? And so I think there's so much room for being different, but making sure that we're not being different for the sake of D being different. We're being different for the sake of attracting our ideal customers and making our business model work. And when I say business model work, again, you know what your profit goals are and you hit those,

00:14:25 you know, maybe not in the first year, but once you get kind of stabilized is the word I'm looking for, then we want the model to look like you expected it to. And if you are doing crazy things just to be different, but you can't monetize that, the value of that difference, that's where I get concerned. But we are still in a space where,

00:14:46 you know, folks, I mean I don't even have a Coworking space in my town. I was walking with my family yesterday as a national holiday for here for in the US for those who President's Day. And so we went out to lunch, I did a call with Bulgaria in the morning and then I did a call with the Community Manager group for the Flexible Workspace Association in Australia in the afternoon.

00:15:08 So I did some work with folks who don't celebrate President's Day, which is kind of fun. But anyway, we were walking and there's a new brand new beautiful commercial building. And actually I need to send it to Mar Hauser. Mar Hauser, if you're listening, I need a Coworking space. I need a 25 north in that building. If anybody else is listening,

00:15:23 who would like to go in there? I'm hoping there needs to be a Coworking space on the third floor. It's beautiful brandy building, nice and modern and like really tall ceilings, I can tell on the third floor with tons of windows. So we don't even in my immediate town, don't even have a Coworking space and we could probably use three of them for different focuses,

00:15:41 maybe more. And so there are lots of places that are still open to fresh ideas that are slightly different and attract people who want something slightly different out of their workspace. And there's just unending opportunity for that still. So what I wanna say is that what I want for you, if you're working on a space or expanding your space, is I want you to get the model right.

00:16:03 Lots of people do not. So you wanna understand what makes the model work and you wanna understand where you're gonna deviate from that and what that means and how you wanna compensate for that to make sure that you can still meet the goals that you have for the business. And if you're going to do a traditional space, then you wanna make sure you know,

00:16:20 kind of what makes the model work and that you do those things. And it's different for every marketplace. And so you have to again, really understand your market and who you're serving and then build to serve them and build for the model. So that's all I'm much calmer than last week. That's my usual self. But sometimes I get a little fired up because I care.

00:16:42 And I want you guys to be successful. So we are here anytime to help you in the Coworking, Startup, School or our accelerator program. And we have kind of different versions of our accelerator program depending on how much support you need. We have been getting some calls from landlords that need kinda the full suite of help to get up and running or to help evaluate their model if you're,

00:17:02 you know, curious about the model and have some questions. We do advisory calls. We've been getting a lot of folks actually from our YouTube channel, which is really fun. So you can find all the things, all the ways that you can work with us on the website, under work with us. And the website is, you know, still working on getting kind of an update going on there,

00:17:21 but we've been trying to make it easier to find what you're looking for. So anyway, different is not necessarily bad, but we want different to be intentional and we want it to align with your ideal member and be monetizable and get some help. Get some help if you're working on opening space or optimizing your model and looking towards a second location. And that is it for this week.

00:17:42 Hope you guys are having a great week. For those of you that had a long weekend, I hope you went somewhere warm and fabulous or somewhere interesting and got a little break. We did not get a break. We did have a beach day on Sunday. It was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Like 60 and sunny. Wonderful. So that was really nice.

00:18:00 So I hope you're having a great week and we will see you next week. 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,

00:18:23 head over to Everything Coworking dot com. We'll see you next week.

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