350. How Maryann Baldwin Drives Economic Development in a Town of 1,000 with Her Coworking Space in Lansing, Iowa
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TRANSCRIPTION
350. How Maryann Baldwin Drives Economic Development in a Town of 1,000 with Her Coworking Space in Lansing, Iowa
00:00:00,"Welcome to the Everything Coworking podcast, where every week I keep you updated on the latest trends and how tos in co working. 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 co working industry."
00:00:44,"Welcome. I have with me today Maryann Baldwin. She is business owner, coach and innovation leader at the works in Lansing, Iowa. And Maryann's in our community manager program. And I can't remember why I stumbled. I think, oh, you did your certification. And I was on your website and I saw a blog post about your story and I was like, we have to talk about this because I think the podcast listeners will enjoy this."
00:01:12,"We have a lot of folks who are very interested in small town co working and. Okay, so you also have to verify how many people live in Lansing, Iowa. Well, I rounded up to 1000, but it's probably, I think it's 968 or something like that. Yes. I googled and I was like, could this be right? I was like, it looks right. There's a lot of history with like a big decline somewhere."
00:01:34,"You had like a 13% drop somewhere. Okay. So, yeah, I, you know, my guests always want a list of questions, and yesterday I was like, okay, Maryann, we're just going to, like, talk about your life story and how this came to be. Okay, we're going to start your life story with. We went to the same undergrad. Really? Yes. I've never interviewed anybody who went to the same undergrad."
00:01:56,"Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yes. I looked up your LinkedIn because. Whatever. And Ithaca College. Yes. You're kidding. Isn't that funny? We have sauce time. You were there earlier than me. Totally funny. So let's start with how did you end up at Ithaca College? Oh, wait. And. And you know what I wanted to be when I grew up? This may not surprise you since I have a podcast, but I grew up probably a news anchor."
00:02:18,"Yeah. Uh huh. I grew up in a town about the size of Lansing. More cows than people. And, you know, back then, before the Internet, not to date myself, but, you know, like, you only knew what you were going to be when you grew up by looking like, like, what's available? A fireman, a teacher. And I really like to talk, so I was like, I will be a news anchor."
00:02:38,"So. Although, ironically, I remember I went to orientation or some sort of preview thing. Maybe it was like, a preview thing. So I never picked television radio as my major, which you did, because that preview thing, I went to this woman named Trisha Williamson. I remember her name to this day. And we became friends. Actually, she made this giant impression on me, and she was a corporate communications major."
00:03:06,"And I was like, oh, I could wear suits and talk in my suit. I remember this. I'd be like, oh, power suits. I'm going to wear a power suit. So my major. I don't know if they had this when you were there. My major was corporate communication and learning design or something like that. Yeah. So I didn't do it, but I had lots of friends in the TBR."
00:03:29,"Okay, so how. That's a well known program, too, right? It's totally well known program. Okay. For sure. Where did you grow up and how did you end up at Ithaca College? Where did you. So did you. Did you grow up in New York state then? Yes, in the middle of nowhere. Like an hour and a half for Ithaca. Okay, well, I grew up in Rochester, New York, one of the suburbs."
00:03:47,"Webster. Yeah. Okay, so that's how I knew about Ithaca College. Okay. Yes. I grew up between Syracuse and Binghamton. I mean, just little. I mean, teensy, teensy little place. The rock, but I know the rock. Okay. Okay, so this. So the area where I live now actually reminds me a lot of the finger Lakes area. So that's, you know, part of what I love about being here. So."
00:04:07,"Okay. What did you think you were gonna be when you grew up? Well, so it goes back to high school. The high school where I went, they actually received a grant in the seventies to. I'll date myself now to create a closed circuit television system and a studio where the students could produce television content. And we actually. Our homeroom actually took place between first and second periods so that the students could produce a morning newscast that we delivered to all the students throughout the school for, like, 15 minutes in between first and second period."
00:04:43,"Yeah. So that's where I got the tv bug. And so I was actually producing tv content when I was 1617 years old. It was super cool. Yeah. So. But I thought I was going to be on the air, and then I got there, and I was tv radio right from the start. Yeah. And I. And I saw. I call them kids, but, you know, the other students who were just naturals on camera."
00:05:09,"And for me, the camera. Camera would come and I'd be like, oh, I got to read that teleprompter. And there were people who were just incredibly natural with it and so talented and so. But then I discovered all these things I could be doing behind the scenes. So I went to going down the producer path instead of the on air path, which was totally, totally for my talents and my capabilities and my interests."
00:05:36,"It was just organizing everything, which really, thinking back that long ago, set me up well for being a community manager and having a co working space because you're just kind of producing live tv all the time. Life is so interesting, isn't it? Like, you thought you were going to be on air, but also, you never would have known about this producer role if you didn't start in television, radio, which is because of this high school grant."
00:06:01,"I mean, it's crazy. I know. I often think so. My high school graduating class was, like, 65 kids, and I have a middle schooler who hates school, and so we talk about, you know, school a lot, and I also hated school and similarly not in school, but I somehow the school was like, yeah, you should get out of here. And so for a couple. I don't know, a couple of years, I did it."
00:06:25,"I had an internship at the radio station in Cortland, which you would recommend recognize. I would get up at, like, four in the morning and go. And I would do, like, the weather, and we'd record advertisements and, like, like, on air and big thing. I was like, looking back, I'm like, that's a crazy cool experience. Huge opportunity, right? Just like your grant. Like, this teeny little town, like."
00:06:49,"And it for sure shaped some of the things I do now, I think. Anyway, okay, so. Okay, so then what did you do after college with your. Yeah, so where did you go? You didn't stay in Ithaca? No, I did not stay in Ithaca. I actually got my first job back in Rochester at the ABC affiliate. I was an intern with a show, used to be on tv called PM magazine."
00:07:10,"Nice. And I had a. I needed nine more credits to finish my major, and so I did that through the internship. And at the end of the summer, they had decided to launch a morning local morning television show, and I was hired part time to be an assistant manager or assistant producer on the morning show. I know. So it was like, yeah, so that's what I say. I mean, I was very fortunate at the age of 16."
00:07:34,"I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and there was no doubt. There was just no question in my mind, so. I know, but then here you are. So, yeah, give us the whole walk us through your life story and find co working. This isn't a career podcast. This is about co working. People. Like, people like, we won't. You don't have to do the long version, but I'm interested."
00:07:56,"Just incredible opportunities just kept coming to me, and I know part of it was being there and showing up and doing all the things and being curious and asking questions and learning and being willing to try new things. But I worked on that morning show for two years, and then the production manager from the tv station went to one of the other tv stations in the group, which is how you made your way up in your career as you met people."
00:08:24,"And then they got opportunities, and hopefully they offered you, offered you opportunities. So he went to Green Bay, Wisconsin. So I saw Wisconsin, I think, also on your LinkedIn. I was like, okay, how did this happen? Yeah, so. Oh, my gosh. So he went to Green Bay as program and promotion manager, and he wanted to hire an assistant, but he also had this plan to start a morning show, so I would get to be the producer of the morning show."
00:08:49,"So I just have to come do this, like, assistant job for live in Green Bay a couple years, and then. So, well, and then on top of that, I didn't even know where it was. So, you know, I looked at a map, I knew where Chicago was. It's like, okay, north of Chicago, okay. And I said, you know, could I just, like, come visit for a couple of days just so I know where I'm going?"
00:09:09,"Because I really want the job and the salaries. Right. So I was working my first job. I was working two jobs. I was working this producer's job, but then I was also working full time, but they're not full time. Part time at the limited, at the shopping mall. So that's where I bought all my power suits. So I had a good wardrobe. So by moving to Green Bay, I had."
00:09:28,"I could combine what I was making in those two jobs into one job. So it was, you know, it was a no brainer, except I had no idea where it was. So they flew me out. I spent a couple of days there, and they wind and dined me, and I went home, and it must have been summer. It was August. Yep. Yeah, for sure. Because. Yes, you're right."
00:09:46,"My first Christmas, I flew home, and it was so cold that the fuel lines in O'Hare, because I had to change planes in O'Hare. The fuel lines were freezing up. They couldn't refuel the planes, and I must have sat in the airport for, like, 15 hours for my connection because it was so cold. So, I mean, Rochester is not balmy in the winter, but yeah. Oh, it's so much colder in the midwest."
00:10:07,"So much colder. Yeah, yeah. So I did forward years there, and that time the station was sold to another company and the company wasn't interested in having a morning talk show. And the program and promotion director wasn't interested in working for this new company, but the new company asked me if I'd like the job. So at 26 years old, I was a program of promotion director and an NBC affiliate in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which is pretty cool."
00:10:33,"Yeah. And from there. So when you're doing programming and promotion, you have a lot of people calling on you from the studios and from the network, and they want to make sure you're promoting their programs and you're running them the way they're supposed to run and this and that. I got to know a lot of people at the studios, a lot of people at the network, and for personal reasons, I decided I wanted to move to LA."
00:10:55,"So I just started working on my connections and finally went out there. Everybody just said, just get out here. Nobody's going to offer you a job. You just have to get out here. So again, we're sort of pre Internet here. So it's not like, oh, gosh, Facetiming. And I was telling somebody about how I had to hand type my cover letters and resumes at a typewriter and make the umatic three quarter inch videotapes with the resume reel on it and make copies of it and mail them."
00:11:21,"Oh, my God, yes. It was so hard. But anyway, so I finally decided to move out there and I got a job with a trade group that put on trade shows for marketing managers and television, and they needed a conference manager because their conference manager was leaving. So, okay, now you're producing a professional conference for a thousand attendees from all over the country. So I did that, which, again, was just like live television."
00:11:52,"It was like four days nonstop, you know, different tracks for different topics, different speakers, keynotes, dinners, parties, whatever. So that was good. But in the process, I met somebody at Paramount who was looking to create a position to do station relations. And because I'd been a promotion manager and I knew what it was like to be on the other side of the equation, interviewed me and wound up hiring me for the job."
00:12:16,"So I wound up after that at Paramount for about three years doing program or doing station relations for them. So I was working. So now I was working with the tv stations, making sure they were promoting our television program got it on the other side. I'm interrupting for a second. Are you working on starting a coworking space? I often emphasize how important the planning stage is. You've heard me say most unrecoverable issues happen well before you open your doors and they are related to the size of your space, your real estate deal and a few other things."
00:12:55,"If you think you are going to pick your favorite co working space and reverse engineer what you think you see happening in there and then pick your own paint colors and your favorite furniture, you are in for a surprise. This business is really about making the right fundamental decisions that align with your individual, personal and financial goals. So we want to help you avoid the mistakes that a lot of operators make in planning and launching that can really set you back in terms of time and finances."
00:13:30,"So we have got your back. We have created a free training to help you really get behind the three key decisions that we think are the most critical for you to get right when you're designing your co working business. The model, not the colors, the model. And these insights come from years of operating, designing the model for two different locations and then my work with hundreds of operators as they work on their businesses."
00:14:02,"So grab your spot in our training class. You can watch it anytime, it's totally on demand. And start your coworking journey with confidence and the right strategies in place. You can grab that training at everythingco working.com masterclass. Okay. And you're in LA, which is very exciting. And I'm in LA, which was. I hate it. Oh, interesting. I loved. I loved driving through the gates at the Paramount lot and I love being amongst the sound stages and all the things that happened there."
00:14:34,"But between the traffic and the crowds and the expenses and the earthquake. Yeah, I know. I would hate LA, for sure. Yeah, I gave it four solid years, but then I started putting feelers out. I had a client in Chicago who I talked to quite frequently and I just. I love Chicago. Boy, I'd love to work in Chicago someday. Well, lo and behold, about a year later, he gets a job with Tribune Entertainment, which is part of Tribune Company based in Chicago, and he needs a station relations manager, and he knows me from working with him."
00:15:05,"So I got out of LA and I got to Chicago and I spent seven and a half years at Tribune Company and I wound up working in digital media and I wound up in Orlando working with Time Warner Cable's full service network doing interactive television content in 1994, which was ridiculous. Wow, that's still pretty early. It was very early, the Internet was just starting to become something. Totally."
00:15:28,"Yeah. And this thing called a browser. What was the name of the first browser? I can't remember, but it had the little globe in the corner. Wait, nets. Was it Netscape? Oh, I think it was before that. Even before. But anyway, so, yeah, I mean, Time Warner was putting $3,000 interactive tv set top boxes in their customers homes to test out interactive television content. So Tribune got a contract to do local content for this interactive television system that they put together."
00:15:57,"So we were doing local news, we were doing entertainment calendars for events and doing restaurant reviews and things like that. We had. We converted. So this was with the Orlando Sentinel. So we converted the classified listings into interactive content that could be viewed on a set top box. Yes. It was an unbelievable opportunity. It was the coolest thing I ever could have imagined. And it was. It was great."
00:16:25,"Were you still in Chicago at that point or were you. No, I went down to. I went down in Orlando for everywhere about three years. Wow. Okay. So that was a blast. But then the Internet came along and everybody saw how much less expensive. Well, everybody's going to buy their own computer so we don't have to put set top boxes in people's homes. So maybe the Internet's the way to go so that all kind of unwound."
00:16:47,"And I came back to Chicago, and I was working with a group that was trying to interconnect all of the Tribune companies newsrooms in Chicago. So WGN tv, Chicagoland television news channel, Tribune newspaper, WGN Radio, we were going to create this, like, database where all this content would be uploaded throughout the day, and then they could draw different assets from it to create their own content. Yeah. Thanks."
00:17:22,"And then it got way, be way too much technology for me, and I was flattered that they saw me as a person to do it, but I got too far away from the content piece of it and was too immersed in technology. It was very cool, but. So then this market research firm in the media industry called Frank Maggot Associates, based in Iowa, came looking for someone to help them start their digital practice."
00:17:43,"So. Okay, so this is how we get to Iowa. This is how I get to Iowa. Yeah. So specifically Lansing. Did you go so. No, no. But in Cedar Rapids area. Okay. And that was. So, that was very cool. I had clients all over the country, so I was on the road all the time. Okay. Got to do amazing. We did primary market research, so we did custom studies to understand audiences, what they liked, what they didn't like, what could improve their content experience, better messaging, all kinds of things like that."
00:18:13,"But on the digital side, they were mainly tv and video up until that point. But then they saw what was coming with video and then digital television, because all the television stations had to convert from analog to digital broadcasting and then high definition television and people adopting hdtvs. And what did that mean for content? And how would they feel if they're 16 by nine? Tv had a four by three video, those things."
00:18:38,"So, yeah, so it was incredible. And then we built a place on the Mississippi river, and I fell in love with it here. We moved here full time, and then I said, I don't want to leave anymore. I don't want to get an airplane. I'm done. So I'm retiring 35 years. There you go. Buying a fitness center. Well, so that was the thing. All I wanted to do was teach Pilates class."
00:19:00,"I wanted to teach mad Pilates. So I. Somewhere along the way, you fell in love with Pilates and you're. I was at a resort. I went to a Pilates class, and the woman who taught the class was like 80 years old, and she was just unbelievably fit. And they said, that's how I want to age. So I'm going to teach Pilates. Okay. Can Lansing. So you. So, okay, so now we're in Lansing."
00:19:23,"You decide to be a business owner. You. Well, I didn't. I just wanted to teach Pilates. Okay. So I approached the fitness center owner and I said, could I teach Pilates at your fitness center? And she said, sure. And then two weeks later, she called me back and she's, how would you like to buy the fitness center? And you were like, why not? I was still working at that point."
00:19:43,"Okay. I was just, you know, I was figuring out how I was going to get the Pilates certification so when retirement was, you know, part of my life, I could start teaching. So she was very patient. She gave me like, six months to decide. And so there was, she wasn't in a big rush. She had some personal circumstances. She needed to sell it. So. So, yeah, I had actually saved up some money because I was thinking I might go back to school, get a master's degree, just because, you know."
00:20:06,"Yeah. Because I needed something to do. So instead, I used that money for the down payment because the fitness center is in its own building and that. So you buy the building, you buy the business. Oh, interesting. Okay. And then you ended up selling it. Okay, so we'll fast forward to. But I sold it during COVID So there's that? Okay. And then along the way, there's a building on Main street and you're like, yeah, what's gonna happen?"
00:20:29,"This is in the blog post I read yesterday, what's gonna happen to this building? Who's gonna buy it? And then at some point, like lightning struck your car and I were like, oh, me. Okay, so tell us about this. So when I was traveling, okay, yes. When I was traveling, I did experience co working. Okay. Facilities. So that was my introduction. Like independent ones or like a wework or."
00:20:50,"Uh, yeah, I was going to look it up last night. The first one I went to was one in Atlanta, and they have four or five locations. And it was gorgeous. And, yeah, there were all these people, like, in these rooms meeting and talking. Much vibe. Yeah, we held an innovation session in one of them that was just. I bet it was wrong. And that was wrong. It was wrong."
00:21:11,"Yep. So, so I knew about co working and I thought it was pretty cool, was my vibe. And then at some point along the line, I thought, kind of cool to maybe try to co working in a town like Lansing, but that, I mean, it was just a fleeting thought, you know, I would see vacant buildings. I think that could be interesting. And I wound up with the fitness center."
00:21:31,"So then, yeah, so now I'm selling the fitness center, but, so I love being a business owner in a small town. I'm involved with our main street program, I'm involved with our women's business group. And that was the part that hit me, was, I'm not going to be a business owner here anymore. That part of my life will. How am I going to fit that in? Yeah. I mean, I could still be part of it, but it would be different."
00:21:54,"Yeah. So, yeah, so this place closed in 2014. It was a restaurant for about two and a half years. I don't know the circumstances, but the couple just one day closed the doors, took all the food out and cleaned it up and left everything here. So for seven and a half years, the booths were set up, the linens were in storage, the dishes were on the shelves, the pots and pans were in the kitchen."
00:22:17,"It just sat here. So somebody came through once in a while and cleaned it, but right in the middle, right in the heart of town, so. So I called the real estate agent and I said, can I look? I'd been in here, I'd eaten here. I had memories of what it looked like, but we went through, but it was dark. The previous owners had built all these really fancy booths and bars and it was supposed to look like."
00:22:45,"I mean, I. Maybe there's a diner in my hometown. Yeah. Yeah, it was nice, but like I said, it was just very dark. He had a postcard hanging on the bullet board in the back of a picture of Grand Central station. So that the restaurant was called Grand Central Station, and it was supposed to look kind of victorian, kind of, you know, turn to the century Grand Central Station kind of things, but just dark."
00:23:08,"So. And that was the problem. That's why nobody wanted to buy it, because you're going to have to undo just unbelievable amount of woodworking that he did. He was a carpenter and a chef, and so he. Wow. Created his ambiance, and then he created his menu. So whoever came in here was going to have to spend several months undoing what was here. And that was, I think, what made me different than the grand scheme of things is I had the time, and I knew a contractor, and I brought him in here, and I said, what do you think?"
00:23:38,"He said, yeah, we could do that. And I said, oh, that's. That's dangerous. Are you sure? So, yeah. So we spent the spring tearing things apart, and then July starting to put things back together. But two huge things happened. One was I discovered an organization called Rural Ideas Network, based in Dubuque, and that's where the coaching comes in. So we'll hook back to that. Anyway, I called them for free business coaching, and at the end of the conversation, the gentleman I was speaking to said, well, I think we should talk again, because we're launching a rural cowork gain accelerator program."
00:24:16,"And I said, what? Oh, my gosh. The lightning is, like, no, another bolt of lightning. Wow. And then he said, and by the way, Iowa economic development has their innovation grants coming up, and that's the only grant that they do that. It's not just nonprofits. They also have for profit businesses. And we could help you write that grant. It's due, like, May 15, but if you get it, you can start spending the money June 1, which was, like, in perfect alignment with my."
00:24:45,"Wow. How much was the grant for? It was. The. The max was 20,000. I applied for 15. Okay. Which was another. We don't have to get into that. But anyway. But it was. How much it cost you to update the space? And did you. Was that out of your own pocket, or. It was all out of my own package. Okay. I took the proceeds from the sale of the fitness center."
00:25:05,"I used some of it for the down payment to purchase this, which also, by the way, I bought in spring of 21 when interest rates were 3%. So another. Did you buy the building? Yeah. Oh, so you own the building that your space is in. Wow. Okay. So that's why I was comfortable making the investment. You got it. Okay, good. Yeah. My lights just went off again and the other way."
00:25:25,"And then the third piece was it of, it was that our main street program was renting this cavernous space in this old building that had horrible heat and cooling and was just. And so I approached them about their interest in renting one of my offices. So all of those pieces, we're just tested? Yeah, yeah. So, so they're like a cornerstone of what I have going here. So I was like, all right, I guess I'm doing this."
00:25:50,"Let's go. I'm gonna. So we opened October 1 of 21. Of 21. Okay. And you're kind of post Covid at this point. Okay, got it. Hey there. I'm jumping in again. This time I'm speaking to those of you that are either getting ready to hire a community manager or who have a community manager and you would like to support their training and development. We know how challenging it can be for co working space operators to create their own training and development material to support their community managers."
00:26:27,"And this is so important in terms of onboarding new community managers and supporting the growth of your existing community managers. And we're getting towards the end of the year, what a great holiday gift, end of year gift to give to your community manager. So the platform is really around a couple of things. One is access to a community of like minded folks. We have a very active slack group with really wonderful questions that are posed every single day."
00:26:59,"And we find that's one of the biggest values. We have community managers from all over the world, and this is an excellent group of community managers that have invested time and effort into getting better at that role. And they are the kind of folks that you want your community manager to be by and hanging out with, and they know their stuff, or sometimes they don't, and they ask questions and we help them out."
00:27:23,"So I'm in the group. We have coaches that are in the group to support them. So we love when they ask questions for things they need help with, because the other aspect of the program is really around helping them get resources they need to make their jobs easier and to learn things that they can use in their role to be better at their job. So we provide some done for you resources like Google Business posts, detailed event ideas, et cetera, that they can just kind of grab and go and use and we also provide monthly resources that add to our training library so they can do our certification."
00:28:03,"And then we have a lot of electives that help them kind of get better at all the things that, that go with the role. So that our community managers wear a lot of hats. So we break our content into industry knowledge for new community managers, community building operations, sales and marketing, and leadership. So the leadership bucket is great for our more advanced community managers. We also have virtual office and digital mail training and coffee training for anybody who needs to know how to use commercial coffee brewers."
00:28:37,"So we have some of the I'm just going to give you kind of a sampling of content that we have. So in our community building modules, we have hosting your first member events, building community with budget friendly events, member event swipe files, our sales and marketing modules. We have tour training. We have the training on the full co working sales funnel so they understand what that looks like."
00:29:04,"We have social media planning frameworks. We have. What else do we have? Three simple steps to an effective marketing newsletter. These are just some of our samples. Ooh. These are some of our best utilized topics. Demystifying the process of letting your co working members use your address for their Google Business listing, how to close a tour operations modules, how to set up automations, how to do a new member onboarding audit, simple ways to use AI to boost your productivity."
00:29:36,"We have over 40 courses in the program, so we cover kind of higher level topics, and then we also cover things that are timely, like the CMRA updates, Google Business updates, et cetera. So we get together monthly to do official training and we also host a best practice sharing call, which is one of the fan favorites of the group and the Slack group. So if you have any questions at all about the program, don't hesitate to reach out."
00:30:07,"You can learn more and register at everything coworking.com forward slash community manager now back to our episode. So it's okay, is the whole thing 2400 square feet, including the kitchen, or is the kitchen. The footprint of the building is 2400 sqft? Yep. Okay, so actually, you know, I used to know those numbers and I'm not sure, I would say the kitchen is probably about 20% of the footprint."
00:30:33,"I kept half the kitchen of the restaurant. And so that's why, I mean, having a commercial enterprise kitchen for rent, that doesn't have to be part of the business model. But it didn't make sense to rip all that out. I had ventilation and fire suppression and all the equipment and I. But honestly, I think the equipment in the kitchen was worth what I paid, but I bought the place totally all by itself."
00:30:55,"Yeah. So it's just another piece. So the goal here is to drive economic development and to. When you're in a rural place like this, it's hard to find like minded people who are trying to start businesses. And so, you know, we're here to provide resources to, we're also here for remote workers and for visitors and for freelancers and, you know, anybody who wants to use the space. But a big part of what motivates me to do this is just like the fitness."
00:31:23,"Fitness was about taking care of your body. To me, entrepreneurship is caring for your mind. Right. It's finding your talents and what sparks you and helping you make it happen. Okay, so what does that look like? How is that just small? How is that playing out? Yeah, it takes time, but I'm happy. I have twelve members right now, and I have three. All three of my offices are rented, so, I mean, everything's happening the way it's supposed to."
00:31:51,"People do rent my space for events, and I've done quite a bit of that this year. It's just, you know, it's a little bit of, if you build it, they will come. I mean, I did break a rule by not doing market research when I decided to do this, I'm making it. It's people. I. Yeah, I mean, out of 20 years of market research. Yeah, but how do you do a."
00:32:13,"That's your background? Not even just as, like the right thing to do. Right, though, because is this a little bit of an iPhone thing? Like, do people even know they need it or want it? Like, do they have to see it first? To some extent, yeah. That was one of my favorite things when we were under construction, because we would have the doors open to the sidewalk so all these people would walk by."
00:32:34,"And it was another piece of it. Having the fitness center, I had the opportunity to meet literally hundreds of people in the community. So I had a lot of strong connections from that experience. That made a big difference, too, and also my volunteering. But people would walk by and it's like, come on, you got to come see what we're doing. Because the whole front is windows, so I could see who was out there, and then they would say, what is this?"
00:32:57,"And I would say, co working. And about half the people would have a blank stare and about half the people would light up. It's like, oh, that's a great idea. It was always interesting to see who, you know, who knew about it and, you know, when it was new to people. So. And a lot of people in the Cr haven't worked the types of jobs that involve sitting at a desk and communicating and moving information around and organizing."
00:33:21,"And so, you know that that kind of work is foreign to a lot of people, too. Yeah, but I love the visitor part of this. We're two blocks away from the Mississippi river, so people can come in here, set up work for a few hours, walk to the end of Main street, get on a boat, tool around the river for a couple hours, get dropped off, come back here, do a conference call."
00:33:45,"I mean, it's right there. And we've got all kinds of hiking trails and hunting and fishing and all things outdoors. So a lot of people come to town, and there's a lot of remote cabins, and they don't have good Internet, and they try to use their cellular service, and they can't get it to work very well. So it's multiple. It's all the streams of revenue. It's the memberships, it's the offices and the rentals."
00:34:11,"It's the kitchen, it's the visitors. It's the meeting space and event space. And my overhead, again, being able to buy this when rates were so low, my overhead is really reasonable. Okay, so the kitchen, you have people who use it? I do, yes. I had somebody pretty regularly in there. She and her sisters kind of, they were hoping to find a space to open a restaurant, and they got really close on a couple of things, and it just didn't work out."
00:34:38,"So. So they're taking a break right now. I hope they start up again for the summer, but they were doing like, pop up carry out. So Saturdays and Sundays, you place an order online and then come pick up food. And I've had some people do canning in there. I've got a. So I do have a new member. She just earned a certification in herbalism, and she's going to be doing botanical project products."
00:34:57,"So she's going to be, you know, doing her little apothecary thing in there. So I'm excited about that. Another woman I work with who does lip balms and hand balms and foot balms, and she's. Her. Her traffic is building up enough that she may need a larger scale for making those things. So there's lots of different ways that it can be put to work. So. Yeah, and I mean, I love that for a small town, because to your point, even if you aren't full of knowledge workers, like people, like, that's a great economic development tool, right?"
00:35:29,"That you have this space and so do you get to use your coaching? Like what? Do you have members who, what does that mean? Right. So that's. Yeah, so that says the big benefit. Well there are multiple benefits of being part of this rural ideas network that I talked about before. So they provided all my technology, so my membership management, my website, my event calendars, ticket sales, my blog, I mean everything you saw on my website, that's all provided by, that's on the WiX platform and they create, created the framework for it and they have about probably ten or twelve co working spaces that are using their."
00:36:06,"Yeah, so great website and it's fun. I subscribed to your newsletter and I was like, oh that, you know great. Yeah, the newsletter, I mean it's really powerful. Wow. What they can do, what they've created that you can do. So they have five of their own co working spaces, Dubuque and a few cities west of there. They're working with Chamber of Commerce in Carroll, Iowa. They're working with, I think the gentleman has an architecture firm in Illinois but he had space and he wanted to open a co working business there."
00:36:35,"So they worked with him. So yeah, so they put this all together through government grants for economic development. So they can put together a group of coaches, business coaches. And so I went through their certification program so my members qualified. That's of the amenities you see there. Many of them come through rural ideas network, including the coaching. The coaching is included in their memberships but the coaches are paid separately out of an economic development grant."
00:37:06,"So. So that's. Yeah, so we get compensated but the members don't have to pay more than their membership. Yeah. Why is she putting coaching doesn't. Yeah, I know, right about. That's super cool. Yeah, it's really cool. So it's not your grant specifically, it's their grant but they the deploy it through you. So do they. Who pays for the co working membership? So the members pay for their memberships and that revenue comes to me."
00:37:35,"Okay. Yeah, but they get the coaching as like a, like a bonus and so. Huh. Okay. And there's also peer learning events, there's webinars. We're doing an economic development. Yeah. Like right. We talk a lot about how you know that there are grants out there but the like and also sometimes the heavy lift on the programming to keep the like to utilize the grant is like a happy lift."
00:38:03,"So the fact that you get to do but obviously it's your time and you're at a place in life where you're happy, probably happy to do that. I love doing it. That's my favorite, my favorite, favorite part of this. I mean, just helping people, they get stuck. They don't know where to go to next. They just need the affirmation I'm doing the right thing and I'm gonna get there."
00:38:25,"And the accountability, the accountability is huge. So just to say I love working with people on their business plans. And so just saying, okay, in the next two weeks I'm gonna write the next two sections of my business plan and then we're gonna get together. But I know I have to have it ready because Maryann's gonna want to look at it. So, you know, and we know we should be able to do that on our own."
00:38:44,"But, but no, I am not. Billy. Yes, I have a coach. And the other day I was like, I don't know why I can't get this done by myself, but next Wednesday it's gonna be done for you. Yep. So are they mostly like kind of early state? Like, they're just, a lot of them are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got a couple of who are a little further and down their path."
00:39:02,"But yeah, it's mostly, mostly startups. And are they most very local or are they. So the people I work with through MySpace or local as a part of this larger network, I do conduct coaching on a remote basis. So I do get to meet people in other communities and help them with what they're doing. So. And it's also more reach for you. That's what I was when I was looking at your website."
00:39:24,"I'm like, this one's amazing. I wonder how she like, yeah, kind of gets your reach a little further than your 1000 locals. Right? Yeah. Well, and if you, if you look at the entire, you know, about 20 miles radius of the community, there's probably about 3000 households. So, you know, there's other areas to draw from. And we're in a fun situation too because we're on the Iowa side, we're close to the Minnesota border."
00:39:49,"And then of course, Wisconsin's just right across the river. So we actually can serve people in three different states. Oh, wow. And that's helpful too, because they, each state has their own economic development resources, but then finding one that can kind of COVID all the bases, it's a little different too. Oh, interesting. Okay. And you have a partner? Nope. Oh, well, in real, in life. Yes. I have a, I have a husband."
00:40:15,"Yes. Okay. Wait, and where, where did he, where did you meet him? Green Bay. Met in Iowa and Cedar Rapids. Cedar Rapids area. Yeah. We met at the firm, so we worked at the market research. So, yeah, he has a very different approach to retirement than I do. So, like, more retiring? More like, yeah, go out and fish and hang out, bowl on. We met with our financial advisor recently, and my husband was like, what's the soonest I could stop working?"
00:40:43,"And I was like, yeah, whatever he wants, it's fine. I'm going to work forever. Just put that in the numbers. Yeah, absolutely. No, I need things to do. And, yeah, this is like, well, as the other piece of having a business like this and the fitness center, you know, they're honor system businesses, so I don't have to be here from nine to five for the doors to. Oh, that's a great point."
00:41:04,"I didn't even like the logistical, people always want to, like, logistical questions about, yeah, okay, so you don't staff at full time? I don't staff at full time. And, and that, that's why I felt comfortable having a business like this. So I can. Yeah, you have way for. The husband wants you to go fishing with him for the day, right? Yeah, you can go. Yep. So I am not, I'm sure it would be fun to run a business like that, but that's not."
00:41:28,"That. That doesn't fit with my lifestyle. No, I love it. So, okay, so your members have, like, how do they get into the space when you're not there? So we have a, I think it's still a schlage. No, it's a yellow lock. We have a yellow lock. The old one was schlage. And this is, again, something else that rural ideas network helps you with. They recommended a specific technology that they've been using for a while, but they're always researching."
00:41:51,"They found something that was better. They recommended it. So I got it all installed and it's fantastic. I can give somebody calls and they're in town and they need to get in here for a day pass for the day. And I can't get here physically. I can create a code for them, you know, remotely on my. Yeah, and then, and then I can see when people come and go."
00:42:09,"I can, I have, you know, obviously I have cameras in here, so I can always take a peek in here and, you know, make sure something's not, you know, tables not flipped out or something. Yeah. So just peace of mind to know that things are going well. And I'm six, I live 6 miles away, so it's not. Yeah. And then you just said when you onboard a new member, you just set the expectation, like, look, sometimes I'm here."
00:42:31,"Sometimes I'm not. You come in, think, okay, who makes the coffee and how do you keep it clean? Keurig. Okay, perfect. So I have a nice little spinning rack of Keurig cups, and they make their way into the garbage when they're done, and they have to wipe the counters down. And sometimes there's a couple mugs in the sink and, you know, just. But no big deal, though. I mean, it's a small price to pay to take the garbage out and change the toilet paper."
00:42:59,"And, I mean, it's, you know, again, it's not like some of these. I love listening to people who are in the large operations and they're so beautiful and they're so cool, and there's so many dynamic things that are happening there, but then it's like, okay, but then I'd have to have employees. Right. Employees. And train them. Even using a curing takes a lot of complexity. Totally out of the equation."
00:43:23,"I mean, it is. Yes. I know it's not the sustainability favorite, but. Oh, I know. Yes. Well, you're a coffee shop on main street. Yep. There's one about block and a half away and. Beautiful place. And I would say, you know, and I've told the owners this, too. People talked for years about, Lancey needs a coffee shop. Lancey needs a coffee shop. And these two sisters opened this absolutely lovely place."
00:43:48,"The one sister does all the design and decor and planning. The other one is the chef and is a wonderful cook. And I don't. I honestly don't know if I would have done this if they hadn't opened their business here. I mean, their business kind of took everything up a couple steps in the community and on Main street, but that's one of the business district. Yeah, yeah. So I would absolutely say."
00:44:09,"And they're the ones who kind of drove the. The effort to create a women's business group in the community as well. So, yeah, they've had a huge impact on the community. I love supporting them, and, yeah, do some fun things together. Okay. Very cool. Okay. So what advice would you give someone who's thinking about, like, small town? Do you break? Like, do you break even? You're not losing money."
00:44:30,"I'm gonna be profitable this year, so, yes. All right. I mean, I'm, you know, not gonna go out, buy a yacht, but, yeah, but, yeah, I definitely, yeah, it definitely needs to be profitable. And closing this the last half of my third year, so I feel like I'm on the right track in terms of what's happening here. But advice that I would give people, I would say, you know, for me, it's about being active in the community, and it's about networking in person."
00:44:59,"You just. And again, I don't know if I hadn't had the fitness center before, if I would have done this either, just having the relationships that I was able to create in the community. I mean, I have, like, people who will be lifelong friends because of who I met in that fitness center. So, you know, that, that had a big, a big impact on my decision to go this route, too."
00:45:20,"But I. The best way to recruit people, you know, set up tours, whatever, it's. It's a lot of in person, which I, which I enjoy. I mean, that's part of why I did this, because I like meeting new people, and I love connecting people who share, you know, similar mindsets or have similar visions for something. I just, you know, I'll talk to somebody in six months later, I'll talk to somebody else, say, you need."
00:45:47,"You two need to get together and talk. Yeah. And that brings me more joy than anything else. So two people can come together and, you know, help each other's businesses or whatever it is they're trying to do, or simply just find enjoyment knowing one another. I love doing that. So. So this is really a venue to do that. But, yeah, the in person is huge, and the big challenge here is we don't have any dedicated media that I can turn to."
00:46:12,"If I do radio or newspaper, I'm covering, you know, quite a large territory and not really targeted specifically, not very efficient. Yeah. So, you know, so I try to do my best to be as active as I can on social media, and I try to, you know, encourage people to share what I'm, you know, what I'm sharing. But, yeah, it's. The in person is really big. The first person I met with when I decided to do this was the woman who runs our county economic development."
00:46:39,"I mean, I said, fail. I want to go to lunch. I have an idea. And I laid it all out. She's like, can I do to help? But now I know the entire county, she knows I'm doing this. She talks to everybody in the county. She's going to help spread the word, and I'm in alignment with what she does in terms of economic development and, you know, get, bringing new business to the community."
00:47:00,"So, yeah, she was the very first person that I talked to. So. So, yeah, just a lot of networking and getting to know people, getting to know about what's important to people and what makes them tick and then helping them grow that, if that's what's interesting to them, if that's something they want to do. So. So it's really fun. Is there anything that you've done that you would say, oh, I learned this and you should not do this."
00:47:24,"Hmm. I'm not big on regrets. If something doesn't go the way I hope, I just. You just roll through. Yeah. I mean, it's just not a good way to spend my energy. It's totally not change anything. No, you don't. Right. No room saving, no dwelling. Okay, good. But also, there's no big one. You own the building, sort of aligned with your goals. You knew a lot of people."
00:47:47,"Yeah. I think some of your to dos, if you could reverse them and say, right, you want to have those things in place and, you know, then the whole thing about creating content. So that's something I've tried to be a lot more mindful of this year, and I enjoy it. It's just hard to find the time to close the door and create something of good quality. So thank you for reading my blog."
00:48:10,"Totally. No, I, so, you know, this is for me being asked to appear on a podcast that I listened to. I was like, my gosh, this is awesome. So I love to listen to podcasts and. Yeah. Just to be a guest on one that I find value from. It's very cool. Yeah. Well, I appreciate, again, I'm glad I was kind of poking around and, you know, looking for, oh, who's this?"
00:48:35,"And where's Lansing? And. Yes, and then your story. Well, see, that's the thing. Your content posts, I think. And I was trying to find the original one that I came across and I couldn't find it, but should be there. So your content, like, you know, strict a chord now, I was like, we should talk to Maryann. This is really interesting. Well, and it's ironic, too, because I'd been talking to another woman who does marketing in another very small town called Cascade, Iowa."
00:49:00,"And she, I asked her to come, come up and talk about marketing to our women in business group. And how did I. Oh, she sent out a note to all of her followers asking people to submit. She's going to do, like, ask me anything episodes. Yeah. And she, so I asked a question about social media, and she said, well, why don't you. I'm gonna pick you to be on the podcast."
00:49:21,"And I haven't talked to you in a while. Let's catch up, blah, blah, blah. We got to talking, and she suggested tell your story. So you know, that was. Yeah. So that was kind of interesting, too. I told my story, and now I'm here to tell you something. Right. Well, my hypothesis is that there's a lot of folks who listen, who try to figure out, like, okay, is this something I can do?"
00:49:43,"Is this right for me? And just hearing other people's stories, like, oh, she did it. And she had this winding, like, how did she come to do this and how does it fit into her life? And your why? And so I think it's helpful to tell the stories. Okay, one last question. You joined our community manager program. What were you hoping to get out of it? Well, again, I created a co working business because I had been invigorated by being in co working spaces."
00:50:14,"And I thought that I would enjoy creating that same sort of experience for other people, as well as the, you know, the economic development impact and all of that. But, you know, I just read a lot. You know, I just got out online and, you know, just trying to connect with other people who had them. And then, of course, connecting with the rural ideas folks and their program was a huge piece of it."
00:50:35,"But I thought, you know, I, I don't have, like, a formal training and being a community manager, and I think I know what that involves, but I can always learn something new. And I did. I learned a lot. And, you know, there's some pieces that don't necessarily connect with what I'm doing here on the scale. But no, I'd say I just, you can always be better at what you do."
00:50:58,"And I definitely came up with some new things that I should be thinking about taking care of. And actually, I am talking to another organization that tried to open a co working space at Chamber of Commerce and still have a signed agreement. But I think I'm going to help them do some marketing and some programming and grow their business. So I thought that would also be helpful to say, hey, and I have the certification, right?"
00:51:22,"So I take this seriously. I'm not just someone who threw a shingle out there and said, hey, let's do color gaming. Yeah, very cool. But, yeah, I mean, I discovered your organization very early on and, you know, my research and listen to the podcast and read what I can. And my challenge is I want to sign up for everything, and then I don't have time to do it."
00:51:45,"So I finally saw the Runway to, you know, okay, I can carve out some time. I can watch these videos. I can take these quizzes. Yeah, I can do the work. So that just came to the point where that Runway was there, and it's time to do it. So. So I have a nifty little certificate that can hang by my desk that says, I'm a certified community manager, university graduate."
00:52:07,"Totally good. Well, thank you for sharing your story and taking the time to do this. I'm excited to make this one live. I think people will really enjoy it. And I enjoyed it, but we didn't get the part about how you went from Jessica. No, I know. Former communications. I'll save that. Yeah. Everything. Coworking. I know. Life is fascinating. Yes. But that's the other thing. I think. I just think people."
00:52:34,"It's like the. Yeah, it's life. It's like you can put the puzzle pieces together, maybe looking back, but you never know what's next. So. Yeah. And that's, to me, that's one of the most exciting parts of life. But I. But I don't. I enjoy change, and I know for some people, change is incredibly intimidating. So have you ever taken the enneagram? I did. I think, you know, three."
00:53:00,"Yeah. I can't remember. Yeah. I also don't look back, don't regret things, and enjoy change. Love it. My husband. No. So it's like I always have to be really aware of, like. Like, we're updating our kitchen, and he's all, like, emotional about the fact that we're changing the kitchen, and I'm like, let's move on, you know? I mean, just little things like that. Yeah, it's very. But it's."
00:53:26,"Yeah, I find it really helps with interactions. But it is funny how, anyway, personality, you have to plant. Plant the little seed and just let it jump in it and then kind of come back to it, say, yeah, exactly. You'll get there eventually. It's just a longer pattern. Yep. A longer journey. So, yeah, they do a nice job. So awesome. Okay. All right. Thank you, MaryAnn. Thank you for listening to today's episode."
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