383. How Roseline Joseph & Merlinn Jean Built a Wellness-Driven Executive Suite for Healthcare Practitioners
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TRANSCRIPTION
383. How Roseline Joseph & Merlinn Jean Built a Wellness-Driven Executive Suite for Healthcare Practitioners
00:00:00,"Welcome to the Everything Coworking podcast where every week I keep you updated on the latest trends and how to's 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. I have the two co founders of Holistic Executive Suites in Boynton Beach. Is that right? Florida? Yeah. Roseline and Berlin are here to share their story. They are actually sisters, which I had forgotten about. So they went through our coworking startup school. So I got to know Roseline really well. But they were kind of dividing and conquering. So I'm just kind of learning their their story from post launch and looking forward to catching up."
00:01:15,"So thank you two for joining us. It's dinner time for you guys. So the kids and the partners are fending for themselves tonight. Yes. Awesome. Okay. And for anybody watching on YouTube, Roseline's kids get to pick her hair color. It's blue. Super fun. Okay, so let's start. You have kind of a unique audience that you're serving. So tell us a little bit about your individual backgrounds and your coworking story."
00:01:46,"And coworking. Tell me how you describe it because maybe that's not the the right term for what you're doing, but tell us about your kind of professional backgrounds and how you decided one day that you needed to start this business together. Well, I'll start off. So my name is Merlinn. I am a board certified family nurse practitioner by trade. So I've been in the health field for over a decade."
00:02:10,"And how did you know we come apart? I never knew what coworking was. I only learned through Roseline, who has done, you know, multiple travels and just her background, who has been to different various coworking spaces. So I was trying to venture out on my own and I wanted to start from like a brick and mortar. I quickly realized that that was not feasible for me and I wanted to start my own practice."
00:02:35,"And so I found that it was very difficult to start from brick and mortar. It was very expensive. There was a lot of things that I didn't know business wise. And you know, my sister talked about it and she was like, well, you know, I kind of need a space. You need a space? Well, why don't we create a space for individuals like us? And so that kind of, you know, we kind of birthed it out of a need."
00:02:56,"Roseline, you want to share yours? Yep. So, like, like my sister mentioned, my name is Roseline. I'm a certified project manager and I've been in the healthcare operations field for closing on two decades. That was the point. And so with the work that I used to do in my corporate days, I traveled a lot. Pretty much every other week I was gone. And a lot of the times I like to work in coworking spaces."
00:03:22,"I like the environment, the community feel. And one of the things I appreciated was that, you know, just having the ability to go and kind of commune with others, but then also having a concentrated area. And the concepts were always very unique before we kind of saw the merger of some of the larger. The larger shared office spaces. And so when Marlene brought that idea, we kind of like just talked it through."
00:03:45,"We figured out the things that we liked. We, when we did our market research, we figured out not just with the niche that we are in, we call ourselves kind of like we are the first wellness coworking space here in Palm Beach County. And our focus was really on kind of not only meeting the needs for healthcare practitioners, and that could be a coach, acupuncturist, physicians or nurse practitioners, but also caring to the needs of that busy entrepreneur, the entrepreneur who appreciates fresh plants, who appreciates having meditation every now and then."
00:04:17,"And that just appreciates that there's not just a focus on the business, but there's a focus on the business owner. And that was really important for us in terms of creating a community that really was just holistic in nature in terms of thinking about the business, the person, and how the experience for their guests would be as well when they come into the space. Okay, so you have a few different ideal customer avatars because you're sort of serving your own individual needs in one location."
00:04:48,"Merlinn, did you start your private practice? I started it and then I kind of shifted and tabled it a little bit because I had to focus on growing the coworking space and to be able to add minds as a component as well. So I kind of table that and I'm still working and developing different things in the background before I bring it to light. Okay, got it."
00:05:13,"So how do you approach the business? Do you both work on it part time or full time? How do you. How are you managing the business? I would say this is definitely a full time endeavor, folks. Whoever's listening, you May think you're going to do it part time, you're going to side hustle. Yeah. You're going to find it very quickly. It's a full time thing. But I think we have a really good system."
00:05:36,"We kind of when we were doing this, we imagined what it would look like to, you know, if we were to scale or our exit strategy as well, whether that was together or individually. And so we have the a front house manager and a back house manager role and as well as a community coordinator, which I think you call it the community managers. Jamie. And then we alternate that role so that we're both invested in different parts."
00:05:59,"There's some weeks depending on, you know, what's going on in our personal lives, what's going on with the space or kind of some of the priorities where that may shift in terms of how we split that role or maybe we come together to share one of the roles. But I really think that helps us keep us grounded in terms of both of us knowing what's going on. And I think that's where there's definitely a benefit to partnership and having I think a good familial relationship as well where we can really, really know each other."
00:06:26,"So if I'm really stressed out or she's really stressed out, we can call each other out on that and kind of step in as needed. I don't know if Marlene wants anything to add anything. Yeah. And to add to that we also keep weekly meetings. So we do force ourselves to sit and talk about the needs of the business or what's priority for the week or where are our numbers look like or if there's anything outstanding."
00:06:48,"We take time and we do that twice out of the week. Okay, great. Definitely do okay. I love that Instead of keeping it casual like oh well we talk all the time, we know what's going on. You have your formal meetings and go through your numbers and expectations and I love it. So tell me more about. So I love. I remember when you were starting and I just did a quick Google search of your area and there is a lot of coworking executive suite in the area."
00:07:19,"Maybe it's because it looks like a great place to live, I have to say. But you decided to be a little bit unique. So tell me. So you talked a little bit about your who you're serving. How so on your website it has a like a list of acupuncturists, estheticians, functional medicine experts, kind of more like holistic health focused. How has that played out since you've opened and remind me, when did you open?"
00:07:44,"That went off. So we opened back in 2023 in the summer. That's when we had our first like full time members come on board. And then in terms of locally, we had a whole different name picked out. I think when we were going through your startup school, it was a whole different name picked out and different concept. And then we ran our proforma and then we had to come to Jesus talk with one another in one of your weekly meetings."
00:08:08,"Yeah, one of our weekly meetings. And kind of we recognized the need. And then our name also was going to be more coworking shifted. But coworking has actually grown a lot in the last year or so here just because of the migration of different areas of the country coming here. And so before everyone was really familiar with executive suites. No one understood when we started testing and doing surveys and such."
00:08:31,"No one knew what coworking was in terms of. And Merlinn's really good at. Okay, I don't understand this. Or would this person understand if I didn't talk to you? I wouldn't have known what this was. And so we went back to language. A lot of really keeping it simple. And so we kept holistic because we knew we would draw in certain crowds. And a lot of times people come in just because they're curious, like what is a holistic executive suite look like, what does it mean?"
00:08:57,"What type of community is that? And so we really focused on that. And then we also a lot of the research from the coworking association, we utilize that to really kind of test where do we want to be? Do we want to be in a more metropolitan downtown area or the growth that we were seeing in the suburbs? And that's where you're seeing them popping up now. And so where we were placed, we're literally what, less than two miles away from the local hospital."
00:09:23,"We're right literally a minute off of the major highway here in Florida in 95 where we are located in the county. Great community. The city of Waighton beach has been really supportive of us. Before we opened our doors all the way actually into today, they highlighted us. The economic development office highlighted us today and some of their publications and social media. So we really kind of were just forward thinking in terms of like where we wanted to be and being competitive with other spaces."
00:09:52,"And just the staying in our niche was really hard. I don't know if Marlene wants to talk about that a little bit, but like picking a niche is not like for the faint of heart because you say no to a lot of Opportunities. A hundred percent. Yep, you do. I guess I would just say we do have a unique niche. And when individuals do come in, we. We kind of explain."
00:10:17,"Explain the niche or we kind of explain what Holistic Executive Suites is about. It's not just any ordinary office space. And as Rosa mentioned before, we. We picked out our colors. Everything about our space is intentional. Right. Even our waiting room is intentional. The colors, the vibe, the music, it's intentional. And so we want to be able to serve individuals, not just your business, but holistically looking at you from different aspects all the way around."
00:10:46,"A total 360. And so when we explain that concept to people, they pretty much understand and understand who it belongs to. But not only are we looking for holistic individuals, it could be a bus, a busy business, professional. And they appreciate, like Rosin said, plants or colors or just that feeling like, I'm going to work, where am I stepping into? How do I feel for the day? And we just wanted people to actually feel that."
00:11:09,"We want you to be able to balance wellness and business while you're doing it. Yeah, I love that. And your brand, I mean, absolutely does that. We were even talking offline about, you know, the contrast on the book tour button and I was like, I totally get that you're. Your vibe is very zen like and we can't have a bright color there. It's very soothing, but so professional."
00:11:30,"And your space has so much great light and I love hearing what the things that you're highlighting about your space also show up in your Google reviews. People are talking about the location and the zen like vibe and the hospitality when they come in and so many positive things about how they feel about the space. I'm interrupting for a second. Are you working on starting a coworking space?"
00:11:55,"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. If you think you are going to pick your favorite coworking 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."
00:12:29,"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. 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 coworking business."
00:13:06,"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. 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 everything coworking.com"
00:13:37,"forward/masterclass. So tell us about your membership base. Is it who you expected? Well, I think when we initially started off like Rosin was saying, it was very hard. The niche that we wanted or ideal client, a lot of times we weren't hitting those exact individuals or we would hit a few of them. Currently right now in the space I think we have I'd say over like 75% ideally of our ideal clients."
00:14:05,"And then also they have, our area has to be zoned for pretty much the ideal client that we're looking for. So that kind of helps weed out certain individuals I believe as well. So I think 75% our ideal client, the individuals that we thought would be in the space at the very beginning because people didn't understand and it was just executive, we had a couple that totally did not match the concept."
00:14:26,"And so, you know, easily we would be able to weed them out or you know, they wouldn't, you know, finish or follow through and join as a member. Roseline, I don't know if you want to add anything. Yeah, I think one of the things for us was like identifying and explaining our concept even for us was a challenge at first because we knew immediately who we were serving."
00:14:47,"I think we are the perfect avatars in terms of that wellness medical practitioner as well as the business professional. And so one of the things that we do is we actually just talk to people. So we have a lot of people who don't necessarily join our community, but they become part of our community because they have, they want to have their meetings here, they want to do a pop up here, they want to do a class here for our members because we really have conversations to help understand their business model, what's their workflow, their process."
00:15:16,"Because we want to really make sure it's a fit. Like for example, we don't have an admin here or front desk receptionist. And so they've got to be comfortable with technology. Their guests have to be comfortable with technology because there's not gonna necessarily be someone here for them. And for our members that are here, they love it, right? Because they're like, oh, this is awesome. I get a text message and I get an email and they come right up and they have like the privacy in place where they don't necessarily wanna bring them in right away."
00:15:45,"They can do that. And so finding people who appreciate those things at different price points. In terms of our membership, it's really hard to hold out sometimes for those folks to come by, but I think it's definitely been worth it. As we build community, some people are still with us. Some people have, you know, kind of evolved and grown or, you know, the alignment wasn't right, but that's great."
00:16:07,"I think it's amazing that we still have great relationship and dynamic with those individuals. And so we still have the community piece, which. Which is really important to, I think, our niche. Yeah, yeah. When you get into the business, I mean, it's so dynamic, right. People's lives change and people come in and out and you want to build a community, but that community is constantly sort of evolving and flowing."
00:16:29,"And so it's like getting used to that dynamic can be really interesting. So when you say like 75% ideal client, is it practitioners? Is it people who are practicing and kind of utilize the uniqueness of your space? Yes. So there'll be therapists, counselors, health coaches, nurse practitioners as well. Midwife. Midwife, yeah, midwife. A lot of postpartum, I think a lot of. So it is, it is. It's a."
00:16:59,"It's still the same niche. It's just things that we didn't know that exist specialties. We also live that apart as. As we were growing as well, you know. So how did they find you? Because, Merlinn, you mentioned when you were thinking about private practice, you immediately thought, well, I have to get my own space. Do these folks know that this is an option? Like, are they aware of the solution or how do they typically find you?"
00:17:26,"A lot of individuals who have come in either. Google word of mouth is another great example. Some people just typically walk in. Anything else I'm missing? Rosin. So Facebook marketplace. Because we were kind of like getting nervous right in the beginning. We were like, what is going on? Does nobody as one does. Where is everyone? Where everyone? We built it. Where are they coming? So, you know, as a lesson learned, like Marlene speaks on this heavily, so I'll let her get into it."
00:17:53,"But marketing was a big, big, big, big, big, big lesson learning and learning curve because we really, we understood that we reached out to people. You know, Marlene's part of certain medical groups and things. We just didn't realize how often people have to see you. They have to begin building that trust with you. We had somebody call like a couple of weeks ago. She's like, are you guys still there?"
00:18:15,"And I'm like, yeah, where would we go? And she's like, well, you know, I was thinking about moving and I just want to make sure you guys are still there, you know, because some businesses, most businesses don't go through the first year. Business is hard. Exactly. Yes. And so like we have like the, some of these practices that are moved, that have moved here. They think about the longevity of kind of their practice and are you going to be stable?"
00:18:39,"Are you consistent in terms of services, in terms of being open? You know, we've had a couple people come by. It's either, I think it's a quick turnaround time in terms of the sale. Like they come in, it looks like the pictures, I'm sold, I'm good. And then other times it takes about four to six weeks really to get them from like their initial contact all the way to that they've been onboard and they've done their orientation and they've paid their move in fees."
00:19:04,"And so for us, it's really about nurturing relationships. Google has been really good, I will say we'll give a nod to spacefully. They're amazing. They came in, we brought them in last year and I think within the first month they paid for themselves, which is great. So that's interesting. Not to interrupt you, but I talk with Ruben fairly often and he's working with another niche space. I mean, he gets niche spaces."
00:19:31,"Right. Because a lot of people now who are doing coworking, right, they've seen more traditional sort of generic spaces and they say, well, I want to do it for this group and marketing these spaces is hard. So I know, you know, he, he, he's so invested in people's success, but I think, you know, he's learning too and, and trying to figure out how to make it work."
00:19:53,"But it's interesting because you show up for coworking. I mean, you show up for sort of the broader. But it is, it's fun to kind of watch, you know, the challenge of, of serving people with niche spaces and, and how do you help people find you who are the, the right fit? Yeah. And we almost forgot Berlin, the holistic business network too. We got, we got to receive some referrals from there as well."
00:20:15,"True. They are joining different Communities as well. That also, that also helps. So we actually joined the holistic business network because that's where our niche of type of individuals. Interesting. Get some potential members there and also to continue to build community and just build awareness. Awareness is very important. Networking. Networking is extremely important. And just making sure, you know, you create that, that, that budget for marketing, you know, because marketing is a beast in itself."
00:20:47,"And I say it over and over again, there's so many ways to market and it just keeps going and marketing does not go away. It's like forever. So just, you know, as people open up, just know that it doesn't go away. It's something that, hey, just put that money to the side for every month. It's, it's a revolving door. Definitely. Yeah, 100%. So Ruben's been able to, to help you attract ideal clients through ads."
00:21:16,"Are you still running ads? Yes, we are. Okay. And we probably will continue to just to keep, keep us up there and we're kind of relevant in that space as well. So. Yeah. And you're still relatively new and in a pretty competitive market. I mean there you have a niche, which is awesome, but and there is also a lot of supply of other types of workspaces. And I love that you did the research and landed on executive suites because that's what people knew at the time."
00:21:44,"So, you know, good for you if that wasn't like what you were leaning towards or drawn to. But you're like, well back to the marketing, right. You have to have like the product market fit. It sounds like one of your other surprises is ads are kind of easy. You have to pay for them, but somebody else does them. You two both have kids and Merlinn, you have a 13 month old."
00:22:06,"And so I'm sure networking and doing some of these extra things can be challenging. But to your point, it's good to be consistent and realize like because you have a, do have a niche, the word of mouth is probably even more important. So it's interesting that you're having success with both like the ads and also the word of mouth because you're so specific, like you're really for someone."
00:22:28,"So if somebody's there who understands the value of the solution, then they'll tell other people about it, which is great. That doesn't happen like necessarily with general coworking, you know, people don't have a reason to talk about it. Yeah, it's definitely, definitely interesting. And one of the things I think I really respect marketing folks at this point in my life, like I will give them all of my dollars."
00:22:51,"But when we were, we didn't realize the value of building community prior to launching. It would have saved us so much of a headache to build the community and do that. Some of that and marketing is different ways. Like there's like a local market that meets our customer, avatars all over the place doing some of those things. Things that are a little bit different. Like Marlene said, networking, being visible, getting creative, going to where the healthcare providers already exist, making relationships."
00:23:22,"Like there's one therapist who shares our things on a regular basis. She kind of has like a nice email list. And so we utilize her. You know, hey, there's a special coming up. And so she'll email that to her group. You know, she doesn't respond to us, but she will send it out. Because I have some friends who say, hey, I saw your space in the email blast."
00:23:40,"And so things like that, it's like. Cause it's not just about like joining some of those communities, it's how you engage with them. Because sometimes we just don't have the time to spend going to a lot of networking events. So we became very intentional about how we spent our time or if we couldn't attend, we supported in ways that we could. And really ensuring that, like we're out here in the community, but we're also not overwhelming ourselves."
00:24:07,"And yes, pay for the services. I think sometimes we're attracted to barter arrangements. Some work great and others there's just opportunities or just misalignment in terms of expectations. And so if that's something you're considering, just be very cautious about what that looks like and making it just very clear on what both parties gain, because both parties should gain something and then just hold each other accountable. And if it doesn't work, just go your separate way."
00:24:36,"So you end things on a good note is something that we've just learned earlier on. And it's. It's easier just to pay the professionals to kind of do what they do. And it works. Sometimes it's hard for business owners. We have lots of chronic DIYers out there. I can definitely be one of those people sometimes. Juicy North America, a co Working conference is coming up April 7th through 10th in Boston."
00:25:00,"It's at the Track and New Balance. It's a great venue, but even better than the venue. The content and the people and the conversations and the connections and the insights and the perspective, nothing replaces taking a couple days out from your business, getting out of town and really immersing yourself into the business that you're in or working on being in that you love and getting to do tours and just connect with people that you've seen on Zoom but never seen in person."
00:25:32,"I might be one of those people. I'm definitely going to be there. I haven't missed one in 10 years and I would love to see you there. We have a special discount code for you. Thank you to the Juicy team. It is in the show notes, so grab the show notes on your phone or on the website and the URL to get all the details and register is in the same spot."
00:25:53,"I'd love to see you there. Okay. I want to go back to your Facebook Marketplace nugget. Did you post your space on Facebook Marketplace? Yes, we did. Yeah. There as well. Interesting. Okay. And it's. It's people who spend there too. Remember, it's like a higher. The different age demographic. Our ads were going nowhere on Facebook. In Facebook Marketplace, y. We were getting like two to three tours a week and we were like, what?"
00:26:19,"And those were for the ones we were saying, yes, we can do that. But there were tons that Merlinn. I would say we were like, we're not zoned for that. We're not zoned for that. We're not zoned for that. Okay. Huh. Yeah. So social media wasn't really our. Where we got a lot of our people through, as some. Some people think you're spending so much time on social media trying to post here, trying to post there."
00:26:41,"And so we had to like, kind of come back to the drawing table and focus and hone in. Okay, where are we getting the individuals, making sure we're asking them when they come to the door and then shift our focus on where we need to really spend the time and the money. Not saying, you know, we still have to keep our presence. Because a lot of times, like, for me, even if I'm going out of town, I'm going somewhere."
00:27:02,"I do look at Facebook, you know, I mean, like Instagram as well, just to see. I'm a visual person, aesthetically pleasing type of person. I want to see and I want to see what comments are. So I'm sure there are other people who do that. So you still have to kind of keep up the social media and aspect of that and then also figure out where is where your actual tour is coming from and getting people into the door to join."
00:27:26,"Yeah. I love how data driven you guys are. You're like, well, we thought this, but we did some research or we tried this. You know, the numbers, or we asked people and here's how they said they were finding us. It's so important. It can be hard to do, though. You know, we have all of our own biases and assumptions about how things work. So you guys sound like you're just trying to be really thoughtful and intentional and pivot."
00:27:50,"Not to overuse that cliche, but when you need to kind of change how you're approaching something, what do your members love most about your space? You want to take that one, Roseline? I think the community like the environment. It's really looks like the pictures online. It really does. That's the first thing we always get. And then two, I think they just feel at peace when they come here."
00:28:11,"Right. The air really. I think live plants are amazing. The air feels different. We include a lot in our space. We don't package everything on. So our price point is just pretty inclusive. And they really serve to like a concierge type practice. And so, as Marlene mentioned, we have. Our lobby is very intimate on purpose. It's intentional. Like, you should be charging at a price point where your guests aren't waiting for so long and they appreciate that there's water."
00:28:38,"There's things there that they can. They can look at. But when they walk into the space, the colors were intentional. They appeal to men and women. We even looked at scent marketing, too. So there are only certain scents that we use in the space because they invoke certain feelings and emotions and they keep you calm and serene, and you feel like you're in a luxurious. Like, it was a lot of research, but you feel a certain way when you come here."
00:29:01,"And I think for a lot of people, they come in, they'll come in. I've seen people come in. They just go back into the break room and they just have, like, some tea. We always have snacks for folks. Fresh fruit juices. Things are in there. We got acai bowls. They'll grab and they. They eat that and then they leave. So that's so funny. Yeah, they just. They look at peace."
00:29:23,"We have a restoration room as well that I think a lot of people enjoy. And then the activities that we do, the businesses need to thrive and do well. And so every month we have open coworking, which is really. It's open to the public, that we charge for the public, but it's open to our members for free. Any events that we have here, it's either free or discounted for our members."
00:29:44,"But we focus on a different business topic. We work very closely with the cities. If there's a grant available, is there a feature available, and we bring that to them as soon as possible to say, hey, this is something to benefit. Because I think we want to support them as much as possible because the better they do, the more stable we are and we can grow with them."
00:30:01,"And so that's been a very important piece of it as well. So I think they feel very supported while they're here. Yeah, I love it. I was just looking at your list of amenities on the. On your. On your page, and it's extensive. Yeah. Yep. And all of your natural light. I think natural light is so compelling for people when they're looking for a workspace. It's so important."
00:30:24,"Okay. You've mentioned, you know, a couple of these, but biggest surprises since you have opened marketing, for sure. I think that's the one that probably liked was more. That just was like, yeah, here I am. I think it was marketing. Yeah. And, you know. Oh, sorry. No, I'm saying marketing, it definitely taught us, even as, you know, entrepreneurs, I think we realize the importance of marketing for your business."
00:30:56,"And just, I think also just the community aspect part, and I think, as Rosin mentioned, growing that community base before can make it easier. Also makes you more visible and everybody knows you're around, and it's like an anticipation. When are they opening? When are they opening? And they know that you're there. So I think those are the two biggest surprises I think we had. Yeah. Anything you change about the actual space, like the physical layout."
00:31:24,"Yeah. One thing we may have done before, like, we. We did this, we brought in a cons, a physician consultant, so we could understand the business model and how our target, you know, market makes money. And so there were some great nuggets that we got from there. So maybe how we would pivot and shift and I think towards our business model. What do you say? Maybe owning the building or."
00:31:50,"There you go. Next time. Next. Yeah. Yeah. Was it Bank United who had small business women? We were up for a pitch competition, and one of the judges pulled us afterwards and she actually told us, the next time ladies own your building. And that's when we started thinking about it. And we're like, wow. And then we started. It started developing, and people were saying it, and we're like, okay, maybe that's because we did."
00:32:16,"Yeah, yeah. That was the biggest thing that she said. Yeah, yeah. Well, now you know, and it's not. Yes. It's good to find out if it's approachable in your market. I live in the Bay Area. Not happening in Florida is getting more and more expensive. All the time. So you might want to look into it soon. Yeah, we recognize that. We definitely spoke to someone a few weeks ago and we were hearing how much per square footage."
00:32:42,"So definitely on our phase two. So we've already started to try to figure out a plan and so forth. And we're, we're hearing that the square footage is going up. The good news, and I won't spend too much time on this, but it's easier to find real estate investors who want to be part of the real estate company. So you could make, you know, that be a separate entity and then operate your business out of that."
00:33:06,"But you have equity in the building and maybe you weren't the only owners, but you're part owners. And then you still lease the space because you're leasing it from yourselves essentially, and other investors. So that may be one way to approach it. If you can't do it, you know, just the two of you, lots of people do it that way because real estate is so investable coworking spaces, less investable just because they're, you know, operating businesses."
00:33:30,"Also good news is that you have a product that, that you were really intentional about, matches what your ideal client wants, because that's really hard to fix. You can pay people to do your marketing and you can learn marketing. I mean, you're. I think the lessons that you're learning, some, some of them you just have to live through. Right. And you just have to discover these things on your own, but you can't change your product."
00:33:54,"So doing the work up front to really understand that and the fact that you're, you know, happy with that and that it's a fit with what your market wants, then you just have to match the two together. So that's what you're working on and you're doing all the right things there. So I love that. What do you each love most about the business, Merlinn? I think one, the flexibility of it."
00:34:16,"Just being able to come in and out. It is kind of taxing after a day's work and just family. But just knowing that you have this is a goal. Every day you have a goal. Everything you you did, you have something that you're waking up to and that you know you're working towards. I think for me it's just the goal. Building community, learning about different people, different businesses that you know are out there that you may have not known."
00:34:41,"I think that's something that I love just being in it and just learning as a person, as a business person. Like I personally never foresaw Me owning or being part of a business. And so for me it's just like, ha. And even just thinking of other, you know, plethora of other business ideas that could be developed from this. So I'm learning as well the business idea. More business ideas are percolating."
00:35:03,"That's what I would say. My part. Roselyn, what do you love most? Definitely the community. And I really like the business development aspect of learning about these different niches and different types of entrepreneurs and businesses. And so like, you know, it's led to us even we do some training and workshops now for business development because one of the things, yeah, we, we don't do that normally here, but we recognized it was a big gap for certain membership tiers that we have."
00:35:33,"And just it also is a good lead in for us because as we do these workshops, a lot of these people end up becoming, you know, some of our part time members or virtual memberships as well. And so we do these workshops just of like how to open, you know, a business in general and then ideate with them some of their workflow processes. Merlinn's consulted a couple times as well on just some of the wellness practitioners and just talking through what does it look like, workflow and all that."
00:36:00,"And so being able to support them on that side. I really love ideating a lot with some of our members here. And so we can pull them aside or they'll pull us aside and say, hey, I have a quick question. Which usually turns into a long session, but it is nice to have that community because when you're sitting at home and you're kind of looking at the wall and you're like, where are the people going to come from?"
00:36:20,"Can this really happen? Being in a space where you knew that, you know, it was birthed from a vision, it was created for you to be a part of this community. And then you see other business owners in there, you see them with their guests, and it kind of builds the anticipation and kind of helps some of our members get motivated in terms of growing their businesses. And so that really kind of brings us full circle in terms of the mission that we have."
00:36:44,"Because we're doing it intentionally. They get to do it intentionally, but also in a space where someone's reminding them to check in on themselves as well. And the confidence too. Yeah, I know. I was just thinking as you were talking the. I was listening to a podcast recently, Andrew Huberman. I don't know if you guys know who he is, but he, he had a guest on and they were talking about Loneliness."
00:37:11,"And they always go back to some sort of like, you know, evolutionary like how are we wired? And, and they were basically saying like we're not actually wired to solve a loneliness problem because you know, back in the day we had like our, you know, villages, our tribes, like you had people who were very, very close to you and you all depended on each other day and night for food and safety and shelter."
00:37:34,"And so like the early version of us was not wired to need people for motivation, for connection, for confidence. Like all the things you're talking about, like that just was not a thing. We were wired to go like hunt and gather and you know, some of those other things. And so today we've got this like loneliness epidemic. So I was thinking about that and thinking about the things you talk about like these intangible benefits of being in a professional space."
00:38:00,"It's like so hard to communicate to people and so hard to like help them understand if they don't just try it, you know, how life changing that can be. So I think in some regards if people need a space like you're a practitioner and you can't see clients in your living room, then that benefits you. But as an industry it's, it's still challenging to market to people who don't need the space because you know, it's such a, like an intangible benefit sometimes, you know, to get out of your house, to be in community, to come into a beautiful space with great light and plants, like, you know, you can talk somebody into it but to get them to act on that is harder than we think it would be."
00:38:44,"So yeah, it's interesting. It's. Yeah, it's a good like intellectual, intellectual challenge. 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 coworking space operators to create their own training and development material to support their community managers."
00:39:19,"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 and we find that's one of the biggest values we have."
00:39:53,"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. So I'm in the group."
00:40:15,"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, etc."
00:40:42,"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 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 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."
00:41:14,"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. 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."
00:41:50,"We have the training on the full coworking sales funnel so they understand what that looks like. We 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 coworking 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."
00:42:27,"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."
00:42:58,"You can learn more and register at everything coworking.com forward/community manager. Now back to our episode. What made you decide to join the startup school? You. Were you a podcast listener? Yes, I'm a big podcaster. But for us it was the expertise, I think. Was it. I can't remember what really said. She was like, I don't. There's no one, there's no one else out there who understands coworking."
00:43:30,"So you kind of have to be where everybody kind of understands the lingo. And I think, you know, the course was the only one and I think, Jamie, you're the only one out there that's literally doing this. And you know, kudos, you know, because without you, I don't know how a lot of these operators, you know, would have survived. Like just the tips, just knowing, just being amongst the community that understands, that, speaks your language."
00:43:55,"So everything I know when you guys said it's scary, it's scary to pick a niche. I hear you. Yeah, there were a couple other niches I think, in the cohort that we were in. So we check in with them periodically as well. But even when with doing your course, from an operations standpoint, like doing the pro forma, going through that exercise, some of the documentation that we needed to help get us our doors open, like that was the, like we did the pro forma, that was a deciding factor between us going here in another space."
00:44:29,"The other space, it was at a CRA district which if you're not familiar with, it's a community redevelopment area. And usually you get like grants and things. But when we did the pro forma, even with us getting the, the renovation monies and everything, it just didn't make sense financially for us to move forward with it. So doing the work is worth it. And then I think being able to do it in micro lessons because we were both busy professionals doing this on the side to open, you know, we had to still keep doing our other things to help get the funding to get this started for us."
00:45:03,"It was really helpful and it was just time saving like it was. I think we saved by going through the course versus spending and you gotta really look at that. Cause we save time and effort. Cause we would have paid, I don't know how many people to do all of that work. But by taking the course, we cut down on time and effort and energy. Yeah, yeah. In a space that would have been the wrong product for you."
00:45:28,"Yes, it was. It would have been Beautiful. But we would have been at the five year mark crying because we would have just broke even, probably. Yeah, I know those decisions are hard to make. Well, kudos to you because I think one of the challenges for my business is that people are overconfident and think, I can figure this out. So they don't, you know, do the work or they don't want to know."
00:45:50,"They find the space that they love and they don't really want to do the work to make sure it's right. They just wanted to be right. So I love that you two did the work and it's, it's clearly paying off. Okay, any other parting advice? If somebody was in your shoes and was getting started, any other pieces of wisdom that you would impart besides, besides start marketing early."
00:46:13,"I would say get involved with the city where you're going to be located. Understand what's coming down. We had to pivot pretty early because it was, you know, there was that shift and everybody was afraid of us going into recession. So we were like, oh, great, we're offering very, like a niche and a very like higher end price point. It was still within the market in terms of pricing, but it was on the higher end and we were initiating it."
00:46:39,"So. And then everyone was like, oh, we're going into recession. And so we're like, it's not going to affect us. It's not going to affect us. It's affecting us, it's affecting us. And so I think by doing and working with the local city, it helped us in terms of understanding what was coming down, what businesses, where they were advertising. So we could kind of piggyback off of their ads."
00:46:59,"Because then Boynton beach was coming up as a place to live, as a place that was affordable for families. And then people had to think about, you know, where they wanted their businesses. And so I think that's very important to me. Like, the numbers are very important. Understanding where you're going to be. It can't just be about it being pretty because you could be here seeing pretty by yourself."
00:47:17,"And so that's not fun because you're kind of like, okay, no more hard work. There's no hard tours today. They'll come next week. No. And so earlier on that, you know the numbers and the more consistent you are with looking at those. Like, I don't like our weekly meetings twice a week. Raleen is very religious about those meetings. Yeah, we had a conversation, but I didn't really count."
00:47:40,"We didn't go through all the agenda items. So we need to have a meeting. Are we coming over at 6? Again? She's my sister, so it's a little bit different. She's like, I know that you're free. I can see, you know, on your ring that you're at home. So I'll stop by. You can have a. I can't see your location right now. I know what you're doing, so it's very important."
00:47:57,"I think just being honest with yourself up front and collaboration with your cities, the groups that you join, it will propel you faster than you kind of doing it on, like you said, by yourself, because you don't want to know. I'll add to what Roseline said, besides the marketing, you know, having a community ahead of time and being involved in your community. Also, your business plan is so important."
00:48:27,"And I don't know how many different. Despite you having that business plan, it can shift, it can move. If you get stuck in your business, go back to your business plan. I say that your business plan is your bible. That is your bible. And if you need to go back for some inspiration or you're stuck, go back to those numbers. Go back to what you said, Go back to your goal, go back, revisit your mission."
00:48:50,"Definitely your business plan is a number one. And I'm glad that we had that built in as well as part of the entire thing. It's kind of like your North Star. It's easy as entrepreneurs to get discouraged or distracted. It's like, no, what are we? What are we here for? What are we? What did we say we were going to do? And how did we say we were going to do it?"
00:49:12,"Okay, I have a really quick tactical question. You don't have pricing on your website. Is that because your offerings are kind of unique and you need to walk people through it or tell me about that? Yes. So we used to have pricing on our website. If someone calls, we're very transparent, but we have to understand their business model. We kind of help slot them. And that's what it comes down to."
00:49:33,"Because when you put the price on the website, people don't understand. Sometimes, especially with our space, we include like utilities. If they're a medical practitioner, they're thinking, okay, I gotta have access to sink and water. And we have a medical lab, like the pass through area. And so they're thinking like, okay, on top of whatever fees on their website, I'm gonna have to pay for Internet. Like, we have fiber printing is included."
00:49:56,"So we want to make sure that they understand that fully. Some people don't have the time to come in, they call. We have more detailed, like, picture list and amenities, but that's really so that we can help them understand how we're structured, and we can understand them, too. And we refer out. We don't. If we realize quickly that it's not within their budget, it's not going to happen, or we don't have the availability."
00:50:17,"You know, we have some partnerships with a couple other shared spaces here locally that we will refer out. They called us the other day like, hey, we ran out of your flyers. Can you bring some more? And so that has been really helpful as well, because sometimes we act as referral partners, you know, and I think it's just kind of building community, but we don't feel the need to kind of do that."
00:50:40,"They call us if they. If they want another price, and we explain, okay, you know, get more details and we'll give them the price at that point. And Merlinn, would you agree, like, if we break it down, the daily price is what a lot of people care about too. I think that's more. And we found that that was more appealing to, like, how they think about, huh? Yeah, it was."
00:51:00,"It was weird. And so because, you know, sometimes you would put the number, it looked big to them. Right. And they don't know, like Roseline said, what's included in that price. They may think there's things in addition that they have to pay, like, oh, no. And then when you broke it down daily, it was more appealing. Like, you would probably get more calls or inquiries, and then, you know, you would further explain to them, hey, this is what's included, etc."
00:51:23,"So, but if they call, you know, we are very bad. And when they come in for a tour, it also, you know, they. They'll see what they're getting for the price and the different rooms, the different areas, you know, window versus no, sink, sink. So it. It's all included in that as well. Got it. Makes sense. Just had to ask. Okay, I'm gonna let you two get back to your families."
00:51:47,"Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story, especially because you have such a unique model. I mean, Roseline, as you said, we have folks come through who do all sorts of different things. It's so helpful for people, you know, since you're a podcast listener. Yes. These are like, fan favorites because they love getting the behind the scenes on somebody else's model and things that work and aren't working."
00:52:07,"And so without people like you, we wouldn't have these types of episodes. So thank you for taking the time to do this and congratulations. Thank you so much, Jamie. And thank you for like your, your contribution. You may not recognize it, but we go back to all of our worksheets. We were one of the ones who downloaded everything so they helped us when we were developing SOPs and things like that."
00:52:28,"So thank you. Awesome. Very grateful. We're very grateful, Jamie, for everything. Coworking in the community that you built and also that course most definitely gave us a guide and a light and you know, we just look forward to the journey and what's ahead. So thank you guys. Thank you. 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."
00:52:54,"If you'd like to learn more about our education and coaching programs, head over to everythingcoworking.com we'll see you next week."
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