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Praise for Working in the UnOffice
“The Lonely Planet of coworking guidebooks.”
!"#$%"&%'(")%*!
“A new overview on coworking and where it’s headed...”
!"!"#$%&'()"*+"
“Coworking is a growing movement...It now has a guide.”
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“The newest book to arrive on the coworking scene...”
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“Part anecdotal narrative, part practical, how-to guidebook, this book has amassed tips and the shared wisdom of coworkers on making the most of a collaborative environment to spark ideas and enhance productivity.”
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Working in the
UnOffice
A Guide to Coworking for Indie Workers, Small Businesses,
and Nonprofits
!"#"$%"$"&'(&)"!*+,-#&-#.&/#.0"1&2(&3-#4&
Night Owls Press
Copyright © 2011 by Genevieve V. DeGuzman and Andrew I. Tang. First Edition August 2011. All rights reserved worldwide. Printed and designed in the United States of America.
Published by Night Owls Press LLC, San Francisco, CA, 94119, U.S.A., www.nightowlspress.com.
Cover and book design: Michael Kostuchenko Practice good karma! No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without the written permission of the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review. You can reach Night Owls Press at [email protected]. Much of this publication is based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence shared by the participants interviewed. Where statistical data or facts are cited, the authors have made every reasonable attempt to achieve complete accuracy of the content and to reference sources in the endnotes. Readers should use the recommendations and advice cited in the book as they see fit and at their own risk. Readers’ particular situations may not be exactly suited to the examples illustrated here; they should adjust their use of the information and recommendations, accordingly. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference and editorial purposes. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: DeGuzman, Genevieve V. and Tang, Andrew I. Working in the UnOffice – A guide to coworking for indie workers, small businesses, and nonprofits/ Genevieve V. DeGuzman, Andrew I. Tang p. cm. Paperback ISBN-13: 9781937645014 E-book ISBN-13: 9781937645007 2011937204
To the freelancers, small businesses, and organizations around the world that continue to inspire us with their entrepreneurial zeal and creative visions.
Contents
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Proof of Impact:
Small Businesses and Organizations Interviewed
Reesa Abrams, TechCycle3, Santa Cruz, CA - NextSpace member
Suzanne Akin, Akinz, Fort Collins, CO - Cohere former member
James Archer, Forty Agency, Chandler, AZ - Gangplank member
Jason Barnett, The UpTake, St. Paul, MN - CoCo member
Jason Beatty, 9BitLabs LLC, Santa Cruz, CA - NextSpace member
Johnny Bilotta, GUIwerks LLC, Philadelphia, PA - IndyHall member
Jon Buda, One Design Company, Chicago, IL - COOP former member
Betsy Burroughs, Focus Catalyst, San Francisco, CA - The Hub member
PJ Christie, Grow Your Base, Austin, TX - Cospace member
Joey Coleman, Design Symphony, Washington, D.C. - Affinity Lab member
Grant Cupps, DGC Interactive, Chicago, IL - COOP member
Kyle de Haas, FranNet of Central Texas, Austin, TX - Cospace member
Chase Granberry, Authority Labs, Chandler, AZ - Gangplank member
Lisa Gray, LDG Associates, San Francisco, CA - NextSpace member
Anthony Grieder, Alloy Design, Inc., Erie, CO - Boulder Digital Arts member
Phil Hughes, Clustered Systems, Santa Clara, CA - TechShop member
Annie Lin, Brave Noise Legal, San Francisco, CA - NextSpace member
Adam Lindsay, Next Feature, Rochester, NY - Coworking Rochester member
Lisa S. Malul, Action Alliance for Children, Berkeley, CA - The Hub member
Mike Muldoon, Infrno.net, Santa Cruz, CA - NextSpace member
Douglas Naegele, Infield Health, Washington, D.C - Affinity Lab member
Kelani Nichole, Content Distillery, Philadelphia, PA - IndyHall member
Judi Oyama, Maximum Impact Design, Santa Cruz, CA - NextSpace member
Alan Pinstein, Neybor, Atlanta, GA - Ignition Alley member
Kevin Purdy, Freelance Writer, Rochester, NY - Coworking Rochester member
Jason Richelson, ShopKeep, New York, NY - Hive at 55 former member
Greg Roth, The Percy Group, Arlington, VA - Affinity Lab member
Kevin Scott, Scott Labs, LLC, Austin, TX - Conjunctured former member
Anna Thomas, Loosecubes, Brooklyn, NY - New Work City former member
Greg Tindale, Tindale Team, Washington, D.C. - Affinity Lab member
Lisa Van Damme, Performance Impact, Boulder, CO - Boulder Digital Arts member
Parker Whitney, FlyClops, Philadelphia, PA - IndyHall member
Greg Wilder, Orpheus Media Research, Brooklyn, NY - IndyHall former member
Movers and Shakers:
Coworking Spaces Interviewed
Peter Chee, Founder and Kristin Eide, Community Manager - ThinkSpace,
Redmond, WA
Kyle Coolbroth, Co-Founder - CoCo, Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN
Brian DiFeo, Community Manager - Hive at 55, New York, NY
Kirtus Dixon, Co-Founder and Sarah Cox, Operations Manager - Cospace, Austin, TX
Tim Dorr, Co-Founder - Ignition Alley, Atlanta, GA
Paul Evers, President and Creative Director - TBD Loft, Bend, OR
Jim Graham, Co-Founder - Satellite Telework Centers, Felton, CA
Felena Hanson, Founder - Hera Hub, San Diego, CA
Mark Hatch, CEO - TechShop, Menlo Park, CA
Alex Hillman, Co-Founder - Independents Hall (Indy Hall), Philadelphia, PA
Angel Kwiatkowski, Founder - Cohere, Fort Collins, CO
Shelly Leonard, Community Manager - Conjunctured, Austin, TX
Lynne McNamee, Marketing Manager - Milford Business Services, Milford, CT
Jade Meskill/Derek Neighbors, Founders - Gangplank, Chandler, AZ
David Moffitt, Founder - Coworking Rochester, Rochester, NY
Julian Nachtigal, Public Relations Rep - pariSoma Innovation Loft, San Francisco, CA
Berit Oskey, Co-Founder - Affinity Lab, Washington, D.C.
Sam Rosen, Founder - COOP, Chicago, IL
Jeff Shiau, Director - The Hub Bay Area, Berkeley and San Francisco, CA
1
Foreword
oday, independents and entrepreneurs are becoming more connected than
ever before. Digital technology enables us to work with team members
located around the world. We interact with our colleagues over e-mail,
Skype, and social networking. We often have the option of flexible and remote work
arrangements that allow us to choose our hours and work where we want. We rarely
work for a single company for our entire lives anymore, and often reinvent ourselves
with multiple careers, making networking more crucial than ever. But despite this
increasing connectedness, independents, startups, and small businesses, in large part,
still work in isolation. Work has changed. It’s time for the office to catch up.
Back in 2009, I arranged to work remotely for several months in Northern
Maine. I’d been able to escape New York City for a bit while maintaining my job and
salary. Although I was equipped with the technology to do my job effectively
hundreds of miles away from the office, I struggled to be productive. I started
dreaming of being in a Wi-Fi-equipped art studio where I could plug in occasionally
and get my work done, while still relishing the perks of my remote set-up.
I wanted to be free to travel, to work on my own terms, and to meet interesting
people along the way. So, I set out to create Loosecubes (loosecubes.com), a platform
that would enable me to do all of these things.
When I returned to New York, I joined New Work City (nwc.co), New York’s
first community coworking space. Aside from the obvious benefits of increased
productivity, shared amenities, and economies of scale, what was most compelling
about coworking to me was the community around it. In a city like New York where
the pace of life can make it difficult to form lasting personal connections, I was
amazed to see that the group of independents and entrepreneurs at New Work City
were creating thriving friendships, partnerships, and businesses.
What’s more, I learned that New Work City wasn’t the only place this was
happening. All over the world, coworking spaces of all shapes and sizes were also
embracing communities born out of working together, in a way that hadn’t been
organized in the past.
Just over one year later our community of shared workspaces on Loosecubes has
grown to over 2,000 worldwide. And while the physical spaces look different, the
common thread that binds them is the spirit of collaboration, camaraderie, and
T
| Working in the UnOffice |
2
community. Coworkers across the globe are meeting every day and sharing ideas,
insights, and support with each other as we work to build our own businesses.
Loosecubes had the honor of hosting the first Coworking UnConference in March
of this year. And more than ever before, it was evident that the community behind the
coworking movement is strong and growing fast. As the coworking movement gains
momentum, expands, and redefines the traditional office environment, I hope our
community continues to embrace its potential to lead something that changes the world
for the better. As the group becomes more and more organized, it’s crucial that we stay
true to the ideals of what coworking really means to us. It’s a serious responsibility, and
my team and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be taking on the challenge.
For those who are still strangers to shared workspaces, exploring the world of
coworking in all its different forms can sometimes feel like spelunking in the dark. As a
professional who’s gone through the gamut of options in the past and outgrown
working at home, staring at cubical walls, and fighting for power outlets at cafés—I
know how hard it can be to find the right place out there and make that transition.
Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking works like a nifty passport. Read it and
travel to coworking spaces across the country and meet over 30 independents, small
businesses, and nonprofits like you who are thriving because of coworking. Part
anecdotal narrative, part practical, how-to guidebook, this book has amassed tips and
the shared wisdom of coworkers all over the country on selecting a space, getting
settled, and making the most of a collaborative environment to spark ideas and
enhance productivity. With this illuminating and no-nonsense take on coworking,
you’ll get inspired to change how you work.
Campbell McKellar Founder and CEO of Loosecubes
August 2011
3
Preface
Coworking: The Triumph of the Commons
ack in 2009, when the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Elinor
Ostrom, it gave credence to a simple idea we’ve all known as kids but often
forget as we get older and enter the real world: Sharing is good.
In her decades of research, Ostrom wrote about things that we share, such as
collective resources like our oceans and forests, infrastructure like our roads and
public transportation, and services like our public libraries and community centers—
suggesting that a “commons”-based society was more efficient.
She’s right. There is no tragedy of the commons. The debate about who was best
qualified to manage the resources of society—the state or the market—always seemed
too simplistic. Drawing on Ostrom’s ideas, some say that perhaps the best steward is, in
fact, us. Yes, folks. We the people. Many of the solutions to issues we face today—such as
reducing our environmental impact on the planet or figuring out the complexities of
ownership in the digital age—can be traced to the fundamentals of collaboration and
sharing.
In many ways, Ostrom’s ideas are no longer revolutionary notions. That’s because
we’ve been moving in this direction for years with the emergence of companies and
organizations that allow us to share, barter, or exchange goods and services. Today, the
self-interested capitalist sentiment of “every man for himself” seems to ring false and hollow.
What makes more sense for creative thinkers, inventors, writers, artists, and entrepreneurs
is this: innovation and growth are more likely to come from collaboration and the free
flow and sharing of ideas, not from lone efforts. As more people start businesses and
personal projects, or telecommute and opt for flexible arrangements with their employers,
this collaborative movement is encompassing how we work.
You’re Wondering About Coworking On first glance, coworking seems like the perfect set-up for startups and
freelancers, small organizations, and the remote worker: join a collaborative or shared
B
| Working in the UnOffice |
4
workspace to save money, beat the doldrums of isolation, and collaborate with other
organizations and startups.
But it’s the promise of innovation and community that makes coworking most
appealing. Behavioral studies have long shown that sharing and collaboration can lead
to instances of creativity and innovation in the workplace. It only makes sense that
organizations and small businesses find that they gain more from working together,
rather than alone. This type of collaborative working doesn’t mean you surrender your
independence and lose your individuality, but instead share resources and space—and in
the process find common ground with each other, lend expertise, and share ideas.
Still, many organizations are puzzled at how surrendering their autonomy (if
they owned or rented their own offices) or paying for a space (if they worked from
home) would lead to any benefits. “How would coworking expand my bottom line or inspire me
to innovate?”
For the uninitiated, coworking isn’t an easy sell. We understand. As a small
business ourselves, we started test-driving a few coworking spaces in the San Francisco
Bay Area—but couldn’t make up our minds. We thought about the money we could
save by continuing to work at home—and all the other typical excuses. And yet we
were torn because we also felt drawn to the dynamic layouts of the spaces we saw:
people working at shared and cloistered tables, the bright colors, and the cool décor.
Most of all, we loved the energy and the hum: people milling about, talking excitedly
with each other while swiveling in their chairs from one desk to another. Oh, and the
free coffee on tap, of course.
And then we realized: maybe there were other businesses and freelancers out
there with the same dilemma, curious but still hesitant about making the leap—
possibly missing out on an amazing opportunity. And so a book project was born.
Why We Need a Guidebook
Coworking spaces are popping up everywhere left and right it seems. The latest
estimates from Deskmag, for example, put the count at 820 spaces worldwide, with
380 in the U.S. and Canada.1 Loosecubes counts 2,000 shared spaces and offices in its
directory of offerings around the world. It shows the enormous enthusiasm and faith
in the idea. In this rich environment of options, you are faced with limitless
possibilities to flourish—but it can be difficult to make the right choices.
There are questions to consider, such as:
How can I tell whether a space is right for me?
How do I make the transition from my home or a conventional office space to a shared or
collaborative workspace?
| Preface |
&
5
Once I’m in, how can I leverage the space—the community—in making my business or
organization better?
Get the answers to these questions (and more!) inside this book.
What You’ll Get
We did our research. We talked to coworking members across the country, as
well as to space founders and reps, and their collective stories and insights have been
distilled into this handy volume. This book is built from the experiences of small
businesses and organizations tackling the same questions above. People like you.
We’ve written a book that is both a dissection and analysis of coworking trends
and its rising popularity (Chapters 1-2), as well as a guidebook and narrative chronicle
from people in the coworking trenches (Chapters 3-5). We’ve set out to help you find
and select the right space, listing all the critical factors to consider when deciding
which space best suits your needs (Chapter 3).
Then, once you’ve found your space, learn the ropes to adjusting to the
coworking environment and master the art of networking among the mix of
personalities (Chapter 4). You’ll find tips and tricks for navigating shared spaces
(Chapter 5)—measured steps to take advantage of the shared facilities, strategies to
access your community of entrepreneurs, and optimum ways to collaborate within
and across fields—all to make your small business or organization thrive. We’ve also
put together an annotated list of collaborative tools and resources to enhance your
productivity and workflow as an independent worker (Chapters 4 and 5).
What we’re most proud of is the collection of profiles (see the “PROOF of
IMPACT: Interviews” and “MOVERS and SHAKERS: Interviews” sections at the
end of the book) that cover the candid conversations we had with members and
former members, as well as with the founders of coworking spaces across the country.
The community of entrepreneurs that makes up a coworking space largely
determines the essence of that space—and so it is also with this book. The 33
businesses and organizations we talked to range from the usual digital technology and
graphic design freelancers that flock to coworking in droves, to the more unusual
inventors, innovation consultants, and even telecommuters working remotely for
corporations. Some of them have been in business for years, with polished operations
and venture capital to boot. Others are plucky, bootstrapped shops, or people
throwing their hats into the ring as “accidental entrepreneurs” because of the
recession—tough folks who are freelancing and consulting on their own.
The debate on how to define a coworking space is an intense one. We know
there are “variations on a theme” when it comes to the concept of coworking, so we
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decided to take a flexible approach and cast the widest net possible when choosing
and interviewing the different shared and collaborative spaces available. The 19
coworking spaces we talked to range from more community-oriented spaces like
Gangplank that balk at charging members (membership plans don’t exist there) and
opt for “social capital” as its currency, to spaces with more structured environments
for established organizations like Affinity Lab and ThinkSpace. Some spaces featured
here offer welding tables and laser cutters instead of your usual desks and copiers
(TechShop), and some have multiple locations (The Hub, NextSpace, and pariSoma).
You’ll also hear from the most visible coworking advocates out there today, including
Indy Hall‘s Alex Hillman, Gangplank’s Derek Neighbors and Jade Meskill, Cohere‘s
Angel Kwiatkowski, and others.
Why This Book is Different
To our knowledge, this book is one of the first of its kind written from the
perspective of the very people who stand to benefit from coworking—small businesses
and organizations looking for better ways to work. Like many of you, we’re
researching our options of where to work, love our independence, but also tire of
working in a vacuum—and, of course, can’t afford to break the bank. These
considerations have shaped our focus in writing this book. Second, from what we’ve
seen, the available publications out there are somewhat limited, generally written by
individual spaces that focus exclusively on their own membership pool (for a list of
additional publications on coworking, see “Where can I find out more about
coworking?” in the FAQ section).
In contrast, the stories and insights here are sourced from across the coworking
spectrum of members working in some of the more famous spaces in the coworking
circuit and those working in quirky, less well-known spaces. We offer a lively cross-
section of members and former members, founders and space reps pulled from the
variety of coworking spaces and shared offices across the country.
Couched in this wonderful diversity, you’ll see how much coworking is a part of
their inspiring stories, regardless of their location, background, or size. Coworking is
so much more than a backdrop, and for many people, it’s the driving force behind
critical business decisions and breakthroughs.
Writing this book has been a fulfilling project and one we hope will add to the
dialogue on the shifting state of work today, of which coworking is very much a game-
changing catalyst. Our hope is that after reading this book, you’ll be better able to
consider your options, and find out if coworking is really right for you.
7
ONE: Sharing How We Work and Thinking Outside the Space
oodbye office. Goodbye, kitchen table. Goodbye, Starbucks coffee counter. For small
businesses and organizations, as well as indie workers and freelancers,
coworking is developing into a real viable option for getting things done. In
the past, when identifying places to work, independent workers, small businesses, and
organizations often had to choose between several scenarios, all with their attendant
advantages and disadvantages: working from home; working from a coffee shop, library,
or other public venue; or leasing an executive suite or other commercial space.
Well, enter coworking. At its most basic level, coworking is the phenomenon of
workers coming together in a shared or collaborative workspace for one or more of
these reasons: to reduce costs by having shared facilities and equipment, to access a
community of fellow entrepreneurs, and to seek out collaboration within and across
fields. In fact, coworking makes the traditional office set-up seem downright
antiquated and quaint, something that belongs more in a museum exhibit and is
sorely out of touch with today’s creative and dynamic workforce.
Coworking spaces offer an exciting alternative for people longing to escape the
confines of their cubicle walls, the isolation and distractions of working solo at home,
or the inconveniences of public venues. The benefits and cost-savings in productivity
and overall happiness and well-being that can be reaped from coworking are also
potentially huge. Enthusiasm and creativity become contagious and multiply when
you diversify your work environment with people from different fields or backgrounds.
At coworking spaces, the chances of “accelerated serendipity”1 occurring—those
“Eureka!” moments that take place during the most unexpected turns—are greater
than in any other environment. Members pass each other during the day,
conversations get going, and miraculously idea-fusion happens with everyone
benefitting from the shared thinking and brainstorming.
So what gives coworking its traction and charm for thousands of workers around
the world?
G
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The Making of the Coworking ‘Perfect Storm’
There are several social and economic trends that are making coworking an ideal
option for independent workers, small businesses, and organizations. All these factors
and opportunities have come together in what experts like to call a “perfect storm” for
the growing fascination with coworking:
• #1 Shift Toward a ‘Sharing Economy’
• #2 Home is Where the Work is: Rise of the Telecommuter and Home-
based Businesses
• #3 Digital Workers on the Cloud
• #4 Where Good Ideas Come From: Working with Others
#1 Shift Toward a ‘Sharing Economy’
Coworking is at the heart of the new trend toward sharing and “collaborative
consumption.” Those who grew up with the children’s show Sesame Street may
remember the episode with the Geefle and the Gonk who wanted to eat nectarines
growing on a tree. The Gonk was too short to reach the fruit; the Geefle could reach
them, but couldn’t bend his arms to feed himself. So they decided that the Geefle
would pick the fruit and the Gonk would feed him half. Happy with the way things
worked out, they decided to keep the system. “Let’s call it cooperation,” says the
Gonk. “No,” pipes up the Geefle. “Let’s call it Shirley!”2
Sharing—be it goods, time, expertise, or even responsibilities to acquire
nectarines—isn’t anything new. These days, it just goes by names more highbrow
than “Shirley.” And it’s changing the way we spend, interact, work, and live.
Welcome to the new sharing economy.
Your Car, My Couch—A New Way We Share
Admittedly, sharing may not be a virtue one readily owns up to. But chances are,
you have a Facebook account, and you’ve uploaded pictures of your newest baby—
human or otherwise—told your friends what you had for breakfast and posted a link
for one of your current causes on your wall. What is that, if not sharing? And it’s that
online sharing that’s making it easier for people to share offline, experts at Latitude
Research have found.3
Just what do people share offline? Almost anything.
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If you have a spare room, for example, you can allow a weary traveler to crash in it
for a few nights, either for free (CouchSurfing) or for a fee (AirBnb, Crashpadder). Cars
can also be borrowed or shared (ZipCar, RelayRides). Rooms and zooms are not the
only things up for sharing these days; skills, time, garden space, power tools, clothes, and
other “stuff” are also swapped, bartered, shared, or given away. It’s all part of a rising
culture and economy around a trend called “collaborative consumption.”
According to researchers, the mindset of collaborative consumption veers away from
owning something to having easy access to it.4 It’s akin to say, being able to drive a car
when you need to, without the actual burden of ownership, such as paying for
maintenance and insurance. The growing trend of prioritizing experiences over material
possessions and achieving a work-life balance has also shifted our focus away from
ownership. In fact, Lisa Gansky, author of The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing,
predicts that saving money will be regarded as the norm, and that the simplification of
our lives and getting off the consumer treadmill will make people happier.
Collaborative consumption marketplaces are popping up everywhere: media, car
rental, lodging, staffing, textbooks, apparel, custom graphic design, and even finance.
And they are big.
Take Groupon’s success. Harnessed on the power of collaborative consumption,
Groupon grew into a collective buying phenomenon based around “tipping points” or
participant thresholds (the deal is only “on” if enough people buy)—uniting buyers and
sellers in a collaborative fashion, saving customers money, and generating revenue for
many participating businesses. For local businesses, Groupon turned traditional
advertising methods upside down by letting merchants pay only for real results—when a
customer comes in and actually buys a product or pays for a service. Like many
businesses, Groupon is riding the collaborative consumption wave. In November 2010,
Groupon defiantly ducked a $6 billion buyout offer from Google, opting to stay
independent and continue to raise its own valuation through venture investments.5 Many
insiders have said that Groupon’s quirky, social media-fueled style built on the creative
backs of its sales and editorial forces—a decidedly people-oriented, collaborative work
environment—would have clashed with the corporate culture at Google.
ThredUp is another innovative business that has banked on trends in
collaborative consumption. The company created a peer-to-peer platform reminiscent
of eBay by which parents could exchange boxes of kids clothing with other parents. Its
tagline, “Clothes Don’t Grow, Kids Do,” automated online what parents had done for
ages within their circle of family and friends—swap or donate clothes outgrown by
their kids. ThredUp established a one-to-one swap system that manages the process
between strangers. Parents have two options when they go online: shop for a box of
“preloved kids clothes and toys” or list a box of donated clothes and toys. ThredUp
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provides free boxes over the mail for parents who become members, and donors get a
postage paid label when they send their goods and free pick-up by the U.S. Postal
Service. Families shop online to see the offerings like any online store, select a box,
and pay for the shipping and handling plus a $5 fee; the contents themselves are
actually free. Recycled clothes and sharing have saved families over $200,000. By
hooking into collaborative consumption trends and connecting people, ThredUp
made inroads into a secondhand market that is notoriously fragmented and
inaccessible.
Why We Share More Today
Trust is a key element in this kind of sharing economy. After all, how can you let
a stranger drive off in your car, sleep in your house, or ask for your old clothes if you
didn’t somehow trust that you’d get your car back in one piece, won’t get clobbered in
your own bed, and won’t get a boxful of rags in return? Trust levels are also a good
indicator of quality of life. Studies show that high social trust usually correlates with
low crime rates and good economic performance.6
In the past decades, from 1976 to 2008, the General Social Survey showed that
the level of trust had eroded: Americans largely didn’t trust each other. However,
since the advent of social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, and the
proliferation of mobile technology, people have had more opportunities to interact
and create reciprocal relationships that are re-building trust, albeit online.
eBay is a model of online trust. You send money to people you don’t know,
expect them to ship you goods, which you haven’t actually seen, in the condition that
they promised. eBay founder Pierre Omidyar believes that most people are honest,
and that by creating a transparent market that encourages honest dealings and is
protected by safeguards through a rating system and verifications, doing business with
strangers online becomes easier.7
The feedback system used on eBay—buyers and sellers give each other points
and reviews after each transaction—has fostered good behavior all around. People
know that the rating they have will determine whether people will transact with them
in the future—buyers want to buy from sellers with positive ratings, and sellers may
not even entertain bids from buyers with low ratings. In the new sharing economy,
money isn’t the only thing that talks. Your “reputation capital”—the summary of
what other people think about your actions in a given community—also says a lot
about you, experts agree.8
This newfound trust in people—or at least in the people we do business with—
would not have been possible without progress in technology. Rachel Botsman,
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author of What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, has written about
how technologies, particularly social networking sites and mobile phone
advancements, have transformed the usual business and social practices of bartering,
sharing, renting, and trading.9
This increase in connectivity and focus on trust could also reflect a return to the
belief that community is important. Lisa Gansky, author of The Mesh, has also
discussed how dislocated individuals are seeking community and personal interaction
in droves. The communities formed today may not be of the traditional neighbors-
playing-bingo-at-the-church-social or families-gathering-for-the-weekly-weekend-
barbecue type. But with each Tweet, each Facebook status update, with each reply to
questions posed on the Starbucks or Apple forums, with each contact we add to
LinkedIn, we feed our “social self—the part of us that seeks connection and
belonging,” says social psychologist Marilynn Brewer of Ohio State University.10
The shift in community patterns, from autonomy to connectedness, also reflects
changes in values. The so-called Millennial Generation (ages 18-29) is more
environmentally aware and more socially conscious. According to a Pew Research
Center study, Millennials prefer a simpler lifestyle, veering away from the rampant
materialism that they perceive bilked earlier generations. Instead of buying individual
cars, for example, more choose to share bikes or cars, or use mass transit.11
People are also increasingly choosing a sustainable lifestyle, as opposed to a
convenient or extravagant one. Three in five people share or would share products or
services simply because it’s better for the environment, according to a Latitude
Research report.12 Increased coverage and visibility of environmental issues have also
made people more conscious of buying and disposing of goods.
This shift to a sharing mentality isn’t all altruism though. The global recession
has left a deep impact on people’s consumer habits. In the same Latitude report,
researchers found that “saving money” and being “good for society” tie in at 67
percent as reasons why people share or would consider sharing.13 The global
recession forced people to rethink what is valuable to them, and many are choosing
practicality over consumerism.
So given that people are willing to share and that it makes economic sense—just
what would they share?
Naturally, media and information top the list. Transportation also offers sharing
opportunities (in the form of car, bike, and boat sharing, for example). Infrequently
used, high-priced items such as power tools also present themselves as ideal products
to be shared. And finally, physical spaces: a place to stay at when traveling and a place
to store stuff is a valuable commodity—as is a place to work and be creative.
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#2 Home is Where the Work is: Rise of the Telecommuter and Home-based Businesses
If you’re home on a Monday morning dressed in your sweats or in your PJs,
sending e-mail to a client, and there’s no one to see you—are you working? The
philosophical implication aside, the answer for the 20 to 30 million U.S.-based
telecommuters is a resounding “Yes.”14
Companies are realizing that employees don’t have to be physically in their
workplace to do their jobs; they don’t even have to be in the same time zone. Even
traditional, large businesses are recognizing that centralized, management structures
need to become more flexible to meet the needs of its employees, say experts.15
Dwayne Spradlin of InnoCentive, Inc. has described how organizations have to move
away from rote and static procedures to more flexible ones to better organize and
optimize infrastructure and human resources. Younger workers, especially the
Millennial generation, have a fundamentally different view about work and career
fulfillment.16 Many of them are interested in moving laterally, not vertically in
companies, and to take on different roles. They are project-focused and thrive in
environments of constant churn and change.
More baby boomers, women, parents, and Generation Y-ers are also shifting to
home-based work arrangements or are opting for telecommuting options, because it
makes it easier to achieve the work-life balance objectives they have set for themselves.
They are, for example, able to participate in family activities while still keeping on top
of their work. All this is made possible by the capabilities, accessibility, and
affordability of available tools and technology.17
Even the government is recognizing the shift from physical to online spaces for
workers. In December 2010, the U.S. government passed the Telework Enhancement
Act, which requires federal agencies to establish teleworking policies and support
systems that allow qualified employees to work from home. The amount that
companies can save by allowing offsite work is astounding—up to $10,000 per
employee annually, in terms of reduced utilities and costs in real estate, office supplies,
security, maintenance, equipment and the like, and in terms of increased worker
productivity—making telecommuting even more attractive. The Telework Research
Network calculates that telecommuting could save as much as $650 billion dollars a
year overall.18 The environmental impact is also considerable. Telecommuting
reduces the dependence on fossil fuels and lessens the production of greenhouse
gases—issues that are growing in importance.
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The flexibility of telecommuting also holds great appeal: of the 72 percent of
employees that would favor a job with flexible work arrangements over another
without, 37 percent specified telecommuting as a factor.19 “What employees of all age
groups want is the flexibility to determine for themselves where, when, and how they
work,” says Kate Lister, the principal researcher at Telework Research Network.20
This also rings true for independent and self-employed workers. Despite generally
working longer, earning less, and stressing out more, independents score higher on the
job satisfaction scale because they value the autonomy and flexibility that working out
of a formal office setting gives them.21 In an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle,
Om Malik, founder of GigaOm, has said, “There is nothing more [liberating] than
being a web worker… There is no boss. You work for yourself… It’s the future.”22
Kristen Eide, community manager of ThinkSpace in Redmond, WA, tells us that
the trend of telecommuting is becoming more appealing and has impacted their space
membership. “I know some companies are going virtual with their employees, and
coworking can be a great solution for virtual workers who cannot or would rather not
work out of the home. I think that trend will continue for a while.” Their space hosts
240 member companies, many of which are telecommuters from larger companies
such as CPA and law firms.
Both companies and workers reap the benefits. Jim Graham, co-founder of
Satellite Telework Centers, a coworking space that specifically targets this market for
remote workers and telecommuters, tells us, “We’ve been able to demonstrate that we
can house an employee for about half what it costs to support them at a corporate
headquarters. Employees are happier because they’re working closer to home and
they find they’re more productive because they’re away from the interruptions that
come from working at the main office, and they don’t have the distractions or sense of
isolation that often comes from working from home.”
#3 Digital Workers on the Cloud
In the aftermath of the first Industrial Revolution, we saw the rise of the efficient
factory systems and then later the cubicle farms. We know the scenario all too well.
White collar workers congregated in confined spaces, working side-by-side at identical
desks. Management hovered from corner offices, supervising and orchestrating the
steady hum of production. Many used to believe that a command-and-control
structure was needed to get work done.
Today, living in an information and computing age, where much of our work
resides on the cloud and businesses outsource work—is this closed system relevant
anymore? The old system worked largely because personal computing was expensive
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or inadequate, Internet connections and web access weren’t so pervasive, and moving
and dispersing information was difficult (hence, the need for physical meetings for
collaboration and team briefings).
Technology is redefining the borders of the spaces where we work. We have
laptops, iPads, and smartphones. The information and tools we need to work exist in
digital form—as apps that function on mobile devices anywhere. Meetings and
briefings are less centralized and can be more efficient over chat or Skype with little
need for face-to-face time. We don’t necessarily need the traditional office structure to
connect with our colleagues and be productive.
Daniel Pink, author of Free Agent Nation, has written about how infrastructure that has
evolved—from laptops and smartphones to Starbucks and other coffee shops that offer
Wi-Fi—has increased the number of independent workers. Information age jobs lend
themselves naturally to web working and telecommuting. Technical professionals such as
software developers and architects, web and mobile app developers, and technical
consultants top the list. People from creative fields such as writing, graphic and web
design, and photography also telecommute. Lawyers, salespeople, accountants, and other
professionals are starting to break out of the confines of the office, too.
And of course, independent homepreneurs, solopreneurs, and startups—there
are about 10-15 million of them, though not all work at or from home—comprise the
rest of the telecommuters.23 The decline in lifetime job security has shifted the balance
towards self-employment. After all, if you can’t depend on a big corporation like
General Motors for your future, why not depend on yourself instead? Besides, bagging
a full-time, full-benefit job will be difficult in the coming decade, many experts say.24
Companies are not only letting people go, hiring has also slowed down, as they
depend on technology, outsourcing, and a leaner workforce to get the same jobs done.
Independents who freelance with several clients are no longer bound by location
restrictions. They work for anyone (global outlook), anywhere (local source) through
virtual channels, such as e-mail, Skype, and virtual networking. With easy
connectivity and tools on hand, independents and employees can now work anytime,
anywhere, and in any way that they choose.
David Bollier, author of The Future of Work: What it Means for Businesses, Markets and
Governments, has said, “Digitization has changed the economics of creating and
distributing products, services and content across a growing number of categories.”25
Technology has essentially amplified worker performance—and changed the game
for both employees and independents. With the rise of the cloud, more people will
have access to computing power and will leap over the obstacles of infrastructure and
connectivity to start focusing on what really matters in business: innovation and
creativity—the things that improve and enhance services.
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It might have been a tough pill to swallow initially, but many companies are
catching on to these flexible work arrangements with the assurance that their employees
are working out of professional venues and have access to facilities with the right
technology to make virtual working possible. Satellite Telework Centers co-founder Jim
Graham tells us how two of their members working as remote employees of larger
companies use the coworking space effectively. “We have one member whose company is
based in San Diego. He brought in a Flip camera and filmed the facility and his cubicle to
prove to his bosses that he’s actually working in a professional office environment. We
have another member who works for a huge telecommunications company and spends
her day giving Webex-based trainings to sales teams all over the world.”
#4 Where Good Ideas Come From: Working with Others
At the same time, there is also a realization that people are more productive on a
results-output basis, rather than on a time-clock basis, which has led to new work
arrangements like flextime and has even encouraged workers to pursue private
projects. Giving smart and creative people the space and time to pursue a wacky idea
overturns the industrial workplace model.
At Google, employees are given a creative license to devote up to 20 percent of
their working hours to personal projects. Many of Google’s flagship products—Gmail
and Google News—were dreamt up and developed during these downtimes and before
employees punched out. Google has since deployed “grouplets” for initiatives that cover
broader changes through the organization. One remarkable story of a successful Google
grouplet involved getting engineers to write their own testing code to reduce the
incidence of bugs in software code. The problem was how to push the idea across a large
organization like Google and get buy-in at a level enough to make a difference.
The intrepid grouplet came up with a campaign based on posting episodes
discussing new and interesting testing techniques on the bathroom stalls. “Testing on
the Toilet” spread fast and garnered both rants and raves. Soon, people were hungry
for more, and the campaign ultimately developed enough inertia to become a de facto
part of the coding culture. They moved out of the restrooms and into the mainstream.
This represents the power and culture of sharing in the workplace. Something
that started as an idea among a small group became viral. Bharat Mediratta, a
software engineer at Google, told The New York Times in an interview, “These grouplets
have practically no budget, and they have no decision-making authority. What they
have is a bunch of people who are committed to an idea and willing to work to
convince the rest of the company to adopt it.”26
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According to a recent New York University Stern Business School study, sharing
information about work tasks with colleagues and even members outside your
immediate work circle, pulls employees together, builds relationships, and even
increases productivity over time.27 They even found that giving employees a
communication forum such as blogging increased productivity after about seven
weeks. The mechanics of sharing commentary on both work-related and non-work
related matters had a profound effect.
The study further found evidence of “migration from blogs to real life.”28 As
workers developed ideas over conversations online, they tended to spill over into
conversations offline. What the study ultimately revealed was that connecting with
people around us beyond work—through casual conversation and interaction, such as
on company sports teams and during company-sponsored volunteer projects—
prompts us to work better as individuals.
Keith Sawyer, a professor of psychology and education at Washington University
in St. Louis, MO, has written widely on collaboration and innovation. In his study of
jazz performances, Keith Sawyer made this observation, “The group has the ideas,
not the individual musicians.”29 Some of the most famous products were born out of
this moshpit of interaction—in contrast to the romantic idea of a lone working genius
driving change. According to Sawyer, more often than not, true innovation emerges
from an improvised process and draws from trial-by-error and many inputs, “with
sparks gathering together over time, multiple dead ends, and the reinterpretation of
previous ideas.”30
Unexpected insights emerge from the group dynamic. If increasing interaction
among different peer groups within a single company could lead to promising results,
imagine the possibilities for solopreneurs, small businesses, and indie workers—if only
they could reach similar levels of peer access as those experienced by their bigger
counterparts. It is this potential that coworking tries to capture for its members.
:::
Coworking’s promise for today’s creator, thinker, worker, and employee is an
ambitious one. It claims to help us harness innovation, as well as to unite the laptop-
toting telecommuters and independent businesses and organizations out there into a
cohesive but fluid community. Such diverse communities under one roof can create
thriving places to work. But is coworking just buzz, a novelty? Or, is it part of the
greater zeitgeist of our time, a profound shift in how we do things?
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Let’s dive in and see how coworking started, where it is today—and most
importantly—how you can make the most out of the coworking opportunities out there.
19
TWO: Coworking Deconstructed
hings are changing. Look around. Most likely there is a coworking space or,
at the least, collaborative working groups like a Jelly or Meetup in your area
already. We are on the cusp of a working revolution, moving toward a
“free-agent” model with people engaging in their work in very different ways. Over
the next couple years, we will see a massive shift in how we work. Coworking is one
striking example of this change in action.
So, how did it all begin?
Free, Un-tethered—but Alone (and other travails of the indie worker)
Innovation is one of the drivers of today’s knowledge economy. But for the small
startup, freelancer, nonprofit worker, or telecommuter working independently, cultivating homegrown innovation can be a challenge. That’s because almost every
independent worker will eventually encounter—whether working from home or at a
public venue like a coffee shop—the greatest drawbacks of telecommuting and web
working: Isolation, lack of productivity, and distractions. The nemesis of every independent
worker and telecommuter, this pesky trio, in turn, stifles innovation, creativity, and
worker productivity.
Studies done by American Express and British Telecom showed that
telecommuters can be 30 to 40 percent more productive than office-bound colleagues,
possibly because telecommuters are known to start work earlier and end later.1
However, the studies found that productivity eventually suffers without face-to-face
communication. Isolation and achieving work/life balance are issues that stem from
working alone at home. IBM employees allowed to work outside the office, for
example, suffered from low morale. They felt that strong ties to their colleagues were
missing, and that they didn’t receive adequate mentoring and passed-down
institutional knowledge.2 The inside joke among employees in these situations was
that IBM stood for “I’m by myself.”
T
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The difficulty with non-traditional work set-ups is that workers feel disconnected;
and feelings of alienation and loneliness are common. Employees may also feel
bypassed or overlooked for promotions.
Most home workers, whether working for themselves or as telecommuters for other
companies, have also discovered that it takes extreme discipline and self-control to
ignore distractions at home—be it the laundry that needs to be done or a couch that
begs to be napped on. Making business calls with squabbling children in the background
also presents a problem, as does presenting a professional front when you have to
entertain clients in your dining room. You can lose your edge by not being around other
people, slacking off with your appearance (e.g., wearing your PJs and bunny slippers all
day), or neglecting to step outside for days at a time (perusing Facebook and Twitter
doesn’t qualify as contact with the outside world). Home-bound workers also report
missing the stimulation of having other people to bounce ideas off of.
So what are the 375 million independent and mobile workers around the world
to do?3
Most have stepped out of their homes and into the field of libraries, cafés, and other
public places. While these venues allow independents to be among other people, they
still don’t offer much in terms of quality interaction. After all, in libraries you’re expected
to keep silent; and it’s difficult, if not awkward, to start random conversations in a coffee
shop with other patrons. And besides, in coffee shops and cafés, you also have more
prosaic issues to deal with, like how much coffee you should buy to justify loitering all
day, and how to safeguard your laptop and table beside the only socket in the room
when you need that inevitable, caffeine-induced trip to the bathroom. Serviced offices or
executive suites, while providing the needed amenities and space, can seem as if they
were cloned from the cubicles of corporate offices.
Other independents, usually friends or colleagues working on similar projects,
sometimes decide to meet and hang out together while working. In San Francisco, a
group of nomadic workers calling themselves “Bedouins”—after the Arabian desert
wanderers—wander from coffee shop to coffee shop, mooching off Wi-Fi and table
space in exchange for bought cups of latte and plates of pastries.4 Then there’s Jelly
(workatjelly.com), the informal gathering of independents at a designated place, usually
someone’s house, a coffee shop, or borrowed office, to collaborate, work, and socialize.
Roommates Amit Gupta and Luke Crawford started Jelly in March 2006 from their
New York City apartment because, as with other home-based workers, they missed the
dynamics of being around other people.5 Anyone can organize a Jelly; you just have to
arrange for Wi-Fi and the space. Jellies happen all over the world (in Philadelphia, the
gatherings are called “Cream Cheese”), usually for a day, every other week. There are
no fees, other than the cost of your own coffee, if you meet at a coffee shop.
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As the Google “grouplets,” business accelerators, and local Jellies and Meetups
have demonstrated, the community of others around you, doing things related to your
work or completely unrelated—it doesn’t matter—and just being among other
creative people can enliven your own work.
It was in this “I-want-to-work-alone-but-with-other-people” kind of environment
that coworking as we know it was forged and born.
Ditch the Dash, Rev Up a Revolution—Coworking Begins
In the late 1990s, “co-working” was a term applied to web workers and their
anything-goes-strike-anywhere style of working. Then came the dot-com bust and the
road warrior lost some of his mojo; people slunk back to the cubes. But then Web 2.0
and mobile technology happened—and something fundamentally changed.
How Coworking Gets its Start
The term “coworking” (minus the dash) made its debut into popular parlance
around 2005, around the time software programmer Brad Neuberg decided that he
wanted both the structure and community of an office job and the freedom and
independence of a freelancer. He resuscitated the term “co-working”—a play on the
corporate, cubicle-tinged word, “co-worker”—removed the hyphen, and effectively
jumpstarted the coworking revolution.6
Neuberg’s first coworking cooperative, the Spiral Muse Coworking, shared an
old Victorian house with a wellness and massage center in San Francisco, CA.7
Finally, in January 2007, Neuberg’s Hat Factory, the unofficial granddaddy of all
coworking spaces, opened its doors to the public (Sadly, it passed away in 2010.
Under new management, Hat Factory is no longer available for coworking).8 Other
pioneers in coworking include Affinity Lab9 in Washington, D.C., Indy Hall in
Philadelphia; San Francisco’s Citizen Space; and Gangplank in locations in Arizona.
Coworking spaces since 2005 have mushroomed in more than 50 countries
around the world, numbering more than 64 in the Western U.S. alone.10
Deskwanted, a coworking marketplace and directory, listed 820 spaces globally as of
May 2011, a 17 percent increase between February and May alone.11 Deskmag’s
latest findings show that coworking’s 380 spaces in North America are thriving—
experiencing a 12 percent growth spurt in that same period. By the end of 2011,
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experts predict that the number of spaces will increase by 50 percent worldwide, a
veritable coworking boom.12
Coworking Defined
All in all, coworking has evolved into different formats and iterations. Coworking
has acquired multiple definitions, with people defining it in their own way. According
to Loosecubes community manager Anna Thomas, coworking is essentially a business
model still in flux and trying to solidify its identity. “As coworking expands and
morphs, I think larger ‘franchise’ models and small ‘grassroots’ spaces and
communities will benefit from honing in on the discrete membership bases that need
them to be productive in whichever way works best for them,” she tells us.
“Coworking still isn’t a mainstream concept, and expansion of spaces and footprint
will certainly help promote awareness of the movement.”
So, there isn’t an official definition of coworking. It is a concept that continues to
mature and find its bearings.13 But in general, coworking refers to the set-up and
dynamics of a diverse group of people who don’t necessarily work for the same
company or on the same project, working alongside each other, sharing the working
space and resources, such as Internet connection, office equipment, and coffee.
However, what sets coworking apart from mere shared office space is its focus on
building community and collaboration, as well as the other values of openness,
sustainability, and accessibility. Enshrined in the coworking movement is the
philosophy that seemingly disparate groups of people with different projects and goals,
working together yet independently in a single space, sharing facilities and establishing
rapport with each other—can lead to mutual benefits. Differences matter. Coworking
hinges on the belief that innovation and inspiration come from the cross-pollination of
different people in different fields or specializations. Random opportunities and
discoveries that arise from interactions with others—also dubbed “accelerated
serendipity”—play a large role in coworking.
The Appeal of Coworking
For many, it might be puzzling to pay for a well-equipped space teeming with
other people, even with the chance of free coffee and inspiration. You might ask
yourself, “Well, why pay for a place to work when I’m perfectly comfortable at home
and paying nothing?” Or, “Isn’t the whole point of telecommuting or starting my own
business a chance to avoid ‘going to the office’?”
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Coworking may sound like an unnecessary expense, but let’s consider what you
get from being a part of the space.
First, there’s the sense of belonging that we derive from being part of a broader
group. You aren’t just renting a desk or office space, and you aren’t just around people
for the sake of being around people. Throw people in a room—you may get a lot of
staring and then a quick shuffle to hunker down with our laptops and smartphones.
Throw people into a coworking space—something else happens entirely.
What you pay for is membership, the right to belong. At the heart of coworking is
being part of a larger community than even your existing colleagues and clients, but also
being part of a group of people just starting up or with similar goals. Others might see
competition, but more people see potential connections. It’s good not only for your
mental health (no more sitting in pajamas alone at home), but also for your business.
Affinity Lab claims that members “often partner with one another, backstopping and
expanding each other’s capabilities and skills or forming entirely new ventures.”14
Second, coworking takes freelancers, indie workers, and entrepreneurs, who feel
that they have been dormant or isolated working alone at home or who have been
migrating from a coffee shop to a friend’s garage or languishing in a sterile business
center—to a space where they can truly roost. “We can come out of hiding,” a
coworker tells us, “and be in a space that’s comfortable, friendly, and has an aesthetic
appeal that’s a far cry from the typical cookie-cutter office environment.”
Coworking’s Core Values
While coworking spaces may differ in their culture, amenities, design, and in-
house rules, they share these same core values:15
• #1 Collaboration
• #2 Community
• #3 Sustainability
• #4 Openness
• #5 Accessibility
#1 Collaboration
One of the selling points of coworking—and something that will be hard to find
anywhere else—is the wealth of knowledge that you can get working among a diverse
group of people with different skill sets, backgrounds, and experiences. Whether it’s
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making sense of your website’s HTML, hammering out a killer proposal, or even just
making a barista-worthy pot of coffee in the kitchen, you’re bound to encounter
someone who can help you.
When Affinity Lab in Washington, D.C. decided to revamp its logo and business
cards last year, it turned to its coworking space members. Berit Oskey, one of Affinity
Lab’s co-founders recounts, “We used a Lab member designer to do the design work
and an Affinity Lab brand expert to help us with refining the logo and finding us a
high quality printer that could print and cut our unusual cards.”
Felena Hanson of newly minted Hera Hub in San Diego, CA, a coworking space
for women, emphasized how important it is for small businesses to find support. Not
surprisingly, coworking makes finding help easy. Usually, someone in your community
has what you need or can refer you to someone who can help. Felena—also an
executive director of the San Diego chapter of Ladies Who Lunch, a national
organization committed to supporting entrepreneurial women through education and
community—describes how, “At least a dozen new business connections have been
made since Hera Hub launched on April 15, 2011. For example, a woman in our
community who is starting a line of women’s golf wear (Vivacity Sportswear) needed an
experienced consultant to advise her on product development and distribution. Such an
expert happened to be within the Hera Hub community (had over 20 years experience
in the fashion industry) and the connection was made.”
Group projects are often successful not because of one person’s technical prowess
or brilliance, but because of how well the entire team functions as a whole. But
building this fluency as a group can take time. Coworking offers the right environment
to build and invest in that team-building.
Alex Hillman of Indy Hall in Philadelphia describes how coworking allows people
to get to know each other on a personal level first before linking up professionally.
“[Coworking] has allowed us to form relationships with each other before a transaction
takes place. I get to know my coworkers based on what they are interested in, what they
like, what they do well, what they don’t do well, beyond just core competency. Then,
when we’re working together it’s in a context that is more enjoyable because we have
common interests beyond the money at the end of the rainbow,” he tells us. “Of the
works that I have done in the last four years, I can tie them directly back to a
relationship that was formed because of the Indy Hall community.”
The collaborative opportunities in coworking spaces abound—and are a worthy
investment. Jeff Shiau, director of The Hub Bay Area, says that prospective coworkers
should look at the benefits beyond cost-savings. “You’re not just saving on rent, but
you’re also able to make connections, to build a community around your ideas
quickly—at a creative level that’s beyond what you would be able to do if you were
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just working by yourself in a single office space, if you were working out of a coffee
shop, or working at home.”
In essence, coworking enables the freelancer or the solopreneur to reach a
certain level of creativity more quickly because of collaboration. Jeff Shiau uses the
metaphor of density and critical mass cited in Stephen Johnson’s book Where Good
Ideas Come From to describe the benefits of coworking. “You look at these bigger cities,
these condensed cities where people are frequently colliding, where people are
frequently having to compete against each other. Whether it’s friendly competition or
fierce business competition, people are constantly interacting. There is a lot more
innovation and creativity in these areas,” Jeff tells us. Jeff also notes how density in the
natural world forges biological ingenuity. “If you look at the Galapagos Islands, it’s a
small, condensed area, but it’s one of the most richly creative, innovative, evolved
centers on the entire planet.”
#2 Community
There’s something to be said about being more productive when surrounded by
other hopefully like-minded, driven, and creative people. Peer pressure, perhaps? Or,
just plain encouragement and a recharging of mind and spirit.
At CoCo based in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN, members with a specific
problem can simply turn to neighbors and ask for advice. According to its founder
Kyle Coolbroth, who also runs creative design agency Unlimited Options out of the
space, “I’ve seen this time and time again where an individual is working on a project
and hits a wall or runs into a problem. Often, we see it with folks who are doing
design work and run into a technical glitch or problem, and they’ve been able to pull
together two or three programmers and ask for help. And within 15 minutes to an
hour of exploration, they get the answer that they were looking for and other
suggestions. That’s a daily occurrence we see.”
The community is really what sets a coworking space apart from any other
nondescript shared office suite in a building somewhere. Cohere in Fort Collins, CO
has been described in such glowing terms as “a safe place to be weird” to a “hotbed of
awesomeness” by its members. There is almost a communal pride in being part of the
coworking environment. Founder Angel Kwiatkowski tells us, “None of these
descriptions would ever be said about a physical space.” And she’s right. “They’re
describing a feeling that they get from the community when they get here. In short,
they’re talking about the soul of the community, which just happens to be tethered to
this physical space.”
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Angel Kwiatkowski points out how a member’s business dilemma spontaneously
prompted outreach from members of the Cohere community. “Recently, a member
shared on our Facebook group that she got burned by a client because she didn’t have
a contract to use. The community immediately jumped in and started sending her
copies of their contracts. By the end of the day, she had three examples of contracts.
Later, I asked and scheduled a member to teach a lunch session on writing contracts.
The class was full by the end of the day!”
That’s what makes the coworking community so valuable and such an attractive
option for small businesses and organizations—it provides daily learning experiences.
A member makes a mistake, shares it with members directly or through the coworking
space’s built-in forums—and everyone benefits.
Jeff Shiau, director of The Hub Bay Area, tells us how access to its 800-member
listserv solved a problem. “There was one member who was organizing a conference
around solar energy. She had been working on the conference for six months before
she joined the network. After six months of trying, she still could not lock down this
one particular keynote speaker.” She sent an e-mail out to Hub members through the
listserv. In the course of a day, she got a response from another member. “I’m actually
friends with her,” the other member wrote back. They connected over e-mail and
within two days she locked down the keynote speaker.
Johnny Bilotta, a co-founding member of Indy Hall, calls his coworking space a
“second home” for his graphical user interface design company GUIwerks LLC. He
tells us about the strong community spirit that permeates the space. “It’s become a
place that I believe in, and we show it with pride. We believe that members who come
here and start to work with us also get that same buzz about the place.”
The feeling of camaraderie that has developed through the community is similar
to the fellowship and pride that sports fans often feel for their home team. When Indy
Hall started selling apparel with the space’s logo on it, members eagerly snapped them
up. “There’s nothing more rewarding than walking into your local bar and seeing six
or seven of the same jackets just hanging out. It’s kind of like when you were in high
school and you were part of a team; you know you’re part of that soccer team or that
football team and you’re wearing your letters with pride,” Johnny enthuses.
#3 Sustainability
Rallying together for the environment, whether through using renewable
materials, recycling, or conserving gasoline by biking, all coworkers are encouraged to
do their part in helping Mother Earth.
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Cohere prides itself on the location of its space. Nestled in Fort Collins’ historic
center, Cohere members have access to an array of local businesses. Founder Angel
Kwiatkowski tells us “Being near other local businesses is a perfect way for us to
support our local economy. We go local for everything we need down here: coffee,
food, groceries, vegetables, clothing, bicycles, and more!”
Satellite Telework Centers in Northern California are “certified green” facilities.
Co-founder Jim Graham tells us that the offices use “motion sensors on lighting, LED
and energy-efficient fluorescents, motion-sensing hand washing, natural lighting,
recycled paper, and recycling baskets at every station.”
By opening its doors to corporate employees and company consultants looking
for a professional working environment, Satellite Telework gives workers “the option
of working closer to home, reducing time lost sitting in traffic, not to mention the cost-
saving considering the price of gas,” says Jim Graham. This allows companies to
reduce their facilities footprint and reduce costs.
In small towns where you would think coworking would be an odd fit, not only is
Satellite Telework Centers thriving (they are located in two towns outside Santa Cruz,
California—Felton and Scotts Valley—and will eventually set up a space in Truckee in
late 2011), it is revitalizing the communities. Jim commented on how bringing people
into the centers can impact the small communities that surround them. Coworking isn’t
solely for big city and urban residents. It’s also a serious option for residents in smaller
cities and suburbs whose companies are based elsewhere.
Jim explains, “The industry-accepted formula is that one full-time equivalent
(FTE) employee supports 14 sq. ft. of retail space,” he explains. “It might not sound
like much, but each Satellite can support up to 40-50 FTEs (representing upward of
200 members, since most of our members use the Satellite part-time).”
Redevelopment agencies and city officials with an eye on sustainability often find
coworking spaces attractive for these reasons.
The Hub Bay Area director Jeff Shiau talks about The Hub’s 31 locations, a global
network that is ideal for international enterprises and business travel. “In the end, the
whole objective of the shared workspace is to become more sustainable. Large corporate
office buildings where you have ten people using 50,000 sq. ft. are not sustainable.”
#4 Openness
The transparency and openness at coworking spaces may leave some people
leery, especially those who worry about exposing trade secrets and risks to
confidentiality. But, proponents of coworking believe that everyone can benefit when
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ideas are freely shared; hence, they encourage open spaces and discussions. Some
spaces, like Citizen Space, don’t even allow non-disclosure agreements.16
Think the spirit of community only comes from coworking members? At many
coworking spaces, the boundaries of community are quite fluid. At Coworking
Rochester, its founder offers the space free of charge to groups whose goals and
visions he believes in. Founder David Moffitt tells us, “BarCamp Rochester is one of
the groups we host. They gather at Coworking Rochester to discuss technology-
related issues in an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and
learn in an open environment.”
Meetings culminate in an event each spring with technology discussions, demos,
and interaction from attendees. In this way, David’s coworking space becomes a
perfect launch pad for bigger events. Many organizations also use his space as neutral
ground to hold meetings. “Many of the board members, CEOs, and other higher-ups
of larger businesses would find meeting in their own offices too difficult,” David
explains. Coworking Rochester provides the perfect venue.
Satellite Telework Centers also does something similar. “A key part of our
business model is we open up the facilities to community groups to use for their
meetings and events, although events here could be anything of interest to the general
community—not just tech-related,” says Jim Graham, its co-founder. “We live in a
small town, and we understand how tough it is for groups to find places to meet. This
increases utilization during off-peak hours and gets a lot of people through the door
that might not otherwise come in.”
#5 Accessibility
An important feature of coworking is providing a space to work that is financially
affordable, as well as physically accessible. In particular, coworking spaces ease the
burden for small businesses just getting off the ground. They provide the necessary
infrastructure without the heavy out-of-pocket financial investment. Rather than
every business buying their own photocopy machines and laser printers, they can
share the equipment with several businesses.
Berit Oskey from Affinity Lab pointed out, “If you’re lucky enough to qualify for
a lease (as we were) you get locked into 5-7 year terms and you’re not sure if you will
grow into the space in that time or grow out of it by the middle of the term. Also, as a
small business, you end up spending a lot of your time focusing on your business
infrastructure—getting Internet set-up, troubleshooting your wireless, setting up
cleaning services and trash pickup, getting a copier lease, fighting with the local phone
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company when something goes wrong. These issues take you away from your core
competency and keep your business from being more successful.”
24/7 access is also important. Jim Graham describes how the use of RFID-based
door locks on the outer doors, private offices, and meeting rooms enables their
members at Satellite Telework Centers to access buildings and facilities any time of
the day. They can track when people enter and leave the building for extra security,
and they can also charge people only for the time they are inside the building. This
kind of RFID-based access is used by many coworking sites to give their members
access outside peak hours during evenings and weekends. “The goal is to allow
members to work where they want, when they want,” Jim tells us.
ThinkSpace founder Peter Chee tells us that coworking’s accessibility amounts to
a paradigm-shift in the concept of work. “I think that companies themselves are
recognizing that they need to be a little bit more flexible for their employees. They
don’t need their employees to work in a central headquarters building anymore.
Employees can get the work done at a remote location somewhere closer to their
homes. I see coworking spaces popping up and filling that need,” he says.
This makes coworking appealing to companies looking for telecommuting
options for their employees: to save money and to give their workers more options.
“Also, our energy crisis is going to have an impact on this as well. I think that people
do not want to travel as far to work. With the cost of gasoline going up, people would
rather work closer to where they live,” Peter adds.
State of the [Coworking] Nation
A Very Happy Bunch
Just how satisfied are coworkers with their coworking experience? Deskmag
conducted a first-ever Global Coworking Survey to find out. Of the 661 coworkers
surveyed from 24 countries, almost 75 percent reported being “very happy” with their
coworking space; only eight percent was disappointed.17 Only 12 percent reported not
having better interactions with others, and only 15 percent said they were not better
motivated working with others.
“Happy” doesn’t even begin to capture the brightened moods of members who
run their businesses and organizations out of coworking spaces. Here’s Angel
Kwiatkowski’s take on a typical bad day at her space. “A ‘bad’ day at Cohere is when
the weather is awesome and everyone skips out on work to be outside! It makes for a
pretty boring day, and we’ve been known to shut down early when stellar weather
hits,” she tells us.
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In general, coworkers feel good about the way they work. About half of
Deskmag’s survey respondents in the same study said they started working in teams
more often. Work/life balance seems more achievable, with 60 percent organizing
their day better so they can spend more time at home, and 60 percent indeed relaxing
more at home. Income for 42 percent of the respondents increased when they joined
their coworking space—a good reason for buoyant moods—and only 5 percent
reported income loss.
Coworker Envy
Coworking is also causing a stir among those who haven’t tried it yet. According
to Deskmag, 65 percent of non-coworkers expressed serious interest in coworking, but
about a third said there were no coworking spaces nearby. On the other hand, 12
percent said that lack of finances kept them from trying out a space, since a number of
them were looking for jobs.18 Paradoxically, it’s the people who can’t afford the space
that need it more, since joining a coworking space has proven to increase job
opportunities, develop networks, and increase income.
Founder David Moffitt of Coworking Rochester points out how many uninitiated
get hooked. “Many of our members have come here to just try it once instead of the
coffee shop or other area with free Wi-Fi they would usually go to,” he tells us. “But
after their first taste, they were hooked on the idea and have remained with us ever
since. They’ve reported it’s difficult to go back and have to fight for space or rely on
slow, spotty Internet connections when they know we’re right downtown in a
convenient location with all the amenities they desire available.”
Mostly Men, Mostly Freelancers, and Independent Workers (for now…)
There are two male coworkers to every one female coworker, and 54 percent of
all coworkers are freelancers (working solo).19 Twenty percent are entrepreneurs who
have their own employees and another one-fifth are telecommuting employees from
small companies.
Most of the coworkers are web developers or programmers, who are also the best
paid, according to Deskmag. The lowest incomes go to the artists. Mid-range earnings
go to the rest: graphic designers, press agents, architects, journalists, and those
engaged in non-commercial activities. Despite this wide range of earnings, 55 percent
of respondents think that they are in the middle-income bracket, less than 20 percent
live on below-average income, and 25 percent earn above national average.
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What Coworkers Want and Like
Unsurprisingly, coworkers patronize coworking spaces because they like the
flexible work times and the interaction with other people (86 percent). “Accelerated
serendipity”—the random opportunities and discoveries that arise from interactions
with others—is also important (79 percent), as is sharing knowledge (82 percent),
according to survey respondents in the Deskmag study.20
As for amenities, nearly all require Internet connection, while 80 percent want
printers and copiers, and 76 percent need at least one meeting room. They appreciate
niceties like a café (61 percent) or a kitchen (50 percent), but only a quarter of
respondents think that recreational amenities like table tennis are important. A little
more than half of respondents (57 percent) don’t mind not having a dedicated desk
space, but 54 percent don’t want to share workspace with more than 20 people, and
21 percent said they can work fine with up to 50 others.
Comes in All Different Sizes
While it may seem that working in smaller, more intimate workspaces is
preferred, there are also benefits to be had in much bigger spaces. Based on
Deskmag’s survey findings, as well as concepts put forth by social network theorist
Mark Granovetter, small spaces give coworkers more quality interactions, while large
spaces provide more opportunities.21 Small-space coworkers may have stronger ties,
since they interact more and have greater tendencies to work in teams, as well as have
more in common and exchange information more often.
:::
Ready to try coworking? We’ve argued that coworking is cost-effective and promotes
the kind of community and collaboration that circulates and exchanges ideas. But
don’t take our word for it.
The rest of this book contains the amassed insights and lessons learned from
people who are thriving in coworking spaces around the country. Chapters 3-5 are
devoted to helping you select the right space for your needs, learn the ropes of
adjusting to your new digs, master the art of networking among the mix of
personalities, professions, and backgrounds for a richer coworking experience, and
maneuver around your new working environment.
About the Authors
After getting a case of cabin fever working on their own, Genevieve and Andrew
became dazzled with the concept of coworking. Share resources! End the isolation!
Spark collaboration! They set out to unravel the hype, collecting stories from across
the coworking universe. Working in the UnOffice is the result of that investigation.
GENEVIEVE V. DEGUZMAN is passionate about small businesses and nonprofits.
Before escaping the cubicle and uncomfortable shoes and starting Night Owls Press,
she worked in a variety of fields in the U.S. and overseas: corporate (Bloomberg LP),
nonprofit/NGO (Innovations for Poverty Action and several NGOs in Asia), and
international economic development (United Nations, Asian Development Bank).
Through it all, Genevieve has nurtured a healthy obsession with the art and craft of
communicating and illuminating complex ideas, whether in a working paper, report,
article, or book. Genevieve is a published author and seasoned editor and has
contributed to a wide range of papers, books, and reports, writing extensively on
issues related to improving the business environment and sparking economic growth.
She holds undergraduate (‘01) and graduate (‘07) degrees from Columbia University.
A long-time resident of San Francisco, ANDREW I. TANG has worked on a number
of media start-ups and digital ventures. Previously, Andrew worked as a Portfolio
Manager for Mellon Capital Management, Barclays Global Investors, Oregon State
Treasury, Tenneco Gas, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County,
Texas. A globe trekker, Andrew has visited every single continent except Antarctica
and has lived in Argentina, England, Malaysia, and Mexico. He is an avid hiker and
runner, completing over a hundred marathons around the world. He holds a bachelor
degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester [UK], has an
MBA from Rice University (‘86), and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
About Night Owls Press
NIGHT OWLS PRESS (nightowlspress.com) is a small, independent press that
publishes nonfiction books that challenge and re-imagine prevailing conventions
about business, work, and life. Covering topics on entrepreneurship, education,
innovation, and social responsibility, its focus is to turn big ideas into great books that
inform and inspire.
Find out more about Night Owls Press books at www.nightowlspress.com/e-book-
store/. For special or bulk orders, contact [email protected].
An all-around guidebook to coworking. This packed edition chronicles the rise of coworking and the social and economic trends making it possible. Readers learn how to find and select the perfect space and master the art of adjusting to collaborative environments. Discover the secrets to "accelerated serendipity" as members and founders recount their experiences of how coworking became a driving force behind critical business decisions and breakthroughs.
About Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking
Coworkin
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For more info: www.CoworkingGuide.com
Available in paperback and e-book for your Kindle, Nook, or iPad
BUILD ENTREPRENEURIAL MUSCLE. Over 300 pages of straight talk, tips, and strategies for improving your business or organization in collaborative workspaces.
FIND PROOF OF IMPACT AND GET INSPIRED.More than 100 pages of interviews with 33 coworking members.
GET INSIDER ADVICE. 19 founders of spaces like The Hub, Indy Hall, NextSpace, and Affinity Lab give their candid views on working independently with others.
PRESS Change How You WorkPRESSThe Next Web“Working in the UnOffice: The Lonely Planet of Coworking Guidebooks”
Fast Company“How to Get a Job in America”
Deskmag“Five Must-Read Books About Coworking”
PRESSPRESS
Shareable magazine“A Feng Shui Checklist for Coworking and Collaborative Workspaces”
GigaOM“What’s next for coworking? Space founders and users weigh!in”
CNN Money“What’s next for coworking? Space founders and users weigh!in”
Venture Beat“An Alternative to Incubators: Coworking”
Freelance Switch“How Freelancers Can Network Better at Coworking Spaces”
Financial Times“The Lure of the Water Cooler”
For more info: CoworkingGuide.com
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