Coworking in the region

Two months have passed since our coworking center earned. Half a year ago, reading interviews and materials, in which the idea that co-working in the region was often met was not a sufficiently profitable business, doubts still arose. But now, when you look at master classes taking place in coworking, on satisfied customers, you definitely feel joy and pride. Especially when it comes to the realization that people really come, come here to work.

So, how it all began

It all began in the spring of 2015 with conversations at work. Colleagues discussed the format of coworking, and at that time I did not even know what that word was. It seems that colleagues did not know the definition, but briefly told me what was happening. After that, like crazy, I started to google absolutely everything on this topic. I came across the news about the opening of the coworking center in Samara and went there to see with my own eyes this new for me format of work. And you know what happened when I went to this coworking? Unhealthy desire to make another one - your own!



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The atmosphere in the center was indescribable. But in order to get such sensations from my future clients, I began to study the nuances and possible risks. To do this, I went to Moscow, at that time such places in the capital were quite popular: “Workstation” (in Gorky Park), “Start Hub” (in the Flacon Design Plant), and the state co-working HLW. After talking with representatives of these centers, I began to write a business plan and develop a design project. Later, I presented the developments to several investors, some of whom were willing to finance my ideas.

Team

In the team, the main thing was to correctly assign the tasks. I was looking for a person interested in the topic of coworking development in Samara and sociable in the field of business partnership. The latter was necessary, because in Samara the consumer market had to be created by ourselves, because in our city the image of the consumer did not have time to completely emerge.

One of my main partners is Yevgeny Lukin. This person turned out to be quite experienced in the implementation of business projects and, besides, a young, easy-going and ready-to-risk employee. Since the beginning of August, he has already joined the work, began to work out options for cooperation with organizations and institutions of the city. And he constantly panicked during the repair, for example, why the socket was being made for so long.



And when a month remained until the end of the repair, Eugene and I actively conducted interviews with future administrators. The main question was, of course, in the understanding of the co-working format itself. Surprisingly, basically all the applicants were aware of the events, so from almost a dozen excellent candidates we chose two of the best, most responsible girls (ON OUR VIEW).

Repairs

Ohhhhh, repair in our coworking is a separate topic of conversation. First of all, we hired a designer, Evgenia Zub, whose works are notable for non-standard solutions and immediately went to look at the premises in the “Tower” (in this business center we opened co-working, besides “Tower” is our partner). After all, "Perimeter" should be in harmony with the general space of the business center and no less presentable. The design turned out fresh, stylish, at the same time, properly ozonized and quite serious. In principle, the repair went in the pace of a given plan. But force majeure happened. 4 days before the opening of the "Perimeter", literally at the entrance to the business center, the workers told us about the death. It turned out that the glass partition, which we had been waiting for a long time (and which was very expensive), died. For the first time, the panic of Eugene justified itself. We shouted reminded workers of the opening date. A new storefront was installed on the night before the opening.

Opening

Any new business requires an information wave. And, as they say, from the flap of a butterfly wing somewhere a tsunami could begin. Actually, on this principle, we went. The discovery made available to everyone, among the guests were not only businessmen and media representatives, there were people here who were able to create an information wave, even if it was through word of mouth. It was necessary for the city to find out that in Samara it was not a new cafe or dumplings that was opened, but co-working, and the largest private co-working in the city. In principle, the information wave has gone and is still going on.

Epilogue

Now we are watching how Samara accepts coworking. In the first month of work, we showed financial results (not zero), which gives us confidence that we have opened a truly necessary and interesting place. No one knows how things will be in the future. There are personal feelings: it is difficult to promote coworking, but it seems that we have begun to make it.