Before opening your office ...
As can be seen from the dynamics of this blog, quite a few guys have now begun to try themselves in the topic of “coworking”. This is great :) In a crisis, by the way, co-working works with a bang, so I believe that they will succeed.
In support decided from time to time to throw on Habr information from our English-speaking colleagues. By the way, I want to say: guys, do not shun the communities coworking.pbwiki.com and groups.google.com/group/coworking ! There communicate people who have already gone through all your difficulties 2-3 years ago. Both Newman and Messina communicate there; there is one very interesting PhD co-working evangelist who writes a dissertation on this movement. I do not remember my name, but you will find.
The first piece of information: the answer from the unfriendly guy from Worchester to a simple question like "is it best to start?" IMHO, quite useful.
')
Free translation.
How do those who try themselves in coworking begin? It is clear that many use the analysis of the real estate market to estimate the approximate income from the new office. But interestingly: does anyone use marketing methods to search for potential coworkers and convenient places to collect them?
Kelly Brown, a freelancer from Worcester, Massachusetts, became interested in co-working before deciding to take action on the market. He began research in October 2008 and today has made an opinion on a number of marketing methods. We took an interest in its results. Here is the (free) translation of his letter:
1. Before opening your office, show more responsibility and first try to understand where in your city there are most of all people who are potentially ready to join, and which rooms in this area are convenient for this.
2. Social networks, both online and offline, are very effective. This is the best method in terms of getting results with minimum costs. Any online social sphere with geo-targeting in your region - and you will like a magnet to attract quite talkative participants who will help to make an objective opinion on it. They will tell friends, family - and there will definitely be someone else who knows someone who knows who is currently working at home and is a potential coworker.
3. Very good response from the local press, both large and not so. Coworking is a rather “sexy”, “hot” topic. Especially at this time, in today's economy, in which more and more people start their own business, or at least earn money. But be sure to get closer with local business journalists, ask their opinion, ask for a tip: they have a lot of information and tons of contacts of people who can help you, this is much more serious and important than just a magazine article.
4. Local forums. Not immediately, but still we found a couple of forums that were very similar to the place to publish and store all sorts of interesting stem pieces. If you can join such a forum - great; This is the best way to access its email database. I'm not talking about spam - BUT, if you plan an event and throw yourself on crackers and beer (which will cost you, for example, $ 100) - you will get people who, at least, will not leave without listening to you the end. Honestly, it was after such events, if you make them “cool” for the guys, new people actually come - simply because someone KNEW someone who is interested in the topic, and gave him the news.
5. If you have a website - fill it with information and promote, promote, promote to attract attention and collect feedback. A good site will bring you closer to getting new members.
6. Go around all the cafes in the area and conduct surveys. I arranged two schoolchildren for this (my nephew and niece), and they interviewed all the people sitting in the cafe without a laptop. By offering $ 5th gift cards for the answers to our survey, we 1) got a lot more real market knowledge, 2) probably get some good customers. Try to conduct polls in the form of a game and not bother anyone - because people have their own affairs, and you must show respect to them. If you buy a person a cup of coffee, in gratitude for the time spent, in general, it is perceived very cool. But I would advise you to interview, weekly, no more than 4-6 people in each cafe.
7. Generate events. “Community, community, community,” as Alex Hillman says. We found that the publication of news, events, events, conversations
with interesting people telling about themselves - all this attracts people very well. I know that many are trying to understand the market, communicating with Jelly or Biznik. Forget about it. Better reserve a conference room and periodically collect at least part of your audience for meetings, conferences and seminars. You can crowd in the park, or in a cafe, or a bar with Wi-Fi, and similar places.
8. Do not try to use Direct Mail. We tried. It was a disaster.
- Kelly Brown, 2009
coworking@googlegroups.com
In support decided from time to time to throw on Habr information from our English-speaking colleagues. By the way, I want to say: guys, do not shun the communities coworking.pbwiki.com and groups.google.com/group/coworking ! There communicate people who have already gone through all your difficulties 2-3 years ago. Both Newman and Messina communicate there; there is one very interesting PhD co-working evangelist who writes a dissertation on this movement. I do not remember my name, but you will find.
The first piece of information: the answer from the unfriendly guy from Worchester to a simple question like "is it best to start?" IMHO, quite useful.
')
Free translation.
How do those who try themselves in coworking begin? It is clear that many use the analysis of the real estate market to estimate the approximate income from the new office. But interestingly: does anyone use marketing methods to search for potential coworkers and convenient places to collect them?
Kelly Brown, a freelancer from Worcester, Massachusetts, became interested in co-working before deciding to take action on the market. He began research in October 2008 and today has made an opinion on a number of marketing methods. We took an interest in its results. Here is the (free) translation of his letter:
1. Before opening your office, show more responsibility and first try to understand where in your city there are most of all people who are potentially ready to join, and which rooms in this area are convenient for this.
2. Social networks, both online and offline, are very effective. This is the best method in terms of getting results with minimum costs. Any online social sphere with geo-targeting in your region - and you will like a magnet to attract quite talkative participants who will help to make an objective opinion on it. They will tell friends, family - and there will definitely be someone else who knows someone who knows who is currently working at home and is a potential coworker.
3. Very good response from the local press, both large and not so. Coworking is a rather “sexy”, “hot” topic. Especially at this time, in today's economy, in which more and more people start their own business, or at least earn money. But be sure to get closer with local business journalists, ask their opinion, ask for a tip: they have a lot of information and tons of contacts of people who can help you, this is much more serious and important than just a magazine article.
4. Local forums. Not immediately, but still we found a couple of forums that were very similar to the place to publish and store all sorts of interesting stem pieces. If you can join such a forum - great; This is the best way to access its email database. I'm not talking about spam - BUT, if you plan an event and throw yourself on crackers and beer (which will cost you, for example, $ 100) - you will get people who, at least, will not leave without listening to you the end. Honestly, it was after such events, if you make them “cool” for the guys, new people actually come - simply because someone KNEW someone who is interested in the topic, and gave him the news.
5. If you have a website - fill it with information and promote, promote, promote to attract attention and collect feedback. A good site will bring you closer to getting new members.
6. Go around all the cafes in the area and conduct surveys. I arranged two schoolchildren for this (my nephew and niece), and they interviewed all the people sitting in the cafe without a laptop. By offering $ 5th gift cards for the answers to our survey, we 1) got a lot more real market knowledge, 2) probably get some good customers. Try to conduct polls in the form of a game and not bother anyone - because people have their own affairs, and you must show respect to them. If you buy a person a cup of coffee, in gratitude for the time spent, in general, it is perceived very cool. But I would advise you to interview, weekly, no more than 4-6 people in each cafe.
7. Generate events. “Community, community, community,” as Alex Hillman says. We found that the publication of news, events, events, conversations
with interesting people telling about themselves - all this attracts people very well. I know that many are trying to understand the market, communicating with Jelly or Biznik. Forget about it. Better reserve a conference room and periodically collect at least part of your audience for meetings, conferences and seminars. You can crowd in the park, or in a cafe, or a bar with Wi-Fi, and similar places.
8. Do not try to use Direct Mail. We tried. It was a disaster.
- Kelly Brown, 2009
coworking@googlegroups.com
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/52301/
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