One of the most common questions I hear from coworking space operators today is: I'm having trouble selling my flex desks and dedicated desks. Help!
Most coworking space operators can't be profitable without coworking revenue - they designed their product mix and therefore their pro forma, to include significant non-office revenue. They need to sell the open space memberships - maybe 2 or 3x over!
Here's a framework for working through your challenge:
1. Describe your Ideal Community Member in detail. Why do they work away from home? What do they do for work? What type of work space do they need? What problem does coworking solve for them?
2. Out of that group of ideal members, what is the profile of a member that would use mostly open space seating to get their work done?
3. Are they comfortable coming to your space? Are you providing the cues they need to see on your website, in your social media, newsletter, etc.?
4. How can you find them? How can you message to them so that they know you have a solution to their problem?
5. What creative ideas might you come up with to frame your open space options to make them more compelling? Can you attract a niche? Can you create more privacy using divider systems?
Everything Coworking Featured Resources:
Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space
Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective
I run a mastermind program for coworking operators called the “Flight Group.” Usually, what happens in the Flight Group stays in the Fight Group. But I thought it would be a good time of year to share a few nuggets from our Flight Group members to get you thinking about what you might pursue in your coworking business in 2022.
So I pulled together 10 nuggets or tips shared by our Flight Group members this year.
Here they are, in no particular order:
1. Close for the full week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
2. Charge setup fees.
3. Put urgency behind your email promotions.
4. Invest in your team - Think creatively about how to support them. sign them up for Community Manager University.
5. Use interns!
6. Steal my community manager, pay a finder’s fee.
7. Get an “Owl” for your meeting room.
8. Have a team office you can’t sell? Make it a shared private office of dedicated desks.
9. Focus on building your virtual office and digital mail program.
10. Test stuff and don’t be afraid to fail!
Everything Coworking Featured Resources:
Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space
Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective
Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:
Interested in joining our new membership for operators? Make sure you’re on our email list! Go to our home page and scroll to the bottom and enter your email address!
Miro Miroslavov is the CEO and Co-founder of OfficeRnD
He is also a GWA Board Member.
Miro joins us fro his home in Bulgaria.
OfficeRnD recently launched the FlexIndex. The FlexIndex is a novel composite index, that provides visibility into the flex space industry’s health, post-lockdown recovery, and global trends. The index is comprised of 5 components (or KPIs), which represent critical business aspects of both small and large flex operators.
In this episode, Miro and I talk about:
- An intro to to the FlexIndex
- What geographies are most represented in the data
- What we can expect from the FlexIndex
- How often it will be published
- Where to find it
- We'll walk through the 5 KPIs - what's being measuring, what the data says today and what insights we can draw from it
Everything Coworking Featured Resources:
Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space
Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective
Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:
Miro’s email address: if you have KPI requests: Miro@officernd.com
Link to show notes here
There are three reasons that coworking spaces should think about using virtual assistants:
1. To grow your own coworking business or to make your own business more sustainable without adding another full time team member.
2. To help your members do the same...and to help them to be more successful so that they can afford to continue to be members.
3. To consider offering a VA service to your members as an additional revenue stream.
Molly Rose Speed is the founder of Virtual Assistant Management, a Training and Placement company for Virtual Assistants.
In this episode, Molly and I talk about:
- Molly’s background - her “why” for starting her virtual assistant company
- The types of things VA’s can do for a business
- How a VA might contribute to a coworking business
- How coworking member companies might use a VA
- How to shift a resistant mindset from “I can’t afford to hire help” to “I can’t afford to not hire help.”
- How you know you're "ready" for a VA
- What if you don't have documented processes in place to help you train a VA?
- How the VA model works
- Integrating into team
Everything Coworking Featured Resources:
Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space
Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective
Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:
Download Molly’s Outsourcing Guide here
Hire a VA: www.virtualassistantmanagement.com
Becoming a VA: www.virtualassistantacademy.com
Learn more about Molly Rose: www.mollyrosespeed.com
https://www.instagram.com/mollyrosespeed/
Link to show notes here
In this series on “The New Rules of Engagement for Coworking Spaces,” we’re talking about what aspects of our coworking business we should examine.
Michael Abrams is my guest on the show. Michael has a deep background in real estate - as a landlord, developer and more recently in the flex office sector.
Michael is actively helping operators negotiate creative partnerships and shares his perspective and case studies.
Everything Coworking Featured Resources:
Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space
Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective
Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:
Here’s the course that Michael and I teach: Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective.
Link to show notes here