Category Archives: Coworking

Top 10 Tricks for Working While On-The-Go [Lifehacker]

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Do you follow Lifehacker? If not, you should. This is a great list of tips for all you coworking, mobile, digital nomadic warriors. Check out the full post here.

10. Coil Your Cables Properly
9. Keep Your Bag Organized
8. Learn to Be Productive at Coffee Shops
7. Try Using an Ultra-Portable Tablet Instead of Your Laptop
6. Turn a Flash Drive into a Portable Privacy Toolkit
5. Keep Your Workflow in Sync Across Computers
4. Get the Most Out of Your Batteries
3. Anything Can Be Used as Extra Storage
2. Make Sure You’re Never Without Internet
1. Keep Your Stuff From Getting Stolen (And Know How to Get it Back if it Does)

I carry a 6 foot extension cord I bought from a Walgreen’s in San Francisco a few years ago. I cut off the little nub above the plug so my three prong cord would plug in. (You do not have to go to San Francisco to get one, although I highly recommend it.) Oh, and my Kensington cable lock so I don’t have to carry my laptop into the bathroom with me.

Coworking and Lawyers

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We’ve had good intentions of stalking new lawyers coming out of St. Mary’s Law. Yeah, yeah, road to hell and all…

Anyway, snagged this interesting post, “Coworking for Lawyers: First Impressions” from the Coworking Google group. It was created by a lawyer who was working out of Indy Hall, Philly’s premier coworking space. Indy Hall was co-founded by Alex Hillman, who could be described somewhat accurately as a coworking godfather. (Hey, yo! Jersey’s just across the river!)

And now…the gratuitous lawyer joke. (I grew up in NJ and spent a while in California.)

Why does California have the most attorneys, and New Jersey have the most toxic waste dumps?

New Jersey got first pick.

(from http://www.lawyer-jokes.us/)

And fuhgeddaboutit. I’m from Jersey, I make the Jersey jokes.

Collaborative Consumption?

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C4 Workspace member Deanne Cuellar passed along this article form Change Observer blog. The Age of Coworking: Collaborative Consumption for the Creative Community looks at coworking as  a component of the “shift from an ownership economy to an economy of sharing.” Hmm. A movement as part of a movement. Check out this quote.

The shift from an ownership economy to an economy of sharing has been one of the most important movements of the past few years – a concept most eloquently captured in Rachel Botsman’s notion of collaborative consumption. From car- and bike-sharing to bookcycling reading clubs, the decentralization of resources is enabling us to have more by owning less — because, as Kevin Kelly puts it, “access trumps possession.” So far, however, the majority of this resource-sharing has been experienced on the individual level: though enabled by a community of car-sharers, your ride in a ZipCar is no different and no less solitary than a ride in any other car. But an emerging groundswell is bridging shared resources and shared experience by taking collaborative consumption to a promising new frontier: The workplace.

So, what do you think? Leave a comment whydoncha?

A Coworking Manifesto

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Here’s a page out of the Coworking playbook. Actually it’s the Manifesto page off the Gangplank Coworking website in Chandler, AZ.

It’s a brilliant definition for C4 Workspace or any coworking space. What do you think?

(The bold emphasis is mine.)

We are a group of connected individuals and small businesses creating an economy of innovation and creativity in the Valley. We envision a new economic engine comprised of collaboration and community, in contrast to the silos and secrecy left by the dependence on tourism and land development.

We have the talent. We just need to work together. Different environments need to overlap, to connect and to interact in order to transform our culture. In order to create a sustainable community based on trust, we value:

  • collaboration over competition
  • community over agendas
  • participation over observation
  • doing over saying
  • friendship over formality
  • boldness over assurance
  • learning over expertise
  • people over personalities

This new economy cannot thrive without engaging the larger business, creative, entrepreneurial, governmental, and technical communities together.

We believe that innovation breeds innovation. We will transform the Valley culture into one supportive of the entrepreneurial spirit, of risk taking, of pioneering into the unknown territories as the founders of our municipalities once did. This requires education, entrepreneurship and creative workspaces.

To Profit or Not to Profit

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[This post was started 2 weeks after C4 Workspace opened in June 2009. It was intended to explain how the space worked and how it needed to operate.]

I started coworking because I like working with other people and I have found that I don’t like working alone at home. So, when I heard about the coworking concept I thought “This is for me!” Coworking seemed like just the place I was looking to work in. Not only a workstyle I wanted to adopt but a “place”. A place to work in for a long time.

To stereotype myself I am not a typical coworking space catalyst or owner. After working professionally for 25 years I think of myself at mid career. To stereotype a bit, most coworking space catalysts are older Gen Y. You might say “hipsters.” So, now back to the whole profit thing.

Profit for Purpose

In order to work in a coworking space for a long time it needs to be like a perpetual motion machine. It needs to sustain itself over time through the actions of the community. Coworking spaces are not like any other traditional business investment, at least not the typical “I want my return as soon as possible; did my investment go up in value and/or deliver dividends this quarter, this month, this week, in the last hour.” It is, and can only be, a long term investment in the community.

Not One Business

It is many businesses together. It has much more in common with a co-op or an incubator. The “profit and loss” formula should be nearly break even, with just enough profit to fund larger capital improvements.

Many businesses. Working together. Collaboration is one of the core coworking values.

Coworking spaces that fully embrace the value of community are not owned by anyone. They may be funded by individuals and other sources but they are “owned” by the community.

How C4 Workspace Got/Gets Its Groove On

It was funded by three people: Todd O’Neill, Debbie Curtis and Perla Escobar.

It was created by : Steve Vanderver, Chris McDermott, Regina Villalobos, Dan Hong, Bo Lora, Bob Hotard, Erik Bosse, Patti Porter, the Blevin family, the Price family and many others.

It is hosted day-to-day by Debbie Curtis, and marginally, Todd O’Neill, and all the other people working in the space.

Its is sustained by Resident members Calley Gonzalez, Stacy Pape, Todd O’Neill, the Media Justice League; Coworker members Sofia Parafina, Knowbility, Susana Canseco and Brandon Seale; and regular Daily Desk folks like Patti Porter, Brian Dopp and others.

So you see there are a lot of moving parts.

ROI of C4 Workspace?

Does a return on investment exist for a coworking space? If it is sustainable, yes. Part of the overhead expense goes to repaying the initial capital with an agreed return. So that’s either a loan or an investment, depending how you look at it and how it was structured. The bigger picture here is it a sustainable member of the community?

Can a sustainable coworking space, that embraces the core values of collaboration and community, exist in San Antonio? That story is being told.

It is important for San Antonio that this coworking story has a happy ending. Not just a happy ending for the “Northern Wedge” but for the entire city.

Survey Says!

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Deskmag did an international survey of coworkers about why they like the coworking space the work in. A total of 661 people from 24 countries took part in the survey.

Here’s the numbers.

  • 85% said they are more motivated
  • 88% said they have better interaction with other people
  • 57% now work in teams more often
  • 60% organize their working day better so they can relax more at home
  • 42% of all coworkers report earning a higher income since joining a coworking space (only 5% suffer from a loss of income.)
  • 54% said the price was exactly right
  • 21% think it was a little high but still fair
  • 20% of respondents would be willing to pay a little more
  • 6% said it was too expensive

So, you could sum this up like this. Coworking enables:

  • Motivation
  • Interaction
  • Teamwork
  • Organization
  • Relaxation

While at the same time helping you earn more at a cost that is fair.

If we did a survey like this in San Antonio do you think we would see the same kinds of results? Let us know in the comments.

p.s. Support Your Local Coworking Space!

More Than a Rented Desk

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Here’s something to get your New Year started. The operative word is “New”.

“Coworking for Your Small Business is More Than a Rented Desk“ is a post from a favorite company, Outright.com. (We use Outright for our C4 Workspace bookkeeping and I use it at DoingMedia as well.)

Read the whole article but here’s the themes:

  • Coworking is Community
  • Coworking is Collaboration
  • Coworking is Commerce

Hmm, just like our Four C’s!

So add coworking to your list of resolutions.

Coworking Across Texas

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The thing about coworking is that it is Everywhere!

C4 Workspace is the only space in San Antonio (right now). Austin just added their 8th space (that’s like more than 7, less than 9) and the first space in Austin just doubled it’s space. Dallas has six spaces from downtown to Flower Mound. The first space in Texas is Creative Space in Bryan, and they’re growing as well. And Houston checks in with 3 spaces.

C4 Workspace members can visit almost any space in Texas, or across the U.S., (or around the world for that matter) for free under the Coworking Visa program. So anywhere you go, there it is. Check out this map of over 400 spaces in the U.S. and around the world.

But before you travel around the world to cowork set a reminder to try it out first close to home. Work Solo, Not Alone.

Coworking? There’s an App for That!

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Yes!

Just read about this on the Coworking Google Group and I couldn’t wait until it got released!

Our coworking colleagues in San Francisco at Parisoma have created the iPhone Coworking App. It identifies over 394 coworking spaces around the world. They have just applied to the iTunes store and are awaiting approval. And…from the discussion on the Group an Android App has just been started.

The app will be uber handy while you’re traveling. In addition to mapping out spaces around the world it will also let you know which coworking spaces take part in the Coworking Visa program.

[The Coworking Visa program allows C4 Workspace members to work for free for up to 3 days at other participating spaces around the world.]

We’ll let you know when it hits the iTunes store!

Coworking as Political Platform Plank

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There is a large community of coworking space operators out here and we use the Coworking Google Group to stay in touch. Angel Kwiatkowski, the operator of the CoHere Coworking Community in Fort Collins, posted about this a week ago. Peter Carr, independent candidate for governor of Colorado, has added coworking as a plank in his platform. Cool.

Here’s his proposal about how coworking can stimulate business.

“I propose a merger of private entrepreneurs, coworkers, state business development officials and venture capitalists that will establish and maintain an incubator/coworking center in every county in Colorado. If you currently work in Denver or Boulder, I would encourage you to spend some time at a center, Colorado is a great place to see, and a week’s working vacation wouldn’t hurt. I”m a firm believer in “Pay it Forward”.

The centers would afford existing entrepreneurs currently working at home the ability to meet others, share ideas, and work in a far more conducive atmosphere.”

Pretty forward thinking if you ask me. Or it could be hot air. What do you think? Comment below!