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?

Lunchtime Learning: Future of Work

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Tuesday, January 25 – 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

C4 Workspace, 108 King William Street 78204

Lunch included for RSVPs. RSVP Now.

What Will Work Look Like?

How will we be working? Where? What will that space look like? Who will be around us? Will anything be different?

Very likely.

This first C4 Workspace Lunchtime Learning Series session will look at tomorrow’s work styles, tomorrow’s workers and tomorrow’s workplace. Our three speakers will present and discuss the opportunities that the Future of Work will bring.

Clay Spinuzzi, Ph.D.

How Adhocracies Fit into the Future of Work

Clay will explore the world of kinetic organizations, new relationships and organizational forms and the “third place.”

Clay is an associate professor of rhetoric at The University of Texas at Austin.

Gina Schmidt

Harder Working Spaces

Gina will look at the key issues that businesses face today: enabling collaboration and teamwork, attracting and retaining the right talent, using the workplace as tool to build brand and reflect organizational culture.

Gina is a Workspace Consultant with Steelcase and a graduate of UTSA.

Todd O’Neill

It’s a Movement!: Coworking Around the World

Since 2005 coworking has grown from 0 to 600 space worldwide. Todd will look at what it is about this work style that appeals to so many people around the world.

Todd is the catalyst behind C4 Workspace, San Antonio’s first coworking space.


RSVP Now

This event made possible by:

Ways to Go and Pledge Rewards

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Thank you to Donald Wilcox, Mark Toppel, Martin Medina, Shelley Cook, Brian Dopp, Leticia Callanen, sonny parafina, Ricardo Reyna, R Erik Bosse, Joy-Marie Scott for pledging to support coworking in San Antonio.

We still have a ways to go. One of our members, Leticia Callanen from Clipboard Consulting, made good point on Facebook. If every one of our 725 Facebook Fans pledged just $10 we would meet our goal handily.

Three Ways to Help

Pledge Gifts Available

(I’ve always wanted to work for NPR!) Check them out below.

  • $ 10.00 One C4 Proud button
  • $ 25.00 One C4 Workspace “Work Solo Not Alone” T-shirt; One C4 Proud button
  • $ 50.00 One C4 Workspace “Work Solo Not Alone” T-shirt; One C4 Proud button; One pass for two to our Winter 2011 fundraisers.
  • $100.00 Two C4 Workspace “Work Solo Not Alone” T-shirts; Two C4 Proud buttons; One pass for two to our Winter 2011 fundraisers.
  • $250.00 Lifetime membership; Two C4 Workspace “Work Solo Not Alone” T-shirts; Two C4 Proud buttons; One pass for two to our Winter 2011 fundraisers.
  • $500.00 Lifetime membership; Partner logo on the website; Two C4 Workspace “Work Solo Not Alone” T-shirts; Two C4 Proud buttons; One pass for two to our Winter 2011 fundraisers.

Besides pledging how can you help?

Attend one our of fundraisers!

  • January 22 (Saturday) – Sneak Peek Benefit - food, drink, fun and …burlesque. Local burlesque troupe Stars and Garters will give us a “Sneak Peek” to their show on February 29 at the Jump Start Theatre. $10.00 donation at the door.
  • February 4 (Friday) – First Friday – C4 Workspace member Industry Screenprint will host an evening of screen print art and music. Come and screen print your own custom T-shirt! $10.00 donation at the door.

Stop Surviving and Start Thriving

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The following is an excerpt from Lawrence Jordan’s upcoming book, tentatively titled: If I’m So Good at What I Do, Why Does Business Stink So Bad?: How To Stop Surviving and Start Thriving as a Creative Professional in the New Economy.

I’m not going to mince words here, times are tough and this so called “recession” we’re in SUCKS. (Feels more like a depression, but hey, who are we to argue with the geniuses who quantify these things in Washington and on Wall Street?)

The following is a list of 10 techniques you can use right away to get started finding that coveted position or simply, more project work as a freelancer.

  • Build Yourself a Website
  • Build Yourself a Business Blog
  • Create a Business Page on Facebook
  • Create a Linked In Business Profile
  • Create a Business Twitter Account
  • Build Your “List” (or start one)
  • Create a Direct Mailing
  • Create a Referral Culture
  • Learn to Manage Your Time
  • Develop a Habit of Continually Educating Yourself

The rest at Ken Stone’s Final Cut Pro website.

So…can you check off all those items?

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.

Advice for Entrepreneurs…or Not

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I don’t make a habit of reposting items in total but this was too good to pass up. This is from TED Fellow Nitin Rao from MIT SLoan School. (I follow his Posterous feed.)

So, what do you do?

Make ‘The Idea’ Easy:

By defining the customer need yourself, because you know better
By not asking more questions, because you’re the ‘big picture’ person
By using your own use cases, because you are the average user
By rubbing it in to others about your sacrifice, because you’re better than them

Make ‘The Product’ Easy:

By doing something very different, because the current players got it all wrong
By outsourcing development, because you are better than tech
By betting it all on one campaign, because that’s what everybody is waiting for
By making it online, because we’re all headed to the cloud

Make ‘The Team’ Easy:

By not reaching out to potential advisors, because they may say No
By bringing to team first person who listens, because they are good enough right there
By not dropping the co-founder who’s not active, because they may be offended
By hiring the very best and doing it all, because anything less isn’t worth it

Make ‘The Money’ Easy:

By getting all the money you can now, because you’ll figure out an exit big enough
By not worrying about unit economics, because we’ll figure out these minor details
By giving each person a big company salary, but they may be too valuable
By making upfront payments, because you’re sure

Make ‘The Highs’ Easy:

By hogging the press, because others are just in it for the ride
By not letting go, because it seems to be working fine
By not investing in building trust, because nothing will change
By making everybody CXO, because, well, just because…

Make ‘The Lows’ Easy:

By blaming your team, because they had to be lazy
By not shutting down, because a pivot is around the corner
By not learning from mistakes, because, wait, what mistakes?
By not sharing your experience, because others will figure out themselves

… Or NOT

Nitin Rao | MIT Sloan School of Management | 1 617 470 5311 | http://leverageddabbler.com | @nitinbrao

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.