C4 Workspace

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!

Lisa Barone at Outspoken Media has some great tips for coworkers and coffee shoppers alike. A summary below but heck, go read the whole thing. Don’t miss the comments. There’s some great stuff there too.

• Bring headphones
• Curb chatterboxes
  • A chatterbox you brought with you
  • A chatterbox that works there
  • A chatterbox at the next table
• Be selective about your space
• Get around…but have a steady
• Make friends with the owners/workers
• Eat & drink often
  • Also, don’t forget to tip.
• Know when to go
• Don’t be “that guy”

Well, we beat out natural disasters and political scandals and made the 10 o’clock news last Wednesday night (July 14). It’s sweeps month and KSAT 12 reporter David Sears came over to get a cool, local human interest story. And what could be more human of interest than coworking?

(Here’s a link to the story on the KSAT 12 site.)

Thanks to Debbie, Regina, Erik , Drew and Key for the cameos!

Oh, this is too easy.

One of our cohorts in NYC Joe Raby from Sunshine Suites takes this on in Mashable. “Why <does> Co-Working Makes Sense for Small Businesses“? Got me stumped. Haven’t heard one good argument yet.

Yet San Antonio clings to the coffee shops. When was the last time your barista solved a technology problem for you? Or shared a referral. I’m just saying.

Give it a read and then consider what coworking could do for you.

There are so many different kinds of workers: cube dwellers, telecommuters, coffee shoppers, work at homes and of course coworking folk.

CNN Living covered this in an article, “Working in ‘Wi-Fi’ limbo“, a few months back and we thought we would dig it up.

Which one are you? Why do you like that over something else?

And does work Purgatory exist?

Discuss.

The coworking space network is pretty active. We talk, converse and exchange ideas and resources. This blog post, “Five Advantages of Coworking For Freelancers“, popped up from one of my Twitter contacts, @MoBevy a coworking space in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Call this evidence, call this a testimonial, whatever. This coworking thing just works. Come on down and give it a try!

So, I “worked” SXSWi, putting together a docudemo (that’s my word!) So I didn’t get to do the Panel experience. Some of my best friends are panelists. The panel I was most interested in was the Future of Work panel moderated by Clay Spinuzzi from UT Austin. (Also on the panel was soon-to-be-opened-coworking-space-catalyst Liz Elam from Linked.

I had lunch with Liz after the panel and she kept talking about the guy from oDesk. Here’s a blog post that I think is explains oDesk’s general view toward coworking. I don’t necessarily agree with their basic premise which is “Work is not a place!”. And therefore you don’t have to be in one place to work. I agree with that. I think their not too subtle subtext is that anyone can work for anyone from anywhere; the ultimate virtual worker. Which just happens to be what oDesk does – find  virtual workers and work for virtual workers.

But when you want to or need to what better place than a coworking space. Like, uh, [unsubtle subtext] C⁴ Workspace?

What do you think?

We met Clay Spinuzzi a few months ago at the first meeting of the Texas Coworking Coalition. Clay teaches Rhetoric at UT Austin and hosted a panel at SXSWi called “The Future of Work.”

After his panel, Amanda Congdon from sometimesdaily.com interviewed him about his panel topic and coworking in general. This is probably the best interview I’ve seen about coworking and how it relates to the today’s work world.

We’ll be bringing Clay down for a panel with some of our economic development friends on the future of work in San Antonio.  Stay Tuned!

This started as a response to Deanne Cuellar’s comment on the Open Letter post, But it got long and seemed post-worthy. She asked about prices. So let me ‘splain.

All plans require an annual membership for $50 which gets you two Daily Desk passes so membership only costs you $10.

Conference room is FREE to all members if no one is using it unless you need to hold it for an appointed time. Then it’s $25.00 an hour. We rent the conference room to the public so paid gigs get some level of preference.

Community Space is FREE to Residents since they have 24/7 access, $25 an hour with a 2 hour minimum for all other members. Same deal as the conference room; we rent the Space to the public so paying gigs take preference. If Residents charge for an event then we treat that as a rental.

We can work deals with students, study groups, etc.

C⁴ Workspace is a community resource but we need revenue to keep it going.

Thanks everyone for your support!