Gone Nomad? Try Coworking.

http://www.zetetic.net/blog/2009/12/30/gone-nomading-try-coworking

by billymeltdown • 17 years ago

45 15 17 years ago

I was one of two founders of a co-working effort in my area. Although I later left the project, it was successful in that it's still active, still profitable, and has brought people together from diverse backgrounds and helped them to form long-lasting business relationships.

Best of all, productivity definitely does go up in a good co-working environment.

I highly recommend doing this.

timdorr2• 17 years ago

Note: I founded and operate Ignition Alley here in Atlanta: http://www.ignitionalley.com/

Despite the bias, I do have to agree whole-heartedly with the article. Coworking is about two things: productivity and community.

It's insanely productive to work among others, particularly like-minded, self-motivated individuals. We've got a library of books here, but I get way more value out of the people. Right in front of me, I've got a group discussing and learning about Chef. In just an hour or two of discussing, I've gotten all the knowledge of a full 500 page book. It's that much faster! Every single day I've been here, I've either given or gotten help from others that has saved us significant amounts of time. It's highly motivating.

The other equally big aspect is community. I didn't know who to go to for PR or marketing before we opened up. Now I know 3-4 people. The same goes for designers, programmers, business folks, etc. And I now know about a dozen or so really interesting projects going on in the area. I've struck up a major business deal with another member of the space. Business is booming!

Coworking is the real-world extension of the communities we've built in the virtual world. It's an incredibly motivating and highly rewarding concept.

My only regret is that I wish I had started this project 2 years ago!

billymeltdown3• 17 years ago

Well said, sir! I ought to have emphasized the community aspect more in the blog post, it's really the critical part.

jtnak• 17 years ago

cow orking? sounds fun

loganfrederick• 17 years ago

Coworking spaces continue to grow in popularity where I live (Columbus, OH).

I've found that the actual amount of quality work done in these spaces isn't that high, and the spaces tend to be used more as a casual gathering space for different startups in the city to meet each other.

The two leaders in the area are Sandbox Columbus (http://sandboxcolumbus.com/) and Qwirk (http://qwirkcolumbus.com/).

billymeltdown3• 17 years ago

That's interesting. I have friends in Toronto who do a Rails' Pub Night that has a similar purpose (casual gathering space for Rails-oriented startups), but we're pretty quiet and focused in our space (Wburg Coworking) unless it's beer-o-clock.

timdorr2• 17 years ago

Sounds like something's gone wrong if you're not being productive when using the space. How often do you go there? It might have to do with the frequency of seeing others. There's going to be a certain amount of showing off when you see someone you haven't seen in a while and hasn't seen this cool new thing you've been working on. But that wears off after meeting up for a few days in a row.

Today I coded a new feature for my latest startup, gave a tour of the space to some people, learned about Chef and how I can use it for my fleet of servers, fixed some major bugs for clients, did some estimates for potential customers, installed a few Drupal modules. And I've only been here since noon.

It's all in how you use the space.

andrewcooke• 17 years ago

this motivated me to search for info on coworking here in santiago, chile. i've posted to the obvious hit on search results and also sent an email to someone else i found via blog comment, but thought i might post here too on the off chance someone is local...? if so, please email me (see profile)

bioweek• 17 years ago

Any advice on starting a coworking space in the DC suburbs? Where can I locate cofounders, what skills should they have? How much capital should I expect to need?

I think this is going to be a huge industry in 10 years and I'd love to get in on the ground floor somehow.

billymeltdown3• 17 years ago

I'd say the coworking wiki is not a bad place to start for reference and to get in touch with folks who have founded spaces themselves:

http://coworking.pbworks.com/

I haven't personally founded a space, just adopted one ;-)

llimllib• 17 years ago

Talk to Dave Troy, he founded the Beehive in Baltimore and could fill you in on the details and his experiences so far:

http://beehivebaltimore.org/

http://davetroy.com/?p=599

There's an email address on the beehive page or drop me an email and I'll hook you up.

(I work next to, not in, the beehive)

flogic• 17 years ago

Cute idea. I had a different idea of "nomad" before I RTFA. I was thinking nomad as in travelling around the country/world as you work. That would be really cool.

ced• 17 years ago

A number of people are doing this already (technomads). I am, and yeah, loneliness is an issue. I always live with flatmates to alleviate it, but I still don't have anyone to speak with about science or technology. Thank god for the web...

bd_at_rivenhill• 17 years ago

I work from home, and coworking sounds nice, but I have the problem that I never seem comfortable at the same temperature as others. Basically, when I'm comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt, everybody else is sweating and ready to strip down to their underwear. It wouldn't bother me quite as much if I was only cold in the winter, but everybody turns the air conditioning up in the summer and I end up wearing a pullover all year around.

Does anybody else have this (or the opposite) problem? I'd love to have an office with a "hot" zone and a "cold" zone. In fact, vent the machine room waste heat directly into my office and I'll be perfectly happy.

rw140• 17 years ago

Same problem. I blame the male bias in computing for producing lower average room temperatures.

Gone Nomad? Try Coworking.

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