Week 25, 2022

Nadia Vatalidis, who is a VP of People at Remote, shares why she was felt underwhelmed working from a coworking space in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Whilst it’s lovely to hear what folks like/love about coworking spaces, I find it’s always insightful to see why anyone doesn’t enjoy or benefit from the experience. Key factors that detracted from her working day: cost, rules around calls and access to private call space, distractions, traffic. Also interesting to read the many responses so far.

Phil Kirschner shares an article by Jennifer Stanley and Julia McClatchy that digs into why remote sales is here to stay (spoiler: because it works, very very well).

Touting increased number of accounts reached (4x) and up to 50% more revenue generated, we may be seeing more sales professionals shifting to remote work.

As operators of spaces who could host these sales professionals, how can you take advantage of this opportunity? More phone booths, better acoustics, sales-friendly rooms/areas or floors?

Kate Jones shares that in Australia, coworking spaces and commercial office landlords are "battling it out" for the same sets of business. The latter are offering shorter leases, collaboration spaces and many have opened up their own flex brands. In response coworking spaces are lowering their rates to beat the lower prices offered by landlords on longer lease terms.

The piece also notes two interesting stats. According to Rubberdesk, vacancies rates dropped 5.2% at flex spaces across Australia in Q4/21, whilst national vacancy rates for commercial offices rose to 12.1% in the six months to Jan 2022.

Jeremy Bamberg, from Factory, shared a post arguing that operational real estate projects need "Founder Brands" – identifiable leaders with faces and voices behind developments – rather than generic corporate branding with logos and marketing materials. He references Dave Gerhardt’s book "Founder Brand" and suggests that while real estate branding includes fresh logos, brochures, and renamed addresses, most brands feel empty without a clear leader to represent them.

The post argues that valuable real estate projects in coming decades will be known for great stories told by real people rather than architecture or marketing, questioning who takes media interviews and serves as the brand representative when opportunities arise.

Looking at coworking, we have to agree given the strong personal brands of so many of you leaders. But… we think there’s even more fantastic personal brands within the ranks of many amazing coworking brands.

CEO of Flexspace AI, Eyal Lasker, shared insights on meeting room revenue optimization, emphasizing the balance between maximizing booked hours and increasing hourly rates – rather than focusing on either metric independently. Their approach focuses on understanding the interplay between occupancy rates and pricing to hit what the company calls the "sweet spot" for revenue maximization.

How to balance pricing and occupancy is a big part of our upcoming Undercurrents edition that deep-dives into the whats, hows, whos, whys and why nots of Dynamic Pricing for coworking spaces.

Natasha Guerra, CEO at Runway East, shared a summary of a (unfortunately and frustratingly paywalled) piece by CoStar that delves into what the "flight to quality" actually means from an operational perspective.

"It’s not just about who has the newest or most expensive building – it’s about how the operator brings it to life." Yes, Natasha! Yes!

Your coworking space and brand need a clear voice and perspective. Otherwise, you’ll get lost in the noise or, even worse, come off as generic and boring. Cat Johnson shares 8 useful strategies you should definitely note down.

The Lackawanna Arts Initiative officially launches June 21 at historic Lackawanna Station in Montclair, NJ, transforming an abandoned shopping center into a free, seven-day-a-week community arts hub. The space features over a dozen large-scale murals and installations from internationally renowned street and graffiti artists including Jerkface, D*Face, Steve ESPO Powers, and Yok & Sheryo, alongside local artists and rotating exhibitions.

BDP Holdings, led by CEO David Placek, owns the property with Michael Dubin serving as Senior Director of Art, Culture & Lifestyle, while creative partners include Gardenship (a 501c3 artist residency), Keep Creating (art wellness center), and Ria Framing & Gallery. The initiative also launched an open call for regional artists in partnership with Studio Montclair and offers programming including artist residencies, live painting events, and weekend maker markets.

Simone Franke dives into community-building and it’s impact on attracting new members for coworking spaces in this Q&A post.

ALCOVE has partnered with Hilton Brooklyn to install a premium soundproof pod in the hotel lobby. The 4×7′ pod (soundproof up to 30 decibels) features an adjustable sit-stand desk, second monitor, ergonomic leather chair, and multi-fan ventilation.

Reservations available in 15-minute increments through the ALCOVE app. The pod launches June 23 at the Boerum Hill location owned by Ohana Real Estate Investors and will operate seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Mathias Vanluchene shared with me that their coworking space, Locus Workspace, are organizing Nomad Month to bring remote workers from across the world to work alongside each other in Prague. The idea is to provide attendees with a local experience, a global network and an all inclusive offer of somewhere to stay, work and connect between August 20th and September 16th.

I love seeing initiatives like this, and think there’s a lot of collaboration that can happen between operators serving remote and nomadic workers. If you’d like to reach out the Mathias and the Locus team to discuss ideas, there’s some links at the bottom of their site to get in touch. But don’t forget to let me know how you get on, so I can share that with the global TWIC community too!

Anne Olsen from The Shop Workspace makes the case that in a world where everyone is (rightfully) optimizing their systems and processes for sales, growth and efficiency – the systems that build, reward and grow emotional intelligence and community bonds shouldn’t be left behind. Some pro-tips shared are keeping a running doc of member moments and milestones, or adding prompts into your CRM to follow up after life changes.

"The soft stuff? It’s the hardest to do well and the most important to get right!" Yeaaap!

Neil Usher highlights one of the major questions that are asked in coworking, which is “who is your coworking space for?”. The answer to this changes from person-to-person and it may seem like there is no clear and concise answer. However, we are able to figure out the importance of the spaces we have and how they are able to evolve to fit into today’s society.