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✊ Coworking impact.
💰 Freelancer platform announces first cohort of impact grants #
Fiverr has selected five nonprofit and community-based organizations that are working diligently to empower freelancers, bridge skill gaps, foster collaboration, and enable global social impact.
The 5 organizations includes European Freelancers Week (#EFWeek) which is run by the European Coworking Assembly who will use the grant to establish an operational European org to represent freelancers in the European Parliament and further the work to safeguard their interests.
👉 Read this.
🌱 3 actions for hitting environmental goals #
Georgia Sandom from Office Space in Town shares the three steps that commercial property operators can follow to meet the environmental goals needed to be increasingly attractive in our sustainability-conscious world.
They are to measure, learn and do more. Which is a good reminder that "what gets measured, gets done".
👉 Read this.
Coworking news & views.
🧵 Megathread: What does WeWork bankruptcy mean?! #
I got a bunch of links related to the news of WeWork planning to file for bankruptcy submitted this week. Instead of sharing them each individually, I’m grouping them into one thread and discussion.
First was the Reuters piece who I believe scooped the news. This was followed by other outlets including the BBC. Discussions broke out across different groups, platforms and networks. Way too many to include them all, but some noteable threads worth reading are Nomadlist’s Pieter noting that coworking are a "hobby project for rich people if anything, sadly" and this reddit thread discussing the firms remarkable rise & fall in valuations.
But now over to you. How will this effect your business (if at all)? Seen a link/thread I’ve missed rounding up in here? Let us know in the TWIC discussion.
👉 Read this.
🛍️ Proof that workspace decisions are becoming retail-orientated #
Phil Kirschner shares that whilst hot desking at a coworking space, he noticed another guy scrolling the website of a different coworking brand.
"This is proof we are making retail-oriented decisions about where we work. So your (company’s) workplace cannot be the bad restaurant."
👉 Read this.
🕰️ What does it take to run a 24/7 coworking space? #
A look into how (and why) you could run a space that’s accessible 24/7. While nobody is recommending you fully staff your space for all-day and night access, more and more operators are enabling members to access their desks/offices/meeting rooms when the space isn’t necessarily staffed.
Even if you’re already doing this, the piece does look over some things you may want to double-check like security, maintenance and other considerations.
👉 Read this.
😱 The scariest halloween outfits (for coworking space owners) #
Cat Johnson shared one of my fav industry-related Halloween posts this week. In it she shares some scary costume ideas like the ‘dish ditcher’, ‘zoom shouter’, ‘phone booth camper’ and the dreaded ‘fork bandit’.
What’s your favorite? I feel seen by the ‘meeting room squatter’.
👉 Read this.
✋ Five things learned at the last Women In Flex event #
Laurie Dennard shares key takeaways from the recent Women In Flex event (a series hosted by Flexible Space Association in partnership with technologywithin) at Huckletree West.
Panelists Katrina Larkin, from TOG, Morgan Pierstorff from Newflex, Heather Murchie from Impact Working, Laura Walker from Orega and Cassie Nichols from Pure Offices noted that: Imposter syndrome affects everyone, returning from maternity leave is hard, there’s huge burn out risk in our sector, that conscious career planning definitely helps and the importance of matching personalities to job criteria.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
💵 Software co lands strategic growth investment #
OfficeRnD announced that Blue Star Innovation Partners have come in to support the firm with a strategic investment.
The announcement doesn’t state the amount being deployed or the valuation but does note that the "injection of capital, coupled with BSIP’s operational, software, and integrated payments expertise, will be instrumental in accelerating the speed of OfficeRnD’s business growth and product offering."
👉 Read this.
Coworking data.
🚀 52% of for-profit coworking spaces report profitability #
Deskmag just dropped their latest data set from the 2023 Global Coworking Survey.
Within the 49 page document, we learn a whole bunch. First, in 2023 52% of for-profit spaces reported being in the green, 27% were breaking even and 22% were unprofitable (compared to 45/29/26% respectively in 2019).
The average profit margin for the profitable spaces was 19.7% up from 17.4% in 2019.
The percentage of revenue generated from hot & fixed desk rentals dipped in 2023 to 29% (from 31% in 2019 and a high of 40% in 2016) as office rental revenue grew to 35% (up 5% from 2019) and meeting room revenue added a percentage point to 12% in 2023.
On the flipside, the percentage of average expenses spent on wages went up to 23% from 2019’s 17%, whilst rent still led the overheads at an average 34% of all expenses.
For my fellow data geeks, grab the full doc, it also looks at profitability by tenure, size, location, no. of members AND the problems affecting profitability.
What was your favorite, or most surprising stat? Let us know with a reply or by joining the open discussion.
👉 Read this.
👩💻 Two sets of meeting room data show underutilization #
Adam Blaskey compares Produktiv’s data from meeting rooms at leading flex space operators in London, to VergeSense’s Q3 Occupancy Intelligence Index from over 13k rooms in 45+ countries.
In short: large meeting rooms & boardrooms are not being used as intended, there’s a greater need for smaller collab spaces. Availability is often affected by meeting rooms used longer than booked, unbooked meetings, and booked rooms left unused.
👉 Read this.
Coworking market moves.
💼 FWS announces first managed location outside Texas #
Flex Workspace Solutions announced that they’ll be managing Venture X Holyoke, a business center with 65 fully furnished private offices.
👉 Read this.
🩺 U of U Center For Medical Innovation joins The Shop SLC #
The Shop Workspace is proud to announce its newest anchor tenant, University of Utah Center for Medical Innovation. The new downtown lab and office space will make it possible for CMI to host groups from across the industry to advance new medical technologies.
👉 Read this.
👑 Flex spaces fit for a King? #
Adam Blaskey shares that the property business of "HM The King and The Duke of Westminster" has launched not one, but two, flex space brands.
FlexByGrosvenor and Workplaces by The Crown Estate are interesting moves from two firms with 340 and 263 years of experience respectively.
👉 Read this.
🛟 Another firm launches flex advisory for landlords. #
Jamie Vine shares how Felix RE are helping landlords provide "flex" amenities to make tenant shortlists and attract corp occupiers.
This undercurrent trend of landlord-focussed flex solution providers will only grow as more office buildings expand their flex offerings, and others seek guidance for repurposing previously-operated flex spaces within their portfolios. As operators, this could create new competition for you, or open up whole new avenues of business opportunities.
👉 Read this.
🚗 The newest coworking perk? Teslas? #
Tobi Skovron shares the CreativeCubes have entered into a partnership with eco-focussed car-sharing platform Outbound to get their 4000 members access to a shared fleet, including a Tesla Model Y.
I’m bullish that perks and business benefits have still got a big place in helping workspaces and networks differentiate and reward members. But I founded included.co, so obviously I’d say that. If you agree though, let me know, as there are some changes happening over on that platform that may be a good fit for an entrepreneurial person or company.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Ashley Proctor of Coworking Canada joins the Coworking Values podcast to share her journey and how coworking spaces have evolved over the past 20 years.
Jamie Russo wlecomes Tricia Teague onto the Everything Coworking podcast to discuss small-town coworking and leveraging grants to support your space and/or members.
📆 Coworking events.
🇬🇧 GCUC UK #
Nov 2-3: GCUC returns to the UK. Use TWIC10 to get your discount and to get entered into the draw for an exclusive Power Hour session with Hector Kolonas and Emilie Lashmar.
👉 Read this.
📺 Online version of Coworking Canada #
Nov 8: Due to popular demand (and their commitment to accessibility) – Coworking Canada will be hosting an online version of the event November 8th with recordings from the IRL event plus some live discussions & interaction. Co-hosted by Ashley Proctor and Tony Bacigalupo! Tickets on sale Oct 20th.
👉 Read this.
