Week 47, 2022

I’m a firm believer that data, unexplored, leaves so many stories and actionable insights buried.

Since March 2022 I’ve been building a live data set of what links get clicked on (importantly: what, not by who) in TWIC newsletters. The idea was initially to quickly be able to see what kinds of news, views, tech updates, market moves, etc you want more of – without sending you surveys every few months – so that I can focus on curating content and resources that matters to you.

But, when looking at the data, another story also emerged. In this post I explore which industry content creators or brands hosted the content we all clicked on the most, and look at which social media platform seems to have wiped the floor with the others in our industry.

Sam Browne summarizes the recent v2 of the Secrets of the Algorithm report by Richard van der Blom on what helps or hurts the reach of posts on LinkedIn.

One of the biggest stories in our industry this week was the public acknowledgement from Allstate that it is doubling down on hybrid work. A quarter of the firm’s 54,000 employees who are based in cities like Atlanta, Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio – where there are between 100 and 1000 team members will get coworking access to gathering and working spaces via LiquidSpace.

For some background: Allstate has stated that "there’s no going back", slashing their annual spending on corporate offices from $382M in 2020 to $138M, reducing their office footprint from 12M sqft to 4M (numbers exclude their 7.1k local storefronts which are owned by individual agents).

Mike LaRosa shares a contrarian observation from the Coworking Europe conference. It appears that flexible workspace operators are further distancing themselves from using ‘coworking’ as a description for what they do, while more independent coworking operators are also stepping away from attending the conference due to the number of multi-location operators in attendance.

Mike’s take? Now more than ever, operators of all types of shared workspaces should be gathering, connecting and collaborating, rather than continuing to drive division due to what is or is not "coworking". Yes Mike!

Sophie Turnbull shares a news feature by BBC South into home working and why coworking is a good option for those people who want flexibility. Love seeing coworking spaces and brands on TV, but loooove seeing members sharing their stories and why they coworking even more.

Spacefully published a blog with analysis that reveals that common Google Ads keywords like "coworking space" and "rent office space" often attract irrelevant search results, such as garage rentals or unrelated services. This misalignment can lead to inefficient ad spending and reduced return on investment for coworking operators. To avoid this, check out the post for strategies on how best to refine your keyword strategies.

Koral Ibrahim shares that the most valuable asset, when it comes to property, is NOT square footage but.. perception.

He explores how perception is what actually drives people to want to live, work, visit (or avoid) and where community comes in as the lever you can use to shape it.

Andrew Yeung shares how two-dozen founders and VCs agree that "the dead internet is approaching". For those who browse happier parts of the internet, this theory is that eventually (probably soon) everything online will be bots talking to bots. We’re starting to see this on social media with posts, comments and reshares all being fully automated by a few too many ‘profiles’.

So what? Well Andrew notes that "BUT: the more digital life gets automated, the more valuable in-person life becomes." What’s more IRL than popping into a coworking space or two? Exactly!

Sarah Travers from Workbar shares that retention jumps 75% if you can keep a member past the 90-day mark.

Sarah put her money where her mouth is, and made the case to their CFO to give every new member 50% off their first 3 months, and then invest heavily into onboarding. After all "keeping a member makes far more financial sense than finding a new one".

Brian Distelburger, who founded billion-dollar co Yext, shares how and why he believes a gym in Manhattan will incubate more billion-dollar startups than most accelerators.

He details how it’s become founder central, filled with people taking calls from treadmills, closing deals at the juice bar, and running team meetings at communal tables. The gym (Chelsea Piers Fitness, btw) is also equipped with call rooms, open tables, good on-site food and costs just $275 p/month.

Guess it’ll be no surprise to see more gym-centric spaces like The Ministry and Life Time. In the meantime, see you at the gym?

Jeremy Bamberg asks if the "space as a service" term that was popularized by CRE thought-leaders a little while ago has (finally?) fallen out of favor?

What Jeremy thinks is the replacement term? "Operational Real Estate". Thoughts!?

Sravya Kurumella shares what it took for their team to convert an old hospital into a fully functional coworking space for WeWork India in Bangalore.

Editors Note: Given the divergent strategies and businesses, we’ve now split WeWork and WeWork India into their own contextual brand profiles.

The BBC reports that NYC is set to become the first cit in the US to implement a London-like congestion charge. The day-time toll for cars will be $9 in Manhattan below 60th Street, and will begin being enforced on January 5th 2025.

Should this be implemented, and stay in force, it could change where people are willing to drive, park and work around the city – in turn changing where great coworking spaces should exist or be created. We’re expecting to see even more spaces pop up around the perimeter of the congestion zone, with recent moves from local Industrious, WeWork and regional newcomers like The Shop.

Todd Linder shares why he loves coworking spaces (no hyphen, friend) with his 3000+ followers on LinkedIn.

(Spoiler: It’s hospitality. And he shares a lovely example from Joseph Fitton, Wayne Cooper, and Olivia Dooley at Roam)

Spacemade has announced double referral bonuses through the end of the year. The referral is paid out via either a gift card vendor or as a credit on the referring members’ own rent bill.

Spacemade founder Johnny Rosenblatt joined Hector for an insightful discussion on the TWIC podcast this week. Tune in to hear more about what makes Spacemade… well… Spacemade, and their unique approach to management agreements.

Digital nomad expert Goncalo Hall argues that traditional coworking spaces have shifted toward "co-offices," prioritizing profitability over the original coworking mission of idea-sharing and community-building. He suggests this transformation may mark the end of desk-rental coworking but believes the shift could ultimately better serve the needs of remote workers and communities.

A lot of chatter this week about what is or is not coworking and whether people care about what you call shared workspace. What say you? Let us know – tag us in your comments on social or the TWIC podcast!

How do you assess belonging in your coworking space? Cat Johnson digs into 12 questions from clinical psychologist Eileen Kennedy-Moore that can help.

Moore wrote them to help children figure out if a group is a good fit. But they’re applicable to us all and an interesting gauge of what’s happening in your community.

Leading up to the Coworking Symposium 2022, a scholarly conference on coworking and flexible workspaces the European Coworking Assembly sat down with event organiser, Marko Orel to discover all about the conference and what attendees can expect from this year’s event.

In "The Time Paradox: When Being Busy Keeps You Stuck," Keke Patissier from Koho explores how constant busyness can impede personal and professional growth. The article discusses the illusion of productivity that busyness creates, often leading individuals to neglect strategic planning and self-reflection. Patissier emphasizes the importance of prioritizing tasks that align with long-term goals over merely staying occupied. The piece offers practical strategies to break free from the cycle of busyness, encouraging readers to focus on meaningful activities that drive progress.

Business Observer did a write-up on the burgeoning coworking market on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Featured are Julianna Rose Bertrand & Gina Tedesco from The Power House, The Hatchery at Babcock Ranch and Vast Coworking Group‘s vice president of development, Matt Cozza.

The coworking model doesn’t fit neatly within one legal framework. But that doesn’t mean that Lucy McInally wasn’t going to put together a very thorough legal checklist for coworking operators to reference.

As awesome as Lucy is, she’s not a lawyer. Her guide for Nexudus or our sharing it, is not legal advice but provided for educational and informational purposes. Please consult a trusted lawyer with any questions or ideas about your own legal requirements or setup.

With numbers. Obviously. Colleen from Coco shares exactly what an average day working from a coffee shop or restaurant in downtown Minneapolis would cost (in both cash and focus).

Content like this, in your marketing and in your community managers’ SOPs, makes handling objections a breeze.

Omar Ramirez shares that inspace data is highlighting an increased seasonality in the use of spaces, referring back to Brian Stromquist and Louis Schump from Gensler’s 2022 piece on the whether the future of work may be seasonal.

Personally I’d love to see more data vs anecdotes, but the notion that people are extending travel, staying there longer and possibly working from there is an interesting one to explore.

Hector Kolonas was recently in a coffee shop in Manhattan that had 13 "laptop + tablet free café" signs, and not one "try coworking instead" prompts, cards, free trials and discount card to be seen.

This is such an opportunity for any of the 5 brands with locations within walking distance from this spot. Are there any spots around your space that would happily send ‘desk campers’ to your business? If so, what deal can you cut that helps them help you?

If you’ve been getting TWIC.co emails for a while now, you’ll have seen a few posts about the incoming rules around einvoicing for B2B and B2C transactions. In this post, Helga Moreno from Spacebring gives us 5 steps to get through the what’s, when’s, who’s and how’s of being ready for this change in mandates.

Jacob Boiling from CoworkingSEO shares the one thing that separates a good paid ad campaign from great ones: response times. He then goes on to share 3 ways to improve response time and 5x the ROI on paid ad campaigns.

Helga Moreno shares 15 tips for organizing a Christmas or end-of-year party for your coworking space.

Lucy McInally shares a piece featuring Aislinn Mahon, Head of Brand at Huckletree, about how the firm focusses on inclusivity while running a network representing 4,000 humans. It all starts with the culture, and founder Gabriela Hersham has set that down firmly since 2014. This led to initiatives like partnering with Certified Proud, their in-house accelerator Alpha for underrepresented founders, and becoming BCorp-certified.

Read on to see how they design work environments for everyone and aim to build destinations not workspaces.