Coworking Society

“On Coworking” goes on the road! New show tonight 7pm EST - Live from Carrboro.

Tonight we will be broadcasting live from Carrboro Creative Coworking in Carrboro, NC. Owner, Brian Russell, will join us briefly and give us some insight into his center, as well as his thoughts on the growing startup culture in Carrboro and the greater Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill).

In addition, we will have a special interview with the husband and wife team, Eva Schweber and David Kominsky, from CubeSpace. If you are unaware, their coworking center was hit particularly hard by the economy. They have decided to fight back with raw transparency, publishing an open letter to their community detailing their situation. Well, the community responded by donating “Save CubeSpace” website and pledging over $5,000 within 72 hours of reading Eva’s letter. The story was quickly picked up by Oregon Live! (see “Tech entrepreneurs rally to save their hangout”) and local tech blog, Silicon Florist (see “Save CubeSpace”)

The CubeSpace folks will be on tonight to share their story and give potential coworking space owners a unique insight into both the rewards and pitfalls of running a facility. Remember, coworking is a young, emerging industry and there will be both successes and setbacks. Our job is to replicate the successes and avoid the mistakes, at the same time sharing the stories of both. I thank Eva and David for their transparency and their willingness to share this difficult moment with the entire coworking community.

We will air LIVE tonight at 7pm EST and run for between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on how lively the conversation is. Again, all you have to do is call in to (724) 444-7444 to listen. You can also click on this link if you want to participate in our live-chat session.

Additionally, for the first time, we are hoping to bring tonight’s show live to you simultaneously on Ustream. We’ve been testing out the service and believe we can have it up and running by tonight’s show. This is all a work in progress, so we preemptively ask you to excuse any technical glitches we may encounter. If you want to see our Ustream broadcast, click here.

Again, tonight is going to be a very special “On Coworking” and we hope you join us!

Audio: Interview with Company|Dallas, New Work City, Affinity Labs, Brikolodge, Indy Hall - Episode #2

Grand opening of “Company | Dallas” today, interview tonight - Ep.#2 - “On Coworking”

Tonight we will be interviewing the team from “Company | Dallas”, just as they finish up their grand opening ceremonies.

Company | Dallas is launching their center by offering a free coworking day in their brand new space in Richardson, Texas. So if you are in the area, go by and take a look! If you do, shoot us an email telling us what you think and please send some pictures. We should have pictures of the space on our site by tomorrow.

We will air LIVE tonight at 7pm EST and run for between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on how lively the conversation is. Again, all you have to do is call in to (724) 444-7444 to listen. You can also click on this link if you want to participate in our live-chat session.

I look forward to having you join us!

Cheers.

Audio: Interview with Jacob & Susan of OfficeNomads.com - Episode #1

“On Coworking” - the live talk show launches tonight

I’m happy to announce the launch of “On Coworking”, which will air LIVE tonight at 7pm EST. The show, dedicated to all things coworking will run between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on how lively the conversation is.

We will be discussing various issues on coworking, ranging from financing, to building community, to getting started. The one thing that will be different about this show is that it’ll be a “working conversation.” We want listeners to participate in the discussion and walk away with actionable ideas.

This is a work in progress and like coworking, it’s success is dependent on open collaboration.

Talkshoe will be hosting our call and listeners have access to live-chat during the call.

We plan to open each show with a general discussion on coworking. Then after introducing our guest of the day, we will open the show to a listener-powered, host-moderated Q&A discussion. We’ll keep the discussions going for the rest of the time or once the energy dies down (whichever comes first).

Again, all you have to do is call in to (724) 444-7444 and click on this link if you want to participate in the live-chat session.

I’ll be joined by my co-host Jay the Blogger, host of HashTagNation.

I look forward to having you join us!

Coworking business models

Anyone running (or thinking about running) a coworking center should think about what they can both learn and unlearn from:

1) Starbucks and Caribou Coffee
2) Kinko’s
3) Your local Chamber of Commerce
4) Regus
5) American Express
6) AAA and AARP
7) Hostels
8) Churches and religious organizations
9) Gyms and Fitness Clubs
10) Zipcar (added 5/08/09)

It’s fun to see a whole new industry grow right before your eyes. But it’s even more fun to be a part of it.

Coworking with Purpose

Coworking has never been and will never be about space. It’s really about creating a cohesive community that thrives off of one another.

The UK-based Hub seems to get this. This is a membership driven organization that catalyzes social entrepreneurs both online and offline. They currently have approximately 18 offline locations, and they are about to open their first U.S. location in the San Francisco Mission District - HUBsf.

I expect to hear a lot more about HUBsf in the future.

Coworking to the rescue

Brian Russell. founder of the Carrboro Creative Coworking (CCC) center, will be offering free workspace for anyone in search of work during the month of May.

CCC offers free coffee, Wi-Fi and a desk space in a collaborative environment. The center is located at 205 Lloyd St., Suite 101, Carrboro, NC.

This is a wonderful offering for the community. Brian is a thoughtful, innovator in the NC coworking industry and can be reached at brian@carrborocoworking.com, 919-442-5301 or by visit carrborocoworking.com

Cheers and good luck to everyone!

Cheers to IndyHall!

Congratulations to Independents Hall (“IndyHall”) as May 1st marks their move-in date at their brand new offices at 20 North 3rd Street. All my best to Alex Hillman and the team at IndyHall.

In addition, they are marking the event with a Mashable / IndyHall joint mixer as Mashable does Philly for the first time.

Coworking is A Word

It was funny to read Andrew Hyde’s April 24th blog post “Startup is A Word”, as I had the exact same thought as it relates to coworking. It is a bit annoying to see reporters write it as co-working… it’s almost as if they’re using air quotes whenever they reference this whole “co-working” trend.

Not a big issue, but I believe it’s indicative of how both the startup and coworking culture is seriously misunderstood. The media seems to see them as economic fads that are fun to report and then forget. I see them both as fundamental shifts in how people pursue their career and work choices.

I guess time will tell.

Cheers.