Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking for Indie Workers, Small Businesses, and Nonprofits

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Praise for Working in the UnOffice

“The Lonely Planet of coworking guidebooks.”

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“A new overview on coworking and where it’s headed...”

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“Coworking is a growing movement...It now has a guide.”

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“The newest book to arrive on the coworking scene...”

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“Part anecdotal narrative, part practical, how-to guidebook, this book has amassed tips and the shared wisdom of coworkers on making the most of a collaborative environment to spark ideas and enhance productivity.”

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Working in the

UnOffice

A Guide to Coworking for Indie Workers, Small Businesses,

and Nonprofits

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Night Owls Press

Copyright © 2011 by Genevieve V. DeGuzman and Andrew I. Tang. First Edition August 2011. All rights reserved worldwide. Printed and designed in the United States of America.

Published by Night Owls Press LLC, San Francisco, CA, 94119, U.S.A., www.nightowlspress.com.

Cover and book design: Michael Kostuchenko Practice good karma! No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without the written permission of the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review. You can reach Night Owls Press at [email protected]. Much of this publication is based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence shared by the participants interviewed. Where statistical data or facts are cited, the authors have made every reasonable attempt to achieve complete accuracy of the content and to reference sources in the endnotes. Readers should use the recommendations and advice cited in the book as they see fit and at their own risk. Readers’ particular situations may not be exactly suited to the examples illustrated here; they should adjust their use of the information and recommendations, accordingly. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference and editorial purposes. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: DeGuzman, Genevieve V. and Tang, Andrew I. Working in the UnOffice – A guide to coworking for indie workers, small businesses, and nonprofits/ Genevieve V. DeGuzman, Andrew I. Tang p. cm. Paperback ISBN-13: 9781937645014 E-book ISBN-13: 9781937645007 2011937204

To the freelancers, small businesses, and organizations around the world that continue to inspire us with their entrepreneurial zeal and creative visions.

Contents

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Proof of Impact:

Small Businesses and Organizations Interviewed

Reesa Abrams, TechCycle3, Santa Cruz, CA - NextSpace member

Suzanne Akin, Akinz, Fort Collins, CO - Cohere former member

James Archer, Forty Agency, Chandler, AZ - Gangplank member

Jason Barnett, The UpTake, St. Paul, MN - CoCo member

Jason Beatty, 9BitLabs LLC, Santa Cruz, CA - NextSpace member

Johnny Bilotta, GUIwerks LLC, Philadelphia, PA - IndyHall member

Jon Buda, One Design Company, Chicago, IL - COOP former member

Betsy Burroughs, Focus Catalyst, San Francisco, CA - The Hub member

PJ Christie, Grow Your Base, Austin, TX - Cospace member

Joey Coleman, Design Symphony, Washington, D.C. - Affinity Lab member

Grant Cupps, DGC Interactive, Chicago, IL - COOP member

Kyle de Haas, FranNet of Central Texas, Austin, TX - Cospace member

Chase Granberry, Authority Labs, Chandler, AZ - Gangplank member

Lisa Gray, LDG Associates, San Francisco, CA - NextSpace member

Anthony Grieder, Alloy Design, Inc., Erie, CO - Boulder Digital Arts member

Phil Hughes, Clustered Systems, Santa Clara, CA - TechShop member

Annie Lin, Brave Noise Legal, San Francisco, CA - NextSpace member

Adam Lindsay, Next Feature, Rochester, NY - Coworking Rochester member

Lisa S. Malul, Action Alliance for Children, Berkeley, CA - The Hub member

Mike Muldoon, Infrno.net, Santa Cruz, CA - NextSpace member

Douglas Naegele, Infield Health, Washington, D.C - Affinity Lab member

Kelani Nichole, Content Distillery, Philadelphia, PA - IndyHall member

Judi Oyama, Maximum Impact Design, Santa Cruz, CA - NextSpace member

Alan Pinstein, Neybor, Atlanta, GA - Ignition Alley member

Kevin Purdy, Freelance Writer, Rochester, NY - Coworking Rochester member

Jason Richelson, ShopKeep, New York, NY - Hive at 55 former member

Greg Roth, The Percy Group, Arlington, VA - Affinity Lab member

Kevin Scott, Scott Labs, LLC, Austin, TX - Conjunctured former member

Anna Thomas, Loosecubes, Brooklyn, NY - New Work City former member

Greg Tindale, Tindale Team, Washington, D.C. - Affinity Lab member

Lisa Van Damme, Performance Impact, Boulder, CO - Boulder Digital Arts member

Parker Whitney, FlyClops, Philadelphia, PA - IndyHall member

Greg Wilder, Orpheus Media Research, Brooklyn, NY - IndyHall former member

Movers and Shakers:

Coworking Spaces Interviewed

Peter Chee, Founder and Kristin Eide, Community Manager - ThinkSpace,

Redmond, WA

Kyle Coolbroth, Co-Founder - CoCo, Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN

Brian DiFeo, Community Manager - Hive at 55, New York, NY

Kirtus Dixon, Co-Founder and Sarah Cox, Operations Manager - Cospace, Austin, TX

Tim Dorr, Co-Founder - Ignition Alley, Atlanta, GA

Paul Evers, President and Creative Director - TBD Loft, Bend, OR

Jim Graham, Co-Founder - Satellite Telework Centers, Felton, CA

Felena Hanson, Founder - Hera Hub, San Diego, CA

Mark Hatch, CEO - TechShop, Menlo Park, CA

Alex Hillman, Co-Founder - Independents Hall (Indy Hall), Philadelphia, PA

Angel Kwiatkowski, Founder - Cohere, Fort Collins, CO

Shelly Leonard, Community Manager - Conjunctured, Austin, TX

Lynne McNamee, Marketing Manager - Milford Business Services, Milford, CT

Jade Meskill/Derek Neighbors, Founders - Gangplank, Chandler, AZ

David Moffitt, Founder - Coworking Rochester, Rochester, NY

Julian Nachtigal, Public Relations Rep - pariSoma Innovation Loft, San Francisco, CA

Berit Oskey, Co-Founder - Affinity Lab, Washington, D.C.

Sam Rosen, Founder - COOP, Chicago, IL

Jeff Shiau, Director - The Hub Bay Area, Berkeley and San Francisco, CA

Working in the

UnOffice

A Guide to Coworking for Indie Workers, Small Businesses,

and Nonprofits

1

Foreword

oday, independents and entrepreneurs are becoming more connected than

ever before. Digital technology enables us to work with team members

located around the world. We interact with our colleagues over e-mail,

Skype, and social networking. We often have the option of flexible and remote work

arrangements that allow us to choose our hours and work where we want. We rarely

work for a single company for our entire lives anymore, and often reinvent ourselves

with multiple careers, making networking more crucial than ever. But despite this

increasing connectedness, independents, startups, and small businesses, in large part,

still work in isolation. Work has changed. It’s time for the office to catch up.

Back in 2009, I arranged to work remotely for several months in Northern

Maine. I’d been able to escape New York City for a bit while maintaining my job and

salary. Although I was equipped with the technology to do my job effectively

hundreds of miles away from the office, I struggled to be productive. I started

dreaming of being in a Wi-Fi-equipped art studio where I could plug in occasionally

and get my work done, while still relishing the perks of my remote set-up.

I wanted to be free to travel, to work on my own terms, and to meet interesting

people along the way. So, I set out to create Loosecubes (loosecubes.com), a platform

that would enable me to do all of these things.

When I returned to New York, I joined New Work City (nwc.co), New York’s

first community coworking space. Aside from the obvious benefits of increased

productivity, shared amenities, and economies of scale, what was most compelling

about coworking to me was the community around it. In a city like New York where

the pace of life can make it difficult to form lasting personal connections, I was

amazed to see that the group of independents and entrepreneurs at New Work City

were creating thriving friendships, partnerships, and businesses.

What’s more, I learned that New Work City wasn’t the only place this was

happening. All over the world, coworking spaces of all shapes and sizes were also

embracing communities born out of working together, in a way that hadn’t been

organized in the past.

Just over one year later our community of shared workspaces on Loosecubes has

grown to over 2,000 worldwide. And while the physical spaces look different, the

common thread that binds them is the spirit of collaboration, camaraderie, and

T

| Working in the UnOffice |

2

community. Coworkers across the globe are meeting every day and sharing ideas,

insights, and support with each other as we work to build our own businesses.

Loosecubes had the honor of hosting the first Coworking UnConference in March

of this year. And more than ever before, it was evident that the community behind the

coworking movement is strong and growing fast. As the coworking movement gains

momentum, expands, and redefines the traditional office environment, I hope our

community continues to embrace its potential to lead something that changes the world

for the better. As the group becomes more and more organized, it’s crucial that we stay

true to the ideals of what coworking really means to us. It’s a serious responsibility, and

my team and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be taking on the challenge.

For those who are still strangers to shared workspaces, exploring the world of

coworking in all its different forms can sometimes feel like spelunking in the dark. As a

professional who’s gone through the gamut of options in the past and outgrown

working at home, staring at cubical walls, and fighting for power outlets at cafés—I

know how hard it can be to find the right place out there and make that transition.

Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking works like a nifty passport. Read it and

travel to coworking spaces across the country and meet over 30 independents, small

businesses, and nonprofits like you who are thriving because of coworking. Part

anecdotal narrative, part practical, how-to guidebook, this book has amassed tips and

the shared wisdom of coworkers all over the country on selecting a space, getting

settled, and making the most of a collaborative environment to spark ideas and

enhance productivity. With this illuminating and no-nonsense take on coworking,

you’ll get inspired to change how you work.

Campbell McKellar Founder and CEO of Loosecubes

August 2011

3

Preface

Coworking: The Triumph of the Commons

ack in 2009, when the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Elinor

Ostrom, it gave credence to a simple idea we’ve all known as kids but often

forget as we get older and enter the real world: Sharing is good.

In her decades of research, Ostrom wrote about things that we share, such as

collective resources like our oceans and forests, infrastructure like our roads and

public transportation, and services like our public libraries and community centers—

suggesting that a “commons”-based society was more efficient.

She’s right. There is no tragedy of the commons. The debate about who was best

qualified to manage the resources of society—the state or the market—always seemed

too simplistic. Drawing on Ostrom’s ideas, some say that perhaps the best steward is, in

fact, us. Yes, folks. We the people. Many of the solutions to issues we face today—such as

reducing our environmental impact on the planet or figuring out the complexities of

ownership in the digital age—can be traced to the fundamentals of collaboration and

sharing.

In many ways, Ostrom’s ideas are no longer revolutionary notions. That’s because

we’ve been moving in this direction for years with the emergence of companies and

organizations that allow us to share, barter, or exchange goods and services. Today, the

self-interested capitalist sentiment of “every man for himself” seems to ring false and hollow.

What makes more sense for creative thinkers, inventors, writers, artists, and entrepreneurs

is this: innovation and growth are more likely to come from collaboration and the free

flow and sharing of ideas, not from lone efforts. As more people start businesses and

personal projects, or telecommute and opt for flexible arrangements with their employers,

this collaborative movement is encompassing how we work.

You’re Wondering About Coworking On first glance, coworking seems like the perfect set-up for startups and

freelancers, small organizations, and the remote worker: join a collaborative or shared

B


4

workspace to save money, beat the doldrums of isolation, and collaborate with other

organizations and startups.

But it’s the promise of innovation and community that makes coworking most

appealing. Behavioral studies have long shown that sharing and collaboration can lead

to instances of creativity and innovation in the workplace. It only makes sense that

organizations and small businesses find that they gain more from working together,

rather than alone. This type of collaborative working doesn’t mean you surrender your

independence and lose your individuality, but instead share resources and space—and in

the process find common ground with each other, lend expertise, and share ideas.

Still, many organizations are puzzled at how surrendering their autonomy (if

they owned or rented their own offices) or paying for a space (if they worked from

home) would lead to any benefits. “How would coworking expand my bottom line or inspire me

to innovate?”

For the uninitiated, coworking isn’t an easy sell. We understand. As a small

business ourselves, we started test-driving a few coworking spaces in the San Francisco

Bay Area—but couldn’t make up our minds. We thought about the money we could

save by continuing to work at home—and all the other typical excuses. And yet we

were torn because we also felt drawn to the dynamic layouts of the spaces we saw:

people working at shared and cloistered tables, the bright colors, and the cool décor.

Most of all, we loved the energy and the hum: people milling about, talking excitedly

with each other while swiveling in their chairs from one desk to another. Oh, and the

free coffee on tap, of course.

And then we realized: maybe there were other businesses and freelancers out

there with the same dilemma, curious but still hesitant about making the leap—

possibly missing out on an amazing opportunity. And so a book project was born.

Why We Need a Guidebook

Coworking spaces are popping up everywhere left and right it seems. The latest

estimates from Deskmag, for example, put the count at 820 spaces worldwide, with

380 in the U.S. and Canada.1 Loosecubes counts 2,000 shared spaces and offices in its

directory of offerings around the world. It shows the enormous enthusiasm and faith

in the idea. In this rich environment of options, you are faced with limitless

possibilities to flourish—but it can be difficult to make the right choices.

There are questions to consider, such as:

How can I tell whether a space is right for me?

How do I make the transition from my home or a conventional office space to a shared or

collaborative workspace?

| Preface |

&

5

Once I’m in, how can I leverage the space—the community—in making my business or

organization better?

Get the answers to these questions (and more!) inside this book.

What You’ll Get

We did our research. We talked to coworking members across the country, as

well as to space founders and reps, and their collective stories and insights have been

distilled into this handy volume. This book is built from the experiences of small

businesses and organizations tackling the same questions above. People like you.

We’ve written a book that is both a dissection and analysis of coworking trends

and its rising popularity (Chapters 1-2), as well as a guidebook and narrative chronicle

from people in the coworking trenches (Chapters 3-5). We’ve set out to help you find

and select the right space, listing all the critical factors to consider when deciding

which space best suits your needs (Chapter 3).

Then, once you’ve found your space, learn the ropes to adjusting to the

coworking environment and master the art of networking among the mix of

personalities (Chapter 4). You’ll find tips and tricks for navigating shared spaces

(Chapter 5)—measured steps to take advantage of the shared facilities, strategies to

access your community of entrepreneurs, and optimum ways to collaborate within

and across fields—all to make your small business or organization thrive. We’ve also

put together an annotated list of collaborative tools and resources to enhance your

productivity and workflow as an independent worker (Chapters 4 and 5).

What we’re most proud of is the collection of profiles (see the “PROOF of

IMPACT: Interviews” and “MOVERS and SHAKERS: Interviews” sections at the

end of the book) that cover the candid conversations we had with members and

former members, as well as with the founders of coworking spaces across the country.

The community of entrepreneurs that makes up a coworking space largely

determines the essence of that space—and so it is also with this book. The 33

businesses and organizations we talked to range from the usual digital technology and

graphic design freelancers that flock to coworking in droves, to the more unusual

inventors, innovation consultants, and even telecommuters working remotely for

corporations. Some of them have been in business for years, with polished operations

and venture capital to boot. Others are plucky, bootstrapped shops, or people

throwing their hats into the ring as “accidental entrepreneurs” because of the

recession—tough folks who are freelancing and consulting on their own.

The debate on how to define a coworking space is an intense one. We know

there are “variations on a theme” when it comes to the concept of coworking, so we


6

decided to take a flexible approach and cast the widest net possible when choosing

and interviewing the different shared and collaborative spaces available. The 19

coworking spaces we talked to range from more community-oriented spaces like

Gangplank that balk at charging members (membership plans don’t exist there) and

opt for “social capital” as its currency, to spaces with more structured environments

for established organizations like Affinity Lab and ThinkSpace. Some spaces featured

here offer welding tables and laser cutters instead of your usual desks and copiers

(TechShop), and some have multiple locations (The Hub, NextSpace, and pariSoma).

You’ll also hear from the most visible coworking advocates out there today, including

Indy Hall‘s Alex Hillman, Gangplank’s Derek Neighbors and Jade Meskill, Cohere‘s

Angel Kwiatkowski, and others.

Why This Book is Different

To our knowledge, this book is one of the first of its kind written from the

perspective of the very people who stand to benefit from coworking—small businesses

and organizations looking for better ways to work. Like many of you, we’re

researching our options of where to work, love our independence, but also tire of

working in a vacuum—and, of course, can’t afford to break the bank. These

considerations have shaped our focus in writing this book. Second, from what we’ve

seen, the available publications out there are somewhat limited, generally written by

individual spaces that focus exclusively on their own membership pool (for a list of

additional publications on coworking, see “Where can I find out more about

coworking?” in the FAQ section).

In contrast, the stories and insights here are sourced from across the coworking

spectrum of members working in some of the more famous spaces in the coworking

circuit and those working in quirky, less well-known spaces. We offer a lively cross-

section of members and former members, founders and space reps pulled from the

variety of coworking spaces and shared offices across the country.

Couched in this wonderful diversity, you’ll see how much coworking is a part of

their inspiring stories, regardless of their location, background, or size. Coworking is

so much more than a backdrop, and for many people, it’s the driving force behind

critical business decisions and breakthroughs.

Writing this book has been a fulfilling project and one we hope will add to the

dialogue on the shifting state of work today, of which coworking is very much a game-

changing catalyst. Our hope is that after reading this book, you’ll be better able to

consider your options, and find out if coworking is really right for you.

7

ONE: Sharing How We Work and Thinking Outside the Space

oodbye office. Goodbye, kitchen table. Goodbye, Starbucks coffee counter. For small

businesses and organizations, as well as indie workers and freelancers,

coworking is developing into a real viable option for getting things done. In

the past, when identifying places to work, independent workers, small businesses, and

organizations often had to choose between several scenarios, all with their attendant

advantages and disadvantages: working from home; working from a coffee shop, library,

or other public venue; or leasing an executive suite or other commercial space.

Well, enter coworking. At its most basic level, coworking is the phenomenon of

workers coming together in a shared or collaborative workspace for one or more of

these reasons: to reduce costs by having shared facilities and equipment, to access a

community of fellow entrepreneurs, and to seek out collaboration within and across

fields. In fact, coworking makes the traditional office set-up seem downright

antiquated and quaint, something that belongs more in a museum exhibit and is

sorely out of touch with today’s creative and dynamic workforce.

Coworking spaces offer an exciting alternative for people longing to escape the

confines of their cubicle walls, the isolation and distractions of working solo at home,

or the inconveniences of public venues. The benefits and cost-savings in productivity

and overall happiness and well-being that can be reaped from coworking are also

potentially huge. Enthusiasm and creativity become contagious and multiply when

you diversify your work environment with people from different fields or backgrounds.

At coworking spaces, the chances of “accelerated serendipity”1 occurring—those

“Eureka!” moments that take place during the most unexpected turns—are greater

than in any other environment. Members pass each other during the day,

conversations get going, and miraculously idea-fusion happens with everyone

benefitting from the shared thinking and brainstorming.

So what gives coworking its traction and charm for thousands of workers around

the world?

G


8

The Making of the Coworking ‘Perfect Storm’

There are several social and economic trends that are making coworking an ideal

option for independent workers, small businesses, and organizations. All these factors

and opportunities have come together in what experts like to call a “perfect storm” for

the growing fascination with coworking:

• #1 Shift Toward a ‘Sharing Economy’

• #2 Home is Where the Work is: Rise of the Telecommuter and Home-

based Businesses

• #3 Digital Workers on the Cloud

• #4 Where Good Ideas Come From: Working with Others

#1 Shift Toward a ‘Sharing Economy’

Coworking is at the heart of the new trend toward sharing and “collaborative

consumption.” Those who grew up with the children’s show Sesame Street may

remember the episode with the Geefle and the Gonk who wanted to eat nectarines

growing on a tree. The Gonk was too short to reach the fruit; the Geefle could reach

them, but couldn’t bend his arms to feed himself. So they decided that the Geefle

would pick the fruit and the Gonk would feed him half. Happy with the way things

worked out, they decided to keep the system. “Let’s call it cooperation,” says the

Gonk. “No,” pipes up the Geefle. “Let’s call it Shirley!”2

Sharing—be it goods, time, expertise, or even responsibilities to acquire

nectarines—isn’t anything new. These days, it just goes by names more highbrow

than “Shirley.” And it’s changing the way we spend, interact, work, and live.

Welcome to the new sharing economy.

Your Car, My Couch—A New Way We Share

Admittedly, sharing may not be a virtue one readily owns up to. But chances are,

you have a Facebook account, and you’ve uploaded pictures of your newest baby—

human or otherwise—told your friends what you had for breakfast and posted a link

for one of your current causes on your wall. What is that, if not sharing? And it’s that

online sharing that’s making it easier for people to share offline, experts at Latitude

Research have found.3

Just what do people share offline? Almost anything.

| Sharing How We Work and Thinking Outside the Space |&

9

If you have a spare room, for example, you can allow a weary traveler to crash in it

for a few nights, either for free (CouchSurfing) or for a fee (AirBnb, Crashpadder). Cars

can also be borrowed or shared (ZipCar, RelayRides). Rooms and zooms are not the

only things up for sharing these days; skills, time, garden space, power tools, clothes, and

other “stuff” are also swapped, bartered, shared, or given away. It’s all part of a rising

culture and economy around a trend called “collaborative consumption.”

According to researchers, the mindset of collaborative consumption veers away from

owning something to having easy access to it.4 It’s akin to say, being able to drive a car

when you need to, without the actual burden of ownership, such as paying for

maintenance and insurance. The growing trend of prioritizing experiences over material

possessions and achieving a work-life balance has also shifted our focus away from

ownership. In fact, Lisa Gansky, author of The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing,

predicts that saving money will be regarded as the norm, and that the simplification of

our lives and getting off the consumer treadmill will make people happier.

Collaborative consumption marketplaces are popping up everywhere: media, car

rental, lodging, staffing, textbooks, apparel, custom graphic design, and even finance.

And they are big.

Take Groupon’s success. Harnessed on the power of collaborative consumption,

Groupon grew into a collective buying phenomenon based around “tipping points” or

participant thresholds (the deal is only “on” if enough people buy)—uniting buyers and

sellers in a collaborative fashion, saving customers money, and generating revenue for

many participating businesses. For local businesses, Groupon turned traditional

advertising methods upside down by letting merchants pay only for real results—when a

customer comes in and actually buys a product or pays for a service. Like many

businesses, Groupon is riding the collaborative consumption wave. In November 2010,

Groupon defiantly ducked a $6 billion buyout offer from Google, opting to stay

independent and continue to raise its own valuation through venture investments.5 Many

insiders have said that Groupon’s quirky, social media-fueled style built on the creative

backs of its sales and editorial forces—a decidedly people-oriented, collaborative work

environment—would have clashed with the corporate culture at Google.

ThredUp is another innovative business that has banked on trends in

collaborative consumption. The company created a peer-to-peer platform reminiscent

of eBay by which parents could exchange boxes of kids clothing with other parents. Its

tagline, “Clothes Don’t Grow, Kids Do,” automated online what parents had done for

ages within their circle of family and friends—swap or donate clothes outgrown by

their kids. ThredUp established a one-to-one swap system that manages the process

between strangers. Parents have two options when they go online: shop for a box of

“preloved kids clothes and toys” or list a box of donated clothes and toys. ThredUp


10

provides free boxes over the mail for parents who become members, and donors get a

postage paid label when they send their goods and free pick-up by the U.S. Postal

Service. Families shop online to see the offerings like any online store, select a box,

and pay for the shipping and handling plus a $5 fee; the contents themselves are

actually free. Recycled clothes and sharing have saved families over $200,000. By

hooking into collaborative consumption trends and connecting people, ThredUp

made inroads into a secondhand market that is notoriously fragmented and

inaccessible.

Why We Share More Today

Trust is a key element in this kind of sharing economy. After all, how can you let

a stranger drive off in your car, sleep in your house, or ask for your old clothes if you

didn’t somehow trust that you’d get your car back in one piece, won’t get clobbered in

your own bed, and won’t get a boxful of rags in return? Trust levels are also a good

indicator of quality of life. Studies show that high social trust usually correlates with

low crime rates and good economic performance.6

In the past decades, from 1976 to 2008, the General Social Survey showed that

the level of trust had eroded: Americans largely didn’t trust each other. However,

since the advent of social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, and the

proliferation of mobile technology, people have had more opportunities to interact

and create reciprocal relationships that are re-building trust, albeit online.

eBay is a model of online trust. You send money to people you don’t know,

expect them to ship you goods, which you haven’t actually seen, in the condition that

they promised. eBay founder Pierre Omidyar believes that most people are honest,

and that by creating a transparent market that encourages honest dealings and is

protected by safeguards through a rating system and verifications, doing business with

strangers online becomes easier.7

The feedback system used on eBay—buyers and sellers give each other points

and reviews after each transaction—has fostered good behavior all around. People

know that the rating they have will determine whether people will transact with them

in the future—buyers want to buy from sellers with positive ratings, and sellers may

not even entertain bids from buyers with low ratings. In the new sharing economy,

money isn’t the only thing that talks. Your “reputation capital”—the summary of

what other people think about your actions in a given community—also says a lot

about you, experts agree.8

This newfound trust in people—or at least in the people we do business with—

would not have been possible without progress in technology. Rachel Botsman,


11

author of What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, has written about

how technologies, particularly social networking sites and mobile phone

advancements, have transformed the usual business and social practices of bartering,

sharing, renting, and trading.9

This increase in connectivity and focus on trust could also reflect a return to the

belief that community is important. Lisa Gansky, author of The Mesh, has also

discussed how dislocated individuals are seeking community and personal interaction

in droves. The communities formed today may not be of the traditional neighbors-

playing-bingo-at-the-church-social or families-gathering-for-the-weekly-weekend-

barbecue type. But with each Tweet, each Facebook status update, with each reply to

questions posed on the Starbucks or Apple forums, with each contact we add to

LinkedIn, we feed our “social self—the part of us that seeks connection and

belonging,” says social psychologist Marilynn Brewer of Ohio State University.10

The shift in community patterns, from autonomy to connectedness, also reflects

changes in values. The so-called Millennial Generation (ages 18-29) is more

environmentally aware and more socially conscious. According to a Pew Research

Center study, Millennials prefer a simpler lifestyle, veering away from the rampant

materialism that they perceive bilked earlier generations. Instead of buying individual

cars, for example, more choose to share bikes or cars, or use mass transit.11

People are also increasingly choosing a sustainable lifestyle, as opposed to a

convenient or extravagant one. Three in five people share or would share products or

services simply because it’s better for the environment, according to a Latitude

Research report.12 Increased coverage and visibility of environmental issues have also

made people more conscious of buying and disposing of goods.

This shift to a sharing mentality isn’t all altruism though. The global recession

has left a deep impact on people’s consumer habits. In the same Latitude report,

researchers found that “saving money” and being “good for society” tie in at 67

percent as reasons why people share or would consider sharing.13 The global

recession forced people to rethink what is valuable to them, and many are choosing

practicality over consumerism.

So given that people are willing to share and that it makes economic sense—just

what would they share?

Naturally, media and information top the list. Transportation also offers sharing

opportunities (in the form of car, bike, and boat sharing, for example). Infrequently

used, high-priced items such as power tools also present themselves as ideal products

to be shared. And finally, physical spaces: a place to stay at when traveling and a place

to store stuff is a valuable commodity—as is a place to work and be creative.


12

#2 Home is Where the Work is: Rise of the Telecommuter and Home-based Businesses

If you’re home on a Monday morning dressed in your sweats or in your PJs,

sending e-mail to a client, and there’s no one to see you—are you working? The

philosophical implication aside, the answer for the 20 to 30 million U.S.-based

telecommuters is a resounding “Yes.”14

Companies are realizing that employees don’t have to be physically in their

workplace to do their jobs; they don’t even have to be in the same time zone. Even

traditional, large businesses are recognizing that centralized, management structures

need to become more flexible to meet the needs of its employees, say experts.15

Dwayne Spradlin of InnoCentive, Inc. has described how organizations have to move

away from rote and static procedures to more flexible ones to better organize and

optimize infrastructure and human resources. Younger workers, especially the

Millennial generation, have a fundamentally different view about work and career

fulfillment.16 Many of them are interested in moving laterally, not vertically in

companies, and to take on different roles. They are project-focused and thrive in

environments of constant churn and change.

More baby boomers, women, parents, and Generation Y-ers are also shifting to

home-based work arrangements or are opting for telecommuting options, because it

makes it easier to achieve the work-life balance objectives they have set for themselves.

They are, for example, able to participate in family activities while still keeping on top

of their work. All this is made possible by the capabilities, accessibility, and

affordability of available tools and technology.17

Even the government is recognizing the shift from physical to online spaces for

workers. In December 2010, the U.S. government passed the Telework Enhancement

Act, which requires federal agencies to establish teleworking policies and support

systems that allow qualified employees to work from home. The amount that

companies can save by allowing offsite work is astounding—up to $10,000 per

employee annually, in terms of reduced utilities and costs in real estate, office supplies,

security, maintenance, equipment and the like, and in terms of increased worker

productivity—making telecommuting even more attractive. The Telework Research

Network calculates that telecommuting could save as much as $650 billion dollars a

year overall.18 The environmental impact is also considerable. Telecommuting

reduces the dependence on fossil fuels and lessens the production of greenhouse

gases—issues that are growing in importance.


13

The flexibility of telecommuting also holds great appeal: of the 72 percent of

employees that would favor a job with flexible work arrangements over another

without, 37 percent specified telecommuting as a factor.19 “What employees of all age

groups want is the flexibility to determine for themselves where, when, and how they

work,” says Kate Lister, the principal researcher at Telework Research Network.20

This also rings true for independent and self-employed workers. Despite generally

working longer, earning less, and stressing out more, independents score higher on the

job satisfaction scale because they value the autonomy and flexibility that working out

of a formal office setting gives them.21 In an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle,

Om Malik, founder of GigaOm, has said, “There is nothing more [liberating] than

being a web worker… There is no boss. You work for yourself… It’s the future.”22

Kristen Eide, community manager of ThinkSpace in Redmond, WA, tells us that

the trend of telecommuting is becoming more appealing and has impacted their space

membership. “I know some companies are going virtual with their employees, and

coworking can be a great solution for virtual workers who cannot or would rather not

work out of the home. I think that trend will continue for a while.” Their space hosts

240 member companies, many of which are telecommuters from larger companies

such as CPA and law firms.

Both companies and workers reap the benefits. Jim Graham, co-founder of

Satellite Telework Centers, a coworking space that specifically targets this market for

remote workers and telecommuters, tells us, “We’ve been able to demonstrate that we

can house an employee for about half what it costs to support them at a corporate

headquarters. Employees are happier because they’re working closer to home and

they find they’re more productive because they’re away from the interruptions that

come from working at the main office, and they don’t have the distractions or sense of

isolation that often comes from working from home.”

#3 Digital Workers on the Cloud

In the aftermath of the first Industrial Revolution, we saw the rise of the efficient

factory systems and then later the cubicle farms. We know the scenario all too well.

White collar workers congregated in confined spaces, working side-by-side at identical

desks. Management hovered from corner offices, supervising and orchestrating the

steady hum of production. Many used to believe that a command-and-control

structure was needed to get work done.

Today, living in an information and computing age, where much of our work

resides on the cloud and businesses outsource work—is this closed system relevant

anymore? The old system worked largely because personal computing was expensive


14

or inadequate, Internet connections and web access weren’t so pervasive, and moving

and dispersing information was difficult (hence, the need for physical meetings for

collaboration and team briefings).

Technology is redefining the borders of the spaces where we work. We have

laptops, iPads, and smartphones. The information and tools we need to work exist in

digital form—as apps that function on mobile devices anywhere. Meetings and

briefings are less centralized and can be more efficient over chat or Skype with little

need for face-to-face time. We don’t necessarily need the traditional office structure to

connect with our colleagues and be productive.

Daniel Pink, author of Free Agent Nation, has written about how infrastructure that has

evolved—from laptops and smartphones to Starbucks and other coffee shops that offer

Wi-Fi—has increased the number of independent workers. Information age jobs lend

themselves naturally to web working and telecommuting. Technical professionals such as

software developers and architects, web and mobile app developers, and technical

consultants top the list. People from creative fields such as writing, graphic and web

design, and photography also telecommute. Lawyers, salespeople, accountants, and other

professionals are starting to break out of the confines of the office, too.

And of course, independent homepreneurs, solopreneurs, and startups—there

are about 10-15 million of them, though not all work at or from home—comprise the

rest of the telecommuters.23 The decline in lifetime job security has shifted the balance

towards self-employment. After all, if you can’t depend on a big corporation like

General Motors for your future, why not depend on yourself instead? Besides, bagging

a full-time, full-benefit job will be difficult in the coming decade, many experts say.24

Companies are not only letting people go, hiring has also slowed down, as they

depend on technology, outsourcing, and a leaner workforce to get the same jobs done.

Independents who freelance with several clients are no longer bound by location

restrictions. They work for anyone (global outlook), anywhere (local source) through

virtual channels, such as e-mail, Skype, and virtual networking. With easy

connectivity and tools on hand, independents and employees can now work anytime,

anywhere, and in any way that they choose.

David Bollier, author of The Future of Work: What it Means for Businesses, Markets and

Governments, has said, “Digitization has changed the economics of creating and

distributing products, services and content across a growing number of categories.”25

Technology has essentially amplified worker performance—and changed the game

for both employees and independents. With the rise of the cloud, more people will

have access to computing power and will leap over the obstacles of infrastructure and

connectivity to start focusing on what really matters in business: innovation and

creativity—the things that improve and enhance services.


15

It might have been a tough pill to swallow initially, but many companies are

catching on to these flexible work arrangements with the assurance that their employees

are working out of professional venues and have access to facilities with the right

technology to make virtual working possible. Satellite Telework Centers co-founder Jim

Graham tells us how two of their members working as remote employees of larger

companies use the coworking space effectively. “We have one member whose company is

based in San Diego. He brought in a Flip camera and filmed the facility and his cubicle to

prove to his bosses that he’s actually working in a professional office environment. We

have another member who works for a huge telecommunications company and spends

her day giving Webex-based trainings to sales teams all over the world.”

#4 Where Good Ideas Come From: Working with Others

At the same time, there is also a realization that people are more productive on a

results-output basis, rather than on a time-clock basis, which has led to new work

arrangements like flextime and has even encouraged workers to pursue private

projects. Giving smart and creative people the space and time to pursue a wacky idea

overturns the industrial workplace model.

At Google, employees are given a creative license to devote up to 20 percent of

their working hours to personal projects. Many of Google’s flagship products—Gmail

and Google News—were dreamt up and developed during these downtimes and before

employees punched out. Google has since deployed “grouplets” for initiatives that cover

broader changes through the organization. One remarkable story of a successful Google

grouplet involved getting engineers to write their own testing code to reduce the

incidence of bugs in software code. The problem was how to push the idea across a large

organization like Google and get buy-in at a level enough to make a difference.

The intrepid grouplet came up with a campaign based on posting episodes

discussing new and interesting testing techniques on the bathroom stalls. “Testing on

the Toilet” spread fast and garnered both rants and raves. Soon, people were hungry

for more, and the campaign ultimately developed enough inertia to become a de facto

part of the coding culture. They moved out of the restrooms and into the mainstream.

This represents the power and culture of sharing in the workplace. Something

that started as an idea among a small group became viral. Bharat Mediratta, a

software engineer at Google, told The New York Times in an interview, “These grouplets

have practically no budget, and they have no decision-making authority. What they

have is a bunch of people who are committed to an idea and willing to work to

convince the rest of the company to adopt it.”26


16

According to a recent New York University Stern Business School study, sharing

information about work tasks with colleagues and even members outside your

immediate work circle, pulls employees together, builds relationships, and even

increases productivity over time.27 They even found that giving employees a

communication forum such as blogging increased productivity after about seven

weeks. The mechanics of sharing commentary on both work-related and non-work

related matters had a profound effect.

The study further found evidence of “migration from blogs to real life.”28 As

workers developed ideas over conversations online, they tended to spill over into

conversations offline. What the study ultimately revealed was that connecting with

people around us beyond work—through casual conversation and interaction, such as

on company sports teams and during company-sponsored volunteer projects—

prompts us to work better as individuals.

Keith Sawyer, a professor of psychology and education at Washington University

in St. Louis, MO, has written widely on collaboration and innovation. In his study of

jazz performances, Keith Sawyer made this observation, “The group has the ideas,

not the individual musicians.”29 Some of the most famous products were born out of

this moshpit of interaction—in contrast to the romantic idea of a lone working genius

driving change. According to Sawyer, more often than not, true innovation emerges

from an improvised process and draws from trial-by-error and many inputs, “with

sparks gathering together over time, multiple dead ends, and the reinterpretation of

previous ideas.”30

Unexpected insights emerge from the group dynamic. If increasing interaction

among different peer groups within a single company could lead to promising results,

imagine the possibilities for solopreneurs, small businesses, and indie workers—if only

they could reach similar levels of peer access as those experienced by their bigger

counterparts. It is this potential that coworking tries to capture for its members.

:::

Coworking’s promise for today’s creator, thinker, worker, and employee is an

ambitious one. It claims to help us harness innovation, as well as to unite the laptop-

toting telecommuters and independent businesses and organizations out there into a

cohesive but fluid community. Such diverse communities under one roof can create

thriving places to work. But is coworking just buzz, a novelty? Or, is it part of the

greater zeitgeist of our time, a profound shift in how we do things?


17

Let’s dive in and see how coworking started, where it is today—and most

importantly—how you can make the most out of the coworking opportunities out there.

19

TWO: Coworking Deconstructed

hings are changing. Look around. Most likely there is a coworking space or,

at the least, collaborative working groups like a Jelly or Meetup in your area

already. We are on the cusp of a working revolution, moving toward a

“free-agent” model with people engaging in their work in very different ways. Over

the next couple years, we will see a massive shift in how we work. Coworking is one

striking example of this change in action.

So, how did it all begin?

Free, Un-tethered—but Alone (and other travails of the indie worker)

Innovation is one of the drivers of today’s knowledge economy. But for the small

startup, freelancer, nonprofit worker, or telecommuter working independently, cultivating homegrown innovation can be a challenge. That’s because almost every

independent worker will eventually encounter—whether working from home or at a

public venue like a coffee shop—the greatest drawbacks of telecommuting and web

working: Isolation, lack of productivity, and distractions. The nemesis of every independent

worker and telecommuter, this pesky trio, in turn, stifles innovation, creativity, and

worker productivity.

Studies done by American Express and British Telecom showed that

telecommuters can be 30 to 40 percent more productive than office-bound colleagues,

possibly because telecommuters are known to start work earlier and end later.1

However, the studies found that productivity eventually suffers without face-to-face

communication. Isolation and achieving work/life balance are issues that stem from

working alone at home. IBM employees allowed to work outside the office, for

example, suffered from low morale. They felt that strong ties to their colleagues were

missing, and that they didn’t receive adequate mentoring and passed-down

institutional knowledge.2 The inside joke among employees in these situations was

that IBM stood for “I’m by myself.”

T


20

The difficulty with non-traditional work set-ups is that workers feel disconnected;

and feelings of alienation and loneliness are common. Employees may also feel

bypassed or overlooked for promotions.

Most home workers, whether working for themselves or as telecommuters for other

companies, have also discovered that it takes extreme discipline and self-control to

ignore distractions at home—be it the laundry that needs to be done or a couch that

begs to be napped on. Making business calls with squabbling children in the background

also presents a problem, as does presenting a professional front when you have to

entertain clients in your dining room. You can lose your edge by not being around other

people, slacking off with your appearance (e.g., wearing your PJs and bunny slippers all

day), or neglecting to step outside for days at a time (perusing Facebook and Twitter

doesn’t qualify as contact with the outside world). Home-bound workers also report

missing the stimulation of having other people to bounce ideas off of.

So what are the 375 million independent and mobile workers around the world

to do?3

Most have stepped out of their homes and into the field of libraries, cafés, and other

public places. While these venues allow independents to be among other people, they

still don’t offer much in terms of quality interaction. After all, in libraries you’re expected

to keep silent; and it’s difficult, if not awkward, to start random conversations in a coffee

shop with other patrons. And besides, in coffee shops and cafés, you also have more

prosaic issues to deal with, like how much coffee you should buy to justify loitering all

day, and how to safeguard your laptop and table beside the only socket in the room

when you need that inevitable, caffeine-induced trip to the bathroom. Serviced offices or

executive suites, while providing the needed amenities and space, can seem as if they

were cloned from the cubicles of corporate offices.

Other independents, usually friends or colleagues working on similar projects,

sometimes decide to meet and hang out together while working. In San Francisco, a

group of nomadic workers calling themselves “Bedouins”—after the Arabian desert

wanderers—wander from coffee shop to coffee shop, mooching off Wi-Fi and table

space in exchange for bought cups of latte and plates of pastries.4 Then there’s Jelly

(workatjelly.com), the informal gathering of independents at a designated place, usually

someone’s house, a coffee shop, or borrowed office, to collaborate, work, and socialize.

Roommates Amit Gupta and Luke Crawford started Jelly in March 2006 from their

New York City apartment because, as with other home-based workers, they missed the

dynamics of being around other people.5 Anyone can organize a Jelly; you just have to

arrange for Wi-Fi and the space. Jellies happen all over the world (in Philadelphia, the

gatherings are called “Cream Cheese”), usually for a day, every other week. There are

no fees, other than the cost of your own coffee, if you meet at a coffee shop.

| Coworking Deconstructed |

21

As the Google “grouplets,” business accelerators, and local Jellies and Meetups

have demonstrated, the community of others around you, doing things related to your

work or completely unrelated—it doesn’t matter—and just being among other

creative people can enliven your own work.

It was in this “I-want-to-work-alone-but-with-other-people” kind of environment

that coworking as we know it was forged and born.

Ditch the Dash, Rev Up a Revolution—Coworking Begins

In the late 1990s, “co-working” was a term applied to web workers and their

anything-goes-strike-anywhere style of working. Then came the dot-com bust and the

road warrior lost some of his mojo; people slunk back to the cubes. But then Web 2.0

and mobile technology happened—and something fundamentally changed.

How Coworking Gets its Start

The term “coworking” (minus the dash) made its debut into popular parlance

around 2005, around the time software programmer Brad Neuberg decided that he

wanted both the structure and community of an office job and the freedom and

independence of a freelancer. He resuscitated the term “co-working”—a play on the

corporate, cubicle-tinged word, “co-worker”—removed the hyphen, and effectively

jumpstarted the coworking revolution.6

Neuberg’s first coworking cooperative, the Spiral Muse Coworking, shared an

old Victorian house with a wellness and massage center in San Francisco, CA.7

Finally, in January 2007, Neuberg’s Hat Factory, the unofficial granddaddy of all

coworking spaces, opened its doors to the public (Sadly, it passed away in 2010.

Under new management, Hat Factory is no longer available for coworking).8 Other

pioneers in coworking include Affinity Lab9 in Washington, D.C., Indy Hall in

Philadelphia; San Francisco’s Citizen Space; and Gangplank in locations in Arizona.

Coworking spaces since 2005 have mushroomed in more than 50 countries

around the world, numbering more than 64 in the Western U.S. alone.10

Deskwanted, a coworking marketplace and directory, listed 820 spaces globally as of

May 2011, a 17 percent increase between February and May alone.11 Deskmag’s

latest findings show that coworking’s 380 spaces in North America are thriving—

experiencing a 12 percent growth spurt in that same period. By the end of 2011,


22

experts predict that the number of spaces will increase by 50 percent worldwide, a

veritable coworking boom.12

Coworking Defined

All in all, coworking has evolved into different formats and iterations. Coworking

has acquired multiple definitions, with people defining it in their own way. According

to Loosecubes community manager Anna Thomas, coworking is essentially a business

model still in flux and trying to solidify its identity. “As coworking expands and

morphs, I think larger ‘franchise’ models and small ‘grassroots’ spaces and

communities will benefit from honing in on the discrete membership bases that need

them to be productive in whichever way works best for them,” she tells us.

“Coworking still isn’t a mainstream concept, and expansion of spaces and footprint

will certainly help promote awareness of the movement.”

So, there isn’t an official definition of coworking. It is a concept that continues to

mature and find its bearings.13 But in general, coworking refers to the set-up and

dynamics of a diverse group of people who don’t necessarily work for the same

company or on the same project, working alongside each other, sharing the working

space and resources, such as Internet connection, office equipment, and coffee.

However, what sets coworking apart from mere shared office space is its focus on

building community and collaboration, as well as the other values of openness,

sustainability, and accessibility. Enshrined in the coworking movement is the

philosophy that seemingly disparate groups of people with different projects and goals,

working together yet independently in a single space, sharing facilities and establishing

rapport with each other—can lead to mutual benefits. Differences matter. Coworking

hinges on the belief that innovation and inspiration come from the cross-pollination of

different people in different fields or specializations. Random opportunities and

discoveries that arise from interactions with others—also dubbed “accelerated

serendipity”—play a large role in coworking.

The Appeal of Coworking

For many, it might be puzzling to pay for a well-equipped space teeming with

other people, even with the chance of free coffee and inspiration. You might ask

yourself, “Well, why pay for a place to work when I’m perfectly comfortable at home

and paying nothing?” Or, “Isn’t the whole point of telecommuting or starting my own

business a chance to avoid ‘going to the office’?”


23

Coworking may sound like an unnecessary expense, but let’s consider what you

get from being a part of the space.

First, there’s the sense of belonging that we derive from being part of a broader

group. You aren’t just renting a desk or office space, and you aren’t just around people

for the sake of being around people. Throw people in a room—you may get a lot of

staring and then a quick shuffle to hunker down with our laptops and smartphones.

Throw people into a coworking space—something else happens entirely.

What you pay for is membership, the right to belong. At the heart of coworking is

being part of a larger community than even your existing colleagues and clients, but also

being part of a group of people just starting up or with similar goals. Others might see

competition, but more people see potential connections. It’s good not only for your

mental health (no more sitting in pajamas alone at home), but also for your business.

Affinity Lab claims that members “often partner with one another, backstopping and

expanding each other’s capabilities and skills or forming entirely new ventures.”14

Second, coworking takes freelancers, indie workers, and entrepreneurs, who feel

that they have been dormant or isolated working alone at home or who have been

migrating from a coffee shop to a friend’s garage or languishing in a sterile business

center—to a space where they can truly roost. “We can come out of hiding,” a

coworker tells us, “and be in a space that’s comfortable, friendly, and has an aesthetic

appeal that’s a far cry from the typical cookie-cutter office environment.”

Coworking’s Core Values

While coworking spaces may differ in their culture, amenities, design, and in-

house rules, they share these same core values:15

• #1 Collaboration

• #2 Community

• #3 Sustainability

• #4 Openness

• #5 Accessibility

#1 Collaboration

One of the selling points of coworking—and something that will be hard to find

anywhere else—is the wealth of knowledge that you can get working among a diverse

group of people with different skill sets, backgrounds, and experiences. Whether it’s


24

making sense of your website’s HTML, hammering out a killer proposal, or even just

making a barista-worthy pot of coffee in the kitchen, you’re bound to encounter

someone who can help you.

When Affinity Lab in Washington, D.C. decided to revamp its logo and business

cards last year, it turned to its coworking space members. Berit Oskey, one of Affinity

Lab’s co-founders recounts, “We used a Lab member designer to do the design work

and an Affinity Lab brand expert to help us with refining the logo and finding us a

high quality printer that could print and cut our unusual cards.”

Felena Hanson of newly minted Hera Hub in San Diego, CA, a coworking space

for women, emphasized how important it is for small businesses to find support. Not

surprisingly, coworking makes finding help easy. Usually, someone in your community

has what you need or can refer you to someone who can help. Felena—also an

executive director of the San Diego chapter of Ladies Who Lunch, a national

organization committed to supporting entrepreneurial women through education and

community—describes how, “At least a dozen new business connections have been

made since Hera Hub launched on April 15, 2011. For example, a woman in our

community who is starting a line of women’s golf wear (Vivacity Sportswear) needed an

experienced consultant to advise her on product development and distribution. Such an

expert happened to be within the Hera Hub community (had over 20 years experience

in the fashion industry) and the connection was made.”

Group projects are often successful not because of one person’s technical prowess

or brilliance, but because of how well the entire team functions as a whole. But

building this fluency as a group can take time. Coworking offers the right environment

to build and invest in that team-building.

Alex Hillman of Indy Hall in Philadelphia describes how coworking allows people

to get to know each other on a personal level first before linking up professionally.

“[Coworking] has allowed us to form relationships with each other before a transaction

takes place. I get to know my coworkers based on what they are interested in, what they

like, what they do well, what they don’t do well, beyond just core competency. Then,

when we’re working together it’s in a context that is more enjoyable because we have

common interests beyond the money at the end of the rainbow,” he tells us. “Of the

works that I have done in the last four years, I can tie them directly back to a

relationship that was formed because of the Indy Hall community.”

The collaborative opportunities in coworking spaces abound—and are a worthy

investment. Jeff Shiau, director of The Hub Bay Area, says that prospective coworkers

should look at the benefits beyond cost-savings. “You’re not just saving on rent, but

you’re also able to make connections, to build a community around your ideas

quickly—at a creative level that’s beyond what you would be able to do if you were


25

just working by yourself in a single office space, if you were working out of a coffee

shop, or working at home.”

In essence, coworking enables the freelancer or the solopreneur to reach a

certain level of creativity more quickly because of collaboration. Jeff Shiau uses the

metaphor of density and critical mass cited in Stephen Johnson’s book Where Good

Ideas Come From to describe the benefits of coworking. “You look at these bigger cities,

these condensed cities where people are frequently colliding, where people are

frequently having to compete against each other. Whether it’s friendly competition or

fierce business competition, people are constantly interacting. There is a lot more

innovation and creativity in these areas,” Jeff tells us. Jeff also notes how density in the

natural world forges biological ingenuity. “If you look at the Galapagos Islands, it’s a

small, condensed area, but it’s one of the most richly creative, innovative, evolved

centers on the entire planet.”

#2 Community

There’s something to be said about being more productive when surrounded by

other hopefully like-minded, driven, and creative people. Peer pressure, perhaps? Or,

just plain encouragement and a recharging of mind and spirit.

At CoCo based in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN, members with a specific

problem can simply turn to neighbors and ask for advice. According to its founder

Kyle Coolbroth, who also runs creative design agency Unlimited Options out of the

space, “I’ve seen this time and time again where an individual is working on a project

and hits a wall or runs into a problem. Often, we see it with folks who are doing

design work and run into a technical glitch or problem, and they’ve been able to pull

together two or three programmers and ask for help. And within 15 minutes to an

hour of exploration, they get the answer that they were looking for and other

suggestions. That’s a daily occurrence we see.”

The community is really what sets a coworking space apart from any other

nondescript shared office suite in a building somewhere. Cohere in Fort Collins, CO

has been described in such glowing terms as “a safe place to be weird” to a “hotbed of

awesomeness” by its members. There is almost a communal pride in being part of the

coworking environment. Founder Angel Kwiatkowski tells us, “None of these

descriptions would ever be said about a physical space.” And she’s right. “They’re

describing a feeling that they get from the community when they get here. In short,

they’re talking about the soul of the community, which just happens to be tethered to

this physical space.”


26

Angel Kwiatkowski points out how a member’s business dilemma spontaneously

prompted outreach from members of the Cohere community. “Recently, a member

shared on our Facebook group that she got burned by a client because she didn’t have

a contract to use. The community immediately jumped in and started sending her

copies of their contracts. By the end of the day, she had three examples of contracts.

Later, I asked and scheduled a member to teach a lunch session on writing contracts.

The class was full by the end of the day!”

That’s what makes the coworking community so valuable and such an attractive

option for small businesses and organizations—it provides daily learning experiences.

A member makes a mistake, shares it with members directly or through the coworking

space’s built-in forums—and everyone benefits.

Jeff Shiau, director of The Hub Bay Area, tells us how access to its 800-member

listserv solved a problem. “There was one member who was organizing a conference

around solar energy. She had been working on the conference for six months before

she joined the network. After six months of trying, she still could not lock down this

one particular keynote speaker.” She sent an e-mail out to Hub members through the

listserv. In the course of a day, she got a response from another member. “I’m actually

friends with her,” the other member wrote back. They connected over e-mail and

within two days she locked down the keynote speaker.

Johnny Bilotta, a co-founding member of Indy Hall, calls his coworking space a

“second home” for his graphical user interface design company GUIwerks LLC. He

tells us about the strong community spirit that permeates the space. “It’s become a

place that I believe in, and we show it with pride. We believe that members who come

here and start to work with us also get that same buzz about the place.”

The feeling of camaraderie that has developed through the community is similar

to the fellowship and pride that sports fans often feel for their home team. When Indy

Hall started selling apparel with the space’s logo on it, members eagerly snapped them

up. “There’s nothing more rewarding than walking into your local bar and seeing six

or seven of the same jackets just hanging out. It’s kind of like when you were in high

school and you were part of a team; you know you’re part of that soccer team or that

football team and you’re wearing your letters with pride,” Johnny enthuses.

#3 Sustainability

Rallying together for the environment, whether through using renewable

materials, recycling, or conserving gasoline by biking, all coworkers are encouraged to

do their part in helping Mother Earth.


27

Cohere prides itself on the location of its space. Nestled in Fort Collins’ historic

center, Cohere members have access to an array of local businesses. Founder Angel

Kwiatkowski tells us “Being near other local businesses is a perfect way for us to

support our local economy. We go local for everything we need down here: coffee,

food, groceries, vegetables, clothing, bicycles, and more!”

Satellite Telework Centers in Northern California are “certified green” facilities.

Co-founder Jim Graham tells us that the offices use “motion sensors on lighting, LED

and energy-efficient fluorescents, motion-sensing hand washing, natural lighting,

recycled paper, and recycling baskets at every station.”

By opening its doors to corporate employees and company consultants looking

for a professional working environment, Satellite Telework gives workers “the option

of working closer to home, reducing time lost sitting in traffic, not to mention the cost-

saving considering the price of gas,” says Jim Graham. This allows companies to

reduce their facilities footprint and reduce costs.

In small towns where you would think coworking would be an odd fit, not only is

Satellite Telework Centers thriving (they are located in two towns outside Santa Cruz,

California—Felton and Scotts Valley—and will eventually set up a space in Truckee in

late 2011), it is revitalizing the communities. Jim commented on how bringing people

into the centers can impact the small communities that surround them. Coworking isn’t

solely for big city and urban residents. It’s also a serious option for residents in smaller

cities and suburbs whose companies are based elsewhere.

Jim explains, “The industry-accepted formula is that one full-time equivalent

(FTE) employee supports 14 sq. ft. of retail space,” he explains. “It might not sound

like much, but each Satellite can support up to 40-50 FTEs (representing upward of

200 members, since most of our members use the Satellite part-time).”

Redevelopment agencies and city officials with an eye on sustainability often find

coworking spaces attractive for these reasons.

The Hub Bay Area director Jeff Shiau talks about The Hub’s 31 locations, a global

network that is ideal for international enterprises and business travel. “In the end, the

whole objective of the shared workspace is to become more sustainable. Large corporate

office buildings where you have ten people using 50,000 sq. ft. are not sustainable.”

#4 Openness

The transparency and openness at coworking spaces may leave some people

leery, especially those who worry about exposing trade secrets and risks to

confidentiality. But, proponents of coworking believe that everyone can benefit when


28

ideas are freely shared; hence, they encourage open spaces and discussions. Some

spaces, like Citizen Space, don’t even allow non-disclosure agreements.16

Think the spirit of community only comes from coworking members? At many

coworking spaces, the boundaries of community are quite fluid. At Coworking

Rochester, its founder offers the space free of charge to groups whose goals and

visions he believes in. Founder David Moffitt tells us, “BarCamp Rochester is one of

the groups we host. They gather at Coworking Rochester to discuss technology-

related issues in an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and

learn in an open environment.”

Meetings culminate in an event each spring with technology discussions, demos,

and interaction from attendees. In this way, David’s coworking space becomes a

perfect launch pad for bigger events. Many organizations also use his space as neutral

ground to hold meetings. “Many of the board members, CEOs, and other higher-ups

of larger businesses would find meeting in their own offices too difficult,” David

explains. Coworking Rochester provides the perfect venue.

Satellite Telework Centers also does something similar. “A key part of our

business model is we open up the facilities to community groups to use for their

meetings and events, although events here could be anything of interest to the general

community—not just tech-related,” says Jim Graham, its co-founder. “We live in a

small town, and we understand how tough it is for groups to find places to meet. This

increases utilization during off-peak hours and gets a lot of people through the door

that might not otherwise come in.”

#5 Accessibility

An important feature of coworking is providing a space to work that is financially

affordable, as well as physically accessible. In particular, coworking spaces ease the

burden for small businesses just getting off the ground. They provide the necessary

infrastructure without the heavy out-of-pocket financial investment. Rather than

every business buying their own photocopy machines and laser printers, they can

share the equipment with several businesses.

Berit Oskey from Affinity Lab pointed out, “If you’re lucky enough to qualify for

a lease (as we were) you get locked into 5-7 year terms and you’re not sure if you will

grow into the space in that time or grow out of it by the middle of the term. Also, as a

small business, you end up spending a lot of your time focusing on your business

infrastructure—getting Internet set-up, troubleshooting your wireless, setting up

cleaning services and trash pickup, getting a copier lease, fighting with the local phone


29

company when something goes wrong. These issues take you away from your core

competency and keep your business from being more successful.”

24/7 access is also important. Jim Graham describes how the use of RFID-based

door locks on the outer doors, private offices, and meeting rooms enables their

members at Satellite Telework Centers to access buildings and facilities any time of

the day. They can track when people enter and leave the building for extra security,

and they can also charge people only for the time they are inside the building. This

kind of RFID-based access is used by many coworking sites to give their members

access outside peak hours during evenings and weekends. “The goal is to allow

members to work where they want, when they want,” Jim tells us.

ThinkSpace founder Peter Chee tells us that coworking’s accessibility amounts to

a paradigm-shift in the concept of work. “I think that companies themselves are

recognizing that they need to be a little bit more flexible for their employees. They

don’t need their employees to work in a central headquarters building anymore.

Employees can get the work done at a remote location somewhere closer to their

homes. I see coworking spaces popping up and filling that need,” he says.

This makes coworking appealing to companies looking for telecommuting

options for their employees: to save money and to give their workers more options.

“Also, our energy crisis is going to have an impact on this as well. I think that people

do not want to travel as far to work. With the cost of gasoline going up, people would

rather work closer to where they live,” Peter adds.

State of the [Coworking] Nation

A Very Happy Bunch

Just how satisfied are coworkers with their coworking experience? Deskmag

conducted a first-ever Global Coworking Survey to find out. Of the 661 coworkers

surveyed from 24 countries, almost 75 percent reported being “very happy” with their

coworking space; only eight percent was disappointed.17 Only 12 percent reported not

having better interactions with others, and only 15 percent said they were not better

motivated working with others.

“Happy” doesn’t even begin to capture the brightened moods of members who

run their businesses and organizations out of coworking spaces. Here’s Angel

Kwiatkowski’s take on a typical bad day at her space. “A ‘bad’ day at Cohere is when

the weather is awesome and everyone skips out on work to be outside! It makes for a

pretty boring day, and we’ve been known to shut down early when stellar weather

hits,” she tells us.


30

In general, coworkers feel good about the way they work. About half of

Deskmag’s survey respondents in the same study said they started working in teams

more often. Work/life balance seems more achievable, with 60 percent organizing

their day better so they can spend more time at home, and 60 percent indeed relaxing

more at home. Income for 42 percent of the respondents increased when they joined

their coworking space—a good reason for buoyant moods—and only 5 percent

reported income loss.

Coworker Envy

Coworking is also causing a stir among those who haven’t tried it yet. According

to Deskmag, 65 percent of non-coworkers expressed serious interest in coworking, but

about a third said there were no coworking spaces nearby. On the other hand, 12

percent said that lack of finances kept them from trying out a space, since a number of

them were looking for jobs.18 Paradoxically, it’s the people who can’t afford the space

that need it more, since joining a coworking space has proven to increase job

opportunities, develop networks, and increase income.

Founder David Moffitt of Coworking Rochester points out how many uninitiated

get hooked. “Many of our members have come here to just try it once instead of the

coffee shop or other area with free Wi-Fi they would usually go to,” he tells us. “But

after their first taste, they were hooked on the idea and have remained with us ever

since. They’ve reported it’s difficult to go back and have to fight for space or rely on

slow, spotty Internet connections when they know we’re right downtown in a

convenient location with all the amenities they desire available.”

Mostly Men, Mostly Freelancers, and Independent Workers (for now…)

There are two male coworkers to every one female coworker, and 54 percent of

all coworkers are freelancers (working solo).19 Twenty percent are entrepreneurs who

have their own employees and another one-fifth are telecommuting employees from

small companies.

Most of the coworkers are web developers or programmers, who are also the best

paid, according to Deskmag. The lowest incomes go to the artists. Mid-range earnings

go to the rest: graphic designers, press agents, architects, journalists, and those

engaged in non-commercial activities. Despite this wide range of earnings, 55 percent

of respondents think that they are in the middle-income bracket, less than 20 percent

live on below-average income, and 25 percent earn above national average.


31

What Coworkers Want and Like

Unsurprisingly, coworkers patronize coworking spaces because they like the

flexible work times and the interaction with other people (86 percent). “Accelerated

serendipity”—the random opportunities and discoveries that arise from interactions

with others—is also important (79 percent), as is sharing knowledge (82 percent),

according to survey respondents in the Deskmag study.20

As for amenities, nearly all require Internet connection, while 80 percent want

printers and copiers, and 76 percent need at least one meeting room. They appreciate

niceties like a café (61 percent) or a kitchen (50 percent), but only a quarter of

respondents think that recreational amenities like table tennis are important. A little

more than half of respondents (57 percent) don’t mind not having a dedicated desk

space, but 54 percent don’t want to share workspace with more than 20 people, and

21 percent said they can work fine with up to 50 others.

Comes in All Different Sizes

While it may seem that working in smaller, more intimate workspaces is

preferred, there are also benefits to be had in much bigger spaces. Based on

Deskmag’s survey findings, as well as concepts put forth by social network theorist

Mark Granovetter, small spaces give coworkers more quality interactions, while large

spaces provide more opportunities.21 Small-space coworkers may have stronger ties,

since they interact more and have greater tendencies to work in teams, as well as have

more in common and exchange information more often.

:::

Ready to try coworking? We’ve argued that coworking is cost-effective and promotes

the kind of community and collaboration that circulates and exchanges ideas. But

don’t take our word for it.

The rest of this book contains the amassed insights and lessons learned from

people who are thriving in coworking spaces around the country. Chapters 3-5 are

devoted to helping you select the right space for your needs, learn the ropes of

adjusting to your new digs, master the art of networking among the mix of

personalities, professions, and backgrounds for a richer coworking experience, and

maneuver around your new working environment.

About the Authors

After getting a case of cabin fever working on their own, Genevieve and Andrew

became dazzled with the concept of coworking. Share resources! End the isolation!

Spark collaboration! They set out to unravel the hype, collecting stories from across

the coworking universe. Working in the UnOffice is the result of that investigation.

GENEVIEVE V. DEGUZMAN is passionate about small businesses and nonprofits.

Before escaping the cubicle and uncomfortable shoes and starting Night Owls Press,

she worked in a variety of fields in the U.S. and overseas: corporate (Bloomberg LP),

nonprofit/NGO (Innovations for Poverty Action and several NGOs in Asia), and

international economic development (United Nations, Asian Development Bank).

Through it all, Genevieve has nurtured a healthy obsession with the art and craft of

communicating and illuminating complex ideas, whether in a working paper, report,

article, or book. Genevieve is a published author and seasoned editor and has

contributed to a wide range of papers, books, and reports, writing extensively on

issues related to improving the business environment and sparking economic growth.

She holds undergraduate (‘01) and graduate (‘07) degrees from Columbia University.

A long-time resident of San Francisco, ANDREW I. TANG has worked on a number

of media start-ups and digital ventures. Previously, Andrew worked as a Portfolio

Manager for Mellon Capital Management, Barclays Global Investors, Oregon State

Treasury, Tenneco Gas, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County,

Texas. A globe trekker, Andrew has visited every single continent except Antarctica

and has lived in Argentina, England, Malaysia, and Mexico. He is an avid hiker and

runner, completing over a hundred marathons around the world. He holds a bachelor

degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester [UK], has an

MBA from Rice University (‘86), and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

About Night Owls Press

NIGHT OWLS PRESS (nightowlspress.com) is a small, independent press that

publishes nonfiction books that challenge and re-imagine prevailing conventions

about business, work, and life. Covering topics on entrepreneurship, education,

innovation, and social responsibility, its focus is to turn big ideas into great books that

inform and inspire.

Find out more about Night Owls Press books at www.nightowlspress.com/e-book-

store/. For special or bulk orders, contact [email protected].

An all-around guidebook to coworking. This packed edition chronicles the rise of coworking and the social and economic trends making it possible. Readers learn how to find and select the perfect space and master the art of adjusting to collaborative environments. Discover the secrets to "accelerated serendipity" as members and founders recount their experiences of how coworking became a driving force behind critical business decisions and breakthroughs.

About Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking

Coworkin

g

For more info: www.CoworkingGuide.com

Available in paperback and e-book for your Kindle, Nook, or iPad

BUILD ENTREPRENEURIAL MUSCLE. Over 300 pages of straight talk, tips, and strategies for improving your business or organization in collaborative workspaces.

FIND PROOF OF IMPACT AND GET INSPIRED.More than 100 pages of interviews with 33 coworking members.

GET INSIDER ADVICE. 19 founders of spaces like The Hub, Indy Hall, NextSpace, and Affinity Lab give their candid views on working independently with others.

http://www.CoworkingGuide.com


PRESS Change How You WorkPRESSThe Next Web“Working in the UnOffice: The Lonely Planet of Coworking Guidebooks”

Fast Company“How to Get a Job in America”

Deskmag“Five Must-Read Books About Coworking”

PRESSPRESS

Shareable magazine“A Feng Shui Checklist for Coworking and Collaborative Workspaces”

GigaOM“What’s next for coworking? Space founders and users weigh!in”

CNN Money“What’s next for coworking? Space founders and users weigh!in”

Venture Beat“An Alternative to Incubators: Coworking”

Freelance Switch“How Freelancers Can Network Better at Coworking Spaces”

Financial Times“The Lure of the Water Cooler”

For more info: CoworkingGuide.com

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/09/26/working-in-the-unoffice-the-lonely-planet-of-coworking-guidebooks/








http://www.fastcompany.com/1781934/how-to-get-a-job-in-america-in-2012




http://www.deskmag.com/en/five-must-read-books-about-coworking-161




http://www.shareable.net/blog/a-feng-shui-checklist-for-coworking-and-collaborative-workspaces








http://gigaom.com/collaboration/what%E2%80%99s-next-for-coworking-space-founders-and-users-weigh-in/








http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/gigaom/articles/collaboration_what_e2_80_99s_next_for_coworking_space_founders_and_users_weigh_in.html








http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/11/co-working-spaces/




http://freelanceswitch.com/industry-tips/coworking-space/






http://www.nightowlspress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/The-lure-of-the-water-cooler-FT.com_.pdf









Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking for Indie Workers, Small Businesses, and Nonprofits

Business

satellite

critical business

hub bay area

part anecdotal

flexible work

affinity lab

collaborative

berit oskey