Hoping to explore this direction here in Franklin via my coffee shop/co-working space concept:
From: Start-Ups Share Space to Shave Costs - WSJ.com:
For three years, Tobias Roediger and a friend spent their spare time in Mr. Roediger's basement working on a dream: starting a small digital-film and visual-effects company. When Mr. Roediger lost his full-time job as a computer-lab supervisor in June, the friends decided it was time to launch the company -- and move out of the basement.
They were able to afford the move by "co-working," a rental arrangement in which the tenants -- usually small-business owners and professionals -- share space and office equipment, and pay short-term leases, usually month to month. Some co-working spaces feature groups of desks positioned in open rooms; othershave individual offices. Many provide certain amenities such as a receptionist, kitchen or game room.
Tobias Roediger runs his digital-film company in a shared office space he rents from Qwirk for $500 a month.
For entrepreneurs, it's a cheaper and more flexible alternative to renting or buying space of their own. The 32-year-old Mr. Roediger and his partner contracted with Qwirk Columbus Corp., a recently opened co-working space in downtown Columbus, Ohio, to pay $500 a month for two desks in an office, computers with Wi-Fi, use of conference rooms, a shared printer/copy/fax machine, espresso maker and more. Mr. Roediger estimates he's saving $300 to $400 per month on utility bills and not having to rent space he doesn't need.
It's also a much more social setting than Mr. Roediger's basement. "The thing that really drew me was the ability to work with a lot of other creative people," says Mr. Roediger, who adds that the shared space is good for networking, too: He says he's been talking to an advertising company on the premises about a possible deal.
Sharing office space with other businesses isn't new, but the tanking economy has prompted many small-business owners to consider it as they look for any practical way to lower overhead costs.
Some providers of co-working space are also offering reduced rates and even giving entrepreneurs opportunities to barter their services in return for paying no rent at all.
In February, Office Nomads LLC of Seattle started giving a "Pink Slip Special" to customers who were recently laid off, offering a free one-month membership worth $375. Overall, a dozen people took advantage of the offer, which ended last month, says Susan Evans, co-owner of Office Nomads.
Winnie Fung, a manager of the Change You Want to See Gallery, a nonprofit co-working space in Brooklyn, N.Y., says she sees a lot more bartering than she did a few years ago. At least three or four people from the 10 in her co-working space have partially or fully bartered their services for desk space, she says.
Ms. Fung says a few months ago she made a deal with one of her members, a tech start-up owner, to look after the building's computers and Internet service in return for free space.
Glenn Okun, clinical professor of management and entrepreneurship at New York University's Stern School of Business, say that the co-working environment presents an opportunity to tap into the collective expertise of the group and create business deals with other business owners, who are just a cubicle away.
Other experts, though, say small-business owners should be wary about the loss of privacy in such a workplace.
Sara Beckman, a senior lecturer who has taught a course on workplace design issues at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that entrepreneurs should consider these drawbacks: "Am I sharing the space with people who are direct competitors? How do I draw boundaries around the information I can and cannot share with people who don't work in my organization?"
Michael Patino of Fairfax, Va., who was laid off in October from an executive-search firm, started his own firm, Patino Associates LLC, and says he saw co-working as a better alternative to working from home. It's a more professional place for clients to visit, and a businesslike environment in which to make calls and conduct interviews.
But he didn't want a work space that was airy and open. "I needed four quiet walls," he says, to evoke the image of confidentiality, especially when he needed to interview candidates for executive positions.
For six months he worked at home, while also taking care of two kids. But "in a field where you spend most of your time on the phone, [home] is not the best dynamic in the long term," says Mr. Patino.
He started looking for a suitable co-working space for his company and found one in McLean, Va., owned by Preferred Offices LLC, which has nine locations in the Washington area. Mr. Patino signed a 12-month lease in June. He says he spends $2,000 a month, which includes the lease, utility, telephone and Internet charges, and a receptionist, who works for all the businesses on the floor.
"It's wonderful so far," he says. "There's an extra layer of credibility when there's someone picking up the phone for you."
Write to Raymund Flandez at raymund.flandez@wsj.com
The Lost Wilderness of Childhood
How many of us can remember that sweet freedom of youth, when a bike was your ticket to independence? A warm summer day, and you just take off. I can still recall the terrific feeling I had at about age 12 when my range had widened to the point where I could get to Wausau News and Hobby and browse racks of paperbacks all by myself. As long as I was home by dinner, my time belonged to me.
Another sad victim of suburban non-planning is the ability of our children to enjoy the freedom of wandering a "territory" of their own. Our children now need to be escorted via car to pretty much every event in their lives. Even the occasional decently sidewalked subdivision is enclosed by wall-of-China collector roads that are impassible and limit safe travel.
A few nights ago the local news featured the story of a child hit by a car in a nearby suburb. A neighbor pointed out the road it happened on; a typically winding, wide, pedal-to-the-metal subdivision speedway. The kid made the mistake of riding his bike a few hundred yards from his house in the hostile environment we currently embrace.
There was talk of an ice cream shop going into Andy's on Rawson and 51st (still planned, as far as I know). Sadly, it's a horrible idea - who would let their child travel there independently, crossing 51st or Rawson? Yet, there it will likely stand, beckoning for - - cars. We will drive our children there, and they will have their ice cream under our sheltering eyes.
I can't imagine being able to read - DISCOVER! - Dune or Tarzan books (start with the classics) while my mom stood over my shoulder at Wausau News and Hobby.
Here are two excerpts from "The Wilderness of Childhood," a story in Michael Chabon's new collection entitled Manhood for Amateurs:
....
Read the rest.
UPDATE: Upon further reflection, Chabon's article also reminds me of that great White Stripes song, "We're Going to be Friends."
fall is here, hear the yellback to school, ring the bell
brand new shoes, walking blues
climb the fence, book and pens
i can tell that we are gonna be friends
walk with me, suzy lee
through the park, by the tree
we will rest upon the ground
and look at all the bugs we've found
then safely walk to school
without a sound
well here we are, no one else
we walked to school all by ourselves
there's dirt on our uniforms
from chasing all the ants and worms
we clean up and now it's time to learn
Posted on July 28, 2009 at 08:06 PM in Bad news, Bad Planning, Bicycling and Walking, Commentary, Traditional Neighborhood Development | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
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