GCUC Podcast Recap: The Coven

The Coven is the world’s first female run coworking brand to franchise and their cofounders, Alex West Steinman and Erinn Farrell keep momentum to build inclusive spaces that create a deep community connection, write their own playbook, and pave the way for economical female empowerment in their staff, their members, their community, and more in this episode of the GCUC Podcast.

Step into your empowerment with these juicy sound bites:

One of the best things about this business that we’ve started together is the fact that there are four of us. So, there is just such a deep connection across the four of us which certainly extends to our staff and our members. -Erinn Farrell, Cofounder at The Coven

You recently announced that you are the first female run coworking brand in the world to franchise. Congratulations, that’s phenomenal! -Liz Elam, Founder at GCUC

We didn’t have the playbook when we first opened this. We wanted to test it and learn ourselves. See what it would look like to expand physically with the four of us and we did it here in the twin cities. We’ve operated three locations, moved one of our Minneapolis locations, so we have tested a lot. -Alex West Steinman, Cofounder at The Coven

We tested no private offices, we tested a lot of private offices, we tested a huge buildout, and we’ve tested a minimal aesthetic design in a space that in partnership with another organization. What we’ve been able to do is exciting and we’ve been able to document all of the things we’ve learned along the way. -Alex West Steinman, Cofounder at The Coven

One of the things that’s been the most joyous of the last, going on five years we’ve been operating this business is through that mentorship of entrepreneurs and really starting to apply what we’re learning, being very open about what we’re learning, being very honest about what we’re navigating at any time. And how attractive that is to folks, they’re like yes tell me an honest story, don’t just tell me what it could be like but actually tell me what you’ve learned. -Erinn Farrell, Cofounder at The Coven

We’ve identified that we do three things really well: we design inclusive workspaces, we market the shit out of things, we mentor and support entrepreneurs every day. -Alex West Steinman, Cofounder at The Coven

We have operated this business, from the beginning, with an abundance model and mindset. This is not a scarcity mindset. We don’t believe that there’s only one femme forward coworking space that should operate in any given market. This is about continually making the pie bigger. -Erinn Farrell, Cofounder at The Coven

What better way to economically empower women, which is really a part of our core mission than giving power over to someone else to open their own space. Giving them the opportunity to own a community and build wealth for themselves and their community. Be the community connector that we are in our two locations and see what happens in that direction. -Alex West Steinman, Cofounder at The Coven

Early in the pandemic we had an adverse reaction to the word pivot. Pivot means that you have solid ground to push off from and change direction. By early April of 2020, no one in the world had that. So, we took on the language of pirouetting where we recognize what’s working, what can be improved, where can we pirouette a little bit more and really lean into what folks need. -Erinn Farrell, Cofounder at The Coven

We honestly believe that, I know it sounds crazy, but coworking can help save the world because what people really need right now is belonging and community. It’s the coworking people that have proven they can do that. -Liz Elam, Founder at GCUC

This business attracts people who love people. There’s a lot of support you need in being able to provide that love and space for other folks. For us to be able to take these last four years and say we’ve tried this six different ways, here are the things we learned along the way, here’s where we know we can continue to tweak and improve, here’s a beautiful place to start. Take all of our lessons and our time spent, and here’s how you can bring it to life in your market. That’s what’s got us so excited about the franchise model right now. -Erinn Farrell, Cofounder at The Coven

One of our core tenets is abundance so we actually love when there are other coworking spaces in town because what’s awesome about coworking is something is not going to work for everyone. So, you have to have options for people. What’s better than having a choice? People choose The Coven because we really focused on belonging, focused on physical and psychological safety. -Alex West Steinman, Cofounder at The Coven

Click HERE to listen to the full podcast with Liz Elam, Alex West Steinman, and Erinn Farrell. It’s juicy!