Yes, Marissa hit the panic button, and Yahoo’s new ban on “working from home” has ignited a huge firestorm from a long-smoldering debate over how to manage worklife balance and workplace productivity. However, pitting working from home against working from a central headquarters office misses the point. Neither the home office nor the centralized HQ is the complete answer anymore. Worklife, has become infinitely more interesting and requires a more thoughtful approach, since knowledge workers now choose how, when and… Read More »
Corporate leaders have started to pay attention to the buzz and research around culture and employee engagement, as they are seeing that these are critical to attracting and retaining talent, and they have a direct connection to their bottom line. The realization is that the sea of cubicles is not quite conducive to deep employee engagement and it’s time to evolve the open office space concept to fit a more dynamic digital economy. Most research happening around workspace design, collaboration… Read More »
I grew up in Western civilization, raised on Darwin’s, survival of the fittest worldview. No matter where you are on the evolution/creation theories, his competition, bloody tooth and claw perspective has become a pillar of our cultural heritage. It has been the prevailing influence in how we’ve run our businesses. “Eat or be eaten” and “It’s a jungle out there.” Yes, it is a jungle out there. And until very recently we’ve been making the nearly fatal mistake of following… Read More »
The coworking movement has survived it's infancy, learned to walk and talk, enjoyed the freedom of childhood, and now sits somewhere in its young adult phase. The individualism of childhood fades as teens begin to run in packs, so excited to have found others like themselves. At that stage, you bond by defining what you are not, i.e. "we are not a typical office", and rebelling against difference in others, I.e. "that place is not a 'real' coworking space". At… Read More »
There are a lot of different reasons to open a coworking space, some are closer to business considerations while others are more on an idea, on the way you see the world. No matter why you decide to open a coworking space, the key to its survival is profit. We are not only talking about money when we talk about profit. Without building a community, a good product, and using marketing skills to bring clients in you will not be… Read More »
Coworking breaks down the emotional barriers (and sometimes the physical ones too) that the traditional business world put up to keep us each in our place. Isolated. After working in this vacuum for a few years, its no wonder some of the best and brightest are striking out on their own, trading a little financial security for a lot of professional freedom. Coworking provides solopreneurs with exactly what they’re looking for: a place where collaboration and community are highly valued,… Read More »
It all started as a meet-up of people coming to SXSW with an interest in Coworking. The meet-ups were held in Austin in 2008 and 2009 and organized by a local Coworking enthusiast. In 2010 Loosecubes decided to turn it into an actual event—the first ever Coworking Unconference. Liz Elam of Link Coworking helped the Loosecubes team with logistics and finding sponsors. The half-day Unconference was a huge success and drew about 120 Coworking enthusiasts from around the world. In… Read More »
Have you heard about the "I Share My Space" Video contest? If not, it's time you hear what it's all about. If you have, what are you waiting for? Here are the 3 factors that make this contest a triple threat in the Coworking community: 1) A lucky Coworking member First of all, there are PRIZES. Who doesn’t love prizes?! Winner of the contest will receive $1000 cash provided by LiquidSpace as well as a $1000 donation to the charity… Read More »
Last year our friends at Loosecubes did a wonderful thing for the Coworking world. They saw the need for some more structure around the gathering that naturally occurs around SXSW and the Coworking industry and created the Coworking Unconference 2011. In 2009 and 2010 there were a very well- attended meetups in Austin for anyone interested in Coworking. I attended both meetups and was awe struck by the talent that formed all in one place. It was critical for me… Read More »
In just a few weeks, coworking enthusiasts from across North America and other parts of the world will travel to Austin to take part in the 2012 Global Coworking Unconference Conference. The second U.S. coworking gathering in the Texas capital will be an opportunity for seasoned experts to rub shoulders with new space operators, with topics and tracks catered for both. The GCUC has been unofficially dubbed “Juicy”, because the acronym would become too annoying to say over two days of… Read More »
