There seems to be some misconceptions about what defines a coworking space. Many offices who find themselves with excess space are re-branding and calling their offices a coworking environment. This of course is not coworking. It’s not about a couple of people just showing up to the same space or a place acquire ‘cheap office space’.

Coworking spaces are more than just space, convenience, or a random unification of desks. They are places where economy is being produced, new sectors are being created, and unlikely people are creating interesting communities. As companies and individual entrepreneurs search for ways to create innovation, our spaces should be a haven for people with ideas. They should act as idea laboratories where people can experiment with new processes of developing and implementing ideas.

When we started the THECUBE in London, we had no idea that we were a coworking space. The vision we had was to create a space that would facilitate the process from idea to enterprise. As we progress to our first birthday we are realising the true potential of coworking as an industry and it stretches beyond the desk-space we provide. All of the coworking spaces around the world have a chance to create a significant impact in building an economy for their town, city, or country.

Idea Engineering  Agency has put together four visions of how coworking spaces will help shape the economy:

THECUBE has created a process to make innovation leaner, faster, and effective for its members. People will be coming to coworking spaces with a lot of questions and we should be prepared to provide answers. With the creation of our Idea Engineering Agency, we are giving our members a leading edge against their competitors. Coworking spaces should be experimenting with processes of innovation and help create enterprises that are quickly sustainable in order to help create faster economy. It will be incredible to look back in five years and see how many jobs were created due to coworking innovation.

Coworking spaces have the ability to create a voice in their respective entrepreneurial communites and as such can begin to support the needs and wants of entrepreneurs beyond the space. We can act like a magnet to attract what would be unattainable resources for our members, like investment firms, sponsorships, and external partnerships. Being a voice and a guide for enterprise will move things faster and help influence change.

Coworking spaces bring together people of different thought processes, experiences, and talents. The interaction between people of such diverse backgrounds makes our spaces a breeding ground for strong idea communities, which will then lead to the creation of new sectors and industries. As we discussed in our article How To Build Economy, new sectors will help build a stronger economy as they will use the intelligence of people in new ways and create better jobs. Coworking spaces provide a faster economy force start-up businesses. One of the most important ingredients in building an economically sustainable business is contacts and community. We are creating tribes of people who are helping each other connect faster.

Coworking spaces can help change perspectives in regards to how a population views economy. For instance, we were in Orlando last week and we observed that people, who could very easily start their own business would rather opt for searching for employment. It seems that still in these type of cities people can only think of themselves as employees instead of people who may potentially have a good idea to turn into a business. So it is up to the coworking space in these cities to create events and conversations to begin to change conceptions on enterprise.

Each week THECUBE  is covering relevant news from emerge, who we are sponsoring during London Design Festival.

This week are pleased to announce that IdeasTap will be supporting emerge 2010 with its Group Fund Award. Emerge was originally shortlisted from over 100 applications before being selected as a finalist by a panel of experts. IdeasTap, a creative network and funding body for emerging talent, said the decision to support emerge was unanimous.
Over the next few weeks we?ll be working closely with IdeasTap to involve their community in emerge and develop new ideas for future exhibitions.

THECUBE is a coworking space in Shoreditch East London. We are dedicated to incubating ideas and enterprise.

THECUBE will be launching its in house Think Tank where we will be discussing economics, environmental, social, and innovation issues. We aim to create conversation and instigate ideas that will help all of us create better enterprises.

The topic will be ‘ What would the world look like without corporations?’ This  event is by invitation only and it is limited to 10 places.

Please send an email to info@thecubelondon.com if you are interested in receiving an invite.

THECUBE is happy to announce that Burkson & Bampoh has joined us. They are an Africa focused Business Advisory Firm working with companies looking to do business in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our services Inlcude Public Affairs, Corporate Communications, Public Relations and Strategy. In the past we have worked with a Multi-national Telecom operator as well as SME’s looking to explore the opportunites in Africa.

For more information, please contact go to their website www.burksonandbampoh.com.

Innovation, implementation, and ideas are  words that keep propping up in conversations, events, media, and in boardroom meetings. We all understand that it is these three words  which will be the future and restoration of the economy. However, first we need to understand their meaning and the role that they play, Idea Engineering Agency have chosen a simple metaphor to articulate our interpretation.

Imagine that innovation is getting from Florida to California, idea is the vehicle (one has to valuate which is best for the ride, you wouldn’t want to make the journey in a beat up car) and creativity is the fuel ( fuel that is composed of imagination, empathy and observation). The map in front of you is the equivalent of the implementation strategy, guiding you along the terrain and allowing you to see all the possibilities.

Every single stage of this metaphor is important, choosing your destination is crucial or you could be taking your idea in the wrong direction. Choosing the vehicle is important;what idea do you take forward? Observe what idea fits with the market your are trying to create or reach. Then there is the fuel, you want to put in high performing octane fuel, which means your creativity has to be of good quality. This comes from observation, empathy, and imagination. Ask questions instead of jumping to answers, for example, what is happening socially? What type of services do people want? What are the dynamics,needs, and wants of your local community? Etc. Lastly, you have the map, which is your implementation strategy. We like the metaphor of a map as you are able to see the options of any direction.

From our research and observation we have concluded that the most common mistake in implementation is keeping an inflexible tunneled vision. CEO’s, entrepreneurs, creative directors, design graduates,  you name it,  we are all been guilty of creating inflexible strategies that do not allow the idea to change and evolve as it needs to. What if your market changes? Or you observed the wrong traits in your target market? If you just keep moving forward you will end up with a badly implemented idea.

We cannot stress enough how important it is to observe at every stage to make sure that you are heading in the right direction. We can only reach innovation when our idea has been implemented successfully and created economy, otherwise it is just an idea.

THECUBE coworking space is helping graduates be better innovators through a programme developed in partnership with Consurgo called INCUBE8

There are many things that play a role in creating a good work space and making it viable. The steps below were devised for THECUBE using Idea Engineering, which has helped us reach profit in less than a year. We hope will help budding coworking owners as well as help define this emerging industry.

Keep Overheads Low to Create Fast Economy

Many spaces are portraying a luxurious or high-end feel and hiking up start-up costs above potential income, thus creating a longer return cycle. It is important to keep overheads as low as possible; negotiate good deals on your leases, invest in durable furnishings rather than overpriced luxury items, find a space that has little to no refurbishment needs, and look at a well connected but up and coming area as rents will be cheaper.

Marketing Position

Position your space away from members clubs, cafés, or luxury offices, so you don’t have to compete in a saturated market.

Delay the Bells & Whistles

When cash flow increases and you have broken even, then start to replace standard items with more defined products. Firstly, its good for your start-up costs, but it also communicates to your members that you are improving the space, which creates retention.

Streamline Running Costs

Create a circular economy that is lucrative to enlist quality people to help run the space, automate systems where possible, and have a small core team that is cross trained.

Stay Green

Turning off lights that are not in use and at closing time, recycling paper to create note-pads, encouraging members to think before they print, use tap water instead of buying bottled, etc. etc. Being green is responsible and can help you save money along the way.

Define Your Ethos

Find what it is that will make your coworking special and relevant to local entrepreneurs. Spend time observing and take note of what is needed. To simply set up a couple of desks in one space is not coworking, you can do that at Starbucks.

Offer Innovative Information & Events

Give your members well researched information they cannot find anywhere else and create events that are pushing innovation amongst entrepreneurs.

Bring in the Community

If you want to be around for awhile get the community behind you and create events that will encourage people to come to your space. They may not need you now but may in the future. THECUBE constantly invites the community to partake in our events and we have seen a great return on investment. Some people don’t join until 3 -6months down the line, so be patient. I will stress that you do it out of genuine interest not just for sales purposes.

Do not Franchise

According to our observations, franchising dilutes coworking spaces and makes them generic. Coworking spaces are so dependent on their community and the needs of local entrepreneurs that creating a generic space will make them vulnerable. Plus each space has to continue to change and innovate as needed, which is contrary to franchise protocol.

]]> http://thecubelondon.com/blog/2010/08/06/the-sustainability-of-coworking-spaces/feed/ 2 http://thecubelondon.com/blog/2010/08/04/dan-elman-joins-thecube-coworking-space/ http://thecubelondon.com/blog/2010/08/04/dan-elman-joins-thecube-coworking-space/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:44:54 +0000 Araceli http://thecubelondon.com/?p=1601

Dan Elman specializes in writing promotional content & copy for website and e- newsletters. Dan combines digital marketing strategy, customer research, search marketing techniques and compelling copywriting - to increase his clients’ online ROI.

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Give Dan a call for website content such as customer case studies, homepage messaging, sales pages, or a whole site re-write.

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dan@dan-elman.com

www.dan-elman.com

Why! is a community led agency which connects fresh ideas makers with diverse creative projects. We are burgeoning professionals, graduates, and students coming together for one common goal of creating new opportunities.

If you are student or graduate

12 months ago when THECUBE coworking space was just an idea, we got in touch with Katy Cowan, who had just set up Creative Boom, so we sent her an email about our idea and the rapport grew from there. We are now seeing the progress of her vision and dedication to the online magazine and has become a staple read amongst creatives.

Creative Boom London was given over to THECUBE, which soon passed it on to Russell Thomas to edit and take it forward, he has one of the most imaginative and killer voice around.

His interview technique shows his dedication to getting the most interesting parts of a persons thought process, making his pieces more like a piece of art than just a write up.

He has some interesting ideas for CBL, including the addition of Anna Lincoln’s screen printed flyers, which look stunning enough to collect.

To link to Creative Boom London follow the link,

We have finally put all the final touches to Idea Engineering and we are now ready to start the prototyping process before our official launch in October 2010.

THECUBE coworking space will now have an in house idea consultancy, dedicated to helping members come up with ideas, develop them, implement, and create a long lasting economy.

Cubers will now have 30min access to IE, every Friday as part of their membership, to take advantage, please set at time up with Araceli info@thecubelondon.com.

For non members we are looking for interesting case studies to produce, so if you have an idea or looking for one, please get in touch, we are interested in anything unique, Social Enterprise, Product, Finance, Design, Engineering, etc.