Coworking With Iris

In this episode, I speak with included.co founder, Hector Kolonas, about the Sanitary Sanity campaign, why it matters and how coworking spaces can get involved. What do periods, tampons and coworking have in common? About 1,000,000 human beings. That's the average number of people with periods who will be coworking worldwide by the end of 2019. The included.co network has partnered with Women Who Cowork in building a campaign to provide access to period products to every member of a coworking space, worldwide. Dubbed the Sanitary Sanity campaign, the goal is to empower coworking operators to provide these products in a cost-effective way and to display them openly, thus normalizing the topic of periods and making people with periods feel included in the space.

In this episode I speak with Katharine Chestnut, the founder and Chief Community Officer of Alkaloid Networks in Atlanta, GA as well as the Founder of the Atlanta Coworking Alliance. Katharine is a marketing pro with 30+ years of experience in face-to-face marketing, writing and mentoring. We spoke about how Katharine was discouraged before opening her space because the information she found all said that she would not be profitable, and then happily surprised to find herself hitting the black within her first few months. She talks about why you need to write a marketing plan and shares her experience on being a female founder in the coworking movement and launching the Atlanta Coworking Alliance.

Dr. Jamie Orr is a theoretical physicist, mother, female entrepreneur and co-founder of South Lake Tahoe's first coworking space. Recently, Jamie has been leading the development of the new mobile-based coworking management platform, JellySwitch. Jamie and I spoke about building a coworking community as transplants to a remote vacation destination, living life true to her values, building a community from scratch in a remote location, the challenges she has faced as a female entrepreneur and operator and her newest endeavor, JellySwitch, which allows operators to run their space in real-time from their smartphone.

Cobot is the oldest SAAS coworking software platform on the market. Designed by coworking owners to manage their space, it was designed to keep the members in mind since day one. I chat with Thilo Utke about the software, get the DL on functionality and get answers to your questions. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kowrk provides a listing platform for shared work spaces and connects coworkers with over 100 spaces in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Cambodia. I talk with Founder, Honey Kathuria about Kowrk’s platform, the state of Coworking in South and Southeast Asia and the Future of Work. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Digital Nest provides tech training, job skills and a safe community place to low-income youth ages 12-24. I talk with founder, Jacob Martinez, about providing these free services to 800+ members. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Building a good team is important for any business. Building a team who exemplifies your values and brand promise as a coworking space is crucial to your success and sustainability. In this episode I walk through my hiring process, breaking it down into manageable chunks to empower owners to build the best team for your coworking brand. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ian Stock has been a coworking space member since 2008 and has provided legal services to coworking owners and operators. We will talk about the needs of start-up spaces, stock options, partner agreements and how to make those dreaded Terms and Conditions more friendly and collaborative. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Global Directory of Women Owned Coworking Spaces was created by Laura Shook in Honour of International Coworking Day. We talk about creating this resource and why she thinks the Coworking movement has been largely driven by women. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm chatting with Cohere Madame, Angel Kwiatkowski about building and sustaining a small coworking space, DIY everything, and her latest project, launching a rehearsal space for musicians. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In early 2016, Grind and Verizon launched a coworking space in Verizon's iconic New York headquarters. Benjamin and I talk about the particulars of forming this historic strategic partnership between a communications giant and a coworking pioneer. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm live from GCUC Canada in Montreal, chatting with Shannon Richards of The Two Twenty. We talk about her role as a community manager. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I chat with Carel Talens about how Bisner helps coworking spaces engage their community through their member interaction and collaboration platform. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm chatting with Jamie Russo about her role in bridging coworking and office business center culture and how the this year's Global Workspace Association conference in Las Vegas is geared towards both. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ashley Proctor joins me to chat about GCUC Canada, now in its second year. We chat about the people attending, speaker topics and my favorite, the unconference! I also ask Ashley about COHIP - the coworking insurance program she founded, and managing life and work between three cities and two countries. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Iris talks with Maya Delano, master of time and space in her community. Maya has been a community manager with NextSpace Santa Cruz for 3+ years and has developed a daily set of practices which enables the NextSpace team of community managers to keep their to do lists at a comfortable size, their operations running like clockwork and their communities buzzing along, happily.Coworking with Iris is a weekly talk show Friday’s at 10 AM Pacific via Google Hangouts On Air. Iris and guests from the coworking movement chat about topics relevant to shared workspace communities and welcome input from participants about what’s happening in their community and the rapidly expanding coworking universe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tiffany Jones is the Technology and Operations Manager for the 8 NextSpace locations and has managed the rollout of Nexudus Spaces to NextSpace’s enterprise. She’s worked hand in hand with Adrian Palacios to customize Nexudus to NextSpace’s needs. In the 15 month process of onboarding of Nextspace onto Nexudus, Tiffany has helped Adrian’s team identify multiple feature sets that they have implemented across the platform. She will be able to speak about making Nexudus work for unique situations, multiple spaces and common issues experienced with Nexudus.Coworking with Iris is a weekly talk show Friday’s at 10 AM Pacific via Google Hangouts On Air. Iris and guests from the coworking movement chat about topics relevant to shared workspace communities and welcome input from participants about what’s happening in their community and the rapidly expanding coworking universe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After our last show on using Nexudus to manage your space, Adrian posted several links that answered some questions we raised and some specific links to some great resources. I posted them in the Google Group, if you're not a member there, you should be! https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/coworking/X4X_V-QwrRA See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Iris talks with Jerome Chang, architect and founder of BLANKSPACES. Jerome designs spaces which allow for a variety of working styles to flourish, from collaborative spaces to team offices and solo, focused work areas. With a focus on maximizing space to maximize revenue, Jerome will share with us his best tips for making sure your space is well designed, fosters collaboration and helps you get the most bang for your square footage buck. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Melissa Mann Saubers, founder of Cowork Waldo and co-founder of the KC Coworking Alliance joins Iris to chat about creating a regional shared workspace alliance. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 2014, when most shared office spaces were going big, sleek and downtown, Nicole Vasquez quietly created a small coworking space in the Uptown neighborhood in Chicago. The result of her efforts is a neighborhood community -and space- focused on supporting, promoting and connecting each other. I will talk with Nicole about building a small community in a big city, impacting members and sustaining herself and her business while providing a valuable community resource. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stephanie Bermudez is training the new work force. With a background in developing youth entrepreneurs and creating internship programs, Stephanie has spearheaded COSHARE's Coworking Internship pilot program. I'll talk with Stephanie about how coworking spaces can create internship programs that enrich the intern and the community. We will also address best practices for working with Millennials (hint, she is one!) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Iris talks with Cat Johnson, writer and content strategist. Cat helps collaborative spaces create DIY content that tells the stories of their communities and individual members We will cover the top 3 tips to writing content that will take your blog from generating internal interest to reaching your larger community and the media. You're changing the lives of your members every day, now you just need to craft your content to get the word out. Cat will show us how to tell your story and get noticed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Drew Jones lives the intersection between corporate culture and coworking. As co-founder of Austin, Texas's first coworking space, and a management professor at Texas State, Drew is constantly focused on how to apply Design Thinking to help create more human-centered and innovative organizations. We will chat about Drew's latest project: to bring the coworking ethos into the world's largest corporations, in an effort to bring more agility, connection and collaboration to the companies solving world problems. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There are many ways to go about finding a location to open a coworking space. For companies looking to expand to new markets, determining viability can be daunting. Enter Doug Maschoff and his market analysis tool. Doug fell in love with coworking when he joined a community after selling his property management company. Combining his understanding of the real estate marketplace, working with landlords and tenants and his understanding of the needs of the mobile workforce, Doug created a comprehensive check list detailing how to determine market viability for coworking. This is super technical stuff and we will dive in with gusto. I'll ask Doug to break it down in terms we all can understand and give us the scoop on how to apply his techniques to help expanding companies find the right fit for their brands of coworking. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Just in time for Global Coworking Week, I'm chatting with Liz Elam, founder of Link Coworking in Austin and founder and Executive Producer of the Global Coworking Unconference Conference. Liz and I will chat about her travels around the globe, how she's seen the movement change over the years, coworking trends in different geographies and the current state of our movement. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Coworking is not just big shiny offices in urban cores. It's about meeting the diverse needs of people, ie: community, workplace, accessibility, tools, infrastructure. In my ongoing series on neighborhood coworking spaces I'll talk with Mara Hauser, founder of 25North Coworking. Mara is creating an experience that is focused on meeting the needs of her community, a suburban town outside of Chicago. I'll ask Mara to share her journey in creating a coworking space in her neighborhood. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Iris chats with Rebecca Brian Pan, serial enreprenuer, new mother and CEO of Covo, a lifestyle workspace just opened in downtown San Francisco. Covo has a full Cafe, taproom, large classroom space, public coworking and will provide resources to Architecture, Engineering and Construction workers through a partnership with Good Design. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hector Kolonas is building Included.co as a platform for coworking and shared workspaces to access service offerings at a discount to their members. Offering services geared towards coworking spaces and their members, Hector's goal is to help small businesses grow. ONe way he is doing so is by bringing independent coworking operators and the small businesses that fill out their spaces the kind of group buying power traditionally confined to large corporations. We will find out what's involved in joining the Included.co network, who's in the network and the types of offerings available to operators and members. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.