Comments on: WorkSpace3: Work Club Startup in Mpls?

By: onidle(…) - » Minnebar and Coworking

onidle(…) - » Minnebar and Coworking — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 01:58:34 +0000

[...] Mention of WorkSpace3 as well as Garrick’s recent post [...]

By: Jon Matejcek

Jon Matejcek — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:29:37 +0000

I put up the WorkSpace 3 web site on behalf of the actual proprieters (who are even less web-savvy than I am). We’ll put some contact info in there asap; thanks.

I became interested in this idea for a little different reason. While the Work Club idea sounds really cool, the actual user is a bit more of a mundane guy like me: that is, I spend a lot of time driving around town to various customer locations. I try to group my meetings as efficiently as possible, but the fact is, there is always ‘dead time’ between appointments where I’m not at 100% productivity.

I am obviously a huge coffeeshop/free WiFi advocate. But, if I need to get on a conference call or WebEx, the noise is deafening for person/people on the other end of the line. In the library, I am the one who is deafening — for the other library patrons.

Garrick has it right, the idea behind WorkSpace 3 is a place to go ‘until …’ Until my next appointment, until it’s time to pick up the kids at daycare, until my subcontractor arrives, etc. In the meantime, I want to be comfortable, focused, and even a little energized by my surroundings.

That said, we have received a lot of input from the Corporate community interested in doing recruiting interviews at this kind of place. Also, as a way for employees to tele-commute from a place that is likely to be more productive than their homes.

At any rate, thanks for the good dialogue. I look forward to the Co-Working session at MinneBar.

In the meantime, a guy named Michael Matejcek can answer a lot more questions than I can …

matejcek3039@msn.com

Thanks, Jon

By: Garrick Van Buren

Garrick Van Buren — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:29:28 +0000

@Dave Dash,

Home things are on my mind wherever I am. At home, I can get them off my mind so I can focus on other things.

By: Dave Dash

Dave Dash — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:19:09 +0000

I think the benefit that this holds over a home office, is less distractions. I’m fairly disciplined when I want to be, but it can be easy to worry about “house things” at home, and be tempted to just do them.

My wife is one of these people. She works well at a coffee shop or cafe, but not always at home.

By: Garrick Van Buren

Garrick Van Buren — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 00:22:32 +0000

Mark, thanks for the reminder.

My first thought when this topic comes up is one of the many artist studios that are available throughout the city.

Sure, the amenities aren’t there (just a bare room) but if you’re looking for quiet, focused work - it fits the bill.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:31:30 +0000

As an example, I would point out that The Loft Literary Center has private (office) studio space available for use by its members. It doesn’t sound like they have wireless in these rooms [although there is wireless access in the Coffee Gallery on the first floor of the building they share with Open Book] - but then you are supposed to be focused on your writing They also have a Book Club Room available as a meeting space. Open Book (http://www.openbookmn.org/) has a performance hall (auditorium), classrooms and a commons area. Did I mention the nice coffee shop

http://www.loft.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=110

http://www.loft.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=113

By: Luke Francl

Luke Francl — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:23:52 +0000

Don’t forget the Co-Working session at MinneBar: http://barcamp.org/MinneBarSessions

Justin Grammens has been doing yeoman’s work looking up office locations for potential co-working spaces and he’s going to talk about his progress and see if there’s interest.

It’d be nice to get the Workspace3 people (person?) there but the lack of contact info make that hard…