Thursday 22 July 2010

Co-working, customers & cupcakes

Ok so what's this co-working thing all about then, a friend asked sceptically last week.  "Come and find out for yourself" I told her.  So she did (good for her!), and yesterday, at the end of Space on Tap's 2nd successful Colleagues on Tap day I asked her how she'd found it.

First she admitted that she hadn't expected it to be very good.  OK. Fair enough :s  ..........

........ Then she revealed that despite her scepticism she'd had a fantastic day for lots of reasons, and planned to come to future co-working days as it really was time well spent.  Great :)

And I'm glad to say she wasn't alone - every one of the 10 co-workers who attended the day had benefited from the experience and would do it again (in fact 5 had been to the last one and had come a 2nd time!). 

They found that unlike at 'networking events', working alongside people for the day actually provided the opportunity to get into discussions naturally, over coffee or over lunch, or about a topic of mutual interest  enhanced by a few cupcakes (yesterday's SpoT chat on Twitter, Facebook and other social media provided a great conversation piece, competently facilitated by Heather Baxter of Marketing Geni), and that making new contacts was almost a natural bi-product of the day rather than the sole purpose of being there

Another telling fact is that 4 of our 10 participants yesterday weren't home workers - they have their own offices but wanted a change of scene - and half of the co-workers already work with other people in their businesses, but as they say, a change is as good as a rest! So co-working really can be suitable for anybody at all.

Is co-working really working?  Well Colleagues on Tap participants certainly think so!  At both events so far people have got as much if not more work done than they would have done at home, and although no-one overtly attended to get new customers, at least two of our co-workers managed to strike deals on the day.  I call that 'working', don't you? 
So, go on, try it - to find out about the next events we have planned CLICK HERE.  One thing's guaranteed - you'll get out of it at least as much as you put in ... :)

Friday 16 July 2010

Co-working's great for homeworkers

On Wednesday 21st July Space on Tap holds its 2nd Colleagues on Tap day, bringing together a group of homeworkers to a central workspace to, well, just work! This time our host's the state of the art evolve Business Centre near Durham and Sunderland, and we've all sorts of other events planned at great places in August and September.

We're really looking forward to Wednesday. The first Colleagues on Tap day really was a great day at Newcastle Business Village in Benton - 9 of us altogether. This is not a massive event - it doesn't need to be - it just needs a few people working in the same workspace to be effective. Some co-working days have 6, others have 25 - depending on anything from the venue to the weather!
We're expecting between 6 and 10 lovely people to join us this Wednesday (there are still places left so you can book here), and for £12 they'll get use of a workspace with wi-fi for the day, a fab lunch in evolve's e-bistro with their new found 'colleagues', and a SpoT chat in the afternoon with Heather Baxter from Marketing Geni, to get underneath how best to use Twitter and other online social media for business. The June SpoT chat with Vicki Stone Marketing was so useful, with everyone going away with at least a couple of new techniques to try out, and the whole group was able to share their experiences, from absolute novices through to seasoned professionals. So we're looking forward to finding out more from Heather! Find our more and reserve your place

Why's co-working great for homeworkers? We all need a change of scene now and again, and no more so when we work at home - you can get too much of a good thing! This really is a working day - just in a different location - so the great news is that you can still come if you're busy! You can't say that of most events, can you :)