Every time Mitch Gray spoke to a group or a new client, he heard "Our biggest business challenge is that t's really hard to find good people." He had discovered a simple approach to his own hiring practice that gave him a constant pipeline of good people. He decided to share this with others. On this episode, we talk about how to always be hiring, why Indeed may not be the best source for local talent, and how to sell our "why" to attract great candidates. Mitch is a member of coworking space Firehouse in Clovis, NM. Mitch Gray, small business consultant and author of “How to Hire and Keep Great People” shares his insights around hiring and how to get out of the mindset that “it’s really hard to find good people right now.” On this episode, we talk about: How to shift your mindset so that you can find great people even if it seems like it’s hard to find great people. Why you should “always be hiring” even if you’re not actually hiring. Why Indeed may not be your best source of candidates. Why hiring for culture fit is often more important than hiring for skills. Why you need to know your company’s “why” and sell your “why” to potential candidates. Link to show notes Everything Coworking Featured Resources:  Community Manager University Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:  www.mitchgraymedia.com Instagram: @mgraymedia Twitter: @mgraymedia  Mitch Gray on Linkedin Mitch Gray’s book on Amazon

Everything Coworking

Author Mitch Gray on How to Find Great People Even When It Seems Like It’s Hard to Find Great People

Cofounders Amirh Davis and Christina Gutierrez met each other through a mutual friend that connected them to work on their mutual passion for coworking and childcare. They renovated a former bank building and opened in March 2, 2020, just a week before the stay-at-home order in response to COVID-19. They give us a behind-the-scenes experience growing their business during a challenging environment for coworking and childcare. They share how they attract their members, how they run their childcare model, and advice they’d give to new operators, and anyone considering integrating childcare into their coworking business. Link to show notes here

Christina and Amirh, Cofounders on the Coworking + Childcare Model They’ve Built at Pillar Cowork

MRP launched its first flexible office concept under Make Offices. Over time, MRP expanded that brand into non-owned assets. After several years of learning, a global pandemic, and significant evolution in what tenants want from office space, they relaunched a more inclusive building services platform under the moniker “Heyday Properties.” Link to show notes here

221. Josh White on Leveraging Owned Assets and Operational Expertise to Create a “Building Services” Platform

When I met Tessa in 2016, she had a lot of passion and a vision for Kwench that came with a big ticket buildout and a big funding gap. Since then, she opened a 5,000 square foot beta space, redeveloped 25,000 square feet of an old rail house and moved in five months before COVID hit. Kwench is a full-service work & culture club for creative, ambitious thinkers & doers who seek more. Tessa added a cafe/general store as an amenity in April....and has big plans for what the next location will include. Link to show notes here.

Tessa McLoughlin on How She Went from Being a Musician and Single Mom to Launching a 25,000 Square Foot Work and Culture Club

Adam and Zach, co-owners of Workspace Collective in Ocala, Florida, opened their first coworking space in October 2019 in a house built in 1890. They opened their second location in June of 2021 in a 7,000 square foot modern, industrial building downtown. On this episode, we talk about: - How the business is a family affair - their wives really run the show behind the scenes. - How Adam and Zach leverage their backgrounds in sales to fill up their locations and to support their members. - What they learned from opening a second location - Their plans to own the buildings they operate in going forward - How they're going "all-in" on their micro offices - How they market their podcast studio and more!

219. Adam and Zach, Owners of Workspace Collective, Share How Their Sales Background Has Impacted Their Coworking Success, and What They Learned through Opening a 2nd Location

Ben Wright is Head of Flexible Office Solutions, SquareFoot. He is also the founder of Upsuite, a digital platform that helps people find and book flexible work space. Ben is a former economist and a data nerd. His passion for data surfaces insights that help coworking space operators get access to market dynamics that they can act on. On this episode, we talk about: - The findings of Upsuite’s Q2 North American coworking data - The return of demand in major cities such as NY and LA - How operators are still working on getting to a cash flow positive occupancy rate - How shopping is still lagging signing in many markets - The challenge of digging out of deep COVID discounts for WeWork - The return of small team demand - 4-8 seat requirements - How the drop in supply is making demand feel higher in some markets - Why he’s worried that the coworking sector isn’t ready for the return of demand.

218. Ben Wright Shares Data on What Happened in Coworking in Q2

Jenny Poon is the CEO and founder of CO+HOOTS coworking in Phoenix, AZ. She is a true OG in the coworking industry with a wealth of experience to share. In this episode, we talk about: - How Jenny got her first space started by doing a management agreement with her landlord way back in 2010. - How she eventually moved her community into a building that she bought...after having her SBA loan pulled at the last minute and crowd-funding to save her business. - How favorite automation hacks to free up her Community Managers to focus on...community!

217. Jenny Poon on a Coworking Management Agreement Gone Wrong, Buying a Building and Automation Hacks

Justin and Kelly are co-owners of Flocc Studio in Dallas, TX. Kelly is also a sculptor and Justin is also a photographer and the founder of a digital lighting school. On this episode they share: - Their unwavering decision to serve a creative niche at their space - How they curate their application-based membership - Managing a business with a spouse - Their approach to alancing the coworking space + three more businesses - How their intern program saves the day and how they run it and more! Link to shownotes coming soon!

216. Justin and Kelly, Spouses and Owners of FLOCC Studio, on Starting a Niche Coworking Space and Managing Multiple Businesses

Mark Gilbreath is the CEO of liquidspace, a real-time booking platform for offices and meeting rooms by the hour, month or longer. On Wednesday, August 18th, GSA, the federal agency responsible for managing the world’s largest workplace, a 700M square feet of real estate portfolio serving over two million employees, announced that they have awarded LiquidSpace a contract to provide Flexible Coworking Services (FCS) to government employees. So, what’s the backstory? 18 months ago, in January 2020 the GSA issued an RFP as a part of their Total Workplace Program stating that "Working beyond the confines of a traditional office had become common" and that they sought to "equip government employees with the tools and the spaces to work from anywhere". With the announcement of the GSA’s awards, it is now evident that the government is poised to become one of the world’s largest consumers of coworking. Others included in the contract award: WeWork Expansive The Yard Deskpass Mark and I talk about: Why the GSA has decided to offer flexibility to this workforce and what it says about the broader employee choice trends. The GSA’s 50/50 approach to awarding every other “task order” going to small businesses (with less than $30M in revenue). What does this mean for boutique operators? How might the 50/50 approach might impact supply over time? Will this award encourage landlords to add flex offerings to the Liquidspace platform? How will the GSA’s move serve as a signal to other enterprise businesses still trying to figure out their approach? How does an operator get added to the platform so that they can be considered for GSA business? This is a discussion you don't want to miss, be sure to listen to the full episode.

215. The U.S.' Largest Employer Awards Flex Office Contract

Creating a marketing list for your coworking business opens up opportunities to use email marketing as a tool. On this episode, we talk about three things you can do with a “marketing” email list: Sales Funnel tool: To nurture those that aren’t “search and join” members. Direct Sales: To announce office openings, run BOGOS, sell event tickets Indirect Sales: Affiliate revenue, Membership sales that aren’t attached to your physical space Listen to the full episode for details on how to use your marketing list for these opportunities, what email service providers to use, and how to grow your email list.

214. Why You Should Build an Email List for Your Coworking Business

This week we're shifting from working on the "how" to working on the mindset challenges that often prevent us from making progress and living our best lives. I am highly trained in the “how” department. So much so that my analytical rigor as an MBA grad from the top business school in the country might have squashed some of my intuitive side. I got to a point in my post-MBA career when I was really stuck and wasn't able to move on to the thing I could sense deep down was next for me. Fortunately, I found Rita Hyland. Her website describes her coaching practice as "a place where leaders come to reclaim their purpose, clarify their vision, and reconnect with their true voice." She did exactly that for me. Not just once, but twice :-) The first time I worked with her was the process that birthed Enerspace, my own coworking space. It was a life-changing process that gave me the awareness and the tools to work through mindset issues as they come up. And as entrepreneurs, we are all managing mindset issues on a daily basis. Rita is an entrepreneur, coach, speaker, wife, and mother of three active children. In this episode, she talks with us about how to recognize common mindset barriers that keep us from pursuing our best lives.

213. Replay Of #88. Mindset Matters - An Interview With Leadership Coach Rita Hyland

For some of you, the idea of being your own landlord is terrifying. For others, it's a compelling way to create operating income and build long-term wealth at the same time. Jerry Alexander has been running this combo successfully since 2004. He is a commercial real estate investor running seven flex office/coworking locations out of buildings he owns. He shares a bit about his flex operations, but more importantly, the value of investing in commercial property. Listen to our full conversation here.

212. Jerry Alexander on Owning your Commercial Building

Potential members that tour looking for office space understand that "product" and they usually "need" it and value it enough to pay for it. Often they require privacy, a space to meet with clients, or make frequent ongoing phone calls.    Outside of major markets, you likely tour fewer potential members that come in looking for a flex desk or dedicated desk. These require more education and more of an "emotional" sell. Your sales funnel for offices is pretty simple. Google search --> tour --> close.   Your sales funnel for flex desks and dedicated desks might look more like this:   - Learns about coworking from a friend after complaining about not being productive at home. - Searches "coworking near me" and starts following a couple of local spaces on Instagram. - Checks out membership options and considers budgeting $300/month for workspace. - Maybe signs up for a couple of local spaces' newsletters. - Reads member interviews to understand who works in a coworking space... - Sees an offer for a day pass...schedules a tour. - Has a great experience testing out the space. - Goes home and keeps thinking about whether or not to budget $300 to be more productive...can they get an ROI on that? - Reads another newsletter and gets a little FOMO over Waffle Wednesday....   You get my point. It's a different sell. In this episode I share one marketing tactic you can use to start educating and attracting more coworking/flex desk users.

211. One Thing you Can Do to Start Selling More Flex and Dedicated Desks

Customer Lifetime Value is a key metric for coworking space operators. CLTV is important because it can help you make decisions about: Product mix Pricing Services offered Profit margin In this episode, we cover three decisions you can make with CLTV data - how to measure it, what drives it, and how to increase it. Link to show notes here

210. Three Decisions a Coworking Operator can Make with Customer Lifetime Value Data

Tracy Wilson is an OG of shared workspace. She is a partner at Pacific workplaces (18+ locations in California) and CloudVO. She is also now co-founder and COO at SUPER, which is on a mission to reduce single use plastic in businesses. Coworking is part of the circular economy. It is inherently environmentally friendly. If you think your members would resonate with a higher level of service that also saves $ and reduces environmental waste, this episode is for you.

Get Super Certified for Reducing Single-Use Plastic in Your Coworking Business

The Everything Coworking podcast shares trends and how-tos for coworking operators and anyone following this exploding trend. Jamie owns coworking spaces in Chicago and Palo Alto under the brand Enerspace Coworking. She is the president of the League of Extraordinary Coworking spaces, a global network of 35+ boutique coworking spaces. She also advises start-ups, Fortune 100 companies and other coworking spaces on space design and operations.

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Everything Coworking

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