Your thoughts on a co-working space at a tropical place

TCSNetwork

TCSNetwork

Changeling
Jul 8, 2011
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DxB
Ola amigos, i'm in the process of starting a coworking space and its situated in a beautiful place of beaches and bitches. oo, cheap beers and crazy nightlife as well. Lots of expats in this area and the locals are damn nice. I'll let you in on the location as soon as the place is set up with pictures.

We're planning on pimping the place up, set up high speed connections, cafeteria, regular events, workshops, talks and all that jazz. I have a small list of small startup teams and individuals (photographers, web designers, programmers, marketers) who showed interest in temporarily setting up shop here.

I see that a good number of you guys are "digital nomads" yourselves, so I would really appreciate some input on what you guys would look for in a place like this. If its not already on my list and you've got a great idea, i'll give you a great discount if you do end up coming here.

Cheers, thanks in advance.
 


ShadowCaster said:
How will you get any work done there?
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Thats what i thought as well when i came here. But over time, you tend to develop a great time management skill. I split my goals realistically and spread them out over n days. I get to work out in the morning/jog at the beach and grab beers and party in the evening while checking off my work goals for the day. The co-working space gave me a good sense of a "work environment" and discipline to get my work done.
 
Sounds as if you're doing this as a dream / hobby, not a business.

If that's true, and that's what you want, then all the power to you. I'm just saying...
 
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good chairs, nothing worse than spending 8 hours+ sitting on a shitty chair, especially when paying for the privilege.
 
I was always dreaming about this, but I was scared of leaving my country or that I will be unable to do something productive there - the sun, beach, I cannot imagine sitting on the PC... But yes, what a wonderful idea this is :)
 
Make sure all the legalities are squared away. Tropical 'paradise' arrangements can easily go south if people are unaware of local regulations. Also, knowing how to 'navigate' the local judicial machinery through the right connections goes a long way in ensuring a harmonious working environment.
 
$5 Submissions said:
Make sure all the legalities are squared away. Tropical 'paradise' arrangements can easily go south if people are unaware of local regulations. Also, knowing how to 'navigate' the local judicial machinery through the right connections goes a long way in ensuring a harmonious working environment.
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haha yeah, the coworking space I'm at was raided by Immigration two weeks ago. Apparently, they thought we were all working for the coworking place illegally. 8 hours of questioning later, they let us go once they found out what coworking is.
 
ShadowCaster said:
How will you get any work done there?
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Once he finishes pimping the place up, setting up high speed connections, building the cafeteria, had a few regular events under his belt, conducted some workshops, hosted some talks and hires a jazz band - that's when the real work starts.

But it will all be worth it.

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1- wifi
2- diversity of community (IMs, writers, consultants, programmers, etc.). If I'm a Java programmer working remotely I don't want to join a coworking space that's 90% bloggers and copywriters, just as an example. Diversity is key
3- clean work space without distractions- clean modern appearance. open tables, no clutter and bullshit
4. good price. If I am going to be working remotely in a tropical setting the last thing I want to do is spend 3x my cost of rent on a coworking office space



Don't forget membership tiers too. Have a cheap one to attract tentative people and then offer a premium membership with 24/7 access, and a mid-tier membership with full access during 8-5pm or something, but not 24/7

offer shit for teams too.. conference rooms, team desks (2-3 people in a private area). Go nuts! I've always wanted to start a coworking space. Seems really fun and it's a chance to work with tons of cool entrepreneurs.

offer a mailbox for premium members. maybe a fax too. offer free tea and coffee. it'll cost you very little per month especially if you're buying tea and coffee in a tropical country, but it's a nice perk. offer fresh fruit maybe if it's cheap to acquire (banana, mango, etc)
 
infoslob said:
Once he finishes pimping the place up, setting up high speed connections, building the cafeteria, had a few regular events under his belt, conducted some workshops, hosted some talks and hires a jazz band - that's when the real work starts.

But it will all be worth it.

Shangri_La_-_pool_view_with_Diamond_Head.jpg
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LOL, are those Commodore 64's?
 
Sounds good, best of luck with it, there's always a need for co-working places in tropical locations if you ask me.

I've been to more than a couple and I would say some of the more important for me are:

Good equipment and wifi - needs to be fast internet at all times even with many users and also a nice chair to sit in. Enough room too and don't cram everyone into small spaces. Nice big desks. The worst scenario is sitting on a small desk rubbing shoulders with others because there is no room.

Local staff speaks English and is into their work - don't just get some peasents of the street, since the staff will be working reception and meeting new customers most likely, they need to be friendly and understand western culture to some degree.

Workshops, drinking meetups and networking events. Local language classes, programming classes, online marketing classes etc. Introduce people in the same biz to each other.

A good mix of nationalities, including having local entrepreneurs there too and don't go overboard with bringing along only french/scandi/brits, whereever you are from. English should be the language spoken even if you're a different speaker, because otherwise it might seem like there's a team a and a team b.

Price - don't go crazy on drop in prizes. Needs to be affordable too. Something like $100-$250 tops. Have options for lockers to stash a screen for example and of course security for it.
 
rusvik said:
Introduce people in the same biz to each other.
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That's a big one.

It doesn't have to be face to face either, it can just be a simple email (e.g. Hey everyone, we got a new guy sitting at desk X, he's a web developer and his company is Company.com, LLC)

They never introduced me to anyone at my last space. Also, they made me sit near a journalist and a video game designer. Later I learned there were at least a dozen IM guys in there but they were scattered all over the space. It would have been way better to sit people in similar businesses in the same section to facilitate networking...

Another important point: FOOD. You should have a fully-equipped CLOSED kitchen where people can cook or turn on a blender without bothering anyone. Most places have mini-kitchens that are meant to make tea and coffee only, that's a no-no for me. I like to cook my own meals as much as possible. That's actually the main reason why I left and I'm back to my home office...
 
Isolated, uninterruptible enviroment. If I want or need the water cooler conversation occasionally great. However when it's grind time, people, noises excessive interruption would be a deal killer for me. If I have to put on head phones because the conversation outside my door is pulling me out of the zone there would be little value.
 
Charge enough to keep out the riffraff, if its too accessible in price, you'll attract more kiddos that aren't serious about working, and their lack of work ethic will turn off the more mature guys you need in there to make it work. It only takes one 19 yr old "web designer" blaring music and leaving shit all over to start the downward spiral where that's the only type that will show up. You want to run a business, not a frat-house, make sure that it's expensive enough to get mostly people who are serious about being in a work environment even if they are at a beach.
 
mont7071 said:
Charge enough to keep out the riffraff, if its too accessible in price, you'll attract more kiddos that aren't serious about working, and their lack of work ethic will turn off the more mature guys you need in there to make it work. It only takes one 19 yr old "web designer" blaring music and leaving shit all over to start the downward spiral where that's the only type that will show up. You want to run a business, not a frat-house, make sure that it's expensive enough to get mostly people who are serious about being in a work environment even if they are at a beach.
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Good point, but some disruption comes with the territory imo and that's usually a good thing. A co-working space is not just renting temp office space, that can be done in Regus and several other places. Co-working is about working but also networking. In the ideal co-working space, the other people there function mostly like coworkers would socially and professionally, but without salespeople and project managers bothering you with bs all the time.

Most places I've been to have quiet zones for unintterupted working.
 
avatar33 said:
Another important point: FOOD. You should have a fully-equipped CLOSED kitchen where people can cook or turn on a blender without bothering anyone. Most places have mini-kitchens that are meant to make tea and coffee only, that's a no-no for me. I like to cook my own meals as much as possible. That's actually the main reason why I left and I'm back to my home office...
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Cooking your own food in an office environment rarely ever works, and I've worked in more then one office with a fully equipped kitchen. Guaranteed some cunt will bring fish, or someone will burn whatever they are cooking, and stink out the entire office multiple times per week. Even better, when someone steals the good knives so you can't actually prepare anything. The kitchen and fridges are always messy, the sink always full of dirty dishes, even if you have staff to clean up several times a day. It just does not work and it will work even less in a co-op environment. People just aren't responsible enough to clean up their shit and have varying degrees of respect for others and hygiene.

A cafeteria service offering quality food at an affordable price would be much better and is a very popular offering in many high end offices these days.

If anyone is looking for office inspiration this is a really great site... Office Snapshots - i know where you work

I like the offices with a nice rumpus room separate from the working environment. A foosball or 8 ball table are nice additions.
 
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