My whole career pre-NextSpace was organized around doing everything myself and feeding my strong need to control everything around me. I made all the decisions, held all of the responsibility, made every mistake, etc. I also celebrated every victory alone, and found the old adage to be true — it was “lonely at the top”.
I had several sources for companionship, including employees that I tended to treat more like partners than employees (a dangerous thing to do), and a boyfriend I relied too heavily on for his own good or mine. I also watched entirely too much television.
Last May I started working at NextSpace Coworking, a collaborative workplace. A big part of my job was to create that community I had always sorely lacked. I started off with just me, in a big space, with no furniture and no other people. For a moment I thought, “What on earth am I doing, trying to create community in an empty room? What gives me the right to try and sell the idea of community when there is no one here?”
Fortunately, I learned that a lot of other entrepreneurs shared my longing for a place to go and a community to be a part of. Many of our earliest members were focused primarily on having space, and that worked out for everyone because it meant they had a space, I had people to show off to other people, and the whole idea gathered steam. Plus, as the community grew, the members felt very responsible for it and helped it chug along.
We are now 124 members and have the most amazing community I’ve ever been a part of. I have a brilliant 2nd in command, Lindsay, who makes the good (it’s mostly good), bad, and ugly of running a coworking space all that much easier. The community has gelled incredibly well, and we keep adding more features that members request. Like we recently started a band and are now the proud owners of a beautiful piano that a bunch of members chipped in to pay for. We have a team of members training for a half marathon in October. Tomorrow we wrap up an 8-week Harry Potter Movie Marathon. Our Friday member happy hours have become epic events that have even garnered some press.
The most satisfying part is hearing members tell their friends, family, and visitors, why they work at NextSpace. That they have people to celebrate the victories with, people to cheer them up and grab a beer with when something goes badly, have resources to call on that range from developers to attorneys to a sex coach, and have a reason to get out of their pajamas and go somewhere to be productive. One member recently told me that she doesn’t feel like herself if she doesn’t make it in to NextSpace. I think that is what community is made of!!
~Rebecca
How do you build a community?
August 4th, 2011 by lindsay
Spring Fling!
April 22nd, 2011 by iris
It’s been a quiet week here at NextSpace. I think many of you have been out on the lam with your families somewhere. It’s been lousy weather for Spring Break, but maybe you’ve gone to Mexico so you didn’t notice. Well we at NextSpace have invoked the spirit of Spring in full force. We’ve been busy beavers prepping for all sorts of new life and new things, one of them including a good general cleaning of NextSpace! So if you are planning on working here on Saturday May 7th or Sunday May 8th don’t be surprised if you bump into our member Christi and her green cleaning fairies as they whisk around with sparkling dust making the place shine.
You know that nasty old carpet here at NextSpace? Well we are getting rid of it, or at least part of it. That’s right! We are pulling it out and doing something super cool with the floor underneath. What are we doing with the floor underneath? Well, we are not really sure yet, but we’ll figure it out. Got some ideas? Feel free to send ‘em in to me. Think concrete stain, that’s the direction I’m leaning.
Some of the new life we are working on is of course our new spaces. We’d love to have you check them out! LA is having a launch party on Wednesday April 27th and You are invited! Come and meet some influential folks in the LA scene. While you’re at it we’d love to have you hanging out in the Cafe while a reporter from one of the nation’s largest news organizations interviews members for a story they are doing on NextSpace.
San Francisco is celebrating the opening of our new floor with a Guacamole mash-up on May 5th. The grand opening conveniently coincides with Cinco de Mayo (OLE!), which means Tequila and home-made Guacamole. You will have the chance to make your own guacamole with exciting prizes and titles given to those who decide to Mash-Off! We will be showing the new walls, lighting and beautiful tables while we enjoy the evening on beautiful hardwood floors (thanks DarmaSpace, the previous floor owners, for keeping it so pristine)! Bring your sombreros, donkeys and pinatas to enjoy our expanded NextSpace San Francisco!I’ll be driving up so please let me know if you want to come and carpool with me!
Also new at NextSpace is the software we are working on deploying for the community collaboration. We are still in the process of getting it set up. As soon as we do I’ll be holding a brown bag to teach you how to use it. This thing is a super powerful tool and I think you’ll find it a breath of fresh air. I’m excited to see what you do with it. The first thing you’ll notice of course is that it will replace our Biz and Community lists. Hurrah! Stay tuned, stay very tuned for the date of launch and training!
Brown Bags! Wanna do one? Hit me up!
Happy Hour! I want YOU to throw a Member Happy Hour at NextSpace, don’t worry! I’ll help you 
Hit me up!
Happy hour today at 3:58 in the Cafe. Beer and nachos. Nachos and beer. are you coming? let me know!
You Asked For It!
April 8th, 2011 by iris
Coming soon: The NextSpace Farmers’ Market
Hey Spacers! Remember way back when the Slug room was a conference room on Cooper Street and the Pacific room was the 12Seconds office? Wow, that seems like a life time ago. This one time, we had a BBL and 23ish of you showed up to talk about how NextSpace could help market you. Remember that? It was pretty cool. We talked about many ideas, literally threw everything on the table. Even talked about NextSpace becoming some kind of super agency. We talked about NextSpace dollars, that was cra-azy! My favorite term that came out of that day was the idea of a Farmer’s Market, where members sell their wares. If you want to reminisce you can check out my notes from that day’s meeting.
So, what did we learn? Our biggest take away was that you need a way to communicate with each other, to find each other, form teams and in general partake in the NextSpace Effect™ online as well as you do offline. Well, after over a year of searching the interwebs and software demos and literally trying out everything under the sun (including the possibility of building our own system from scratch) we have finally settled on what we feel is the *perfect* solution: Moxie Software was approached by Ideo to build a collaboration tool which would allow their teams to interact in a social setting. Thus Moxie Spaces was born: social networking for the enterprise.
It’s time to get excited!!! and I mean really frakking excited. In the next few weeks we will be setting up a BBL to train you on how to use the system. This will replace our current mailing lists and will do more, so much more. You asked, we’re answering. Who loves ya?
I wanted to let you know that one of our own is benfiting from the Whole Foods community day next week. Shop all day at the store on Soquel and Lightfoot Industries will receive 5% of sales! If you gotta buy it they may as well benefit right? Are you wondering who Lightfoot is, or what they do? Check out this awesome article in the Sentinel.
Hey don’t forget to sign up for a massage! Fridays!
Stay tuned for details on the Santa Cruz Tech Raising May 20-22. We will be kicking off here with Happy Hour and then heading to the old Sentinel building for team building.
To show our continued support for local businesses NextSpace is offering a free month Cafe membership to businesses who are victims of the Capitola floods. For details contact ryan@nextspace.us.
Here’s hoping for a hail free weekend. May the sun shine on your back
NextSpace. Helping you sell your turnips since 2008.
What do innovators do when there’s no Internets?
March 25th, 2011 by iris
Yesterday was a surreal day at NextSpace. The power went out in most of downtown, Seabright and the West Side around 1pm. Usually we aren’t affected by the unreliabilities of the grid but yesterday showed that yes, even entrepreneurs can be interrupted by acts of The Nature. The die hards who refused to give up on a return to the age of electric lights amused themselves by playing cards, chatting and twiddling their thumbs.
Watching ‘spacers dwindle out one by one as the batteries in their laptops heaved their last was sometimes sad, and sometimes comical. The laughter came in when said ‘spacers donned garbage bags to brave the sideways rain:
All in all I was a happy and relieved ‘space farmer when I arrived to work this morning to find the power was indeed restored and The Google was once again piped into our midst.
Brown Bags! We need you! We have a lack of presenters for the next few months. Contact me or Yvonne to set one up. A few topics which could be discussed:
• Running Remote Teams
• Project Management Resources
• WordPress for Blogging and More
• Blogging Best Practices
• Social Tools for Managing your Customer Base
• Life in the Cloud: Best Tools for Running your Business on a Macbook Air as Command Central
So, today we bid adieu to an integral person here at NextSpace Santa Cruz. It’s a bit sad, but the really good news is that we aren’t actually saying goodbye! Yes, little Sara is being launched out of the NextSpace nest and into the great wide world of Los Angeles. Come join us today to give her a hug and send her off in style!
Today’s member Happy Hour is also a bittersweet one. Ricoh, the team that brought you the super cool technology in the Pacific room along with many Happy Hours since January will be hosting their final soiree at NextSpace Santa Cruz. So, make sure you stop by, grab a slice of pizza and and a beer and spend some time with those brilliantly, crazy cats.
And finally, I don’t want to be a whiner. But are we wet yet? Have we reached saturation? I mean seriously, we had no summer and now it’s finally spring and it’s still cold and miserable. Okay, okay. I’m thankful that we are not in a drought anymore, so here’s hoping for a nice balance. Sun in the day, rain at night. Perfect, no?
We’re doing something “Nifty” on March 22nd!
March 11th, 2011 by rebecca
Along with companies like Google, NextSpace is partnering with Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), aka “Nifty,” a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurship education for at-risk high school students from low-income communities in the Bay Area. We first introduced NFTE to the NextSpace community as the non-profit we chose to benefit from the donations we collected at our 2010 holiday party in SF where we raised over $600 for the organization.
We chose NFTE because they are so aligned with what we are doing at NextSpace – promoting entrepreneurship and community, giving these kids the tools they need to run successful companies, etc. And, as if that weren’t obvious reason enough to support this group, NFTE was just named as a member of the White House’s Startup America program!
As our second show of support for this very worthy organization, we’re excited to announce that we are hosting an open house and networking event this month for some of the students. Along with what we hope will be about 10-15 current NextSpace members, we have agreed to participate and mingle at the open house so we can demonstrate our support for, as well as interest in, these budding entrepreneurs.
NextSpace will be providing the refreshments and snacks, and alongside our members, will be providing the encouragement and fueling the curiosity these would-be disruptors might have. Any members interested in giving back, encouraging these kids, and learning more, should make it a priority to be in the office on Tuesday, March 22nd and plan to take a half hour out of your day to help our next generation of would be business owners, hackers, NextSpace members and innovators.
Click here to RSVP for the event (so we know how much to order) and thank you!
FIND THE PRESS RELEASE FOR THE EVENT HERE.
Below is information about NFTE’s Ideas to Operation program as well as a call to volunteer with NFTE:
Idea to Operation (I2O) is a yearlong program for youth ages 18-25 who have completed the NFTE program and want to further develop their entrepreneurial skills and start their own business. I2O participants attend a monthly Saturday workshop in addition to working with mentors to reach their individual business goals. I2O is looking for mentors to help refine participant’s business plans and get plans ready to pitch by working one to one with them.
NFTE is seeking volunteers to guest speaker and coach in our NFTE classrooms. Additionally, this spring the NFTE class culminates in a classroom business plan competition and seeks judges from the business community to pick our classroom winners. NFTE has classes in San Francisco, East Bay, and South Bay and most classes last about 50-60 minutes.
Nextspace L.A.
March 9th, 2011 by jonathan
Howdy, NextSpacers! I’m excited to introduce myself to the coworking community. My name is Jonathan Lane and I will be a community curator for the soon to be open NextSpace LA. We’ve located a fantastic spot in downtown Culver City and will be opening our doors in less than one month!
As Culver City has grown over the past decade, it has become the home of several creative industries and booming businesses. Our new office, situated on the corner of Culver and Main, is just about as central as it gets in this vibrant community. We’re across the street from the landmark Culver Hotel, The Culver Studios, and Trader Joes. Just down the street is the well-known Kirk Douglas Theatre. The city is most known, though, for offering some of LA’s best cuisine and the city’s newest and hottest restaurants. Our office is just above the wine bar, “Bottlerock” (oenologists rejoice!) and two doors down from herbivore heaven, “The Native Foods Cafe.”
I am super excited to be launching NSLA with Sara Vainer, who, I’m sure, will be greatly missed in SC. However, if it were not for her help, wisdom and amazing knowledge of the coworking community, I’d probably end up rocking back in forth in a dark corner somewhere. We are both chomping at the bit to get started and can’t wait to expand the NextSpace community down here in LA. If you or anyone you know may be interested in becoming a member, please let me know. We’re going to RAWK this city to it’s core!
NextSpace Crosses the Chasm
March 9th, 2011 by jeremy
I am thrilled, humbled, and just a teensy bit excited to announce that NextSpace has just raised a nice pile of cash (425,000 smackers…yowza!) and that we’re ready to grow this little company. As we contemplate this milestone, I feel like there’s a bunch of people we should thank: my co-founders, my board chairman, our investors, and my kick-ass teammates who work their butts off. But I want to give a special shout-out to the 280+ people who really make NextSpace possible: our members. Simply put, our members are amazing. They’re doing ridiculously cool stuff like building mobile apps, developing software, designing logos, marketing products, winning awards and generally dreaming big dreams. But more important, our members are creating a new way to work. And they’re proving that gathering together in a collaborative community makes them more innovative, more productive, and (perhaps most important) just a little bit happier.
The NextSpace community is about to get bigger and more robust. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be doubling the size of our location at the corner of 2nd and Market in downtown San Francisco. We’ll be opening a new 9,000 square foot space in Los Angeles. We’ll be opening two locations in Silicon Valley, including a spot in downtown San Jose. And, of course, we’ll continue to keep the home fires burning at our inaugural location in downtown Santa Cruz. By the end of the year, we’ll have at least five locations that will be home to over 600 members. Game on….
A couple of months ago, our friend Simon Mackie from GigaOM laid out the “Top Remote Work Trends to Watch for in 2011.” Among other things. Simon believes that 2011 will be the year that “coworking crosses the chasm” into the mainstream. At NextSpace, we’ve made it our mission to lead the charge across the chasm. What will we find on the other side? I think we’ll find more of what we’ve already found at NextSpace: a growing group of freelancers, independents, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and employees of large businesses who are igniting a revolution in how we work. Ready to be part of the revolution? I hope you’ll join us.
Valenwhine & Wine
February 8th, 2011 by rebecca
We’ve all had one or two semi-satisfying Valentine’s day(s), and dems just not good odds. Nor are we alone. You got someone? High expectations. Don’t got someone? Feel bad. SO, on February 14th (it’s a Monday), at 3:58pm, NextSpace will be holding it’s first annual Valenwhine & Wine. Get ready for vino, heart-shaped junk food, and most importantly, bring your best, worst, funniest, or most tragic story. Winner of the most extreme story will win a free lunch with Rebecca.
Your 2011 New Year’s Resolution: Get Out of the House
December 23rd, 2010 by rebecca
Working from home is an easy habit to get into, and a tough one to get out of. Plus is sounds really good (flexible, free, easiest commute possible), at least until you hit the reality. You can sit there in your underwear and regardless of your need for people to talk to, regardless of the fact that your cat is blocking your laptop screen, and regardless of the fact that you are less productive, less motivated, and so much more easily distracted, it’s a hard habit to break.
To that end, use your 2011 new year’s resolution and the short time period of intense extra energy it gives you, to get yourself out of the house. To make the best of it, here are 4 tips that will help.
1. A killer mobile office – Remember back to school when you shopped for folders, fresh pencils, erasers, maybe even a Trapper Keeper? Think of your mobile office the same way, and get excited about creating a comprehensive, easy to carry, fun package of tools to make sure you can get your work done when you get where you are going. I wrote another blog post on 6 essentials for a mobile office, make sure you reference that before you think about leaving the house – it will give you the confidence and peace of mind you need to make the leap.
2. Physically leave your home – This may sound obvious, but thinking about getting out of the house is a lot different than actually doing it. Make a commitment that on January 3rd, the first Monday after the New Year, you will physically leave the house and work from somewhere else. This can be your local coffee shop, a friend’s house, or, what I find by far the most effective, a coworking space. What’s that? Coworking is where other people just like you are getting out of their living rooms and garages, surrounding themselves with cool offices and great people, and getting down to work. To help with this effort, I would be happy to invest in your getting out of the house, by buying you a day pass at NextSpace Coworking (San Francisco or Santa Cruz). Mention this blog post when you stop by to work for the day.
3. Realize that a small investment will pay back ten-fold. The greatest perk of working at home is that it’s free. Free, that is, until you realize you are significantly less productive than if you are in a distraction-free environment, especially one that is work-focused and supportive, and can help you when you have a question or idea. Working from a space like NextSpace, for example, starts a $235/month, includes a great office, all the coffee you can drink, 24/7 access, a free Zipcar membership, and a ton of other perks and benefits, which pull the actual cost down to a couple dollars a day. While many people are on a tight budget, getting out of the vacuum of your own brain has real monetary value, and needs to be carefully considered when you weigh the costs and benefits of working from home.
4. Say it out loud. Repeat after me: “My 2011 new year’s resolution is to get out of the house.” And tell every member of your immediate family, plus 5 friends. Putting this intention out there and into the universe will make you much less likely to renege on your promise (why is it so easy to back out when we are only promising ourselves? Perhaps another article topic).
Alright, you are prepared! Take the leap. You, your spouse, and everyone close to you will thank you. Except for your pets. They’ll miss your being around all the time. But will adapt.
Working For Yourself No Longer Means No Office Holiday Party
December 20th, 2010 by rebecca
There is a lot to be said for having a job. You have (at least you used to have) job security and the steady paycheck that comes with. You have (probably) benefits. You have coworkers. You might or might not do something you care about day after day. At the very least, your company will throw you an office holiday party.
We have taken all of these things into consideration, and the ever-growing world of “coworking” has emerged. Coworking is not your father’s job. It’s a new way to work, and specifically meets the needs of 2010 and beyond — the age of the independent knowledge worker. While jobs are being shipped out of the country, and teams are dispersing and growing back together from the far corners of the world, a lot of needs arise. The need for a place for independent workers to have an affordable office. Have a community. And have an office party.
Spaces like NextSpace, the coworking space I run and am a co-founder of, meets each of these needs head on.
1. Job security: We kinda think job security is dead. It went the way of local factory jobs and the now elusive “career” job that lasts 30 years and feeds your family of four. Before 2008, it seemed like large corporations were the last remaining source of job security, but we’ve all learned an important lesson from that – having a job and benefits does not mean you are immune to downsizing and cutbacks. The “New Job Security” is really about not being fire-able – in other words, being the boss who calls the shots. This may be the freelancer, the consultant, the start up founder. But all of a sudden, these jobs that in years past came with a sense of insecurity, are now what you can count on in a constantly changing economic climate.
2. Benefits: Company benefits have, in great part, gone the same way as job security – away. Now most companies make you match your insurance payment or offer flex spending accounts out of pre-taxed dollars, or in some way make you an active participant in your benefits payments. For the solo entrepreneur, resources like www.founderscard.com and www.TriNet.com, help the small business cash in on big-business benefits and corporate discounts. Both of the aforementioned companies negotiate hard with their leverage in member numbers, to get the little guys like us the big discounts and deals.
3. Coworkers: Today 1 in 4 adults falls under the self-employed category in the U.S. That is a lot of people working from home or in coffee shops, both of which offer their own flavor of isolation and no one to bounce an idea off of. Coworking companies like NextSpace that offer a community as well as a place to work, give the individual owner a whole set of coworkers again, without the office politics. It also makes workers significantly more productive to be in a work-focused space without the distractions of home and kids.
4. Holiday Party: Being your own boss offers you a lot of great things. Flexibility can’t be beat, and you can plan the other things you need to do around your work schedule, as opposed to fitting them in around the edges. Being your own boss also puts you in a proven “happier” place than your counter parts at large companies. But you are pretty much cut out of any sort of typical “office holiday party”. At least until coworking! Last Wednesday members at NextSpace Coworking San Francisco had a killer holiday party, complete with incriminating photographs, and the same promises to be true for this Friday at NextSpace Coworking Santa Cruz. With the idea being that everyone deserves an office holiday party, coworking spaces like NextSpace offer all the “big office” benefits while leaving you the best part – being your own boss.