Perhaps currently the most successful iPhone paid music app on the market, Midomi specializes in helping people find out what song is being sung and also offer them back up as tunes to perform against during karaoke. The trick here with Midomi is two-fold. If you happen to be listening to the radio or hear a song being played and want to know the artist & name of the song, simply use the Midomi app and the data will be delivered to your handset. But you can also hum or sing a verse of the song into your phone and it will provide you with the artist and song as well – in addition to any covers by other bands.  What’s perhaps more ingenious is that you can listen to the first person who had sung or hummed the tune into Midomi to recall that same song – almost like the early rounds of American Idol!

But if you’re not wanting to search for song titles, then you might just want a good tune to sing along to, right? Then never fear because Midomi has come up with a solution for that as well. Just by accessing the iPhone app, you can select a song you want to belt out the tune for and then sing along with it. It’s as simple as that! Nothing too complicated and it’s a mobile karaoke machine right at your fingertips.

So where exactly does SonicLiving come into play?

Simple. First you find the song you want to listen to and then leave it to SonicLiving to add some conversion to the process. Imagine if you hear a song that you recognize but don’t know who sings the tune. You hum a verse and it winds up being “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffett. Now, after listening to it via Midomi, you decide to belt it out in turn as karaoke (also through Midomi). But that’s not all…if you’re taking advantage of SonicLiving, you’re going to be notified in case Jimmy Buffett is nearby and there are concert tickets available. So you can sing along with him live in more ways than one. How can you not top that?

It’s interesting how these startups are finding great partnerships with one another to create a truly unique and awesome product. If you’re a fan of karaoke and are an avid concert-goer, then you might want to check out Midomi and SonicLiving. Come on…entertain yourself!

This week I attended an event in Palo Alto in the old Facebook headquarters building. It wasn’t your typical event, but it was definitely a good one. Organized by the fbFund, this event featured several great thought leaders in the realm of social media and startups, including renowned author of The Facebook Era Clara Shih, Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang, Stage 2 Consulting head Jeremy Toeman and Microsoft BizSpark “marketing dude” Jacob Mullins.

What is the fbFund? According to the Facebook website, it is a group of developers selected by Facebook to help innovate and create unique social experiences relating to Facebook Connect and they offer seed funding ranging from $25k  to $100k investments along with mentorship to help accomplish this goal.

So what’s so important about this meeting, you might be asking? Well it’s because since it was organized by a group dedicated to helping developers, that means also startups (aka small businesses), right? The goal of this particular meeting was to answer some really fundamental questions:

- When’s the right time to launch?
- Hire a PR person in-house, outsource, or do it themselves?
- How much should you invest in marketing vs product development?
- Right mix of social media marketing vs more “traditional” channels?

Here are some of those answers.

With over 250 million users and 1 million developers in over 180 countries, Facebook marketing is becoming a really big part of garnering new business. According to The Facebook Era author Clara Shih, sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have changed the paradigm from the world wide web to the world wide web of people and even user expectations have changed. No longer are you simply banking on a “spray and pray” policy to work. Instead, the way to do business with your customers is to understand who they are. It’s all about having targeted marketing – they expect you to know about their problems, issues and to show them what you can do to help them. Let’s be customer-centric, not product-centric.

Shih brought up an interesting phenomenon during her presentation – that being of transitive trust. What is this? With social media, it means that the probability of you trusting someone would increase based on the marketer having the trust of a common person you trust. So if a guy from Salesforce.com is interested in reaching out to your demographics, they might seek out a trusted source you follow and then you might be more inclined to at least listen to what they have to say (whether there is a transaction is entirely up to you).

Moreover, Shih also believes that with this paradigm shift in promotion, so to has there been a change in how we communicate to our customers. With the advent of the telephone, it was a 1:1 ratio where businessmen talks to customer. Then with web 1.0 (static websites, email marketing, etc.), the world changed to be 1:many. Now with web 2.0, you’re now looking at many:many. Ultimately, Shih believes we’re in a new age where Twitter, Facebook and even LinkedIn has forced it to be a ratio of everybody-to-everybody.

In a tie-in back to Facebook, Shih’s accomplishments include creating the first Facebook application integrated with her previous stint at Salesforce.com. Just how integrated was it with social media? It had a Facebook portion that allowed you to link up with other people you know on the platform and employs transitive trust. Also, it allows you to better target any sales through LinkedIn’s friend-to-friend network and lastly works on customer service through Twitter…all in Salesforce’s system.

A key point made throughout the afternoon was that you don’t have to work with big agencies to promote your brand. Instead, it’s all about networking, going to events, showing the benefits of your product in the ecosystem through partnering with influencers and others. According to Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang, there are three rules that he would like to see for startups to do in order to try and succeed:

- Be specific in what problem you’re solving.
- Crowdsource your support.
- Be a part of the dialogue happening online.

Owyang says that with Twitter, it’s alright to have a non-engaging profile for your brand/company BUT you need to have at least one person listed on that profile so that customers can engage with someone from your company.The company Twitter page can simply be a news feed of press releases and other blog posts – and state that the Twitter page is not an active account.

For startups eager to engage in blogger outreach, Stage 2 consultant & blogger Jeremy Toeman suggests that you need to know who you are talking to. Actually reading what they write and building a trust with the blogger over time through comments, conversation and engagement is a necessity in order to have them even care about what product you’re creating. Toeman also suggests that if you’re reaching out to big blogs such as Mashable, TechCrunch, etc that you should probably try and influence those people that the editors listen to – the concept of transitive trust.

It should be noted that the panel of Toeman, Owyang and Microsoft Bizspark “marketing guy” Jacob Mullins all believe that positioning is more important than exclusivity when dealing with bloggers. You need to tell the bloggers and even your stakeholders and customers “this is the problem and here’s how & why we solved it”. Frankly put, Toeman says that if you haven’t built a good user experience in the first 30 seconds of your customer or stakeholder trying out your product, you don’t have a good product. It’s your best selling point and you need to make sure that it has all the potential to succeed.

This session at the Facebook headquarters highlights an good philosophy that Jeremiah Owyang harped upon – be specific in what problem you’re solving. Without actually addressing this problem, your startup and product may not last very long.

You can watch the entire recording of this presentation by clicking here.

A truly unique experience is about to happen in the land of Hollywood and Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles. At the end of this month, the City of Angels will play host to one of the biggest and most extravagant events on the West Coast: Twiistup.

But what is Twiistup? According to the event’s website, it’s an annual event that was designed to help bring something “new and unique” to the Southern California networking scene. It was created by Mike Macadaan and this year is produced by Francisco Dao who has made it clear that he wants to expand from the previous editions to create something even bigger and better. So just HOW is he going to do that? First of all it’s not a one day event. It’s nearly a two day event where you have networking and celebration and then the traditional conference for the other day where exceptional speakers will help enlighten the crowd.

So aside from the celebration of networking and learning more about what’s going on in the technology and web scene, what else can Twiistup offer that intrigues people to attend? The mission of the event is clear: it’s to create buzz, energy and excitement in the air in order to help move ideas along. The organizers of the event want to focus on bringing the “best and the brightest” together in the area to make the community better.

The format.

Before you think it’s all just fun and games where people get together for over a day and a half and swap business cards, please note that this is not your average networking event. Attendees will be able to attend sessions and panels relating to not just the technology industry, but also entertainment and music – all three industries which share some things in common. Some of the panels tentatively lined up for this year include:

» Incubators and Early Stage investing
» Bridging the online/mainstream divide
» Technology and Music
» Investing and Marketing based on the 7 Deadly Sins
» Startup Ecosystems
» Opportunities and Challenges of User Generated Content
» Monetizing Social Media

Just who shows up?

The past five years of Twiistup has received thousands of people in attendance and this year promises to be nothing short of a record. Here are some of the folks who you will at least see throughout the event and are pretty sure to be appearing at the sessions:

» Jason Calacanis, founder of Mahalo and co-founder of TechCrunch 50 and Weblogs
» Chamillionaire,  Grammy Award-winning and chart topping musician and entrepreneur
» Quincy Jones III (QD3) Music and film producer/entrepreneur.
» Dave McClure,  Seed stage investor for the Founders Fund
» Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs
» Brian Solis, Author of Now is Gone and Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, Publisher of PR 2.0 and bub.blicio.us, Founder of Future Works PR, and strategic advisor to Fortune 500 businesses and startups
» David O. Sacks, Former COO of PayPal, founder and CEO of Geni.com & Yammer, movie producer Thank You For Smoking.
» Todd Goldman, Artist, entrepreneur, co-creator of BLAHGirls (with Ashton Kutcher) & founder of David and Goliath apparel.

The list is tentative at best right now but rest assured that you’re going to have a lot of prominent industry professionals in attendance all eager to help move ideas about and create something truly remarkable. The partnership opportunities (and potential funding) is there. Why wouldn’t you show up?

It’s the startup showoff!

This year the organizers for Twiistup have thrown down the gauntlet to startups who want to show their wares to those in attendance. Companies were invited earlier this year to submit their products & ideas to the selection committee and only just recently has the results been announced – although partially at best.  In the sixth year, Twiistup will allow companies who plan on launching in the Fall of 2009 to demonstrate or present their concept, website, product – almost like their very own press event. People will be able to ask questions of the startups and will also be privvy to seeing some of the latest technology to emerge out of these respective industries.

But here’s the catch on how you know these companies presenting will be top-notch: startups interested had to have submitted their proposals to a panel of judges well respected in their industry. If the proposal holds muster, then they move onto the next round. Who knows? Maybe one of these companies will have the next Twitter, Facebook or Google that we’ll all be abuzz about for the next few years. The topping on the cake? These spots are free so you know the companies will put together all their effort to really impress you.

The details.

If you want to attend Twiistup at the end of the month, it’s in Los Angeles at the Universal Hilton. The cost for attending all the events relating to Twiistup will run you $297.00 but if you’re just interested in the evening mixer, you will only have to shell out $79. I’m sure that this entire event is not one to be missed and you can get your ticket by clicking here.

Media and press passes are also available in limited quantity. To get one, you will need to send an email to twiistup@lewispr.com.

I’m looking to attend this event and I’ll be more than happy to report back any findings and any buss about new companies that look promising. If you happen to be there at the same time, look for me and let’s connect. Get ready for Twiistup!

Photo Credits: Mike Macadaan

…in a good way. His post “Backwards Work” stuck with me for a solid day, because he’s absolutely right. You’ve got to know the rules to break them, and you need to know what you want your end result to be before you start swinging for the fences. As Chris said, “know what it is you’re shooting at before you draw back.”

So without rehashing everything Chris wrote (its damned fine blog post on its own so go read it), I want to talk about the one thing that will help secure success…excitement in marketing your own company.

Excitement in your company period. Because, if you aren’t excited about your own business…no one else is going to be!

If you really want a good example of what passion and excitement for your product, brand, service or what it is that got you to start your own business, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better example than Gary Vaynerchuk. When I’m getting frustrated in what it is I do for a living, I go to YouTube and check out his talk from Web 2.0 Expo NY from September 2008 on “Building Personal Brand Within the Social Media Landscape,” and I get pumped all over again.

Now calm down, Sparky. I’m not telling you to go out and be Gary, but you can take a few things away from that talk that will help you. Gary’s passion for the things he loves (like wine, personal brand, and the New York Jets) is empowering. He loves what he does, and it pays off in spades? Take a lesson from that, and apply it to your own business. Whether it’s plumbing, coffee, design, legal work, the medical field, or, hell, even turning? paperclips into life size replicas of the entire 1969 winning Super Bowl team. In his talk Gary says, “if you love it you will win,” and that’s something I’ve always believed in.

Whatever it is…you started a business for a reason right? I mean, you didn’t start a business because one day you woke up and said, “I’m really good at (insert your whatever it is you want to do here), but I really don’t care about it…maybe I should go into business for myself doing that.” No. Something inspired you to shuffle off the 9-5 coil and strike out on your own. Now I’m saying this, and I am making the assumption you didn’t have a large bank roll behind you. I’m assuming you stepped out into the cold dark unknown of self employment, looked at the horizon, and smiled like a Cheshire cat. I’m assuming you looked out at whatever it is you wanted to tackle as the boss of a new business and said to yourself, “I can do this… and I want to for the rest of my life.”

You’re going to fail sometimes, but it’s that excitement for whatever it is you’ve decided to get yourself into that pulls you through to the next achievement. If you don’t have that, go back to the 9-5’er, lick your wounds, figure out what went wrong, and let someone else worry about where the monies coming from for a while.

If you’re on the fence about whether you’re excited about what you do or wherther the shine has worn off… pick a side and go there. It’s going to suck at times. It’s going to be exhausting at others. There are going to be days where you look at your loved one, friend, employee, or business partner and think, “What the hell did I get myself into?” The answer to that question is the very same thing: “I love what I do for a living!”

Chris Brogan wrote in his post: “Someone had to hunt the first mammoth. Oh, and that poor bastard died a bloody death.”

Bring me that mammoth and my rock. I’m ready to go down swinging. I’m willing to put in the hours, the time, and the effort to move forward regardless of the obstacle. I’m ready to get called crazy, loud, determined, passionate, and…a success. I am going to fail, and I look forward to it so I can get back up, dust myself off, and attack whatever knocked me down in a different direction.

I am a Small Business owner, and I’m excited to wake up every day and say that.

In Gary Vaynerchuks’s talk. he says, “if you love it you will win.” That’s something I’ve always believed in and something that, even before hearing Gary say it, has been the key to all of my successes.

Until next time…stay wicked.

* Photo courtesy of istockphoto.com

Well fear not Terry, and all of you trying to have your business take flight. This post is for you.

I talked about being frugal, but smart, with your marketing pieces. Most people I’ve come across that have started a business don’t have a huge cash resource to pull from and need to be a little creative, and yes…cheap, about what they spend their marketing dollars, and time, on. Their focus tends not to be what their marketing pieces will bring them, but how much it will cost them now. It’s a reasonable thought process, because the world is a very scary place when you’re wondering? where the next customer will come from.

I also asked you “to not think with the wallet you have now, but the wallet you want once your business is established”. What I mean by that is ask yourself, with each marketing venture you go into, ‘will this bring me closer to the next client/customer’. What you’re looking for is a financial reward for investing into your own company. In business, that’s called ROI (Return on Investment). It’s really simple; you want the amount of money you gain from this endeavor to be equal to or greater than the amount you spent on it. Common sense, right?

But what if you’re not putting ANY money into your own company, should you expect a return? Something for nothing?

When I started out, just like a lot of small business start-ups, I spent a lot of time thinking “People will pay the premium price I am asking for my service even though I haven’t invested in promoting my company, because they will understand that I’m just starting out.” Or my favorite, “They’ll take me seriously with the business card/brochure/flyer I just printed it out on my home computer and printer, because they understand starting a business is expensive.” I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Now back to how you can market your business on a shoestring budget, because that’s what this post is all about. The reality is simple. The tools you need to accomplish this goal are all ready a few keystrokes away.

Starting out, you don’t need a huge brand icon like the golden arches or a yellow sea shell. See, I don’t have to say the names of the companies and you know what I’m talking about. Keep in mind, as we go on, that what I’m suggesting is only a temporary solution until you’ve gotten a few sales down the road and can hire a designer.

For now, a clean, clear font is good for you. Go with something that’s not on everyone’s home computer. I beg you, for the love of your future marketing dollars, do not use Comic Sans as a font. You are not a comic strip artist (and even if you were I’d stay away from it) and you want your business to be taken seriously…unless you’re a professional clown or children’s entertainer, then have at it.

Websites like overnightprints.com or vistaprints.com can get your business cards printed efficiently and look like you paid a lot more then the often “Free 250” offers they run, but you need someone that has a bit of design sense to put something together for you if you want something that’s more than just text. And please, I beg you, see…I really care I’m begging you twice, stay away from the overdone backgrounds they offer for free. If I see one more purple lotus flower on an attorney’s card or badly gradient beach scene on a roofer’s card…I’m going to go nuts. It’s going to happen. Be close by me when it does; it will be hysterical for everyone else. Choose a simple, tasteful (just because it has the name of a fruit doesn’t mean it’s tasteful…lime green just hurts the eyes) solid color background and an opposite colored font. You can’t go wrong with black text on a white card.

Add a little gloss on the front for some style, but leave the back blank and clean so you, or a client, can put notes on the back. Put all of your pertinent information on your business card. You never know what medium people feel comfortable reaching out to you on.

While you’re at it, these sites are great for brochures, post cards, and a world of other things that would cost you an arm and a leg by going to a big printer. But before you start going after those things, remember a simple rule, because everyone has one…doesn’t mean you need one.

If you want fun and funky right out of the gate with a great brand, and you want to be cheap, go to your local colleges. Most of them have design classes where students in those classes are looking for opportunities to cut their teeth on your project for the experience. If you have the time, since you’re being smart and planning ahead, you can make your business the next class project where you’ll have tons of choices as the students put together design pieces that would not only get your business a great look, but a good grade for the student at the same time. What you will need to do, and this is just polite, is give that student, or students if they work in a group, credit for the work. This does two things: gives the student a source of credible experience and provides you with a potential designer who will do more work for you down the road on something they all ready care about.

Now for the item that might seem self serving, but isn’t. Your website.

Domain names (that’s your www.yourbusinesshere.com) can run you anywhere from $9.99 on up. The cost isn’t important, because you can often get one free with your hosting package, but the name you choose is. Your first domain should be some clear version of your company’s name. The first domain you use shouldn’t be too cute or clever. Again, save that for when you have a few sales under your belt. For now, focus on one of the things that will stay with your brand.

Sites like freewebsitetemplates.com can give you ready to go websites, but, like using one of the pre-done backgrounds for your business card, you run the risk of several people having the same look as you. Since this is just a temporary fix, please pick one that is, like your business card, clean and easy to view. People will understand expanding and evolving from a small clean design to a larger more eye appealing design, but since we’re starting with what you’ll need at first…I beg you, for now the third time (I must really care that you do well), to choose a design that accurately represents the image of how you want your company to be perceived. Just because you like sports or race cars doesn’t mean your future clients will. Explaining, and yes I came across this once or twice before, “I went this route because these are the colors of my favorite racecar driver and the black and white is for the checkered flag.” [This is an incomplete sentence. Explaining blahblahblah does what?] Needless to say this business had absolutely nothing to do with cars, races, flags, or…you get my drift.

As for hosting your website, choose a plan that truly will work for you. If you aren’t going to be selling things online for a while, the basic package is good. If you’re expecting a lot of visitors to your site right away…go with something that will give you a little more room. To save yourself some upfront coin, start out on the month-to-month plan, but remember to pay your bill.

Doing the math on this, using the suggestions above, you can accomplish everything for under $300. It will cost you just a little time. That, coupled with the freeness of social media networks like LinkedIn and a laundry list of other online networks, means you can start getting out there quickly and inexpensively.

There are tons of other options for accomplishing the things I listed above. Local copy or office supply shops are starting to offer inexpensive business card printing. There are some hosting options that offer design services as part of the package. All in all, if you do the homework, you can find that the cost of your start up items can be returned back to you in your first few sales.

Before I leave you, I want you to keep a few things in mind as you’re creating these pieces:

• It may look cool and amazing because you worked on it, but if someone handed you this business card or website…would you buy from them or take them seriously?
   
• This is a temporary fix. I strongly suggest once you start saving for a marketing pieces to be designed by an experienced designer or design company.
   
• Be a fan of your own marketing materials. If you take the time and care about the end result…it will show and yield results.

Remember, this is your company you’re getting these pieces for. You wouldn’t send your kid to school in your neighbor’s oversized clothes. Don’t send your company out looking uncared for.

Till next time…stay wicked.

It depends on the age of your business.

(1)    STARTUPS — If you are a startup, uncertainty about the future is your biggest financing challenge.  Your business is unproven and you don’t have a track record yet.  Emotionally it may feel much riskier as a startup entrepreneur to seek funding, because you don’t know what the future holds.  How do you predict sales? How fast will your business be able to grow?  Are your expense predictions realistic?

You know what they say about a startup seeking money:  divide your sales projections by half and double your expense projections.   It always takes longer and costs more to get a new business off the ground.  And I’ve found that to be true when I started my own business and in many startups I see.

The problem is that because the future is uncertain, too many startups underestimate their capital needs.  Then they give up just before the dawn, because it looks darkest then.  And that’s a shame.

Startups need to get creative about alternative financing sources. Common sources of funding for a startup:

READ the rest of the interview at Grow Smart Business…

IN THE MEAN TIME….

Register for the GrowSmartBusiness Webinar at www.growsmartbusiness.com/webinar.

Find out YOUR marketing and finance score by taking the survey – your results will be benchmarked against the Small Business Success Index.

Washington Post tech columnist Kim Hart has a good event writeup, which features a photo from our own Shashi (you can see even mo’ bettah pictures in his Flickr set from the event). So what’s left unsaid for me?

I did grab a chance to have a quick talk with founder Robert Neelbauer, so I’ll post that in a subsequent entry. Here now, are just a few shotgun-style personal observations:

* Social Matchbox is a little more structured than other types of tech networking events; established companies, startups, and even not-quite-startups do three-minute presentations (hence the unofficial “speed dating for geeks” slogan), interspersed with opportunities for attendee networking. (It typically ends with an open-mike segment, though it was cut this time due to time constraints.)

* Business opportunity: Pre-event presentation coaching. Considering some of the cringe-inducing performances I’ve seen over the years, including any number of low-talkers, pocket-jinglers, and generally incomprehensible speakers, I’m thinking this is gold.

The presenters this time around were pretty good, though there’s always room for improvement, and there are enough things out of a presenter’s control to worry about (remember, every room, AV setup, and audience is different).

If you’re going to present, rehearse, preferable with video — friends may lie, but video doesn’t. Neither do stopwatches, lest you run afoul of timekeeper Juliana:

At the very least, pay attention to other folks so you know what the room sounds like, or have a confederate there to give you the high sign when your volume goes too low.

Also, it’s not usually wise to forgo the microphone — even if you project well, they might need it if the event is being recorded or streamed.

* Everyone was issued a MingleStick to use, a contact info-swapping device of the type that I denigrated in my earlier post about managing contacts:

It seemed to work okay — once you’re registered in, point at another MingleStick and click to swap info. But the novelty wore off quickly, and I like having context, even if it’s scrawled on the back of a business card. I guess I’m hopelessly analog that way.

I do note that we had to turn in the devices at the end of the night, and I still haven’t gotten my contacts to the e-mail address I provided.

* Several companies slotted to present were no-shows. Like with many raffles, hey, you gotta be present to… present. I was mildly tempted to jump on stage and spout nonsense on their behalf.

* One of the companies presenting (Root Orange) was in “stealth mode.” It’s hard to do a pitch for something when you can’t talk about it. If you have a personal track record, that’s something, but otherwise, there just isn’t a lot for other people to go on.

* DubMeNow, was another company looking to build a better mousetrap for contact swapping and management, using smart phones and other mobile devices. I still don’t get why people have such a big problem with business cards.

Anyway, it was a good event, though I didn’t stick around for the dinner afterwards. Check out the Social Matchbox site for a full list of presenters, including video interviews. And stay tuned for my own interview with founder Robert Neelbauer.

Were you at the event? Are you vehemently anti-business card? Got a tale of presentation woe you’d like to share? Leave a comment below.

Social Matchbox is DC’s longest running open mic night and networking event for startup companies that are backed by angel and venture investors as well as those which aspire to join their ranks.

Our event is unique in that it is invitation-based with a refreshingly open format. Social Matchbox provides a quarterly “State of Startups” for the Mid Atlantic by fusing company demos, a startup job fair, investor introductions and the most relaxed tech networking event in DC.

At this event you will see: Startups, Web developers, HR folks, local bloggers maybe even the local media.

Good place to pass on any swag, brochures or t-shirts if you are a sponsor. All startups get 2 minutes to pitch themselves. Abt 150-200 people attend. Would be great if you can make it , I have made the best contacts in the local DC tech scene at previous Social Match Box events.

To register, check out http://socialmatchbox040209.eventbrite.com

For those who don’t know Alex, his blog is Dangerously Awesome and his Philadelphia-based coworking space, Independents Hall or Indy Hall, was one of the first to formalize the coworking space.

The core conversation was an informal roundtable to discuss the current and future approaches to coworking. There are many evolving business models that range from the capitalistic to the altruistic. After the session, we had the opportunity to catch up on how Indy Hall is growing, their graduation labs for coworking attendees.

Here is the full interview:

In an earlier post, I wrote about the pros and cons of working in a coworking environment if you are a freelancer or independent consultant, but one aspect that hasn’t been discussed much is how to set up a coworking space.

Setting up a coworking space is not hard and there are a number of coworking spaces, some formal and some informal. There is a great directory of them around the world at the Coworking blog. But what if you have an existing space and want to set up a coworking space in office space that might now be freed up from reducing your full time work force or if you are a landlord and are finding it hard to locate new long term tenants? Setting up a coworking space might be the answer but there are certain advantages and disadvantages you should be aware of it you are considering this option.

Advantages:

Off-set costs

As I mentioned above, you might have space opened up from staff reductions and you are still paying for the space. This could be an excellent option to offset your monthly costs and possibly create an office space solution that really didn’t exist a few years ago.

Bring a pool of talent you can tap without hiring them

There are many talented freelancers and consultants who use coworking and many more looking for a coworking space in your area. While you may have reduced full time staff or are not as full as you thought you might be as you ramped up operations the talent that is usually in a coworking space is usually top notch. If you have an occupied office space in another part of the building these people can become virtual project team members when you need them.

Challenges:

Culture

I mentioned above that you might be able to access talent that you don’t need on a full time basis. In this case you should be aware of two things. Sharing a space that has full time people in another part of the office might cause friction between full time people who might not be as open to the idea. Also, a coworking space has a culture that is more loose and if you have a conservative office it might become a problem if you don’t clearly define the spaces and in this case keep them separated.

Security

One area that I am sure has been on your mind is the issue of security. Granted, the great majority, if not all your coworking tenants are honest and respect your space. However, with some coworking spaces, you may have people that come occasionally and people may not know them. My suggestion is to at the very least create separate office spaces with different entrances (if you can) and if you have card key entrances, be very precise about access to everyone. This might be the deal breaker and your space might not be the right fit but at least you have evaluated this new type of opportunity that while is not a solution now, might work in the future.

We want to hear from you

If you have space and might be thinking about doing this, please share your thoughts. If you have worked in a coworking environment, please share your perspective as to why this approach might work or not. If you are an owner of office space considering this option please share your questions and concerns in the comments below.