After almost 18 months at the helm of NWC, and almost three years of helping organize coworking communities, there is one lesson I have learned that is more important and valuable than any other.
Any time I found myself struggling with a dilemma or challenge, I would spend weeks or months trying to figure out the problem on my own. Eventually, in nearly every instance, I always ended up concluding the same thing: Go to the community.
When we were losing members a year ago, it was clear there were issues with our membership structure. People had to pay each invoice manually every month, which was a huge pain for them and for us. The different levels of membership didn’t make financial sense, and people weren’t signing up.
I struggled to figure out how to resolve these things on my own, and eventually decided to call a Town Hall to get everyone’s opinions on how to proceed.
The members showed up, responded, and we came up with a plan that everyone was happy with. Membership skyrocketed and life became easier for everyone. (We set up PayPal subscriptions and restructured the membership plans to make more sense).
We are about to embark on a wild journey as we leave our current space before our next home is ready— and there are going to be a lot of successes and failures and dilemmas and challenges along the way.
I want to ensure everything gets documented as much as possible, so everyone can benefit. This blog is here for that purpose.
Ready set go!
-Tony
