New Work Cities

06/27/2025

01/04/2024

Our mastermind group is reopening for January. If you're building a space that aspires to be a hub of connection in your community, this group is for you.

Details & register here:
https://lnkd.in/ekdinaWe

11/29/2021

Congrats to Maryann Baldwin of Lansing Works on her ribbon cutting!

http://waukonstandard.com/articles/2021/11/17/ribbon-cutting-event-lansing-office-works-includes-tour-and-comments

04/06/2020

Hey friends, Tony here! I just sent this update to my New Work Cities member community and thought it would be useful to share the update here as well.

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A WORKSHOP ON ZOOM TIPS AND HOW TO CREATE MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY ONLINE: INTERESTED?

My big takeaway from the meeting is that there seems to be a big need for ways to spice up online gatherings to make them more engaging and meaningful. I just so happen to have a TON of tips on this.

To that end, I am considering converting our next Q&A into a premium workshop, where I'll actually lead you all through a series of activities to show what is possible.

If you think this direction would be useful to you, reply and let me know!

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TOMORROW: JOIN FOR JOY LIST SOCIAL

See a bit of what I'm talking about when it comes to online community organizing during the Joy List Social, a friend-making event I work on with my friends. It's cheap and I'm sure you will get lots of inspiration:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-joy-list-social-live-tickets-101486597144

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VIDEO Q&A RECAP

In today members-only video Q&A, we covered several important topics:

1. Emotional needs. Everyone's going through stuff; let's be mindful of what it means to be trying to work as we also endure a serious crisis.

2. What to make free vs. member-only. One of the primary ways we can provide value to members now is through online programming, so we talk through the nuance of how to navigate that.

3. Jen's new virtual membership. It's a really great template if you're considering doing something similar. Check it here: https://www.dayhousecoworking.com/virtual

4. Zoom & online organizing tips and tricks. It turns out that my having a multi-year head start on online community organizing using Zoom is coming in handy. I know a ton of tricks for helping make your gatherings more effective and fun; skip to the last 10 minutes or so for more on this.

For more on this, check out this video workshop I did last week with Betaworks:
https://youtu.be/Shx_7sSVmQ8

Stay safe, friends!

Tony

The Joy List is a weekly newsletter helping make New York City, and eventually the world, less lonely. We feature events that have facilitated moments of connection, and host our own monthly gathering for social connection (despite the physical isolation): The Joy List Social. Shed the anxieties of....

03/16/2020

It was a pleasure to have Hector Kolonas on my weekly Q&A call today! He was a champ as expected.

Hoping to have you back again when things settle down so we can talk more about included.co!

Hector was invited into today's New Work Cities Q&A call, where we chatted about how shared workspaces can adjust to Coronavirus realities.

Thanks for the invitation and for the warm welcome and honest discussion under these trying circumstances.

You can learn more about New Work Cities at https://nwc.co/ where Tony helps coworking spaces build communities so awesome that people will put on pants to visit it (or at least a tee to Zoom call until it's safe again to visit).

02/05/2020

This week's members-only video Q&A was so great that I've decided to post it publicly with the participants' permission.

We cover how to avoid legal snafus, importance of developing values, long-term thinking, befriending competitors and more. Check it!

https://youtu.be/G-uGobIzopk

My rough notes follow below.

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AVOIDING LEGAL ISSUES

Lucas kicked off our call asking whether a digital signature was as legally binding as a paper signature. I'm not a lawyer, so I always recommend everyone consult their own legal counsel on these matters—in particular because laws vary from one municipality to the next.

But based on my understanding, a digital signature's as good as a paper one.

More importantly, however, lawyer friend once gave me a good bit of wisdom—for matters like these, if someone is looking to get out of an agreement by challenging the veracity of a digital signature, you've already lost—because it means you're already in a legal battle.

Legal battles are like war. The best way to win is to avoid it happening in the first place, through diplomacy.

In this discussion, we talk a lot about culture development and communication strategies to reinforce this.

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CORE VALUES AND TRADITIONS

Establishing values and traditions that community members truly buy into can go a long way toward helping reinforce great culture from early on. We talk about other organizations that have done it well and how you can approach developing them.

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LONG-TERM THINKING

Identify a place where you can go to think. It could be a park bench, a cabin in the woods... if you don't have one yet, find one!

Set aside time in your calendar on a quarterly basis—or twice a year, at least—to go to that spot to spend some time to clear your mind and think in terms of the big picture.

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BEFRIEND YOUR NEIGHBORS

Other coworking space owners in town are potential critical allies—even if they are rivals right now. Maintaining healthy relations, or at least a line of contact, can lead to opportunities you can't predict right now.

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GET SUPPORT BUILDING YOUR SPACE

New Work Cities offers tools and resources to help you create a thriving shared collaborative space.

That includes:
* Coworking Toolkit
* Coworking Business Model Planning Kit
* Coworking Business Model & Fundraising Workshop
* Coworking Mastermind

Learn more about what we have to offer here:
http://nwc.co

Each week, I host a private Q&A video call for members of my New Work Cities mastermind group. While recordings of the calls are normally kept in a private p...

08/26/2019

Check out some things we covered in today's weekly member Q&A!

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FALL RECRUITING

This is one of the best times of year to recruit new members—kids are back in school, people are moving, starting new jobs, coming back from vacation. So let's amp up the member recruiting efforts!

Specifically, let's focus on giving people an invitation that is going to stand out from the other spaces they may be researching.

A fall goal-setting lunch & learn would be perfect—all things being equal, doing it on Tuesday, September 10 (or 11 or 12) would be just about right.

Send it out to your non-member lists, especially people who have toured your space in the past.

(New Work Cities members get access to program templates that are perfect for this purpose)

RECRUITING MEMBERS TO HELP CLEAN

We revisited the topic of how to deal with growing resentment when your members don't treat you or your space with respect and what to do about it.

I still recommend the "No More Sink Full of Mugs" approach, which involves posting a laminated sign with a whiteboard marker, inviting members to tally the times they've helped clear the sink (or keep the space clean in general). Celebrating positive contributions sets a great cultural expectation for everyone to follow!

The full eBook where I talk about this, plus the downloadable signage, are included in the Coworking Toolkit, which is included with membership or can be purchased a-la-carte.

TALKING ABOUT WEWORK

So many people ask me about WeWork. I imagine it happens for a lot for you too!

So I'm working on an idea to write down all my thoughts and turn it into a product. I'd love to know what questions you would want me to address—how to talk about it to people who ask, how to position yourself, where I see it all going, etc.

As a paying member of the group, you'll get whatever I produce either for free or at a severe discount.

Will you help me make the thing by taking a quick survey here?
https://nwc.typeform.com/to/TNLe8r

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Check the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxF-BL4op0s

Rock on!
Tony

08/12/2019

Every community manager wishes more people would read their newsletter announcements—while we can't force people to read their email, we can give them more and more opportunities to run across them—in particular, when they're a captive audience!

If you can figure out how to make your newsletter easily printable—perhaps by copying and pasting the content into a pre-formatted Word doc—you can post the contents of your newsletter in your space's bathroom stalls and elsewhere in the space. Over the kitchen sink? By the coffee pot?

I saw this in use at Gary Vaynerchuk's offices and thought it was an a super effective touch.

In general, you want to look for ways to take one piece of content you create—like your newsletter—and make it easy for people to find it in as many ways as possible.

ALSO

When you're running a small space or just getting started, it can be so helpful to lower the barrier to having volunteers help you at the front desk.

When it comes to keeping track of what's happening in the space as the baton is passed from one volunteer to another, it comes in super handy to have a simple shared document everyone uses to log what happened in the space each day.

This way, the next person who sits at the front desk can easily get up to speed on what happened the previous day—you can also get a lot of insight into what's happening, even if you're not physically present.

Two quick handy tips from today's weekly Q&A for members of the New Work Cities community. Learn more about how to join the next call and all we have to offer here:
http://nwc.co

Catch the video here:
https://youtu.be/eQvNRcEtru4

Every community manager wishes more people would read their newsletter announcements—while we can't force people to read their email, we can give them more a...

06/17/2019

How can you SHOW that your coworking community is so much more than a workspace?

My friend Cat Johnson recently posted an interview she conducted with me on her excellent podcast, Coworking Out Loud. Check it out here:
https://catjohnson.co/podcast/tony-bacigalupo/

We discussed the global impact coworking has had, and how hungry I continue to be to take things further.

For all the good coworking has done to change the world's relationship with work, it's now largely perceived as just another way to rent workspace.

But you aren't doing this because you just want to rent workspace... right?

So what are you here for, then?

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What does it mean to be more than a workspace?

Since moving back to New York City, I’ve been getting to know some of the more under-the-radar spaces I had heard about but hadn’t visited yet.

It turns out there are some pretty amazing little communities out there that most people don’t know about.

For example, The Artist Co-op has been offering one of the coziest spaces I’ve seen in Manhattan, right on 52nd Street, for eminently affordable rates. They’re geared towards the performing arts, so they have rehearsal rooms for rent by the hour.

Prime Produce, just around the corner on 54th, is a wholly member-owned, service-oriented cooperative with a ground-level event space. Everyone there personally introduced themselves to me when they saw I was new. It was refreshing.

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For all the talk of the big coworking chains, the stories of special communities like these go largely untold.

A lot of people—even me!—have fallen into the trap of thinking that coworking has been all but subsumed by the office rental industry it transformed.

In truth, it’s growing in a bunch of different directions at once.

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There are millions of people who *could* be members of coworking spaces but aren’t members of any. These unheralded spaces hold some of the answers.

My story mimics that of many of those people—I work from home. I don’t need a workspace and certainly don’t need to pay for one—my home setup is great!

I do, however, need an excuse to get out of the house and find a crew of people who can help me stay on track and troubleshoot challenges as they arise.

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I don’t need coworking space. I badly need coworking community.

For a long time now, I’ve been advocating for programming-driven membership for this reason. If a space can offer a way for people like me to connect with others at a designated time to set goals and share accountability, I’d gladly pay for a membership.

I might not pay for a full desk rental, but I would pay simply for the ability to participate in a group like that.

As I get to know these spaces better, I may develop a partnership with one of them to develop this kind of approach further.

It’s something I’m already working with several members of the New Work Cities network on implementing in their spaces.

Offering something like this is a terrific way of standing out from the other spaces in your city and providing an onramp to higher levels of membership.

It’s one way of showing why you’re more than a workspace.

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How do you tell the story of what you’re doing and why it’s special?

Share your story in the comments!

I’m looking out for opportunities for us to better tell those stories together. Let’s keep the discussion going!

Tony

Tony Bacigalupo from New Work Cities is a coworking legend. His commitment to community coworking is unwavering & he's a champion for indie space operators.

02/12/2019

Look at us, making fancy promotional videos!

Coupon code EARLYBIRD saves you extra on top of the pre-launch pricing. Give it a look!

https://youtu.be/yt7cSJQimhA

If you're working on starting a coworking space, this workshop is going to be a huge help for you. In this course, you'll learn everything you’ll need to sta...

01/04/2019

Check out our new Coworking Cohorts! Save $50 if you join by January 7.

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The new year is upon us! This is one of the BEST times of year to grow your community and attract new supporters—lots of people are back to work, changing jobs, or just plain ready to get out of the house, so let’s make sure you make the most of this moment!

For the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with different ways to help people who want to build coworking spaces.

If you want to help people find belonging and prosperity in your city, then I want to see you succeed!

I know that the membership-based program I’ve used to date is a solid model that’s well worth the money—for only $99 a month, I’ve been able to help my members save tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars and helped them grow their communities with the least amount of effort possible.

Now, I want to go further to really lock in long-term prosperity for everyone I work with.

Announcing our new Coworking Cohorts! Set a goal, get guidance, and stick to it.

The people I work with tend to be focused on one of the following core topics:

1 .Developing a business model & launch plan
2. Securing funding
3. Getting more members after opening
4. Making operations run more smoothly & planning for the long-term

While you might be working on more than one of these things, you’re likely focused on at least one of these things.

So each of these categories is now a Cohort.

As a member, you will have a chance to join the one that best aligns with your current needs. You’ll work alongside others who are at a similar stage in their development as I guide you through the process of identifying your goals and next steps.

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HOW IT WORKS

It’s going to be simple and effective:

1. Apply to join by January 15.
2. Pick the cohort that best fits your needs during the registration process.
3. Join for a kickoff meeting in late January.
4. Get assistance in crafting a plan that’s proven, efficient, and achievable, using our proven strategies as a starting point.
5. Set a goal for the quarter.
6. Check in with quick updates each week.
7. Make adjustments as you go, with our help.
8. Watch your momentum build as you find increasing success.
9. Celebrate! At the end of the quarter, we’ll host a show & tell and celebrate successes. This will be a great chance to generate some content to show off to your community!
10. Review and renew. Where to from here? Let’s build on the momentum and keep things rolling!

Fun, right?

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DON'T TRY TO GO IT ALONE.

Building a successful coworking space is something you’ll do with the support of the people around you in your community, but it’s also something you’ll do with the support of people who are in the same position you are, who can help you with all the ups and downs and challenges and nuances that come with the position you’re taking on.

If you feel like you don’t have other people who “get it” to talk to about what you’re working on, feel that way no more—we’re your people.

Come join us and let’s make the world a little less lonely together.

Apply by January 15 to be included:
https://form.jotform.com/tonybgoode/organizers-club-application-form

Plus! As soon as your registration is confirmed (within 1 day), you’ll get access to an absolute treasure trove of materials, business model templates, 60+ hours of video Q&As, and an opportunity to schedule a one-on-one coaching call with me to get all of your questions answered.

What do you say? See you there?

PS – Save $50 if you register by Monday, January 7 with code “HEY2019”!

08/28/2018

What impact do coworking spaces have?

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There are some incredible untold stories that I believe need to be unearthed.

I believe that coworking spaces are actually already having a much larger impact on their local economies than most people understand.

If space managers can better understand and optimize for this, then they'll be able to do that much more.

In this video, I demonstrate just how much positive effect a great coworking space can have—at the individual level and at the city level.

I help people build spaces that are oriented towards maximizing this kind of impact—and making it as fun and easy as possible along the way.

To learn more about my services, visit my consultancy's web site: http://nwc.co

https://youtu.be/r7xfPpcmbiM

There are some incredible untold stories that I believe need to be unearthed. I believe that coworking spaces are actually already having a much larger impac...