Shared Work Spaces for Entrepreneurs

So you've heard a lot of hype about shared workspaces, collaborative workspaces, but you're not sure if it's the right fit for you as an entrepreneur. Stick around, guys, I'm gonna help you out. Alright guys, welcome back. I am Dan from millennialmotivator.ca, helping you learn how to create, engage, and inspire. If you're new to the channel, go ahead and click that subscribe button down there and the little bell. You'll get notified when my next video goes live. Live today, guys. What we're looking at is shared spaces and collaborative spaces. So if you're not sure exactly what these are, being an entrepreneur is a huge thing right now. Lots of people out there trying their, trying their hand at it, seeing if it's a good fit for them. And the reality is, as an entrepreneur, oftentimes you're not gonna have a place to work out of. I'm blessed that I'm able to work out of an office like this. I've got a setup for it. It works well for me. But there are a lot of people that need to be closer to the customer. They work hands-on. They've either got a product or a service. They need to be near people. And so working from a home office like this just doesn't fit for them. They also can't afford the overhead of a whole building or office or home for themselves, which leads to the solution of a collab space, a shared workspace, whatever the term is that the particular place that you're renting from works with. Okay, now essentially what these look like is they're massive buildings that provide you different types of rooms, from a traditional office, something like this, to a boardroom that has the capacity to hold larger meetings, to conference spaces, to just open think tank spaces. There's all kinds of different styles of shared collab spaces where you've got sound studios, developers, You've got people that do motivational speaking, you've got actors, you've got— there's all different kinds of studios, guys. Heck, even YouTube Space for those of you that are partnered with 10,000 subscribers, right? Not quite there yet, but guaranteed we'll be doing a tour of a YouTube Space when I hit that mark. YouTube Space is a collaborative workspace for creators here on YouTube. You can go in, there's places for you to shoot video, there's different setups, there's different tools available to you. That's what it's about. It's about you as an entrepreneur, entrepreneur being able to go into these spaces, use what they have available to you, and integrate with the other people that are working there as well. That's part and parcel of what's going on. Now, a lot of spaces out there claim that they've got everything that you need to make it happen, and I wanted to actually go in and visit one, see what it was like, and do a quick tour through the building. So I'm going to give you guys a quick Quick look-see at Collab Space in Ottawa, Ontario. So if you guys are in the Ottawa area, this is one definitely worth checking out. But take a look at what a Collab Space actually looks like, and then we'll come on back and we'll break down what was great about it, what would come from it, and whether I think it's a great idea for you to seek one out or not. All right, let's go. All right guys, big day today. Going in, checking out Collab Space in Ottawa. Looking forward to it. Let's go. Alright guys, we're here. Collab Space. Time to meet with Emil, see what this place is all about. Everybody's so hot on these shared workplaces these days. Let's see what all the hype is about. Alright, so we're here. Alright guys, just finished talking to Emil at Collab Space. Amazing tour. What a beautiful studio. There's so much stuff there. What amazes me most about it is this, guys. The value proposition on a place like that isn't that it's got a ton of different businesses working there. It's that all the businesses work in unison with each other as a community. So they build off each other. You've got programmers, cooks, Casting agents, sound studios, piano players, everybody's in there. That's what a collab space should look like. That's what it's about. Okay guys, so there it is, Collab Space Ottawa. Now, not all collaborative spaces are gonna look like this, but here is some of the takeaways that I've got from it. 3 takeaways that you need to consider when you're considering a collab space. Okay guys, number 1, the first thing you've got to have nailed down is What is your intent in using a collaborative space? Okay, is it to create an environment that you can pull clients into and create the appearance or illusion that you have a credible office or business? If you do that, you have to make sure that there's a variety of offices to suit your needs in that collaborative workspace. Now, what I saw from CollabSpace in Ottawa was this: they've got individual offices that you can use— phenomenal. They've got training seminar rooms that were amazing. 4K TVs, room for you to put up posters, images, stands, desks, multiple tables, boardrooms. So they've got the boardroom format you can set up. They've got the open think tank spaces. They've got a conference seminar speaking space available. All kinds of great stuff there. And I mean, it just allows you that ability regardless of which client you're meeting in which space. To provide that experience where you're giving them the feeling that you're in a place where you can have the proper meeting for the proper space. You're not trying to cram a whole bunch of people into one tiny little office. You're not trying to hold a one-on-one meeting in a giant boardroom. You're, you're not giving a seminar inside of a boardroom. You have a conference space for that. So in reality, guys, you have to make sure that the cloud space that you're looking for is going to suit your needs. If you're somebody that is going to be doing seminars and teaching and you don't have a seminar teaching space in that collab space, it's not for you. All right. If you're somebody that does mostly one-on-one meetings and there's no individual office space, it's all community space, it may not be a great fit. So keep in mind and keep top of mind when you're going through a potential collab space, are the spaces they have available to me relevant for my business? And will they give me the look and feel that I'm hoping to achieve with my customers when they come in? All right. That's number one. Number 2, guys, is a collab space something that you want to be part of as an individual or as part of a community? All right, now as an individual, I work outside of a major city. The only allure for me working in a collab space like that would be to go in and work with the people that have businesses within that collab space. So I know in Ottawa, that collab space actually has a bunch of different businesses that rent permanent space in there, as well as people that just show up and come and go as part of their membership. Now, the ability to network as well as the ability to work in tandem with some of those businesses— oh, I need a graphic designer, I know that they've got an office down the hall. Oh, I need a computer programmer, maybe I can go knock on their door. The ability to have all of those assets readily available inside of a community and to make your assets readily available inside of the community is a huge lure. I'm sure for a lot of entrepreneurs out there that don't have a team, they don't have employees, they don't have staff, this is a powerful alternative for you to think about on whether or not a cloud space should be something you use for your business. Are you looking to collaborate more frequently with different niches, trades? Do you need people on your team but not, not necessarily have the budget to afford a team? This might be a solution for you. So keep that in mind for sure. The last thing that I would give you guys is make sure it has the technical aspects you're looking for. And a lot of that comes on the backend. Make sure when you— before you sign into anything, before you line up to get in on a collab space, make sure that they've got the internet functionality that you're looking for. So the place that we were at has 100 down, 100 up, fantastic internet. That's huge for somebody like me. If you're an online entrepreneur, that's what you want to hear. You want to have fast, like lightning-fast internet available to you. 24-hour access— is that something that's available? I know a lot of places claim they're collaborative workspaces, but in reality they're not collaborative workspaces. They are in fact just offices that rent space, and the difference between the two is offices have hours. Collab spaces shouldn't. Okay, so if you're looking at a collab space, make sure that you understand the hours and limitations. Okay, if it's open 24/7 to you with fob access, that's phenomenal. If it's a business that has office hours and you can't be in there beyond certain time, that may weigh on your decision. Be careful and make sure you understand. How that works on the backend. Also look at the tech that they make available to you. Do they have mic setups, audio setups? Do they have equipment for that? Do they have lighting? Do they have TVs available to you? Do they have whiteboards? Do they have all of the things that you would need traditionally in a business? Is that readily available to you, or is that something extra? Do you have to bring your own? These are all vital things to consider, guys, when you are approaching a collab space. Now, now we get down to my verdict. Do I think a collab space is And essential to an entrepreneur. Let's go. Okay guys, so for me, I am going to say this. If you are an entrepreneur that is looking to use different skills and assets from a bunch of different businesses to grow your product or service, yes, I'm gonna give it an authoritative yes. You need to be in a collab space. That potential alone blew me away, that you have a community that not only works near each other, but they actually work together in many aspects. It provides you the ability to tap on shoulders of people right next door physically that have skills that you don't, and help you with your business. On top of that, they do regular networking events inside of these collab spaces that allow you to get your name, brand, service, and product out to the community. So if that's something that you're looking for, is the more social aspect of business that you're lacking as an entrepreneur, this is a great way to go and I highly recommend it. Now, if you are somebody who is working as an independent consultant who likes to go to the client as opposed to bringing a client to you, I'm gonna say that you might really want to be careful thinking about whether or not to use a collab space. And the only reason I say that is this: I know for me, most of the work that I do with my clients, I am not in a specific city. I am constantly on the go. I'm traveling to meet people. I'm doing Skype calls. I'm— it's all distance stuff for me, right? So to be locked down to a single office, whether I own my own building or not, wouldn't be a potential value for me. I go to where my clients are. So it's clear that that's not a need for me. But if your clients come to you, I would highly recommend that you take a look at a shared workspace like this, just because it allows the flexibility with the different varieties of rooms, right? One-on-one office, you've got the boardroom, you've got the, you've got the massive space for conference speaking, you've got a training room, they even have a recording studio. Like there's a lot of different styles of workspaces out there, but make sure that if you're somebody that brings clients to you, your workspace has the rooms that you need. And if they do have the rooms that you need, it's definitely an asset for you to consider. That is it for today's video, guys, though. I hope that helps you, gives you a bit of a brief look at what a workspace is, how it plays in, how it can be of value to you. It's great for networking, great for the community aspects of it, great for if you're pulling clients into you, great for if you're doing seminars, teaching, that kind of stuff. If you want to record live seminars in front of an audience, Great for that. Lots of great things about the Collab Space. The only way I don't see it working is if you're a dedicated consultant that goes to clients. That's the only way. And even at that, there is some potential in that you can go and network with the people inside that industry. All right. Um, huge shout out again to Collab Space and Emil and his team there. They were phenomenal. Opened up the whole place to me. Let me, let me walk through. They gave me a great tour. Huge shout out to those guys. Hopefully down the road I might go back and shoot some monthly videos there. Maybe some interviews with local businesses. We'll see what happens. But that's it for today, guys. If you liked the video, hit that like button down there. Question of the day is, do you think a collaborative workspace is a place for you? Let me know what you think down below. Share this out to anybody you know that's considering whether or not to go into the collaborative workspace, and I will catch you tomorrow with another great video. See you then, guys. Bye.