Tag: coworking

My 30 day challenges, day 20 – by Philip Dodson

Posted on by philipdodson

So I have reached day 20, just another 10 days to go. Although, I am sure that many of the things I have challenged myself to do, have now become habits, that I won’t be giving up in a few days time.

So today’s picture is of the tent cards that we use in the hub, it helps others to know whether you’re free to chat or busy working. Something you won’t find in a coffee shop or at home, as at home the only talking you’ll do is with your pet.

pic 20

Co-working is not a new thing actually, many businesses, including my other company, have been offering shared space within their surplus office space for years. However, co-working is continuing to evolve to match what the user wants.

Co-working for me is not about providing a desk to work form in a shared workspace. It is about creating a community of like minded people, who share the space because they want more than just a place to work.

The benefits from working with others can not be under-estimated, especially for small/start-up businesses.

I’ve blogged about this before, however, if you work at home all day everyday or in a coffee shop, then your motivation will fall, as the distractions rise. The most important thing is, you will become isolated. Isolation is one of the biggest killers for any business, especially in the 1st year.

Work now is no longer a place, it is an activity that you can do anywhere. However, do it without people and what you miss out on those chance friction points, where you bump into someone, not literally. These friction points are vital to the success of your business, it’s where you get to find ideas, fine tune your own, discover business opportunities and perhaps find people to collaborate with. You will never get these if you stay at home.

As self-employment rockets in the developed world, not all of them will be entrepreneurs, some will be contractors, freelancers etc, the need to work with others will increase more and more.

Just by being in a room where others are all working will help keep you focused and motivated. Also, the community aspect will help in terms of being surrounded by people who can offer help, advice, support and just another soul to speak with.

Running a business is often a lonely place for the business owner, so co-working with others is the perfect antidote.Working for yourself should never be by yourself.

My 30 day challenges, day 19 – by Philip Dodson

Posted on by philipdodson

Today is day 19 and I’m writing this in Evernote, on the train going home at 7pm and I’m looking forward to a bit of family time. Although, such is the life of a person running a start-up, I’m back at the hub early tomorrow, as we are hosting an event all day.

Today’s picture is of one of the new tube trains, that are essentially one big long carriage. The trains have air-con!!!! and are designed to have plenty of room. Wow, why did it take them so long to finally design a good tube train???

pic 19

My thoughts today were inspired by this, that often things that seem obvious and simple to your users/customers – like taking out the doors between carriages, widening the aisle and putting air-con, don’t always appear so obvious to the providers.

Very often I find myself using something, be it a product or a service and I think ‘this would be so much better if they just added/changed this small thing’. Yet it doesn’t happen.

Now possibly, my ideas for product improvements might be obvious to me, but in reality I might just be the only one and wrong. However, I know that’s not the case all the time, as when you discuss is with others, you soon find that they agree.

I think that a lot of it is due to inertia by companies and a certain amount is because complacency has crept in. When you run a business, you sometimes get so caught up with the internal, non-customer world, that you almost overlook your customers.

So many businesses spend their time getting a customer, only to ignore them once they have them. Not bothering to find out what the customer is really experiencing. They assume they are happy, after all they haven’t stopped using us yet!

I believe, that in the world of the connected consumer, in both business and consumer products/services, that it has become even more vital to walk in your customers shoes and see what experience they get of using your service or product.

The focus has to be on constant evolution and adaptation, otherwise we all risk being exposed on social media for not providing what the consumer wants.

If you stay in contact with your customers, live in their world and walk in their shoes, you have a far greater chance of seeing, what they will see, as obvious improvements you can make to continue to provide them what they want.