posted by Mike Madison at 9:27 AM /
I wanted to drop you a note and ask a quick favor.I am helping out Raja (one of the Mt. Lebanon Commissioners and Head of our Economic Development Committee Task Force) with a new business idea for Washington Road. Raja has an exciting vision and method for transforming the business district up on Washington Road. One of the ideas that we are looking at is a shared office space also called a Co Working space on Washington Road.
This is a concept that has really taken off in the past 2 years in other parts of the country like Seattle and San Francisco. The idea would be to have a membership based business where telecommuters and home based business people could work from on Washington Road instead of their home.
Mt. Lebanon has a lot of people who work from home part time or full time (like I have for the past 11 years) Once you get past romancing the idea of doing email in your pajamas the reality sets in:
- Constant distractions from home life
- "Camping out" in Panera or Coffee Shops
- Lack of human interaction
- Blurred lines between home and work life
I have attached a PDF that gives some brain storming ideas and includes lots of background information on Co Working Spaces including other existing Co Working Spaces in Pittsburgh. [Nb. that PDF isn't in this post, but I -- MJM -- can send it to anyone who asks, or you can get it from Jordan]
The Economic Development Committee has a meeting on June 27th and I would love to get several hundred survey completed from people who might be interested in using a space like this. This will help dictate the type and size of space we should be considering. The survey is anonymous and no one is going to contact you about it or SPAM you. I would simply ask that you take 2 minutes and click the link below and fill out the survey in the next week or so and also pass this email onto friends, neighbors and family who might be interested in a Co Working Space.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=em_2bOnzAjnxvG9r4ygYk9jA_3d_3d
Thanks so much for your help, input and consideration.
Labels: coworking
2 Comments:
The office space on Washington Rd. that housed the Obama campaign is huge and would be perfect for something like this. There are several small office spaces and some large common areas where the workers could have a large number of desks, chairs, sofas, etc. The bottom floor is also very large and has its own bathrooms.
I think this is a great idea. As my kids get older and more active, I find it necessary to be home at different times throughout the week. As Jordan notes, the distractions of home and the neighborhood coffee shops are not real conducive to getting much work done. Similarly, when I've tried to work at the library, it's often hard to find an open computer (without a timer), and paying for copies/print jobs gets to be a pain. Plus, you can't make and take calls from the library. We need to stop giving lip service to the idea of changing Mt. Lebanon for the better and making it more appealing to home buyers and businesses. This is a step in the right direction.
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