“Hot Mama’s Pizza is on the corner. Can that be one of my favorite things?” – Susan

Photo credit: Trina Gadsden 2012

“If you’ve taken the leap (or been pushed) out of a supported company-based employment, or work from home for whatever reason, you might miss that office life and culture that is so fun and even inspiring. Office Nomads offers it in spades, on your terms.” – Charlie

Photo credit: Trina Gadsden 2012

“I am more motivated when I am surrounded by other people who are also working, and I’m impressed at how focused everyone seems to be.” – Jane

Photo credit: Trina Gadsden 2012

Not too long ago, we asked the members of Office Nomads to submit to us any and all of their favorite things about working at Office Nomads. The responses were awesome, and range from the office environment to the neighborhood we work in.

And so, we introduce you to a new blog series: Nomads Favorite Things! We’ll regularly update simply a photo, captioned with what the favorite thing was all about. We hope you dig ‘em. And we hope that it inspires you to write to us and tell us your favorite thing about Office Nomads. We’d love to hear from you!

So without further ado, our first Favorite Thing:

“I have a place outside of my home where I can work in comfort but without the distractions and politics which come with an office full of coworkers.” – Trevor

Photo Credit: Trina Gadsden 2012

Several months ago, a group of Nomads gathered and discussed the culture here at Office Nomads. We talked about what helps contribute to the culture of our coworking space, and how those elements interact with one another. It was a fantastic exercise, and one we plan to go through again and again as our coworking community grows and changes over time.

After our discussion, we made up a quick chart of the threads of our coworking culture:

Do you run a coworking space? Are you a part of a coworking space? What do you think contributes to the culture of your space? Share your thoughts here!

2011. What a wonderful year for coworking at Office Nomads! Here are 10 highlights of a fabulous year on Capitol Hill:

1. We searched and searched for a great place to open a Northend Office Nomads. While we didn’t find the perfect fit, we did connect with a great community of coworkers, and are continuing to keep our eyes open for an opportunity for a Northend space.
2. From building bikes that can survive in harsh rural African conditions to helping folks find clinical trials they can take part in, our members accomplished great things this year. They also contributed some fantastic things to the office, including fancy-shmancy signage. Office Nomads members, you guys rule.
3. There were pranks. Many pranks.
4. We geeked out on our own member data.
5. We celebrated Coworking Day on August 9th in Seattle, alongside of celebrations happening worldwide.
6. Jacob made us a Twitter Box!
7. We all got to work in different ways.
8. Nomads shared all the different ways they worked to negotiate their memberships with their bosses. This not only was really interesting to hear about, but has helped other Nomads (and coworkers around the world) negotiate coworking memberships of their own.
9. We got our travel on! Office Nomads represented at a variety of events around the country and the world, including Austin, Berlin, and LA.
10. Most importantly, we rounded out our awesome team with the addition of the absolutely fabulous Chelsea McClain. We could not be more excited to have her as a part of the Office Nomads team!

And that just about rounds it out. What an incredible year! Thanks to all of the Nomads, our friends, and our families for making Office Nomads all that it is.

Chelsea & Alex, community cultivating rockstars

See you all in 2012!

Last week I got back from traveling in Europe again starting in Berlin where I attended the 2011 Coworking Europe conference. I wasn’t a speaker this year like I was last year so the pressure was off – I got to enjoy this year’s conference as an attendee. I enjoyed seeing everyone I met last year and really liked spending time in Berlin.

The first day of the conference was at Club Office and the second day was at Betahaus. Everything was well organized and it seemed like there were a lot more attendees this year than in 2010. I discussed a wide verity of topics with fellow coworking folk, but mostly I enjoyed geeking out about coworking as I love to do. Conferences like this are a place for making connections rather then getting anything specific done so it’s hard to list out my accomplishments on this trip. Success will be measured by the ongoing relationships I’ve built; to that end I can say that last years trip has been hugely successful. This years conference provided a nice anniversary for reflection and I’m excited to see where coworking is, and where it is going.

At Office Nomads, we like to suggest coworking as an alternative when “working from home isn’t working.”  Too often though, individuals find themselves feeling as if there is no alternative from the isolation they feel in a home office or when working out of cafes because they can’t afford the cost of membership on their own.  These folks are part of the growing number of remote workers who want to join a coworking community but don’t have the support from their employers to do it.  So what do they do?

In May, Shareable.net had a great blog post on this very topic.  A few of our Nomads chimed in and shared some fantastic insight.  We decided to then pose the question to all our Nomads and see how they did it.

One idea that came from multiple people was based on simple math. Nancy Ward explained it well: “For anyone working from their home where the rest of their colleagues work in an office in another city, the answer is obvious.  They pay for office space for those employees, why not you?”

Other people crunched the numbers for their own office space and presented their managers with the final tally of space, printer, internet access, furniture, etc.  As a few Nomads put it, “It’s hard to argue with that math and makes it a “no-brainer.”

Colin Monaghan said that he used the diverse community as a negotiating point.  “I mentioned all the different types of people working here, representing different skill sets and industries,” he said. With over 90 members in professions ranging from software to astrology, there’s always somebody in the space who can be a benefit to you and your work.  “My employer saw this as an additional resource for the company as a whole, as I could learn and possibly even partner with some of these people.”

The most important and positive element that people gain from their time at coworking spaces though, is the productivity.  Over and over again members said that was their number one negotiating point.  For many in the at-home workforce there is a loss of definition between work time and home time.  One employer understood the trouble one encounters when working from the couch. “The blurring of work hours and personal life usually start out benefitting work but ends up hurting it. … If the alternative is home-working then [employers] should recognize that the discipline required to work from home for extended periods is extremely rare.”

Most Nomads talked about distractions in the home or in the cafes where they used to work.  It wasn’t a good fit because they needed a space that was dedicated to getting work done.  Trevor Smith said that he pitched it to his employer by saying, “It’s a good idea because I can usually be more productive in my job when I’m not doing laundry and cleaning the kitchen.”

A few Nomads offered the approach of convincing your employer to try a trial period.  Nancy said, “If the employer … thinks that working in front of the TV with cats all around you is good for productivity, suggest a Part Time 15 membership for a couple of months to prove how great the value proposition is.”

Whatever your tactic, remember that as each person gains something different from his or her membership with a coworking space the same goes for your company. So before you approach your boss about the potential of getting a membership, or even just part of one, paid for, take the time to think about how your it will also benefit the company. Will it increase your motivation? Would it give you a more stable connection to the Internet?

When it’s all said and done, this is just a business decision for your boss to make. Make sure you can provide all the facts and data and then ask. After all, it never hurts to ask.

Have you negotiated your membership? How did you do it?

Before I worked at Office Nomads I worked down in SeaTac.  My morning commute involved leaving my house at 5:45 AM to walk 25 minutes to downtown where I would grab my bus for the 45 minute ride.  The end of my day usually involved a delayed bus and traffic, stretching the commute to close to 2 hours. The only thing I miss about that commute is the speed at which I was able to fly through books.

Now I work 11 blocks from home. Usually less than 30 minutes elapses from the time my alarm clock goes off and I’m walking in the door at Office Nomads.  Working at Office Nomads has eliminated my horrendous commute.

Thinking about this, I became curious about the commutes that members have to Office Nomads.  How are people getting here? How long does it take them?  Are we really a neighborhood location?

Not surprisingly, people either walk, bike, drive or take the bus.  Turns out, nobody drops in via parachute.  What was surprising was that cars and bikes came out as the top modes of transport with each being used by 29% of Nomads.   Seattle likes to talk about its growing bike culture.  Seattle Bike Blog put it, “Of the 25 largest US cities, Seattle has the largest share of people commuting by bicycle.”  That huge number of bike commuters? 3.6%. With 29% of our Nomads commuting by pedal power, our small community is acting as an example for others to follow.

Indeed, 29% do drive in.  The neighborhoods from which these Nomads are coming are not easily connected to Capitol Hill via buses.  While our neighborhood seems to be arranged to discourage cars, some of these Nomads have found well-priced parking lots and or ‘secret’ spots that make it easier for them.  This then allows them the ability to pick up their kids or run those important errands on the way home.

When Susan first thought of opening a coworking space, she envisioned places to work within each of our neighborhoods.  Stroll a few blocks from your front door and find yourself at work.  It appears that 24% of our community is doing just that. One Nomad said, “It’s the perfect 20 minute walk: too short to be taxing even in the rain but long enough to let me stretch my legs. Also, good for both me and the environment.”

18% of the Nomads use the bus to come to Capitol Hill.  Most of the bussing Nomads said it was easier to bus than drive.  Many said they have the ability to drive in but have decided that the bus is the best option.  William Do said, “It’s most convenient for me.  I could drive but parking is expensive.  I could bike, but I’m not into biking.  I also walk part of the way, sometimes depending on how I feel, I’ll walk 3 to 4 miles at least part of the way from Office Nomads to get home.”

We may not be right around the corner from most of our Nomads but the majority take twenty minutes or less to be part of our community.  That’s less time commuting than the national average of 25 minutes.

These sorts of numbers make me more excited about coworking.  If more of us are biking or walking, does that mean we’re healthier?  And if we are driving but our time in the car is less than the national average, are we happier?  I think so.  It’s evident in the way people talk about coming to Office Nomads or any other coworking community.  And it all starts with how we get there.

I’ll start by admitting outright that the “real” reason for building this is that A) I found this really cool box at The RE Store in Ballard, and B) I wanted to make something with my new Arduino. For those of you unfamiliar, but curious what an Arduino is, you should come to my brown bag talk on September 27th. I’m going to talk about the project and geek out with other nomads about fun electrical projects we’ve done or would like to do.

So what does it do?!?

The Twitter Box searches twitter for mentions of @officenomads and each time it finds something new it activates the big red light for 10 seconds.  The LCD I used isn’t big enough to show the actual tweet (I only have 16 chars to work with) but it does shout out the twitter handle of the tweet if found.  It takes a few seconds to pull up the newest tweet and this is by design.  Twitter has a lot of people hitting it at all times and doesn’t want you to send too many searches over and over again.  I pass the time by displaying fun statistics on the LCD like the number of tweets and the number of loops it’s made since it was powered up.

Watch this fun video and see it in action!

Twitter Box: Social Media Instigation Device from Office Nomads on Vimeo.