Jacob and I regularly survey our members so we can learn more about their experiences at Office Nomads and with coworking. We analyze this data to help us create a coworking space that truly works for our members, and to ensure that we have our finger on the pulse of what makes our space work. We recognize there is a lot of value in sharing this information, so today we thought we’d post some interesting tidbits we’ve learned from our experience creating Office Nomads! Here are a few points we’ve pulled from two of our surveys: a Coworking Survey completed by members who have been with us for two months or more, and an Exit Survey of members who choose to end their membership at Office Nomads. Both of these are ongoing so the data changes over time and requires regular analysis. Each survey, as of June 2011, has been filled out by approximately 45 individuals.

Why do members come to Office Nomads?
It is a common misconception that individuals seek out membership at a coworking space because they need to share resources like the internet, coffee, or a fax machine. Through our experience starting Office Nomads, we’ve learned that individuals come to a coworking space as more of a lifestyle (or perhaps “workstyle”) choice as opposed to a services choice. Here’s a chart taken from our Coworking Survey results:

We think this makes it pretty clear that independent and mobile workers today don’t need more places just to plop down their laptops and get to work. What they need is a simple platform that enables an in-person connection with others during their workdays.

Some ideas about why they stay
What brings new members to our doors is not necessarily what is going to encourage them to maintain their membership at Office Nomads. We try to get a sense of what benefits our members experience by being a part of Office Nomads.

• 2/3 of surveyed members report they have seen an increase in their productivity since joining Office Nomads.
• 81% of surveyed members think of Office Nomads as a place where they “can meet and connect with potential collaborators for work.”
• 83% of surveyed members report their “work/life balance is healthier than it was before [they] joined Office Nomads.”
• 72% of surveyed members tell us their familiarity and knowledge of the Capitol Hill neighborhood (where Office Nomads is located) has increased since becoming a member of Office Nomads.

Why do they leave?
Part of being responsible coworking space owners is figuring out not only what brings new members to our doors, but trying to understand why members walk away. Attrition rates can only tell us how many people walk out the door, so we appreciate getting candid feedback when members depart.

The exit survey has been an invaluable tool because we can keep an eye out for red flags that do require our attention. But not every member who joins finds coworking to be the solution for them.  In fact, the exit survey process gives us an opportunity to make recommendations about where people might find a better fit. I’d recommend any coworking space operator to survey the folks who end their membership.

And now a few questions: If you own/operate a coworking space, does this data jive with what you’ve learned from your members? If you’re a coworking space user, does our membership data resonate with the reasons you’ve chosen to work out of a coworking space? Let us know – we’re curious! We’re taking all we’ve learned here in Capitol Hill and are trying to apply it to creating another space – you can read more about that process on our grow page.

Thanks to all who were able to make it out to the first meetup about the opening of our second coworking space. It was great to see some new faces along with some current members, and to get to hear more about what folks are looking for when it comes to building our next coworking community.

Hosting meetups such as we did last night is an important step in the early days of any coworking space. Not only is it important for us to provide a space for members of the community to give recommendations and pose requests for how the space will work, but  there is huge value in creating a way for members to actually get involved in the process. As we’ve said before, people support what they help to create. We hope that folks who are interested in this earlier phase will join us to go visit spaces, continue to brainstorm with us as we develop the plans for the space, and get to know other members before we open the doors to the next space.

If you missed the event, never fear – the next one will be soon! And as always, if you have any suggestions, feedback, or recommendations to make, drop us an e-mail at grow AT officenomads DOT com so we can get you in the conversation.

Happy new year everyone! We are hitting the ground running in 2011 and are excited for the next steps towards opening another coworking space in Seattle.

We wanted to write with an update on the Neighborhood Campaign we launched in November. After hearing from approximately 120 potential members (whoa!), we can now confidently say that we are now focusing our efforts north of the shipping canal. The majority of our responses were for Ballard, Fremont, and Greenlake. We’re thrilled!

So what’s next? Well, we’d love to meet those of you who are really interested in our next space! We’d like to invite you to join us for a casual coworking meet up on Thursday, January 27th from 5-7pm at The Red Door in Fremont. We will give an update on our progress, and will talk about the future space and how it might work. Please RSVP by either adding yourself to the Facebook event or by e-mailing grow AT officenomads DOT com.

Hope to see you there!

Have you heard? Office Nomads is looking to open another coworking space in Seattle!  At our three year anniversary party, we took the opportunity to let folks know about our plans, and even created a fancy-shmancy web page to go along with it.

We’re incredibly excited about the opportunity of opening another space, and bringing coworking to another one of Seattle’s great neighborhoods. We’ve had an incredible time creating Office Nomads for the last three years, and are eager to kick-start another platform on which another incredible coworking community can grow.

You can read a whole bunch about our intentions around the second space by heading to the Grow Page and downloading one or both PDFs which overview our business and financial plans. We are in the beginning phases of the process, and are working hard to gather the necessary funds to open as well as reaching out to various communities to hear more about what they’d like to see in a coworking space.

For a couple of weeks now, we’ve been asking for community feedback on where we should open said second space. Here are some initial results in order of popularity:

1. Ballard
2. Fremont
3. University District
4. Green Lake
5. Belltown / Columbia City / West Seattle
6. Uptown (Lower Queen Anne)
7. Queen Anne
8. Georgetown
9. Magnolia
10. Wallingford

Wish you saw your neighborhood higher on the list? Well get your voice heard by heading over to the Grow Page and submitting your preference. Be sure to drop your e-mail address in the contact field so we can keep you posted on our progress.

Have other feedback for us?  Drop us an email via grow AT officenomads DOT com and we’ll be happy to start a conversation with you.

Lisa Grossman

Member Since: August 2010

Type of Member: Part-Time 10

Lisa couldn’t pick her favorite planet, much less a favorite solar system.  They were all fascinating in their own right and it was impossible to decide which one she would focus on for the rest of her career as an astronomer. It had been her dream, ever since she had learned about the possibility of alien life, to be an astronomer or, to be more exact, an alien hunter.  Unfortunately, such a career path required a specificity that she didn’t want.  Instead Lisa took her Astronomy degree from Cornell and went to UC Santa Cruz where they turn recovering scientists into journalists.

That is how we now find Lisa.  She is a science writer who educates the masses on new research in physics and astronomy in a manner that is interesting and accessible.  While at UC Santa Cruz she spent time interning at The Santa Cruz Sentinel, SLAC National Accelerator Lab and Wired.com. After graduating in 2009, she did some writing for New Scientist and Science News.

Now she has found her way to a new city and new job. “Right now, I think I am living the dream,” she admits.  “I just wanted to write about space for anybody, anywhere.  Just get it out there.”  Wired Science knew Lisa and her work and has picked her up as a full-time writer.   Now Wired.com features regular postings by Lisa.  If you see something regarding space on the website, good chance the byline has her name.

Lisa is an excellent addition to ON.  Collectively, we do a pretty good job of nerding-out over anything science or technology related.  It’s pretty neat to have someone here working for one to the biggest technology sites.  Add to that the fact that she likes board games, hiking and skiing and we’re over the moon for her.

Maybe it’s a bit of a flashback for Lisa and her summer at Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth. “A nerd camp based on 7^th grade SATs,” Lisa explained.  “All the kids at the camp had an extra geeky side to them that wasn’t being expressed at home so this was a fun, safe space to be nerdy.”  Does that sound at all like Office Nomads to anyone else?

Lisa, we’re so glad you found us and are thrilled to have you on board as a Nomad!

Over the years, we have heard many work-from-home stories from folks who come through our coworking space.  Many start with “I love working from home, but…” followed by a long pause.  It seems everyone has something that makes working from home not work for them.  For some it’s the isolation of being alone all day without enough human interaction. For others it’s being a work-at-home parent with a child who doesn’t understand that “mommy’s working right now.”  And others got tired of waiting for their cat to come up with their next great business idea.

For whatever the reason, many work-from-homers need a break from time to time and that’s where we’re excited to come in and help out. Whether you need to escape the drudgery of the home office once a week or full-time, Office Nomads has some great options you can mix and match to fit into your schedule and budget.  Take a look at our updated membership & pricing page, and then switch back here for an example of what we are talking about.

A real world example

So, you’ve finally got your consulting business up and running, and things are going well.  You’ve got several clients, but are still looking for more.  You started up out of your living room, and occasionally head out to the coffee shop when you want to shake things up.  You are still excited to be your own boss and yet also feel like you’ve plateaued.  While seeking something to break the stalemate you look into coworking.

You don’t need a full-time office, but dropping in a few days a month would really help revive your productivity.  You decide to give things a try and sign up for a Basic membership at Office Nomads ($50/month).  While chatting with Alexandra at the front desk, you learn about Biznik, a Seattle-based networking group for indies just like you.  You whip up your free profile, go to a few events, and soon realize the value of upgrading to a Biznik Pro membership ($10/month).  Now you are gathering clients faster than ever, and more and more people know who you are and what you’re all about.  Realizing that you might want to register your consulting business someplace other than your home, you add a Business Identity Plan to your membership at Office Nomads ($35/month).

One month later, you’ve got an impressive new office to bring your clients to, a vibrant community of coworkers to collaborate with, a wider network of independent entrepreneurs to learn from, and a professional address associated with your business, all for less than $100/month.

Sounds pretty awesome, eh?

Again, check out our updated membership and pricing page, and then mosey on over to our list of friends & partners to see what other opportunities membership at Office Nomads might bring!

Thanks to Flickr user Fayez for use of the beautiful photo above under the Creative Commons license.

Jacob Sayles

Member Since: Inception

Type of Member: Co-Owner

Website: http://www.officenomads.com

We’ve started seeing Jacob at Office Nomads a lot more.  In the past he had perfected the juggling act of a full time job elsewhere in the city and being a co-owner of Office Nomads.  It was all fairly impressive.  But January saw an end to the back and forth and he has taken up at Office Nomads full time.  “How cool is it that I can walk away from 15 years in software and have this community around me?  I didn’t even bat an eye about it,” he said.  When Office Nomads started in 2007, building a community he could count on was not the plan.  “[Starting Office Nomads] seemed like the right thing to do.  I just wanted to jump into a big project I believed in.”

Jacob is all about big projects, and that is one of the reasons we love having him around. Big ideas come to him and he strolls to the front and informs us he wants to build a Wall of Achievement, tear down the wall in the Green Room, install new lighting, make a Big Idea Board, or make a trebuchet out of office supplies.  His great energy inspires the rest of us and, just maybe, we’ll harness all of it and take down that big green wall.

Jacob is a bit of a Swiss Army Knife of talents.  No tech problem is too big for him.  Every construction or maintenance project is something he can easily tackle, as is evidence by his awesome house.  Apparently he has ‘mad yo-yo skills’ and holds Steve Brown up as his hero.   At the same time, he has mastered the title of Nomad.  Starting at the age of 17 with a trip to Japan, he has hopped around to all different parts of the world.  Most recently he found himself in Brazil for two weeks enjoy sun and paradise while the rest of us put on our rain jackets and galoshes to fight the Seattle rain.

Come on by the space and see if you can notice the positive changes that have occurred since Jacob came back full time.  If you can find them all, you get a free cup of coffee!  Wait, coffee is always free?  Eh…

The next time you come into Office Nomads, make sure you make a beeline to Susan’s desk.  You lift an eyebrow and ask me why.  Well, it’s not her wit or her thoughtful commentary (although those are pretty great, too) that makes me suggest you stop by there, but more for Buckley.

Buckley is Susan’s 5-month-old black lab.  He is a solid 35 pounds of cuteness.  Now, don’t think of a stereotypical bouncing black lab when you picture this guy. Mellow is an excellent way to describe him.  ‘Adorable’ works, too.  He likes to laze about the office, taking full advantage of Office Nomad’s open napping policy. Usually he happily wanders up when called, plops down on his bottom and shows off his big brown eyes until people give in and scratch his head.  He’s a pro and will reduce you in no time into one of those people whose voice jumps a couple octaves and makes funny faces as you pet him.  Great entertainment is tossing a tennis ball for him and watching him prance and pounce his way to the ball until he scoops it up and trots back.  A true lab, this one.

It’s easy to see that this is a budding puppy food model we have here.  If that job doesn’t pan out then he is open to being a food tester, mainly for the meat industry.  Young Buckley, or Buck if you’re comfortable, is a major outdoor enthusiast.  He enjoys long walks along the waterfront and weekends at his country home in the North Cascades.  This young stud is single but isn’t looking for anything serious.  If you want to stop by and shower him with love for only a short period of time, he would be thrilled.

And that, everyone, is our new adorably fantastic Nomad.  His full name is Sir Buckley Danger Dog, but you can call him Buckley.

After receiving helpful feedback from our members and wider community, Office Nomads is proud to introduce some new membership levels! You can see full descriptions on our updated Memberships and Pricing page! Quickly, here’s what monthly membership now looks like at ON:

• Basic: 3 days/month – $50
• Part-Time: 5-15 days/month – $75-225
• Resident: 24/7 access – $475 + deposit

We hope that these new levels allow even more flexibility to potential members who are looking to be in the office on a regular basis.  As always, we know there is incredible value in a space that keeps its focus on the people, not on the pricing plans. We try to keep our membership plans simple, and designed to keep you focused on getting work done, not on whether you can afford to have another cup of coffee.

If you’ve been meaning to swing by and check out the office, now’s a great time!  Come on in for a tour of the space and we can chat you up about the new price points!

Wow! The January Open House was a great time!  Thanks to everyone who stopped by.  It was great to see everyone and catch up.

For those of you who missed out, I understand the weather was rather terrible that evening.  But, you missed out on some pretty spectacular fun.  Josh, from Bluebird Ice Cream, scooped out some incredible ice cream for everyone to try.  He very quickly ran out of the vegan coconut mint chocolate chip and there was a good reason why.  I had no idea vegan ice cream could be so fantastic!  The Stumptown ice cream and the snickerdoodle were also really delicious and it was all finished off by the time the night came to a close.    Mychal Richardson’s photography was a great conversation piece and had many people quietly going from one photo to the next reading about how each individual pictured fought for their rights.  I think we all came away inspired.  See more of his work on his website or stop by and check them out!

A big thanks must also go to Andy Aupperlee of Explosion 5000.  He took over the Green Room and shot portraits of our Open House attendees and their New Years Resolutions.  The results are rather amazing and you should make sure to read about it on his website and look at his Flickr page.

A big thanks to all of you who could come out.  Hopefully see you all at our next Open House!

Thanks to Flickr user Sukanto Debnath for use of the above photo through the Creative Commons License