Many people strive for the freedom that working for themselves and freelancing brings. You can work odd hours in your pajamas at home, travel to exotic locals but still be on the job, not have to clock in at an office. After the initial exhilaration of being independent cools a bit, there is something missing- co-workers and the social environment that working for a company can bring. Enter Co-Working. Co-Working is an idea that independent workers still want and need social interaction and structure during working hours. Going stir crazy working in your living room? Can’t stand that Madonna remix album they keep repeating at the cafe? Want to bounce your ideas off some other geeks? Co-Working!
We started our Co-Working experience at The Hat Factory here in San Francisco. The most unexpected benefit, besides meeting great people, was the ability to separate work time from relax time- not an easy task for a freelancer. Our day schedule looked like this: Get up, go to Hat Factory, work for 6-8 hours, come home, put the computer to sleep, cook dinner, watch a movie. Hey, we didn’t end up working for 12 hours today! We have a sustainable, not-burnt out life outside our work! Thanks Co-Working!
Thanks to Brad Neuberg and Chris Messina and Tara Hunt, from Citizen Space, for sitting down with us and explaining how Co-Working got started and what it all means. Get involved in starting your own Co-Working space by connecting to the folks already doing it! Check out the Co-Working Wiki, Blog and E-mail list.
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Technorati Tags: coworking, barcamp, brad neuberg, chris messina, tara hunt, citizen space, citizen agency, san francisco, ryanishungry
I hope we can do this with the studio space I am renting. It’s actually the idea behind it, we just weren’t thinking of it as “coworking.” But we kept saying “we want to create community, we want people to be able to come here and work on stuff.” Thanks for the cool video.
This video is great, and some wonderful material to bring to the people in our Philadelphia based group, Independents Hall. Thanks for putting all of this content together, top notch stuff!
Absolutely fabulous! I’ve been doing a great deal of evangelizing up here in Seattle and people are very excited but still a little confused. This will help!
Oh, I just was pointed out that Brad (briefly) mentioned our initiative in Philly @ minute 4:51. Sweet!!!
I have been feeling disconnected from the co-working spaces because of the new full time gig, but after seeing this video, it makes me want to go and hang out..maybe work on something totally crazy and *not* work related
Wow, amazing. We’re about to ink a 12 month contract on some space in little ol’ downtown Bryan, TX. This is just the video that we sorta need to really drive the idea home.
Nice video. If I ever leave my current job, I’ll consider co-working.
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! Yes! Please!
I want a place like that, even worse, i need a place like that!
So, I have decided to start one myself as there isnt one in the hague in holland. So anyone would would like to team up, please mail me on suzanne@blingaffair.com. Anyone wanting to visit is superwelcome. The office in holland is planning to be open at the end of 2008 (-:.
Gr suzanne
hey Suzanne, there are actually quite a few coworking efforts in Europe: http://coworking.pbwiki.com/ See if there’s anyone in your area. They have a mailing list out there so you can connect to others.