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How to be productive when coworking at Social Workplace

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How to be productive when coworking at Social Workplace

Whether you’re coming in for a few hours or to work for a few days each month, getting the most out of your time is important to being effective while coworking.

A few quick tips to help you have the most productive (and fun) day…

SUCCESS TIPS

Plan your day – Have a general plan for the day or set one or two goals (be realistic) that you’re going to achieve by the end of the day. Kick procrastination in the behind! Use this time at the space to tackle the first bite of that big project or several little tasks and get it done.

Keep yourself accountable – Write down the tasks for the day, tick them off as you complete them (feels so great!) and do not let yourself go home without completing them all. Being strict in this department will lay a good foundation for healthy productivity.

Break regularly – Simply getting up to stretch or move around for a couple of moments is great to clear the mind and get a little movement in to keep the blood flowing. The brain just needs to “reset” every once in a while.

Effective engagement – Connecting with others is great, but it should be productive and beneficial to you/your project and not wasting time, keeping others from doing their work. Be aware of others and find ways to engage without being distracting or even procrastinating by chatting. It does more harm than good for productivity in a coworking space.

WHAT TO BRING

A sweater or light jacket – We try to make the space as cool and comfortable as possible but you may want to bring a sweater or light jacket in case you get cold.

Laptop & power cord – Don’t forget the essentials when you come to work. We have just about anything else you might need but these items you can’t leave home without.

Earbuds/headphones – Always great to bring earbuds if you want to work undisturbed or listen to your own tunes while working.

Cell phone – Please be sure that your phone is on silent so as not to disturb other workers. We have charging stations for most mobile phones throughout the space.

Nosh (food) – We have a refrigerator and microwave for food if you’re brown-bagging it. If you plan on microwaving odiferous food please use the clubhouse microwave so as not to bother others. Ask us about nearby places to #eatlocal if you need some recommendations – there are some great places!

WHEN YOU GET HERE

Parking – Parking is first-come, first-served and you may even want to walk, bike ride, Uber or Lyft to the space if you’re close by. Please do not park in our neighbors’ spots next door and follow any posted parking notices. Bike parking is available, bring a bike lock.

Entry – Please enter and exit via Suite 200 upstairs. Let us know when you’re leaving for the day.

KNOW THE GROUND RULES

If you still need help, please refer to our Ground Rules.  All of our Members and Guests are required to follow them.

DON’T BE SHY

Let us know if you need anything. We’re here to make the time you spend at Social Workplace a great experience. So feel free to enjoy the outdoor lounge area, tap on our door if you want to bounce an idea off your fellow entrepreneur business owners or have a good joke you want to share, and introduce yourself to anyone else who may be in the space.

Ready to get coworking?

If you’re looking for flexible office space and want to be part of a growing community of fun business people who’ve been down the road of startups and also starting new side hustles, book a tour at Social Workplace and check out the space!

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5 ½ ways to convince your boss to work remotely and pay for coworking

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How to be productive when coworking at Social Workplace

5 ½ ways to convince your boss to work remotely and pay for coworking

Your boss probably doesn’t want to think about you working from home in your pajamas or taking conference calls with barking dogs in the background. So, if you’re ready to take the leap and reap the benefits of working remotely, here are some tips for convincing your boss that it’s a good thing for the company and for you.

Coworking is good for at-home workers and road warriors

We all know that even the best digital nomads and roaming workers can easily get distracted when working from home or in a café. Noisy cappuccino makers or a crying baby does not make for great ambiance on a conference call. Having a dedicated workspace with reliable high-speed internet access and a quiet professional place to take meetings allows you to put in a focused and efficient workday.

According to Deskmag, employees who switched to coworking rather than commuting to the office experienced 23% more productivity than their office working counterparts.

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Coworking helps remote teams and independent contractors working with larger corporate clients

Video calls are convenient for team communication but for problem solving and trouble-shooting, there’s nothing like in person collaboration and face to face communication. People tend to be more creative and come up with solutions more quickly in real time. For vendors, consultants or freelancers working with larger clients in business, tech or healthcare industries, having a professional place to meet with a local business address goes a long way with corporate clients and gives their HR departments a greater comfort level.

Coworking can help companies test new markets

Coworking is a great way to test a new market or location for the business. Short term shared office space and coworking saves companies money on opening a new office. Typical costs involved with setting up a new location become prohibitive as the company must commit to long-term leases and commit capital against lease obligations. Ongoing operational costs (internet, equipment, furniture, coffee service and janitors) can be as high as $30,000 to $60,000 per year and finding the right space and negotiating leases is a huge time sink. By coworking or having a short-term lease in a shared office, the company can test market and later scale to a bigger space if successful.

Before your ask the boss…

Bottom line is before you can ask your boss to support your request to work remotely, you need to have a track record of being a trustworthy, high-performing employee. Before they let you work outside of the office, you need to show that you’re already a productive team member and have demonstrated your commitment to the company and have taken initiative in other areas and past projects.

Have a plan

  1. Ask to meet with your boss or the decision maker. Set aside about 30 minutes for your meeting and get it on your calendars so it’s taken seriously and not seen as a casual chat or pop-in.
  2. Be prepared by having a proposal for how you will work remotely. Share with your boss a document that addresses some of the concerns they may have. Describe how you will communicate and be accessible (Zoom or GoTo Meeting for conference calls). Share how you will manage your tasks and check in with coworkers, teams and your boss (Asana or Slack for project management and collaboration). Identify the major projects or tasks you will achieve in the next few months while working remotely.
  3. Outline a check-in meeting or call on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis as needed.
  4. Don’t be afraid to send useful (not annoying) email updates letting your boss or coworkers who may need to know about the status of the projects you’re working on during your remote days.
  5. Frequently communicate and stay in touch with your boss, other managers and coworkers so you don’t become out of sight, out of mind. Make it easy and comfortable for people to call or chat just as though you were there in the office with them.

Bonus tip:
Scout out coworking and shared office spaces that would be a good fit for you with pricing. Showing your boss that you’ve done the homework and having an idea of the costs can only help your cause. Coworking spaces that are central to major airports may make the coworking space more appealing.

You may not get a ‘yes’ on the first try, but have patience and continue to prove your value and ability to excel and tackle big projects without hand holding. You may even want to suggest a trial period to test out the remote working plan to show that it’s feasible.

Ready to work remotely?

If you’re looking for flexible office space and want to be part of a growing community of fun business people who’ve been down the road of startups and also starting new side hustles, come by for a tour at Social Workplace and check out the space!

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What is Social Workplace and how does it work?

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What is Social Workplace and how does it work?

Thanks for your interest in Social Workplace. We’re super excited about the support and enthusiasm from our local community for our new space.

I created Social Workplace to solve a problem I had as an entrepreneur. In 2010, I took an “early retirement” from corporate at 37. Working from my home, I launched three online businesses, wrote multiple books and produced business workshops and conferences. The problem was that now I needed to get out of my home and make live connections in the real world – so I started networking.

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I poured myself into my local community. I joined multiple Chambers of Commerce, attended business networking groups, and volunteered a LOT. It was fun. It helped me build relationships. And I got some decent business from it. But it was exhausting and I was finding that the social aspect and fun of hanging out with people started to be the real reason why I was spending so much of my time “networking,” not necessarily growing my business.

Even with all of these amazing people I got to know, I was still feeling pretty isolated in my business. As disciplined as I was working from home, my business wasn’t growing. I needed to connect with like-minded and like-motivated people. I needed a place to go where I knew I could find someone to bounce ideas off of and not be so – lonely at work.

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YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A DIGITAL NOMAD, INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR OR CONSULTANT TO COWORK.

Maybe you’re looking to grow a side hustle, or you own a small business or need a reason to get out of the house to get some work done without distractions. Or (like me) need a more professional place to meet clients and grow your business outside of your home.

AT SOCIAL WORKPLACE YOU CAN GRAB A DESK AND GET TO WORK.

It’s also a place to connect with others who are looking to grow their business and help others do the same. And if you’re not into being social at the moment because you have a project to focus on, you can work out of one of our private or semi-private offices to get some work done.

Another huge need we still see in the community is professional meeting space. We’re located in the heart of the South Bay near freeways and local airports.  We have several options to host your next meeting with two dedicated conference rooms, a 25-person classroom, smart TVs, projector, whiteboard, and anything else you’d need for success.

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WHY SHOULD I BECOME A MEMBER OF SOCIAL WORKPLACE?

A monthly membership structure is common in the coworking industry. Think of it like gym membership for your business.

Membership plans are month-to-month and you can cancel anytime. It’s not our goal to lock people in to year-long commitments unless they need a longer-term option. Coworking is all about flexibility, and our memberships reflect that.

With any level of membership, you receive all the perks our memberships offer. That includes up to 40% off our rental rates (this is for meeting rooms, classroom and podcast studio), as well as access to printing/copying/scanning, complimentary member events, and free coffee/tea!

When you sign up, you become a valued member of Social Workplace and our members are everything to us! We want you to make this your home base for business. And we even offer a professional business mailing address at the space so you have someone here to receive mail and we notify you when you’ve got mail.

WHAT IF I NEED 24/7 ACCESS?

No problem. We have membership plans that give you access to the space if you work better after sunset or are an early riser. You’ll just need to be sure you follow the same ground rules as during normal business hours.  

WHAT IF I’M NOT READY TO MAKE THE COMMITMENT?

No worries. You can also pay as you go, month by month (but you do get a deeper discount if you pay for multiple months upfront). Plus, we have day passes if you just want to dip your toe in the water. You don’t get access to all the member perks but if you happen to drop-in on a day when we are having a complimentary event, you are most certainly invited!

CAN I MEET CLIENTS AT SOCIAL WORKPLACE?

Yes! As a member, this is YOUR space. That means business as usual. Meeting clients in a welcoming, accessible and comfortable space is so important to forging that relationship. Don’t forget to offer your client coffee, tea, water or snacks that come complimentary with your membership. We do ask that you are respectful to your neighbors and that might mean that you reserve one of our Meeting Rooms (it’s free to members to use for one hour per month), or find a quiet spot maybe outdoors in our lounge area.

I PREFER WORKING ALONE IN A QUIET OFFICE.

We get it. Some work requires your full attention without interruptions. In that case, we have one fully private office and one semi-private (there’s room for eight people to work).

But…don’t forget to try our social desks. Social desks are workspaces anyone can grab anytime and they are in our common area. There is a certain energy or buzz that comes with working alongside other people. This energy can be inspiring and can lead to great business connections. Our social desks are free to members and are always available during our business hours.

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I WANT TO HOST A WORKSHOP AT SOCIAL WORKPLACE.

Fantastic! We have space for that too. Social Workplace is your space to create. Workshops and lunch-n-learns are incredible ways to share your expertise, engage with clients and make some money sharing your wisdom doing what you love. We have a lots of options when it comes to hosting your workshop.

Your first step is getting in touch with us. Drop by or send an email to hi@socialworkplace.com and we can start determining your needs. It’s our goal to make our space as accessible as possible to everyone. Our location is super central and our pricing is very reasonable.

Also, did you know that our members get 1 FREE hosted workshop per quarter? If you’ve been a member for a minimum of 3 months you are able to host up to 4 workshops per year at no cost to you. This is our way of supporting our members while providing amazing workshops and education to the community.

SO, CAN WE COUNT YOU IN?

Let me know if there are any other questions I can answer.

— Heidi 
Owner & Co-Captain

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What the heck is coworking anyway?

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What the heck is coworking anyway?

You’ve probably heard the term coworking and may have some idea of what it is — you mean like WeWork? Yes, but the evolution of coworking started as a movement and is now a philosophy and approach to working that has a deeper meaning beyond a desk and WiFi. It’s about people.

Coworking defined

According to Deskmag, “Coworking is a self-directed, collaborative and flexible work style that is based on mutual trust and the sharing of common core objectives and values between members. The members treat each other equally, can increase their well-being by working in a collaborative atmosphere, and accumulate through cooperation (not competition) greater economic, social and cultural capital, above that which is possible through an isolated form of work.”

How did coworking get started?

In 2005, programmer Brad Neuberg was working for a startup and was not happy with his job. He had also worked for himself as a consultant and did not find happiness with that occupation either. Fueled by a desire for freedom and independence that comes with being an entrepreneur but seeking the structure and community of working with others, Brad started the first official \”coworking space\” in San Francisco.

Neuberg’s concept was based on open source principles of sharing ideas, information and even allowing others to copy the coworking idea and run with it. The advent of working wirelessly brought workers the flexibility to work anywhere which also created a vacuum for remote workers and entrepreneurs looking for the camaraderie, sharing and collaboration that was missing from working independently, and the coworking concept caught on.

Coworking today

Today, there are lots of others getting on board in the coworking market. People in real estate and the office rental industry have adapted their businesses to a coworking or shared office model after seeing the popularity and shift in this collaborative approach to working.

Yet, the vast majority of potential coworking space members still have not made the shift to coworking. With over 50 million independent workers in the U.S. and even more telecommuting employees, there are only about 1 million members across all coworking spaces around the globe (Tony Bacigalupo, New Work Cities). Lots of people are still not really aware of what coworking is, and even more don’t really know what it could be.

Choosing a coworking space

Coworking spaces vary widely in their style and vibe but many amenities are now becoming standard issue such as game night and even free beer. What matters most to people when choosing to join a coworking space centers on cost and value – do they see coworking as a worthy investment for their business or work satisfaction – location and proximity to where they live or need to work – and if the culture and members of the shared workspace are a good fit.

Social Workplace is a coworking space based on a programming-driven model. We encourage people to join not only to rent office space but because they want access to people and resources that will help them grow their business, troubleshoot challenges and feel a sense of structure, accountability, and belonging.

Ready to get coworking?

If you’re looking for flexible office space and want to be part of a growing community of fun business people who’ve been down the road of startups and also starting new side hustles, come by for a tour at Social Workplace and check out the space!