When I found myself in an unscheduled unemployment situation back in early June, I had several people I know reach out to me with words of encouragement and support, and as always I am deeply grateful for that.
But one group of individuals took the opportunity to reach out and invite me into their fold of self-employed entrepreneurs almost immediately, and it has turned out to be a most gratifying experience for your humble scribe. So during this International Coworking Week, I wanted to salute my colleagues at Cowork Niagara for being a pretty awesome bunch of people.
Cowork Niagara is primarily made up of freelancers who share a space on St. Paul Street in downtown St. Catharines, working individually on their own projects but in the company of other like-minded individuals in the hopes this sort of transmogrification of ideas will benefit everyone involved. If you want to put a different spin on it, you could suggest this is democracy in action at its most basic level, with everyone on an even playing field, benefitting everyone in some way through individual and group efforts.
As a paid member of Cowork Niagara, you are allowed use of the shared space in their offices; if not a paid member such as me at the moment, you can still benefit from the camaraderie provided by attending any of the free seminar events that happen with great frequency each month in their downstairs meeting space.
I started going to some of these last month and plan to continue attending as many as I can over the coming months, if for no other reason than to get out of my office and interact with other like-minded individuals. As one soul explaining the benefits of coworking said recently, "It's better than working alone in your office with your cats!" Personally, I find nothing wrong with that, which might suggest I have already spent too much time with my two cats, but I digress...
The membership for Cowork Niagara now stands at about 70 for this community owned and managed co-op, and that is after only one year in existence. The membership will continue to grow in the years to come as more and more people realize the potential of providing community space for independent workers.
In that community space opportunities such as the Secret Coworking Super Freelancer Lab have been developed in order to help their members grow, and as we speak a new podcasting studio is being constructed to aid those who find they want to dive into the brave new world of podcasting to the world but lack the proper facilities in which to do it.
The aforementioned seminars, in which invited speakers discuss their own "tricks and tips" in a variety of areas of expertise, are ongoing monthly, and include BizTricks, PodTricks, WriteTricks and EventTricks, among others. Last month I was a guest speaker during the WriteTricks event, incidentally. These happen between 7 and 9 pm and are an informal, friendly give-and-take discussion between speakers and the audience.
It just so happens during this International Coworking Week two of those events are scheduled, BizTricks August 12th and PodTricks on the 13th. Next week, WriteTricks happens August 18th and EventTricks on the 19th. The line-up of speakers is usually posted on the Cowork Niagara Facebook page so you can keep up to date on who is coming. You can also RSVP your attendance to any and all of these events through the page as well.
This Friday, to commemorate both the one year anniversary of Cowork Niagara and International Coworking Week, a potluck social event will be held at their offices in order to introduce the value of coworking to those who want to find out more, as well as celebrate the milestone with people who have been there from the beginning. Again, details can be found on their Facebook page.
This week, right through until the 15th in fact, the space is available free for coworkers and I urge you to take advantage of the opportunity and perhaps find out more about how they can benefit you. It certainly has already benefitted me after only a couple of months of attending.
I'm looking forward to attending as many of the events this week as possible, and I congratulate founders Trevor Twining, Adam Daniels, Allison Smith and all the rest of the gang for reaching out to me and drawing me in to what is fast becoming the "In Crowd" in downtown St. Catharines.
Why not come out and see for yourself what they can do for you? It might surprise you to find what you learn and how beneficial the Cowork Niagara experience can be.
Have a great week!
August 11th, 2015.
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