Office Space News
Q and A: BLANKSPACES Founder Jerome Chang on Coworking
Published November 10th, 2009 by Mike Sullivan
Coworking has proven to be the one of the hottest buzzwords in the world of office space in the past year or so. Books have been written (OK – maybe just 1 book), many new coworking locations have opened across the globe and I can’t even begin to keep up with my Tweetdeck “Coworking” feed. Many executive suite companies are installing coworking areas. In last month’s Entrepreneur Magazine there was a long article extolling many of the benefits and details behind coworking.
Jerome Chang, founder of a Los Angeles coworking company called BLANKSPACES, agreed to give us his thoughts on coworking, some of its challenges and how he is positioning the company to try and achieve sustainability and growth.
Coworking is (arguably) a relatively new concept in the world of workspace, and BLANKSPACES has showed some significant leadership in this area. What have you learned in your first 18 months of operation?
Flexibility and affordability in exchange for privacy have not quite proven to be the value proposition I had expected. “Customers” still don’t necessarily value sharing space even when it’s much more affordable than their own private office. It seems that the age-old, nearly inalienable right to property in the U.S. extends directly to workspaces. Nonetheless, those who have tried this open concept LOVE it.
Another huge lesson I learned is probably common among start-ups: sales. I’ve learned so much how to sell, how to price, and how to provide flexibility in payment schedules. I still have so much more to learn in this arena.
Finally, I’ve learned that I have a knack and very strong interest in marketing, particularly copywriting. The general feedback I receive for our brand, copywriting, and other marketing items like our commercials have been hugely favorable. Thank you all our fans.
Most people say coworking is about community. How critical is creating the community/culture to find and retain clients? What is BLANKSPACES doing in this area?
The community and culture are two of the most valuable, but generally intangible benefits for coworking, in my opinion. What has been directly tangible is the regularity that neighbors actually do collaborate, and also hire each other. BLANKSPACES seems to organically attract members who seek this quality. To continue this phenomenon, we maintain our marketing to the same brand, copywriting, and style that has brought us this far. On a more specific note, BLANKSPACES hosts, co-sponsors, and seeks many events and workshops that gets even more people to experience the space and culture.
What are the biggest challenges you see for coworking companies?
Sustainability and growth. This economy is hugely challenging for any business and coworking is no exception. Coworking primarily depends upon grassroots efforts by individuals to open new locations. For coworking to be more universally appealing, it has to have more readily apparent commonalities; I think that a few brands or models will take that leadership once a longer history of profitability can be achieved, particularly throughout the this very long recession.
How is BLANKSPACES overcoming those challenges?
For the long term, we focus on marketing to communicate as compelling a message as we can to educate the public that coworking is more than viable. We’re basically promoting a cultural shift in the workforce that has already wanted to, but not necessarily clearly know how “to office” differently.
In the immediate future, we are doubling down to prepare for the economic turnaround by trying to open a new, even larger location in Santa Monica.
How are you marketing BLANKSPACES?
Our most visibly entertaining marketing is through our commercials. We have been able to utilize amazing filmmaking resources because we are located in L.A., the global epicenter for entertainment. We have such a huge backlog of ideas for both commercials and shorts for BLANKSPACES, we’d almost want to do this full-time!
What are your future plans for BLANKSPACES?
We would love to take that leadership to bring coworking to the masses. We believe our brand is clear, compelling, and flexible enough to do that. This is why we are actively seeking to open a new location in Santa Monica.
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Elizabeth Sanchez November 10th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Looks like BLANKSPACES is doing what continues to work for them. It’s good to see such an innovative serviced office company performing well in Los Angeles. It’s also good to see that they admit that coworking is not immune to the recession. There are still people who, despite all the advantages of serviced office space and coworking facilities, still aren’t ready to spend money on an office right now.