[I'm drafting an explanation of Workantile Exchange, to be handed out to folks who are visiting for Outreach Events. This may not be the final version, but I see no harm in posting it here.]
Workantile Exchange is a coworking club for freelancers and remote employees.
It’s not a cheap office. It’s not just for nerds. And it’s definitely not an “incubator”.
It’s a professional community of peers.
Members of the club can use the facility at 118 S. Main Street in Ann Arbor whenever they want, 24 hours a day. For work or meetings, professional or social interaction, to get away or to get together.
Current Members’ “official” professions include architecture, film production, business development, scientific consulting, writing, history, graphic arts, music, engineering, trading, publishing, programming, activism, journalism, accounting and marketing.
And you’ll find most folks around here know a lot of other useful stuff as well.
The Mission
Workantile Exchange is a social enterprise, and it’s been in existence for about two years. At the moment there are about 60 Members.
Our mission is to support the existing independence of our Members by reducing their social and physical isolation from colleagues. To that end we promote fellowship, collaboration, and training among our Members, and outreach to the broader community. We help our Members collaborate with one another, and not just in their work.
Why Would Anyone Do That?
According to Forbes Magazine, at least 25% of the current US workforce are freelancers. That number is growing.
Our Members pay their monthly dues to cowork here because they have access to one another. Most of us have offices somewhere else. As a rule we’re not looking for work, or swapping business cards to “network”, or trying to “grow”—at least not in the way most other business associations seem to think is crucial.
We don’t even sell stuff to one another. I know! What can we be thinking?
Because we’re traditionally physically and socially isolated, independent workers and remote employees often experience more professional risk than the equivalent corporate employees sitting in well-staffed 9-to-5 office building.
So we work alongside one another. When you’re at Workantile Exchange, it’s not just your cat there in the room, it’s a bunch of real human people. Professionals, each with a different perspective, who might have already dealt with the same problems you’ve got. Who probably have wildly different and very useful skills and experience.
Coworking together lets us bounce ideas off each other, hand off or simplify extra work, and draw on one another’s astounding collective expertise. Unlike those sitting in their basement “home office”, we can interact with one another, whether it’s to ask a quick question or to get together with and form a well-staffed project team.
We all still work on different things. We’re still independents and remote employees. And to be honest we’re typically very busy.
But by working together, we’re all better off.
And of course there’s the Pizza Lunch. And the Bourbon Tasting. And Game Night. And Night at the Races. And the Friendly League….
The Clubhouse
We maintain about 3200 square feet of open space in downtown Ann Arbor, in a renovated 1860s storefront. There are two small conference rooms available for Members to reserve, and a tiny phone room where you can use your cell phone. Otherwise, the space is broken up into two large shared spaces. All the furniture is mobile, and Members are encouraged to rearrange it to suit their needs. Nobody “gets a desk”.
The large ground floor “Café Level” tends to be the daytime, conversational workspace. The large mezzanine “Training Loft” tends to be the quiet daytime space, but has whiteboards and projectors so it gets used for events in evenings.
We also have a small kitchen with fridge and coffeemaker, and of course a bathroom. There are lockers for Members’ day use, a projector for meetings, and indoor bike racks for smart commuters. Some of our Members are kind enough to share their printers and scanners for office documents. Healthy (and unhealthy) snacks are available for a donation. There’s even a centralized speaker system that lets any Member play their music in the background. Very soon we’ll be adding a small circulating library of books and games: entirely on loan from Members, made available for other Members’ use.
Outreach Events
You’re probably reading this now because you’re attending one of our Outreach Events.
We know that space for public meetings in downtown Ann Arbor is at a premium.
We also think it’s crucial to bring together freelancers, independents and remote employees with the rest of the local community.
The best way we know to do that is by supporting users’ groups, training classes, community fairs and parades, and similar social events.
So we make our space available for selected events in keeping with our mission, and for events sponsored by Workantile Members (as long as they don’t disrupt others’ work). We don’t charge much: 10% of fees collected. All we ask in return is that you allow interested Workantile Members to attend your event, that you’re respectful of the space and the Workantile Members who’ve invited you to share it, and that you leave it at least as clean as you found it.
Contact our event coordinators by email to ask about scheduling an event.
Membership
You don’t have to be a freelancer or a remote employee to join. You just need to be a person.
No, really: Membership is not available to corporations or other institutions. You personally are enrolling as a member of the club, even if somebody else is paying for you.
Day Passes cost $15, and allow you to use the public spaces in the clubhouse. They don’t allow scheduled reservations of the conference rooms.
A Supporting Membership costs $100/month, and gives you access to the clubhouse up to six days per month.
A Full Membership costs $160/month, and gives you 24-hour access, 7 days a week. You’ll be expected to spend a couple of hours a week participating in community events and supporting the mission of Workantile Exchange.
A Nose-to-the-Grindstone Membership costs $250/month, and gives you the same benefits as a Full Membership, with no social obligations.
For the time being there’s an informal membership application process; the contact information is on the website.
For more information
Information on Workantile membership, scheduling an Outreach Event, and Coworking in general is available at http://workantile.com