Workan­tile Exchange is a cowork­ing club for free­lancers and remote employ­ees: a pro­fes­sional com­mu­nity of peers.

Mem­bers have access to the facil­ity on Main Street for pro­fes­sional and social inter­ac­tion, 24 hours a day.

The Mis­sion

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.

Because we’re more phys­i­cally and socially iso­lated, inde­pen­dent work­ers and remote employ­ees expe­ri­ence more pro­fes­sional risk than the equiv­a­lent tra­di­tional cor­po­rate employees.

We work along­side one another. It lets us draw on our astound­ing col­lec­tive exper­tise. Cur­rent Mem­bers careers include film pro­duc­tion, busi­ness devel­op­ment, writ­ing, graphic arts, engi­neer­ing, pub­lish­ing, pro­gram­ming, jour­nal­ism, account­ing, mar­ket­ing, and more.

We all still work on dif­fer­ent things. We stay inde­pen­dents and remote employees.

But by work­ing together, we’re all bet­ter off.

The Club­house

We main­tain about 3200 square feet of open space in down­town Ann Arbor. There are con­fer­ence rooms avail­able for Mem­bers, and a phone room for pri­vate calls. The rest of the space is bro­ken up into large shared areas. All the fur­ni­ture is mobile, and Mem­bers are encour­aged to rearrange it to suit their needs. Nobody “gets a desk”.

We also have a small kitchen. There are lock­ers, a pro­jec­tor, and bike racks. Some Mem­bers kindly share office equip­ment. Snacks, cof­fee and drinks are avail­able for a donation.

Out­reach Events

We know that space for pub­lic meet­ings in down­town Ann Arbor is at a pre­mium. And we also think it’s cru­cial to bring together our Mem­bers and the rest of the local community.

So we make our space avail­able for selected events in keep­ing with our mis­sion, as long as they don’t dis­rupt Mem­bers’ 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.

Mem­ber­ship

You don’t have to be a free­lancer or a remote employee to join.

Day Passes cost $15, and allow pub­lic spaces in the club­house, but not reser­va­tions of con­fer­ence rooms.

Sup­port­ing Mem­ber­ship costs $100/​month, and includes access to the club­house on up to six days every month.

Full Mem­ber­ship costs $160/​month, and gives you 24-​​hour access. You’ll be expected to spend time each week sup­port­ing the mis­sion of Workan­tile Exchange.

Nose-​​to-​​the-​​Grindstone Mem­ber­ship costs $230/​month, and includes the ben­e­fits of Full Mem­ber­ship with­out any oblig­a­tion for com­mu­nity involvement.

For more information

Infor­ma­tion on Workan­tile mem­ber­ship, sched­ul­ing an Out­reach Events, and Cowork­ing in gen­eral is avail­able at http://​workan​tile​.com