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| The rise of co-working
by Jen Reeder
“It’s nice if I have meetings in the morning and something in the afternoon. I don’t have to drive home and come back,” Coleman said. Coleman is just one self-employed professional taking advantage of DurangoSpace, which had its grand opening April 21. It was founded by small business consultants Jasper Welch and Nancy Wharton to provide temporary office space to work-at-home professionals. Known as coworking, it is a growing national paradigm that involves individuals with different occupations sharing a common work space, usually on a temporary basis. Members can choose a program based on their needs, from a day pass for visiting professionals to a semi-reserved space available daily. “It’s like a gym membership – you don’t always see the same people,” Wharton said. “We design memberships that are flexible and affordable. A lot of our members work for companies in other parts of the country and they travel a lot – they go to headquarters for meetings – so they don’t need full-time office space because they’re on the road.” DurangoSpace has numerous offices, conference rooms and kitchen space, and can seat 25 coworkers at a time. Members include graphic artists, attorneys doing mediation work, accountants, software engineers, videographers and web designers. Because so many members rely on the internet for work, DurangoSpace has dual internet connections for webinars and such. “The internet is nice and fast – it’s much faster than what I have at home,” said Mark Fei, an employee of an IT consulting firm based in Chicago. Fei has a 15-day pass because he has to travel often and his use is inconsistent. He enjoys the coworking environment because he gets “cabin fever” working at home. “I’ve met a lot of nice people here,” he said. “It’s been a good networking kind of thing.” Jennifer Hilburn, owner of Six Degrees Digital Marketing, agrees that networking opportunities are one advantage to being a member at DurangoSpace. For example, she had been planning to contact the management at Durango Joe’s with an idea for a textable coupon, and then the entire company had a management meeting in one of the large meeting rooms. Hilburn has a reserve membership, which allows her access to office space every day. She prefers it to working at home because as a working mother, it is easy to be distracted by competing demands. “One of the challenges we have – especially if we’re moms – when we’re working at home is it’s very hard to focus and not say, ‘I’ll just throw a load of laundry in.’ It’s constant, all the household stuff that needs to be done, and we have a hard time tuning it out. If you’re a disciplined person in an office, this space will facilitate it nicely.” Avoiding distractions is also a benefit to Joe Lloyd, owner of Durango Joe’s. Lloyd has held his company’s annual retreat at DurangoSpace, as well as smaller team meetings, advisory board meetings and manager reviews. “We don’t have that large of space in my office, so we have to find a bigger space,” Lloyd said. “It’s very private, and it’s a neutral setting – it’s not one of my stores where I can get distracted. And it’s a very upscale environment, as far as technology, and the ambience is great, very professional.” Justin Repath, an architect with a casual membership (three days a month), works on project plans with contractors and professionals in other states. He comes to DurangoSpace when they all meet for webinars to share 3-D models of their part of the projects. Though he has his own office, DurangoSpace is convenient for when he needs to do some quick work. “If I’m in transit and just need to stop for a second, bam. I just park, I’ve got all my stuff and I can come in and do something,” Repath said. These diverse professionals are part of a growing demographic in La Plata County, according to Roger Zalneraitis, executive director of the La Plata Economic Development Alliance. “The number of self-employed people in the county has grown by 120 percent – more than double – from 1998 to 2008,” Zalneraitis said. “There are at least 2,500 self-employed people in this county.” He said this number is intriguing from the perspective of economic development, since some businesses have the potential to grow from a sole proprietorship to a larger company. DurangoSpace can facilitate that growth, he said, in instances where a professional moving to the area to join a business can use the temporary space while looking for a permanent office. Charles Shaw, co-owner of the Smiley Building – another building that unites a diverse group of professionals under one roof – said combining professionals with different occupations leads to collaboration and creativity. “We are trying to push the limits of mixed use,” Shaw said. “There is an elementary school next to a group of architects, and yoga classes next to nonprofit offices and a hair salon down from a bike shop, dancers next to a news room, all sharing the same bathrooms and having to get along. It has a life of its own … and really adds to the community feeling of the building.” Wharton is also impressed by the people she’s met through the coworking venture. “It’s been a revelation that there are so many independent workers in La Plata County. I think it’s really something for the rest of the business community to take note of,” she said. “Look local first for your services.” • For more information about DurangoSpace or to schedule a free tour, visit www.DurangoSpace.com. For more information about the Smiley Building, visit www.SmileyBuilding.com.
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The Independent Weekly Line on Durango and Beyond
Local visual and graphic artist Cindy Coleman loves working at home – most of the time. As owner of DuckGirlArt.com, she usually completes projects at her studio in Forest Lakes. But when she has to come to Durango for meetings, it isn’t practical to drive back and forth between appointments. She used to kill time between appoint ments at the library or in coffee shops, but now she uses DurangoSpace, a new “coworking” facility downtown, as a place to land once a week for meetings.