REBRANDING: Central Business Associates – the importance of rebranding and collaboration.

, , , , ,

In the next couple of months, things are going to look very different around here. We’re having a rebrand.

Since closing the workspaces in 2020, I’ve continued to do the work that fuels my passion and drive, and makes me want to get up out of bed in the morning. For me, not much has changed, except I now have more time on my hands as I don’t have bookings, maintenance, marketing and community management of the coworking space in my remit any more.

But I realise that outside of my bubble, it might not be so easy to know what Central Business Associates mission and vision is now.

So I thought it was probably time I changed the wallpaper, got myself a new name badge, and gave the world some context on the changes.

I am very lucky to work most days with a collective of humans that have been my rock during the last decade – whom I mention and praise often, as they very much deserve. We have even created a co-operative since we decided to all work together in the one space – Sage Room Co-op , and have spent many hours working hard on our individual and shared businesses, learning about our shared values, and how to work together – even when we don’t always agree. Our accountability sessions have paid off, and we learn from one another every day.

Time for Change

So when I decided Central Business Associates needed a brand makeover, I was able to engage Kathryn from SteinArt. She facilitated an insightful brand development workshop. We ended up managing to find a way to honour all of the things that were most important to me when I started up the business, including flexible working, collaboration and community. We also brought in the values and strengths that are a true representation of who I am, and what I bring to my work and my community.

These values will come into play much more now I have more time available, forming much of the content I will write about. Alongside those pre-existing subjects I already mentioned.

Expect to hear from me about Leadership, Creativity and Perspective, alongside more on Collaboration, Community and Flexible Work. I’ll be calling for guest posts on subjects that are important to my client base, and outside of my strengths. See, that’s Collaboration and Perspective covered already!

Keep an eye out for the sweeping brand change – it’s definitely hitting the Creativity button!
Another thing I have more time for these days.. And you can even find out what an Umbrella Space is..

/by

UMBRELLA SPACES: What’s an Umbrella Space? It’s a shelter.

, , ,

Do you ever feel like you just need shelter from the storm – of work & life – and of the expectation to ‘succeed’ at both?

When I realised that’s how I was feeling, I started my search for the shelter. 

I researched online, I contacted government agencies, council departments, local businesses in my suburb. And nothing felt like it was for me. Everything available felt like it was all about ‘more’ – 

  • earning more money, 
  • having more clients, 
  • offering more services
  • working more hours 
  • owning more stuff

Just thinking about all the energy it would take to get there was exhausting. I felt like I already had so much to do every day, and apparently I needed to give more… 

I felt like I wasn’t enough..

As a small business owner, I wanted to find ways to create a business community, a coworking space, a safe shelter for me and others like me. A place we could meet, share our problems, find solutions, collaborate on projects together, learn from each other, and grow – together.

And when I spoke to others about it, they started wanting to join this community. More people like me! We were all looking

  • for connection with like-minded people, 
  • for a safe place to ask questions, 
  • for a sounding board to talk about the benefits of our work, so we could go out and network confidently and promote our services to potential clients, and
  • to feel part of something bigger than ourselves.

But there wasn’t a place for us. 

So I realised that maybe that needed to be my first goal – to create that space for all of us to go to. To shelter us from the storms of 

  • Family life – trying to hold it all together AND build a business to earn a living.
  • Comparison-itis – that feeling that everyone else is doing things better than you are, and that you should probably just give up.
  • Schooldays – the lack of available hours in the day to be able to work, if you have children and no external support system. And the holidays, oh my – the school holiday juggle…
  • Excessive peopling – if you are an introvert like me (see my other blog), trying to start up and promote a small business can be extra hard. And drains your energy faster than an Energiser bunny (or Duracell, depending where you’re from) 

As much as we wanted to run our own independent businesses, we needed a place to get together, to work alongside each other, and support each other. 

We desperately needed collaboration, connection, and community.

And so began my journey to build that shelter, and provide that support – for me, and others like me. 

I call them my Umbrella Spaces. I started with a networking group that was the First Space. Read more here on Blogger

/by

COLLABORATION: Suburban Collaboration Hubs – what, why and how do they provide business support?

, , , ,

I get a real buzz out of providing business support.

Especially when I see business owners wasting precious time, making things more difficult for themselves, or that they could be happier in their lives. And I do that in as many ways as I know how. It’s what I’ve built my career on in many varying forms, including through customer care, sales, marketing, and operations.

I spent almost 6 years running flexible workspaces and promoting the (at the time) still relatively new concept of coworking. During that time I helped many businesses improve and expand. It gives me huge job satisfaction to see people succeed and reach their potential, and to feel I supported or helped them in some way.

I’ve also supported some people who might have given up otherwise. Helped them try to figure out why things weren’t working as well for them as they’d expected or hoped. Finding them the right collaboration partners – ones that matched with them for personality, values, expertise, or even from a cost perspective. In fact I’ve been called a Business Cupid! I can often save people the months or years of frustration before they realise they are in a (business) relationship with the wrong kind of collaborator or referrer. Or maybe they’re not working with anyone at all.

If you want to go fast, go alone – If you want to go far, go together

I’m not even going to try to tell you who said this quote, as it has been said in so many places, by so many people, over a very long time (this article from an Australian data scientist actually shows it’s almost impossible to tie down to one individual, although he does interestingly point out that the research became much easier when he asked other people for help….!).

I think Simon Sinek’s work around The Infinite Game is another indicator of this being a true phrase. We have to work together to create real sustainability.

Working From Home

To be clear, working from home is a great idea – I did it for about 7 years. It’s extremely cost-effective!

And for many, especially with the effect that Covid has had on everyone’s working life in the last few years, the flexible-work bandwagon is on an exceedingly fast roll! But you know what – the novelty wears off quite quickly. And is often replaced with loneliness. Especially if you work for yourself. It almost (almost!) made me consider going back to the commute, and working in a city. But deep down, to be true to my proudly introverted personality, I wanted to be based close to home. So I went out and found like-minded people, and opened the shared space.

Flexible Workspaces

I’d often be asked why I set up the flexible workspace, as I would get so frustrated that I didn’t have time to spend with the very people who I set it up for! Others would ask why I didn’t hold more networking events there. But returning to that introvert personality I mentioned, I was already running low in the energy banks, and had little left to give.

Over a period of time, I realised I was spending more time marketing and selling the workspaces to make sure I could pay the enormous rent bill every month. And not as much time doing what I loved. Helping the community of people who were choosing to work there.

Not everyone who worked in the space wanted the connections and the collaboration opportunities. Some people were just there to use the facilities. And I think that’s when I realised that I had already achieved what I’d set out to do. I’d created the base community, and cemented the idea of being able to grow faster together.

That’s when I made the difficult decision not to renew my lease when it came up. It was time to move on to the next stage. Delivering the services I’d been struggling to find the time for, in amongst the role of being the workspace host. I could see all the possibilities within the trusted network we had created as a community, but I wasn’t finding the time to help move us forward.

Our core community were able to take our big leap towards independence, by taking on a shared lease. One that was just slightly bigger than we needed, so we could still have occasional coworkers and meetings as required, and room to grow.

I now spend my days, in my element – knee-deep in research, reports, marketing and business development. Being part of the growth and support of those individual businesses in our suburban community.

Collaborative, Co-operative

We have even taken things a stage further, having just launched a co-operative called Sage Room Co-op Ltd. We plan to offer services to assist others in their growth journey. I now have more time to write – blogs and books, which I have been procrastinating about for the last 6 years (and then some..), and germinate my ideas.

Suburban Collaboration Hubs

One of those ideas, is to help other groups create a similar co-operative way of working. Demonstrate how we can create more Suburban Collaboration Hubs. Where there is no one individual expected to take on the huge commitment of a large-scale commercial lease. Each hub considers keeping a little bit of extra desk space that can be hired/utilised by those who need a place to collaborate or connect. Let me know if this is something you’d like to know more about.

Business Directory: coworking

As an aside, I’ve kept my business directory running in the hope that we can make this happen. I did such a good job of marketing my space all those years, that I still get pretty consistent enquiries from people who are looking for somewhere to work in this area. I’d love to have more potential places to tell them to contact. So get in touch if you are local to me, and have an office that you’d be happy to let out occasionally!

So, in essence, although once again my method of delivery has changed, I am still right where I wanted to be, doing what I want to do. In the midst of a community that I love, helping other businesses find ways to improve and grow, sustainably.

Here’s to Flexible-work practices, Collaboration, Sustainable growth and Business support services!

As I wrote this article, I was able to see my own journey. I’ve been talking about these same subjects – collaboration, flexible working, work-life balance and sustainable growth – for a number of years now. And whilst I’ve made some changes to my business in that time, the message has been consistent.
It’s funny how sometimes you don’t see it yourself until much later. My colleagues have always maintained I was consistent, but I’ve often felt I was being a bit ‘random’!
So I’m glad I wrote this one, even if I’m the one who most benefits from reading it.. 😉

/by

FLEXIBLE WORKING: Coworking Insights: The ‘Local’ Element: Why Coworking is Even More Valuable in the Suburbs

, , ,
Read more
/by

INTERVIEW: Balance the Grind: Interview with Celia Newlands

, , , ,

Balance the Grind is on a mission to create a work-life balance hub focused on conversations, ideas and community.

Publishing conversations with people from different careers and lifestyles; from startup founders to CEOs, entrepreneurs to independent musicians, designers to software developers, and plenty more.
Work-life balance, work-life integration, work-life harmony; whatever you want to call it, Balance the Grind believes that work should (mostly) be calm, healthy and sustainable over the long-term.

Our Community Manager, Celia Newlands, featured alongside the many inspirational stories on their website.
Read Celia’s interview in full below, and check out some of the other amazing stories of those making flexible work a reality around the world!

https://www.balancethegrind.com.au/interviews/celia-newlands-community-manager-at-central-business-associates/

/by

Five Years on – Looking back..

, , , , ,

19th January 2015..
I don’t really remember that first day. Bit of an exhausted, excited blur..

Probably have little memory of the first year actually – it just flew by, with all it’s newness and excitement and my heart beating out of my chest, and some things going very wrong, and some things going very right…!

And here we are, half a decade later.

Central Business Associates – we are celebrating five years in business, and I wanted to do a little ‘check in the rear view mirror’.


Starting a business like this, making ‘flexibility’ the core concept – if I’d known what that would actually involve, I wonder if I’d ever have agreed to do it!
But I’m so glad I did – making flexibility my key offering has opened up so many more doors, meetings and opportunities that never would have happened if I’d stuck firmly to a plan.
So my version of a ‘plan’ has really been around ideas – and values.

Flexibility, Community & Collaboration – those have been the core values that have helped me make big decisions along the way.

  • We’ve had businesses move in, flourish, grow and then move into their own spaces,
  • we’ve seen businesses collaborate on hundreds of projects, and
  • we’ve made lots and lots of friends – lifelong friends, that we might never have met if this business didn’t exist.

We’ve held events, hosted workshops, created membership programmes. We’ve laughed, and cried, been angry and ecstatic.

We have consistently looked for new ways to help local businesses connect, collaborate and grow.
I am grateful for every person who came through these doors, and thankful for all the lessons that I have had to learn along the way.

Whilst I can’t predict the future, and what the next 5 years have in store for us, I do know that if I learn as much as I have in the last 5 years, things will definitely be flexible, fun and phenomenally interesting! 😁

/by

COLLABORATION: Accelerated Serendipity: an update

, , ,

Anyone who knows me already understands my passion for collaboration.

I wrote a blog about Accelerated Serendipity on my website last year, to try to explain some of the stand-out benefits of Flexible Workspaces. If you haven’t read it yet, you can see it here – Accelerated Serendipity – showing how and why the concept of Flexible Working / Coworking works for so many of us.

One of our regular coworkers – a graphic designer, was telling me today how much she has benefited from coming into our workspace – every time she comes in, she meets a potential client, or a colleague, or a possible collaborator. Stories like this are what keep me going, confident that this is the way forward for the workforce – not only small businesses and entrepreneurs, but also employees, if given the opportunity to have a day or more nearer home – the chance to achieve a genuine work/life balance.

Central Business Associates is an ‘office of the future’, as described in an article recently from Officing Today  (an online magazine delivering the latest news, tips, trends, and insights of the flexible workspace industry, first published in 2004 – way before flexible working was ‘the new black’!) – I was delighted to be featured alongside some other great examples of collaborative hubs within Australia. Read the article here

As always, I’d love to hear others thoughts on the subject – would you like to know how you could work more flexibly, or do you manage this already in a different way?

serendipity
ˌsɛr(ə)nˈdɪpɪti/
noun
noun: serendipity; plural noun: serendipities
  1. the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
    “a fortunate stroke of serendipity”
/by

COLLABORATION: Accelerated Serendipity…. What does it even mean?

, ,

The video below came up in my newsfeed today, showing the benefits of coworking, and I just loved the phrase ‘Accelerated Serendipity’! Plus it described my day today so accurately, that I felt compelled to share it with everyone…
I held a free coworking morning today – I’ve been holding one every couple of months, just to try to bring those people in who have either not heard of coworking, or don’t think it is something that would work for them. I tend to find that once people have tried it out, they understand how it can work for them, and can see (and feel) the benefits.

The benefits are different for everyone – for some it’s not having the distractions of home – the family pets, the dishwasher needing emptied, the washing piling up in the corner, etc etc…
For others it might be just feeling part of a social community – having other people to run ideas past, or to talk about ‘that’ TV show that was on last night, or even discuss your thoughts on the economic development of the area we live in….!

But ultimately, it needs to be of financial benefit to be coworking, or sharing an office space – otherwise why wouldn’t you just stay at home?

Well today showed me all the reasons why it works.

I had about 4 conversations with different people, which resulted in no less than 6 collaborative situations, which may result in more income for all 6 people! Not bad for a couple of hours work…
Then I did some client work, as the office was so busy I felt I had to contribute/type faster (that’s the competitive side of me!) than the other people I could hear around me.

So I did some paid work, got details of some fantastic prospective clients/collaborations, networked, and had a bit of a laugh too!

So next time you’re wondering what the fuss is all about, bring a chunk of work, your laptop, some business cards, and see if you can have some Accelerated Serendipity too! Watch the video that started the conversation, below…….

Coworking – How coworking is changing how and where we work

/by