Independents Hall Philadelphia

IndyHall Member Profiles: Megan Canney

Filed under: Community Support, From the Business Side, Independents Hall, coworkers

Meet Megan Canney.

Megan is a professional seasonal fabric home décor designer. Wow, that’s a mouthful.

For all you seasonal fabric home décor design civilians out there this means she designs those pretty Christmas stockings you hang above your fireplace in addition to various other holiday decorations. She claims designing Christmas stockings is a year round activity but I don’t buy it. My current theory is that it’s a front for her true profession: Mercenary Assassin. More on that later.

I couldn’t help but wonder how one gets into her alleged profession.

“I originally went to school for fashion design but mostly for wearable art, not production fashion.”

Seems she’s better suited for making wearable art for the runway, no?

“You can’t make money doing that so when I left school I got a job doing seasonal home décor design.”

Consider the dots connected. So how does Megan find herself among our ranks here at Indy Hall.

“I knew a lot of the early members and we would go to the Junto down in South Philly and people were always talking about the Hall. When I heard about the job I’m doing now I came and checked out Indy Hall before I even interviewed. I knew that I’d be working remotely and that doing so from my apartment just wouldn’t work for me.”

Interestingly, I more often hear that someone’s been working from home prior to joining the Hall but found them self too distracted to be productive. Excellent foresight she’s demonstrated here… a little too excellent perhaps.

“I’m a really social person and it’s hard not having a design team to work with so at least this way I get to have the social interaction as well as a separation between by working and living space.”

Megan’s presence at the Hall predates mine so I was curious to know how long she’d been here.

“7 months on and off due to the time I spend in China.”

… Now you remember that theory of mine?

“I go to China because that’s where all the buyers from all over the world go to meet with people like me and the salesmen. If a company does import they usually will meet in Hong Kong. It’s the hub of product related business transactions.”

I believe that, assuming that by “product related” she means people and by “business transactions” she means bounty collections. All I’m saying is you’d do well to buy plenty of decorations this year.

Happy Holidays folks.

From the Video Archives: Coworking Questions answered for Web Worker Daily in 2009

Filed under: FAQs, From the Business Side, Independents Hall, IndyHall 201, IndyHall U, Videos, coworking

Wow…a WHOLE YEAR AGO, I answered a bunch of questions for Web Worker Daily in video format. I completely forgot about them until Gerard Sychay from Cincy Coworks tweeted about them. They answer questions that we answer a lot, so I thought it’d be valuable to post here.

IndyHall History:

Bootstrapping:

Diversity

The Future of IndyHall (from last year)

Coworking Tips

IndyHall Member Profiles: Bill Jones

Filed under: Community Support, From the Business Side, Independents Hall, coworkers

Meet Bill Jones. Bill is an IT guy. He’s not just any old IT guy though; he’s the incredibly bold and savvy IT guy who’s not afraid to tell you your IT solutions suck. See for yourself.

“When I would go to my doctor, my dentist, or any small business in my area it would stand out to me that they had substandard IT solutions and I would point that out to them.”

Harsh, I know. Did I mention he has a kind side too? He would always follow up by helping them out.

“When I stopped working for a huge company and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I thought that it would be easier for me to be engaged and understand the value I was delivering to people if I worked directly with customers in a smaller context.”

Consulting the IT civilians, empowering the little guy, it all makes sense. However, there isn’t exactly a wealth of substandard IT solutions floating around Indy Hall so what does “Mr. Savvy IT Guy” do here?

“The plan has always been for me to mine that area for a product or two and then focus on building those products because that’s what I really enjoy doing. Consulting and products are two different areas and I’m more of a product guy. Right now I’m actually moving away from the consulting side of small business to work on three products I have in development.”

If that’s not livin’ the dream, I don’t know what is. Naturally, I was curious as to what role coworking has played in Bill’s ability to create this situation for himself.

“When I was looking for office space I ran across this idea called coworking which sounded good to me. I quickly found that Indy Hall was one of the leaders in the area but living in Jersey I didn’t think I’d want to come to Philadelphia all the time. I came in one day just to do research and I realized that I really would be better off just hangin’ out here.”

Ok, but… why?

“The first day I had a six hour conversation with Jason Allum and I said to myself, ‘Ok, this is a good place to be.’ There was a lot of excitement about Indy Hall Labs and the business model that Alex, Jason and the guys were figuring out and that was very interesting to me. I realized there were people here who could teach me stuff and that was better than being alone in my basement office.”

There you have it. Indy Hall: The perfect alternative to your substandard workplace solutions.

IndyHall Member Profiles: Dr. Greg Wilder

Filed under: Community Support, From the Business Side, Independents Hall, coworkers

I’d like you to meet Dr. Greg Wilder.

Greg is a classical conservatory trained pianist and composer whose works have been performed on prestigious stages across the globe. He is known by many different titles including but not limited to musician, composer, professor, and more recently co-founder of Orpheus Media Research.

I, however, know him by a very different title:

Speed Chess Nemesis.

It is for precisely this reason I challenged him to conduct this interview over a match. The opening move was simple; I wanted to know how Greg came to be a part of the Hall.

“I met Alex through PSL (Philly Startup Leaders) and I was very curious about him and his ideas about Indy Hall. I put myself on the waiting list and as soon as they relocated I became a member.”

I couldn’t help but wonder how a classically trained pianist composer wound up sitting in front of a computer as opposed to, well, a piano.

“I haven’t been hands on with any music for a number of months now and it’s been very difficult. I made a conscious decision to focus on my business and it has completely changed my life. Instead of attending an orchestral rehearsal for example, I’ll go to a business meeting.”

I still wasn’t quite sure as to why exactly he was here, a deceptive tactic perhaps. It was time to make a developing move. I had to know what could be so important to someone that they would put aside everything their life had revolved around thus far in order to pursue it.

“I’ve spent my entire life listening to, performing, and studying music. I’m fascinated by the way in which the human mind interacts with music and what I’m doing here at Indy Hall is giving computers a human-like sensitivity to music from both the listening and compositional standpoints.”

Boosh. Check. A bold move indeed, but would it pay off?

“My first morning here I really didn’t know if this would work but by the end of the day my mind was blown. There are so many brilliant people here that you really can’t be the ‘smart kid in class.’ I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with quite a few of them and they’ve done a lot to help make my vision a reality. What we’re doing is as much about coworking as it is about music innovation.”

Checkmate. Well played, Dr. Wilder. Well played.

IndyHall Member Profiles: Bart Mroz

Filed under: Community Support, From the Business Side, coworkers

Meet Bart Mroz. Don’t feel bad about the last name, he’ll teach you how to say it so long as you ask him nicely. Bart is one of the original members of Indy Hall. He recounts the noble tale of Indy Hall’s first days.

“The four of us worked on the floor…umm…borrowing Wi-Fi from a neighbor while we waited for our broadband to be installed.”

Did I say noble? I of course meant humble.

I was curious to know if Indy Hall, a truly collaborative workspace, had collaboration at its roots.

“Its roots are all in collaboration. Some of us were working together before Indy Hall opened its doors, during our ‘Cream Cheese Sessions.’”

A statement I found to be a particularly nice way of saying “Duh.”

Having been coworking for nearly 3 years now I wanted to know if Bart could ever see himself working any other way.

“I couldn’t work in a traditional office or even an office share. That just doesn’t appeal to me. This space is very open and creative. I keep to myself most of the time but I’m aware of what the people around me are doing, it’s part of the deal.”

How about from a business perspective?

“We couldn’t do it any other way. Very early on we realized that this model works really well for us. It’s not the case for everyone but for us there’s really no other way.”

A statement I found to be a particularly nice way of saying “I’m not going anywhere.” We’re glad to hear it because we sure do like having Bart around.

IndyHall 201: How IndyHall Communicates with it’s Community

Filed under: FAQs, From the Business Side, Independents Hall, IndyHall 201, coworking

This week, I got an e-mail from Julie Z. Rosenberg of the Brooklyn Creative League in Park Slope, asking about our newsletter. First off, I always appreciate when people reach out to others for a hand as well as Julie did, as she a great job by asking specific questions and keeping her message brief.

I decided that it could be valuable to share what I shared with her on the blog for others, for future reference and posterity.

Specifically, Julie was asking about format, frequency, content, and distribution.

The rest of this post contains a modified version of my response to her.

—

When IndyHall began as a community, and didn’t have a space yet, we operated almost entirely out of a public google group (now defunct), and on Twitter. Once we had a space though (beginning in mid-late 2007), there became a need for public, and semi-private correspondence to happen on different channels. It didn’t make sense to bother everyone with office goings-on, but we also didn’t want people left out!

Right now, our communication stack looks like this, but we’re still experimenting and things change all the time.

Internal:

• We use Basecamp as a message board for all members. Everyone who’s on the roster can post messages to everyone else who is a member.
• We use Campfire as a real-time chat that’s mostly populated by members, but is also open to the public (http://campfire.indyhall.org)
• We still use Twitter a lot

External:

• Our blog (this thing you’re reading) has always been our first line of defense, along with Twitter.
• We’ve used Facebook and AnyVite for event RSVPs, and link them from blog posts and twitter. AnyVite rocks because it doesn’t require a login to RSVP, which Facebook does.
• At some point, we realized that not everyone is following Twitter (or their RSS reader) as religiously as they do e-mail, so a traditional e-mail redux would be valuable.

At this point, we’ve had to work ourselves into a bit of a production schedule to get one e-mail out every other week. One of our full time members, Stephen Winkler, has taken the reigns of the project and is in charge of organizing stories for the newsletter, rallying/drafting content. Dana, our office manager, supplies a couple of specific segments. Other community members have taken ownership of specific segments of the newsletter.

It’s finally gotten into a groove (I think we’re 4 editions in with an actual production timeline), and we’ve only missed the ship date once .

Bottom line is that we’ve found that no single channel is effective enough. We’re always morphing along with our community and trying to find the balance, and expect that the balance will always be changing!

—–

By the way, are you subscribed to our bi-weekly newsletter yet? It’s easy, just head to IndyHall.org if you’re not already on the site, and the sign up is on the left hand side of every page!

IndyHall Town Hall 2

Filed under: Announcements, Community Support, Events, From the Business Side, Independents Hall

In last week’s newsletter (you are subscribed, right?) we announced our 2nd IndyHall Town Hall.

We held one of these back in March when we were first thinking about moving from our Strawberry St. office into something bigger. It proved to be an extremely valuable format for getting the community up to speed, introducing people, and seeing progress forward.

On Tuesday, October 27th, we’re doing it again. The first of what we hope to continue as quarterly Town Hall meetings will allow the entire community, not just the paying membership, to come together to find out about IndyHall’s progress & growth, and continue to be a part of the shared vision.

We’ll be hosting it at our office, 20 North 3rd St. It will begin at 5:30 sharp and we expect it to take 60-90 minutes.

The goals of the Town Hall format are twofold: first, to open up as much information as we can about the business and community operations. Second, to provide a proper sounding board for the fast growing community that inhabits our clubhouse.

Imagine a hybrid of a “state of the union” from some community leaders, as well as an opportunity for your voice to have an impact. Of course, with the same level of approachability and authenticity you’ve come to expect from IndyHall.

We have some exciting announcements. But don’t we always?

Attendance isn’t mandatory for members, but its’ strongly recommended. Also, as I mentioned, this is a COMMUNITY town hall, which means it is open to the public. Because of this, we’re asking people to RSVP to make sure we can plan/arrange the space appropriately.

In the past, we’ve had good response and a significant turnout, and we’re hoping for the same this time.

Please help spread the word to other community members and organizations that might want to attend, and encourage them to RSVP.

We look forward to seeing everyone on the 27th.

Say Hi to Parker and Michelle

Filed under: Announcements, Community Support, From the Business Side, Independents Hall

A few weeks back, we put out a call for an intern to help out at IndyHall. We wanted to frame it carefully to make it an opportunity not just to help with IndyHall operations, but to give someone the opportunity to grow and learn as a member of the community.

We lucked out, and got two of ‘em.

Honestly, the response we got to the post was overwhelming and positive. All of the candidates we interviewed were incredible, and we had a hard decision to make.

Last week, we were joined by Michelle Nugent, and this week, she met her new cointern (that’s right, I went there) Parker Whitney.

They’ve already done a great job working out their own schedule to make sure that our front desk is always attended, and are planning projects to improve quality of life around the office. They’re already becoming a force to be reckoned with, and I can’t wait to see what they accomplish. We’re lucky to have some extremely capable help…Dana may actually need to worry about being outdone! Ok, just kidding. Dana still rocks, too.

While they’re working here, they’re also both exploring their personal aspirations of creativity, business, communications, technology, and truly owning their place in Philadelphia.

Please say hi to Parker and Michelle when you come in the door, and don’t hesitate to grab them, take them to lunch, and learn more about them!

Two Years Later: The Progress is Bittersweet

Filed under: Announcements, Community Support, Education/Workshops, From the Business Side, Independents Hall

This past week, we celebrated our 2 year anniversary of IndyHall opening its first location, the office on the 2nd floor of 32 Strawberry Street. The event was incredible, as we had the opportunity to celebrate another milestone, the 100th episode of IndyHall born Two Guys on Beer. A few hundred of our closest friends came out to share in the festivities, with nearly 300 people RSVPd. Our friends at National Mechanics and Flying Dog made sure that for the first few hours, the Dogtoberfest was flowing freely.

A huge thank you to our supporters, our friends, and everyone who’s helped make the last 2 years possible.

The same date marked the 4 month anniversary of us moving into our NEW home, at 20 North 3rd Street. An upgrade in every sense, square footage, street access, balcony, full kitchen, bigger lounge, more than twice the desks and LOTS of room to move around…we’re extremely proud of the space that this community has been working every day to make its own.

Our membership has nearly doubled since our Town Hall in in March. We’ve had some great friends move on from Philadelphia, as well, which is always sad, but we are happy to have had them be a part of IndyHall while they were here.

With a mix of sadness and excitement, last week I announced to our members that we’d be retiring 32 Strawberry Street, recently known as “IndyHall Classic“. Our goal, as mentioned in that Technically Philly article, was to couple our expansion with an educational element. The vision was something of a community classroom, much like IndyHall has become the community workspace.

Unfortunately, our runway of cashflow to keep IndyHall Classic as a standalone event space wasn’t long enough to get the space self-sustaining with users, coupled with the usual summer lull. We decided to look outside of our own efforts for partners, and ne of the people I spoke to with was Alex Urevick-Ackelsberg, partner and business lead at Zivtech. Zivtech is an open source development shop that specializes in Drupal as a platform for both technology and open source education.

Zivtech had been one of our sponsors for the party IndyHall partnered with Mashable to throw back in the spring, the very one that celebrated the opening of our new office. A few of their employees had even become members of IndyHall since moving into the new office, sharing desks several times a month and joining us for events over the summer.

Alex was interested in utilizing IndyHall classic for some Drupal training and classes, but when I asked Alex if he’d be interested in moving Zivtech’s offices into IndyHall classic, the response was positive. We worked with them and our former landlords and came to an arrangement that worked for everyone.

We’re working with Zivtech to pass the torch (and some of the furniture) over the next couple of weeks, but as of this weekend we’ve closed a chapter in IndyHall’s history.

This fall, we’re going to be ramping up our classes and events once again, but on the smaller scale that we used to run them on. We’ve kept a ~600 square foot breakout room at the new space available for events, and over the next several weeks will be using it to host everything from our own workshops and daytime events, Blame-A-Thon, and a couple of user groups such as Cocoaheads. We’ll also be utilizing it during the BarCamp Philly pre-part BeerCamp.

The retirement of IndyHall Classic is hardly the retirement of events and classes at IndyHall, but instead the evolution and progress of our ever-growing community.

Congratulations to Zivtech on your new home, to Two Guys on Beer for 100 episodes, and to all of you, for continuing to show Philadelphia, and the world, what we’re made of.

The IndyHall Internship

Filed under: Announcements, From the Business Side, Independents Hall, coworking

Lachlan wants YOU to come work with IndyHall!