440. Nothing's Broken. That's the Problem

Resources mentioned on this podcast: Community Manager University What if the 3,000 square foot coworking space you picked to keep your risk low is the riskier choice? I compare a 3,000, a 15,000 and a 30,000 square foot space, each paying $30 a square foot in rent.   I talk about: - Why the 3,000 square foot space loses at least $48,800 a year with all 11 offices rented - How the 15,000 and 30,000 square foot spaces make $210,000 and $420,000 a year - Why one $62,000 community manager costs 54% of the small space's revenue and 13% of the larger spaces' revenue - How much revenue each space can lose before it loses money - When 3,000 square feet does make sense

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The 2026 Coworking Benchmark Session Most operators aren't short on effort; they're short on a diagnosis. This episode breaks down why malaise sets in when you can't name the actual problem in your business, and why the fix is almost always the easy part once you know what you're aiming at. I walk through why diagnosis is so hard to do on your own. Most operators run one space, watch one P&L, and have never seen their numbers next to anyone else's. Without a comparison set, it's nearly impossible to know whether your marketing spend, close rate, or churn is the real problem, so operators default to copying tactics instead of fixing the issue. In this episode: Why malaise isn't a motivation problem The difference between diagnosing a problem and solving it Where time and money actually get wasted in a coworking business How to get a real comparison set for your own numbers Get your numbers benchmarked against real coworking data with the Coworking Scorecard 2026: everythingcoworking.com/benchmark

Resources mentioned on this podcast: The 2026 Coworking Benchmark Session Scott Homa (JLL) Will Sanford (Yardi) What if the fastest-growing segment in coworking is operators with two to six locations? The keynote that opened this year's Global Workspace Association conference in Denver was Scott Homa, who leads flex research at JLL, and Will Sanford, the head of coworking at Yardi. The two companies track this market with different datasets and different methods, and they landed in almost exactly the same place. Scott is known for the headline that 30% of office inventory would be flexible by 2030. He explained where it came from: JLL asked occupiers how they wanted their portfolios split, and they said 30%. It was a demand number, not a forecast of how much flex space would get built. Flex is about 2.3% of the U.S. office market today. In this episode, I walk through the numbers from that keynote and what they mean for your growth plan. I talk about: • Where the 30% by 2030 number came from, and why it was never a supply forecast • Flex today: 2.3% of the U.S. office market, across 9,400 locations and 4,300 operators • Why London at 10% is the benchmark, and what that could mean for Manhattan • 88% growth for operators running two to six locations, against 8% for the top 100 by size • Where flex ranks when an enterprise tenant picks a building, and how to use that with a landlord • What a fast-growing enterprise tenant is buying from an operator None of these numbers are mine. They come from JLL and Yardi, and I am grateful to both companies for tracking this industry.

Resources Mentioned In This Podcast: The Coworking Scorecard 2026 What if the amenity your members love most is also the most expensive square footage in your space? Coffee bars, podcast studios, fitness rooms, kids rooms, and wellness rooms almost always start with a founder's passion. They feel like differentiators, and nobody builds one expecting it to sit empty. But you pay rent and CAM on every square foot whether it earns or not, and a studio the size of a large team office represents $2,000 to $3,000 a month in office or meeting room revenue you're choosing not to collect. In this episode, we walk through how to evaluate every amenity space on your floor plan by asking two questions: does it earn direct revenue, and does its promise sell memberships? I talk about: Why amenity spaces almost always start with a founder's passion, and why that makes them so hard to remove later The story of my 400-square-foot fitness studio (and $7,000 shower, in 2012 dollars) in the best corner of my first Chicago space How operators like Lucid Private Offices, Pacific Workplaces, and Premier Workspaces optimize revenue per square foot, and what unmonetized square footage costs Why an amenity that never gets used can still sell memberships, and how to test whether yours does The categories worth a hard look: food and beverage, fitness rooms, podcast and photography studios, and kids rooms Why wellness rooms are table stakes, even when they're not directly monetizable How to pare an amenity back or turn it into a product, from trainer memberships to a photography studio membership How to set a three-to-six-month deadline before converting a space to offices or meeting rooms If there's a room on your floor plan you've never put a number on, this episode gives you a way to decide whether it stays as it is, gets smaller, or becomes your next office.  

What if the coworking space you love is not actually profitable? There is a pattern I see over and over with people who want to open a coworking space. You visit one you like, the flex desks are full, the meeting rooms are in use, the design is great and the staff is warm. You do the back-of-the-envelope math on the way home, decide the model works, and set out to build your own version of it. The problem is that you cannot see a profit margin on a tour. Most coworking spaces are not killing it, and most operators are working on a profit margin problem that is either a revenue problem or an expense problem or some combination of both. In this episode, I explore why reverse engineering someone else's space is so risky, and what to build from instead: your own why, and the benchmarks that actually produce a profitable space. I talk about: Why a space that looks busy and beautiful tells you nothing about its profit margin What you cannot see on a tour, including what members actually pay against list price, occupancy, staffing levels, rent, and CAM Why a revenue problem is much harder to fix than an expense problem The questions to answer before you model anything: your why, your goals, how involved you want to be, and what profit the business needs to produce The benchmarks to know cold, from revenue and rent per square foot to payroll as a percentage of revenue and your lead-to-tour and tour-to-close ratios How to see your own trade-offs, whether that is free lattes, a gym nobody uses, or a space that costs more than your pricing can recover Which levers in your pro forma will break the model if you move them, and what discounting and over-hiring do to your plan after you open

What if the biggest threat to your coworking space's revenue isn't empty offices—but the decisions you make to fill them? Launching a new coworking space comes with a difficult financial reality: your rent and other fixed expenses often begin on day one, while reaching stabilized occupancy can take much longer. That makes it critical to have realistic revenue projections and a clear strategy for protecting them as you ramp up. In this episode, we explore two strategies for keeping revenue on track when launching a new coworking space: limiting discounting and building multiple revenue streams from the beginning. We talk about: Why new operators often underestimate how long it takes to reach stabilized occupancy When you don't actually need to discount, especially if you have limited inventory, strong positioning, or a differentiated brand How to use founding-member perks and bonuses instead of immediately lowering your prices When temporary discounts can make sense—and why competing on price with large national operators can be dangerous How discounting affects your actual revenue capacity, renewals, and member lifetime value Why meeting rooms, events, and mail revenue need to be developed alongside office sales How early team members can contribute to revenue growth through networking, referrals, partnerships, and sales activity If you're launching a coworking space, opening a second location, or trying to close the gap between your projected and actual revenue, this episode is a reminder to look beyond occupancy and build a revenue strategy that can support the entire business. Everything Coworking Featured Resources: Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space Coworking Startup School Community Manager University Follow Us on YouTube

What happens when a golf simulator in your garage turns into a 25,000-square-foot coworking business? For Josh Kaplan, founder of Clubhouse Work & Golf, the idea started with a group of friends wondering how hard it could be to rent a warehouse, set up a golf simulator, and have somewhere to work and play during the winter. Three years later, Clubhouse Work & Golf has its first location in Denver, sold out its 50 private offices in less than 13 months, and is opening a second location. In this episode, Josh and I talk about: How he went from an 18-year career in software to launching a coworking business Why it took nearly three years and 30–40 failed deals to finally get the first location open How golf became the hook, but hospitality and design became a much bigger part of the value proposition What Josh learned from his first location and is applying to the second Why he's deliberately taking a conservative approach to expansion How his team has evolved as he moves away from day-to-day operations And why he believes Clubhouse Work & Golf can eventually scale beyond Denver I love Josh's story because it's a great example of building something genuinely differentiated instead of trying to create another version of the same coworking space. And the golf is only part of the story. Resources Mentioned in this Episode: Josh's LinkedIn profile Clubhouse Work & Golf's website Everything Coworking Featured Resources: Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space Coworking Startup School Community Manager University Follow Us on YouTube

What if the real money in your coworking space isn't the desks at all? That's exactly what Leslie Bailey discovered running Maven Space, a 15,000-square-foot coworking space, event venue, and social club she built in downtown Indianapolis with no private offices at all. Leslie's background wasn't real estate or hospitality. Coworking operators come from all kinds of backgrounds, and hers was journalism, 15-plus years of it before she launched Indy Maven, a media company and community for women, and eventually built Maven Space around it. In this episode, we explore how Leslie diversified her coworking revenue well beyond workspace: a full event venue, an in-house commercial kitchen, and a sponsorship program she ran like an old-school magazine ad department. We talk about: Why her 15,000-square-foot space never had a single private office How a catering liquor license turned her event venue into a bigger draw Running a full commercial kitchen that served the whole building, not just members Selling sponsorships the way a magazine sells ad space, yes, even on the bathroom stalls Why her membership community is still going, even though the physical space isn't One insight that really stood out: sponsorship inventory exists in almost every coworking space, the newsletter, the walls, the events, even the stalls. Pricing it turns it into real revenue. If you're only thinking about your coworking space in terms of desks and offices, Leslie's story is a reminder of how much revenue potential sits in the rest of the building. Resources Mentioned in this Episode: Leslie's LinkedIn profile Indy Maven website Leslie Bailey's personal website Leslie's 10 Lessons Learned article Everything Coworking Featured Resources: Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space Coworking Startup School Community Manager University Follow Us on YouTube

What happens when a coworking operator refuses to think small? Gina Schreck has built far more than a coworking space. Over the years, she's transformed The Village from a 10,000-square-foot workspace into a 50,000-square-foot destination that combines coworking, wellness, events, and community under one roof. In this conversation, Gina shares the story behind that growth, the risks that came with it, and the mindset that's helped her create one of the most unique coworking spaces in the industry. In this episode, we cover: How Gina expanded from 10,000 to 50,000 square feet—and why she nearly walked away from the opportunity The unexpected role her daughter played in managing the expansion Why event space has become an important part of her business model How her podcast studio supports her community What it takes to build a space that's more than just a place to work How she thinks about hospitality, community, and creating an experience members want to come back to Why understanding your ideal member shapes every decision she makes Whether you're thinking about expanding your space, adding new revenue streams, or strengthening your community, Gina offers an honest look at what's worked, what hasn't, and the lessons she's learned along the way. Resources Mentioned in this Podcast: Gina on LinkedIn The Village Workspace website Connect with your Hosts: Connect with Giovanni on LinkedIn Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn Find Jamie on the Everything Coworking Podcast