361. Creating Spaces for Working Parents: Alison Rogers on Blush Cowork's Unique Approach

Welcome to the Everything Co-working Podcast where every week I keep you updated on the latest trends and how to's in co-working. I owned and operated co-working spaces for eight years and then served as the Executive Director of the Global Workspace Association for five years. And today I work with hundreds of operators and community managers every month, allowing me to bring you thought-provoking operator case studies and inspirational interviews. With industry thought leaders to help you confidently stay on top of what's important and what you can apply to your own role in the co-working industry. Welcome. I am here with Allison Rogers, founder at Blush Co-work, and she offers childcare. Allison, we get so excited when we have folks who are doing this because we love to tell these stories and talk about like what's working, what's really hard because we get a lot of mamas who want to do co-working childcare. So I totally get it. I started my first co-working space when my daughter was like 10 weeks old. People have probably heard this story before, but yes, I actually broke my hand doing it CrossFit and I was like, "How am I going to unpack the furniture?" This is a real problem. I had all the boxes of like the pop-in filing cabinet sitting out on my floor and all the chairs. Somehow I had not arranged for whatever I was doing the install. But it doesn't something like that always happen. I feel like that's such a, like every founder has that story. This whole business, okay, we're going to figure this out. Yes. Okay, so speaking of, yeah, I want to hear about your background and you know, you're a little bit of your professional background, personal background, and then when was the like, here's what I'm going to do moment. Well, I worked in advertising marketing for 25 years and I have two boys who at the beginning of the pandemic were very small. So I had one in like virtual school in second grade, I think, and then one who was three years old. Oh no. And you're about ready to lose your mind. I really was and I, you know, there were periods of time when I had worked for home, but being at home with both kids, they're trying to do for. And trying to work, trying to make it easier. It was impossible. And I think that I did not have a meeting where my three year old wasn't in my lab. And it didn't matter that my, my spouse was also home working. Like they left him alone. They did not leave me alone. They knew who had the weakness. They knew who's lab was actually open for business. And in my, you know, the company I was working for, they, they really expected like what's the pandemic started and they let people let people work for home. They really expected us to be even more productive. And I was like, I don't, I can't do this. I'm not a teacher. That's not real life. Yeah. I'm not a preschool teacher. I'm not a second grade teacher. I, you know, I cannot work 12 hours a day. Plus take care of all the childcare needs of my house. And you have boys who are not sitting at me, I'm generalizing here. But no, I mean, you're totally spot on like that. That was real. So they're not chilling in front of the zoom screen or whenever watching teacher, you know, well, I mean, but it turns out my older son was just like he was ever playing Minecraft. He did that watch teacher. No, my daughter was, I can't third grade. I can't remember. She still will give me little confessions about what she was actually doing while she was. Oh my god. I'm like, okay, Annie, I don't want to talk about it. So I was just, you know, I was beside myself and just so like the pandemic was stressful in and of itself. And then I felt like I was being a bad parent and a bad employee. And I also had another business like a consulting business. And I like that. Like a puzzle. Yes, I fired my largest client during I was like, we're not, we're not doing as I'm not having all these things. And I thought very seriously about leaving the workforce altogether just to take care of my family. Right. I mean, that's the travesty of the pandemic. Yeah. It really, it was really devastating for, for women and their, their careers as far as having to put their, you know, their ambitions on pause. And, but I, yeah, I almost did that. But then it was decided for me and I got laid off. So yes. And then I was doing each, I was trying to interview from home. And it's not like that went any better than working from home. Right. And job search again while your kids are like, yeah. Yes. And so I, you know, I just, I was thinking about everything that I had experienced over the years of always searching for reliable childcare. And looking for spaces to work because there was a time, you know, like 10 years ago where I worked from home. And even though the childcare component didn't come in, I was just lonely. I'm, I'm social person. Like I like to collaborate with other people. So just all kinds of crystallize for me during that time. And I started working on blush. Okay. So how did you know about co-working? How did you know this was a thing and that you're like, okay, and I'm going to make this and I'm going to do childcare. You know, like co-working in the greater like Raleigh area, because the working is something that's been here and been established in in carry where I live. And where I open blush. It's, you know, there was a space I looked at like years and years ago. But I will go peek in the windows. I would call. I would email like no one ever answered me. It kind of went away. So there wasn't really anything here, but I'd been to other spaces in Raleigh and Durham. And was familiar with the concept. Yeah, I wonder Raleigh and Durham are pretty like tech startup like help you know healthcare. I mean, there's a lot of industry in general and I remember having I had my space in Palo Alto was pretty tech focused. I remember we had a group I loved. They were actually my first members. And they came in while I was doing construction and they were like, we want that office and other world's not done yet. And they're like, well, we just want to put our names on it. I was like, okay, great. You know, and they moved to they went to American underground, which I think was. Yes. I mean, it was early and I remember looking at it online and being like, oh, it's not that great. But it was very like tech founder, you know, they were going to be right at home. But they moved left California and went and that's where they yeah ended up. Yeah, funny. Okay, okay, but tell me what you were thinking when you were like, and I'm going to do childcare. I mean, that was just it was so top of mind because I was like, that's what I need your pain point. You're just solving your pain point. Yeah. And I was I was thinking I was like, well, I'm probably not the only one. is such a, you know, vibrant community for families, especially families with young kids. And it was so hard to get my children into childcare. I mean, you know, every when I know it goes through, like they do all the tours when they are like just pregnant and are unweightingless forever. And, you know, the rally market really is one of the highest cost for childcare. So it was just, you know, it's hard to get. It's expensive when you get it. And there's just all the, I know, our area is like that as well. Okay. So had you seen this concept, or were you like, yeah, yes. I mean, I did some research and I was looking at, especially places like the Coven in Minneapolis and St. Paul. And, you know, just looking at a couple of other models. And, you know, there, there was one in Durham, and not quite the same because it was more of a co-op space that I looked at before when my, my older son was a little bit younger. But I was not interested in taking my tour to look after the children. So I was like that, that's not really interesting. I see. Yeah. Right. And also just really, yeah, I made this an interesting model and probably not as relevant for people who are working full time or, yeah, exactly. So I mean, I think that, that model is great. It just, it wasn't what I was looking for and what would solve my problem. So I was looking at other places in the country where they did this and just kind of what made sense to me. And what year was this? What year was this? 20. So I started working on it in 2021. Okay. Yes. Pandemic laid off. Okay. What did your husband say? You know, he was supportive. He's been supportive, but I think he also is just kind of used to me kind of, you know, doing what I get into my head. So he's just like, yeah, it sounds like a great idea to me. And yep, go ahead. I know you can do it. Did he have reservations about? Did he have any reservations about signing a commercial lease? You know, he wasn't that involved. Okay. You're like, I you'd like, what do they say? Like what you doesn't don't know, you know, whatever. Yeah. Exactly. He was, you know, he, he has his, yeah, he just kind of does his thing. And, you know, he, he trusting and yeah, and he was not that a fool. Yeah. Is he a corporate guy? Does he have like a, yes. So and he's, he's been kind of doing the same thing and doing really well at what he does for years and years and years. So he, he's just had like a very different kind of career path. And now he works fully from home and he loves it. And I'm like, how do I, I don't understand that at all. Totally. No, I have a similar, similar husband and he was in the same way like not, you know, supportive. Not that involved until I went to sign a lease and he was like, okay, back up. What are we doing here? What happens if it's just the work? Where are we? Are we living there? What's happening? Yeah, and he's, I talk about the enneagram a lot. He actually just did, he also loves working from home, which is very, right, we're like totally different. He's so happy working from home. And he's a good reminder though, you know, you have a very specific audience, but when people talk about like, luring people out of their homes and like, yeah, there's a segment of people like sky down the hall for me who's not. Yeah, no matter what you say, not happening. So yeah. I'm interrupting for a second. Are you working on starting a co-working space? I often emphasize how important the planning stages. You've heard me say most unrecoverable issues happen well before you open your doors and they are related to the size of your space, your real estate deal and a few other things. 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You can watch it anytime, it's totally on demand and start your co-working journey with confidence and the right strategies in place. You can grab that training at everythingcoworking.com/masterclass. Yeah. Okay. So okay, tell, how does it work? What are you offered? Who runs the childcare or kind of walk us through what it looks like? Well, so right now like we have kind of pivoted after we opened for a year. So first we started out with a partner who ran the childcare and it was a fantastic kind of sitter service that we partnered with. And that was great as far as getting these amazing sitters in who were reliable and then when they were outside of ground vacation, we automatically had people that were substituted in. So that was, you know, that was a great start, but it just didn't make sense as, you know, as we went along, it didn't totally make sense money was. And then it wasn't as sticky for people. So we had people who would kind of like use it a little bit, but they just wanted more. So we then partnered with Hopscotch Lab because one of the founders was a member here and she came to me. She's like, what if we did this and kind of moved it? And so they came in and kind of revamped the program and set the curriculum and it's much more of a curriculum based like Montessori style now. And immediately like when that change ever happened immediately it was like, okay, so this is sustainable now. So we have people who are blush employees who are childcare providers who work in the space. So the first iteration was like more of a drop in like kind of end kind of thing. It was while and it's still, you know, it's still very flexible, but it was more of a there's a difference to me between like babysitter like someone who will watch your child and make sure your child is looked after and cared for. And that obviously that's that's a huge part of it. But then there is parents were just looking for something a little bit more robust as far as like one of the activities and schedule and today is high maintenance parents who want to make sure it totally. Yes. Yeah. I love it. So what ages can you accommodate? It's six months to six years. Okay. Yeah. And once you get past like two parents are like, okay, what do they write? What are they learning? What's this? This is element look like all those things. Yeah. They're very interested. Yeah. Okay. So they're on your payroll. It's not an outsourced. They are blush employees. Okay. So what role, so how does what's the relationship with hot hopscotch then? So basically for the first year they came in and they were helping to like find and vet the employees that were coming in and they like rearranged the room and just set it up and got the curriculum in place and and did all the training for the employees. So it was kind of more of like managing the program. Yes. And then they they transferred all those things, you know, in this past year, starting this March, it kind of like transferred everything transferred all the the running of the program and everything has transferred to me. Okay. But you don't have a background in child anything. You're just you're the business owner. Yeah. Yes. I mean, I feel like I got a quick study in it and there's like, you know, I'm leading up. I certainly know a lot about regulations. Right. But yeah, they really helped as far as coming in and like making sure I had a good employee handbook and you know, making sure all the employees were trained on everything that they needed to be trained on. So yeah, they kind of trained me a little a lot to you. I mean, it seems kind of like a an ideal way to do it because now it's yours, but you got this like real baseline of how to run it. Yes. Yeah. So you got heavy support in the beginning and then you he's out of that and run it yourself. Right. And for everyone, but no, no. And they have this kind of space like this in in Boston, actually, they had a physical space and now they're really doing this kind of thing where they're they're consulting with people and helping them set up their programs. But they they were like, Alison, so we did super like we did so well at the child care portion. And they were like, we were not great at the co-working part. And they were like, we think that you, you know, we could help you with this part. Yeah, to support the co-working part. Yeah. Okay. So you so what are the child care options? You mentioned there's still like a decent amount of flexibility which to me seems very hard. How do you you don't I mean in terms of managing like, okay, my payroll with I need to cover payroll. So yeah, how do you what does that look like from the user side and how do you sort of make that work on the back end? So we have written all the details. You don't have to answer all my questions if you feel like them. No, the hard things in terms of how to make this work, right? Yes. I mean that it is it is hard and it was a hard kind of like setup and getting there. But I think for the the parents that are using the system, I think we've made it very simple for them on the front end. And but there's a whole lot of work on the back end. Right. So it's still not perfect as far as everything I have to do manually to keep the child care being able to be flexible. What parents can you know they just go on or app and they can see the child care slots and they can say you know they can schedule up to three months in advance or they can see oh there's a spot available today and I have a meeting so I'll take that spot and you know I'll just slot in right now. So but I mean we kind of stay pretty consistently like you know we say in a good range to where that the child care is self-sustaining. It's not ever I don't see it ever being like this huge like this huge moneymaker for me but I think that overall I can't see the space without it. And as long as it's kind of it's self-sustaining and then you know it covers the cost and we're able to you know create well-paying child care jobs. Yeah. Or for people here because that's you know huge priority as well is making sure that you know we extend our values to our employees. So yeah we do pay more than any other child care job would in the year. Just a challenge with this model I've talked to there's a group of local to the Bay Area who helps people launch daycare and they're like it's so hard you have to write. Labor is a major factor and they actually look for access to lower cost labor and you're saying well but it's important for us to pay a living wage you know and rent and so you're probably in a reasonably high rent. Brecht area, I lay by ourselves. But also I think this is so important like when we talk about the co-working model you have a very specific why for that part of the business and you're like no that's not going to be the way I you know make money but it's really important it's what you want to offer in your adding this impact layer you know to the community and employees. So yeah, I think that's so do you have options that are full time? Yeah, so I mean we have people who will use it five days a week for eight hours a day. Yeah, but they're also free to kind of use it, you know, hour here and there if they need it that way. Most people do a pretty regular schedule like we'll see the same kids like, you know, all Monday through Friday mornings or you know Tuesday Wednesday Thursday all day or something like that. So we've had a lot of those folks who do use it as their full time option. But then it also leaves the option for people who just need it once in a while like when they're their regular child care is closed for two weeks unexpectedly. Okay, they can have a couple of development days or something like that. So that option remains remains there for folks as well. Regulations so parents can leave the site or they have to stay on site. They stay on site, but we can't actually like have we can it's just for anybody in the building. So we don't just offer the service to folks that are co working members, but we there are other businesses that are in our building that can actually use the childcare as well under those regulations. Yeah. Okay, so what if I want to run out and grab lunch? If you are within a certain radius and you like check out and you know let the person know and you are able to be back in the space within two minutes, I mean, and we're right across the street from like 15 restaurants super large phones. So it's an easier yeah. Yes. So like that that is fine, but yeah, we we can also door dash. Yes. I mean, silly, but I do feel like people who used to try this model, it's like, right, you can't be on an island so that if people can't leave and they have to be totally self-sustaining and before you know, door dash and you know, all that you know, you could get stuff brought to you when you needed to. Yeah. We get multiple deliveries every single day. Like there's not as a that goes by where we don't get a food delivery, but you know, parents are also like they're able to take their child and go like during that because we do have a provider break in the middle of the day from 12 to 1. Okay. And that helps us stay compliant with the regulations for North Carolina as well. But you know, and it gives our providers a much needed break in the middle of the day. But yeah, so they a lot of parents are run out then too, but a lot of deliveries taking place. But yeah, one of the things that they can grab their kids and go get lunch during that hour or yeah, say do. So some parents will stay like they'll stay in the child care area and like they'll bring lunch and have lunch with their child. Yeah. Yeah. Do a little play day. Some parents who might have private offices might take their child into their private office to like start a nap or whatever depending on their child's nap preferences or they might go for a walk or right next to it. Like greenway access and so you know lots of options. Wow. It sounds kind of dreamy. Okay, tell me about let's talk about the overall. How big is the total space in square footage? It's 11,000 square feet. So it's it's big medium size space. Yeah. And then how many square feet is the child care area? It's a thousand square feet. Oh, so small. Okay. Yes. Okay. Perfect. Did you start with that size space? Yes. So that yeah, this is it's the same footprint and everything as we we started out with in 2022. Okay. And then what does your mix look like in terms of private offices, hot desks? We have a lot of open co-working space. We have lots of hot desks and then we have 15 private offices and four conference rooms. Okay. Got it. So so so do you have members who don't use the child care? Okay. Absolutely. So we we have lots of folks who don't use the child care or they might use it occasionally as a backup. We have my favorite thing is we have members that you know they started out as members and then they had children and are able to use the space. Oh my gosh. Right. And can you imagine being pregnant and being like yep and that's we're there gonna you know that'll be my resource. Yeah. That's been one of my favorite stories. Somebody was like oh well you know I used the space and it made me think oh I could actually do this. I could become a parent and know what I'm gonna do with my child and stay close to them while they're little and you know maybe even like why we still have a nursing relationship and I don't have to drop them off for nine hours a day and I could have something that's flexible and affordable and be able to make this work. So you have a mother's room I assume? Yes. Yeah. Is it bookable? Actually people just share it. Drop in. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What app do you use for the child care reservations? So we use co-works and that they are local to us. So my priority is yes. I've met the founders a couple times at conferences. I forget that. Yeah. So I love working with obviously women own businesses. I love working with local folks and so you know when I was looking into different software we can use you know co-works is what I went with and I think I've talked to everyone on their team many many times but you know and they've been really great about kind of adapting their tools to be able to work with us and you know there's lots of times when I go to them and say hey this this part isn't totally working for me because I use it a little bit differently from a lot of the other spaces. Well I mean unfortunately it's so does everyone it's so funny you know I'm always like you're gonna have to just roll with it a little bit like you know everybody has like their own slightly unique way of yeah of managing its space but the software cannot change for everyone but it sounds like you're they make it work especially like in the app where people so people will book the child care and it's like on a there are tabs so like you can go into booking and you can see like the conference room is the phone booths but then you have a tab for childcare and you can see all the slots and say and say like hey I want to book the child care for four hours you know Friday morning and you can just book your slot there so it's been great. Yeah I really like their interface I was actually I'm not sure I've seen it in action and I was poking around your website and I looked at your meeting room and the interface is really nice it's just really it feels very sort of just user friendly nice buttons I would you know your photos are very pretty your space is very pretty yeah and just you know click book put in your I didn't go through the whole you know but I like the interface so it seems very simple. That is so great because it is so easy and when someone like books a conference room like a non-member books conference room I'm just like that was amazing I did nothing. Right and they showed up and paid me. Yes yeah this is great it's the best thing ever. Yep. Hey there I'm jumping in again this time I'm speaking to those of you that are either getting ready to hire a community manager or who have a community manager and you would like to support their training and development. We know how challenging it can be for co-working space operators to create their own training and development material to support their community managers and this is so important in terms of onboarding new community managers and supporting the growth of your existing community managers and we're getting towards the end of the year what a great holiday gift end of year gift to give to your community manager. So the platform is really around a couple of things one is access to a community of like-minded folks we have a very active Slack group with really wonderful questions that are posed every single day and we find that's one of the biggest values we have community managers from all over the world and this is an excellent group of community managers that have invested time and effort into getting better at that role and they are the kind of folks that you want your community manager to be by and hanging out with and they know their stuff or sometimes they go and they ask questions and we help them out so I'm in the group we have coaches that are in the group to support them so we love when they ask questions for things they need help with because the other aspect of the program is really around helping them get resources they need to make their jobs easier and to learn things that they can use in their role to be better at their job. So we provide some done for you resources like Google Business Post detailed event ideas etc that they can just kind of grab and go and use and we also provide monthly resources that add to our training library so they can do our certification and then we have a lot of electives that help them kind of get better at all the things that that go with the role so that our community managers wear a lot of hats so we break our content into industry knowledge for new community managers community building operations sales and marketing and leadership so the leadership bucket is great for our more advanced community managers we also have virtual office and digital mail training and coffee training for anybody who needs to know how to use commercial coffee brewers so we have some of the I'm just going to give you kind of a sampling of content that we have so in our community building modules we have hosting your first member events, building community with budget friendly events, member events, swipe files, our sales and marketing modules. We have tour training. We have the training on the full co-working sales funnel, so they understand what that looks like. We have social media planning frameworks. We have, what else do we have? Three simple steps to an effective marketing newsletter. These are just some of our samples. These are some of our best utilized topics. Demystifying the process of letting your co-working members use your address for their Google business listing, how to close it to our operations modules, how to set up automations, how to do a new member onboarding audit, simple ways to use AI to boost your productivity. We have over 40 courses in the program. We cover higher level topics, and then we also cover things that are timely like the CMRA updates, Google business updates, etc. So we get together monthly to do official training, and we also host a best practice sharing call, which is one of the fan favorites of the group and the Slack group. So if you have any questions at all about the program, don't hesitate to reach out. You can learn more and register at everythingcoworking.com/communitymanager. Now back to our episode. Okay. Do you have male members? Yes, absolutely. So the space is inclusive. Obviously we are targeted at women because that was one of the things I really wanted to level the playing field post-COVID and give women a little bit of an advantage. But we're inclusive and we have a lot of, we have male members. We have lots of dads that come to the space as well. Okay. I love it. And they love your blush color. Yes. Well, if someone comes in and they like are like, I don't like the paint, then I like, well, then it's not that's fun for you. Right. That's easy. We'll send you down the street. Yep. Totally. So speaking of your area, was there, how did you know that this concept would work in Carrie? Well, when I was thinking about it, it was really because it was so personal to me, and I was, you know, I was thinking about my particular problems. Carrie has the largest, the highest percentage of remote workers in the country. Over 41% of people work remotely that living area. Wow. Yes. So, like, for me, I was like, oh, yeah, like slam dunk, you know, like there are so many people here and there are so many businesses with like large office spaces locally that during the pandemic, they kind of gave up that office space too. And I think that's still something I'm trying to tap into more and more, but, you know, as everyone is. It was like, you're not pulling on that one. That makes so much sense. Yeah. Yeah. I think I Googled, Carrie comes up on like best places to live lists. Yeah. Right outside of Raleigh. I mean, and so you end your suburban. And so yeah, which was still, I mean, by 2022, people were talking more about suburban, but yeah, you, that is definitely something that's baked into my business model because it just to me, that was where there was an opportunity because there are like really great spaces that are just like beautiful and decked out in the more urban areas. But I'm like, they weren't friendly for someone like me, like a parent, especially like you're thinking about being a parent with a stroller and thinking about trying to pair a little perk downtown or, yeah. But no, the stroller going is so funny. Like, right, it's just like such a basic logistical thing, but it's like, well, yeah, obviously. Yeah. Yes. So I'm like, no, we're in Carrie. We have a huge parking lot. It's right outside the door. You just bring your stroller right in and you're at 14 bags and yeah, right. Exactly. Exactly. And here you go. Yeah. I love that. The, okay, an 11,000 feet female focused. A lot of space for women. Yes. Are you like, you're being more inclusive? Is that like partly to fill the space? Like, how do you think about and in the suburbs? Yeah. I mean, the inclusive thing that's just again, like it's part of our values and just like a big dent from the original idea. I wanted it to be about inclusivity and access and making a space where everyone would feel comfortable. So, you know, I definitely wanted to attract women, but I wanted a space where anybody who kind of shares those values would feel comfortable. And so, yeah, I think I knew from the get go that it would be a space where, you know, there would be, I think the first person, the first people who came in looked in office before I opened was a group of software developers like six guys who came in the office. Okay. So, I mean, yeah, I knew it was going to go that way and we have such a, you know, like we were talking about before, there is such a big kind of tech focus and, you know, I came from a tech company that was, I mean, it was like, it had to be 85 to 90 percent men. So, you know, I, you wanted to flip that, but, yeah, men who are, right, sort of supportive of your values. Men who get it and are like, you know, yes, they get, they're welcome. Okay. So, I'm curious about your women's work program. Can you talk about that? Yes. So, I mean, that's another thing that came up. We did an iPhone women campaign in the fall of 2022. And yes, for the space. So it was after we were open, but I, you know, kind of, I've gotten to a point, it was, I bootstrap this. So I just got into a point where I was like, you know, I need something to, I need to go. Yeah. So, so I did this campaign and I had a lot of the people that supported were not in the local area. So I have a pretty, I have a sizeable following on like a, some personal social media that has been going for a few years and, and those are the people who really supported it. But, you know, they're all over the country or all over the world. So one of the, you're going to reward them with space use. Yeah. Right. But they were able to donate their day passes that were part of their rewards back into this program, an establishes program. And it's been really cool to see so many women using it who are, you know, because there have been so many rounds of layoffs in the past couple of years and, yeah, and things like that. And lots of women just, you know, out there and getting back into the workforce or who have suffered a job loss and I've seen so many of those women come in here and have, you know, a nice, quiet space to focus and interview and get those jobs. Yeah. So that's been really rewarding, especially coming from a place where I experienced layoff during the pandemic and it was devastating. And yeah, you lost your mode here a little bit, right? You're at home. No, I'm not working. And I'm working to go into with space where everybody's working. And like in that mindset and encouraging, I think that's such a big deal. Yeah. Yes. Okay. And that program is really why when we won the Lenovo and Panthers, like in power, the Carolinas, that was part, that was somebody who would kind of use that program, the Women's Work Program to get a new job after a layoff and she wrote in basically a testimonial and nominated me. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And that's on your website. If anybody wants to check that out, we'll put your website in the show notes. Okay. I love that idea for the funding campaign because I've been, I've had, you know, folks who do campaigns and then, you know, I don't really want to mug or a t-shirt. I would love to donate a day pass or meeting groups, you know, anything like that to somebody who needs it. It's brilliant. Yeah. Or in hindsight, are you glad that you waited to do that campaign versus doing it before you opened? Like how, what, if you were going to kind of give that advice for somebody thinking about it, what's your, what were your learnings on that? I think so because I think that people are more likely to kind of buy in if it's like, this is a visible space that you can see. Yeah. You can see I'm already, you know, I'm already here. I'm already working hard on it. It's already happened and you can help support the, you know, the continued mission. I think that was more impactful than saying, Hey, I have this idea and I want to do this saying saying, I'm doing this thing. I would love your support is a little bit stronger. I think. Yeah. No, I think that may be true for co-working spaces. I think also I always caution people. If you don't have a big network, it's hard and I love that you found a way to excite your network that wasn't local. So you have one, which is great. Why do you have a big following? Do you have a secret that we're not aware of? Hacially, I post funny things on Twitter. So I, yes, you're funny. Well now X, you have, you're sticking with this. Yeah, I can't, I can't call that. Yeah, move. Yeah, okay, got it. Okay. Well now, now I'm interested. I'll have to check it out. Okay. That's, that's funny. Okay, so I'm going to look at my little list of questions here that we know what we're. Okay. I so I guess just to talk a little bit more about the business like it feels like you've kind of figured out some things that work like tell us you know something that's been hard that you overcame that might be helpful to somebody else who's thinking about doing childcare and co-working. I mean if I'm being totally honest like the whole thing is hard it's a hard model and anybody being a business owner is hard and then you're I mean you decided to open two businesses at once like do you feel like that's exactly that kind of people yeah because you know even if the like on the surface to other people the childcare just looks like this fantastic amenity yeah behind the scenes it is just as much if not a lot more work than the co-working side so it is like having two different businesses and it's a business where you're dealing with people's children so it requires a lot of care and sensitivity right and luckily I'm you know like I I think that my my nature allows for that like I just I do care deeply automatically about every you know every little face that's coming in and all the kids that are here and I get to see them you know kind of like grow and learn and that's that's something that drives me but it is like running two different businesses and you have to be prepared for that yeah which is why I think it's really smart I mean it sounds like right you started with a partner and then you started with this group that kind of helped you launch and really and because even figuring out the regulations I mean can be very I it seems to me very overwhelming in the startup phase and making sure you get the right space that meets regulations depending on what kind of model you're going to run and making sure okay if you change the model your space still still you know works for whatever the regulations might be I mean I just I think most people who try child care go through a couple of iterations in figuring it out so also like just this mindset of like okay we think it's going to work this way and we're going to do our best and see yeah right you like you've landed on model that will like this is kind of it for a while at least I think so I mean I think that's the you know the the people who use it are happy with it and I'm you know I'm happy with it at this point so I think that it's it's working yeah and yeah so I'm looking forward to to growing it because I do think that this I've figured out a way after a little trial and error to make it work yeah okay what does it look like what are the kids in the space policy for the co-working space well that is that has been tough because I think that most of our members are and even guests are very you know mindful and respectful of other people working the space like you know they're coming here and they have their their child being looked after because they don't want a child sitting next to them yeah especially somebody else's so basically you know they're but there are children like passing through the space I think everyone kind of gives a little grace that people know that it's not like children aren't running around in the co-working space it is there so that the children are supervised and cared for and you know you have access to that so it's not like well this person's paying for childcare and this person just has their child like sitting next to them yeah so and so it's not a open bring your kid to work approach no no there are there are some exceptions so we have somebody who we've done a couple people who they have older children like you know 11 12 who are doing some sort of homeschool like online curriculum and so they're like well I have my younger child in the childcare and I want my older child to be able to come and like sit and work on their you know and in that case we do a we do kind of like a trial to see and see if there's any sort of disruption or anything like that and then we do have kind of they can do like an add-on minor day pass so their older child can be there as long as they can kind of be mindful and respectful of the other members just like the adults would be yeah okay I love that how old is your oldest now 12 yeah I have a 12 year old also and I'm like yeah I could told I mean A she wouldn't she's getting to the point where she's not that interested in hanging out with me or being seen with me I should say but right I could see like okay I got some work to do I need to make some you know phone calls but you can hang out here into your homework in between all the after school stuff which I'm sure your kids yes yeah and also like a cool environment to expose them to I yeah that's really neat do you do any after like after school programs or like schools closed kids can hang out here that is something I've been working on I had a really great a really great provider who was interested in that we were kind of developing that but she was also children's librarian and she had an opportunity to get a full-time librarian job so I of course supported her in that and yeah so I kind of put that on the back burner but that is something I'm thinking about because we we do have a great space for it as far as doing that kind of like after school program and I think it would help a lot of the parents in the space be able to kind of like squeeze in a few extra work hours yeah yeah yeah I love that okay we're do most of your members come from is it I'm guessing your smaller suburban not ads referrals yeah I mean definitely a lot of referrals we've had I've had a good social media presence on Instagram especially since before we open so a lot of people were kind of following our you know the journey as we ramped up to opening and we actually also I worked with a local influencer who is super popular on on Instagram she kind of does family activities in this area specifically so she a couple years ago she she filmed a reel and she posted it and not much happened and then back in April it and this was now two years old she reposted it it went viral there were so many phone calls coming in so it got so much exposure and because her following is local which it's hard to find somebody who has a great local base yeah so like that was fantastic and and not something it could have naturally you know could have actually predicted but that worked in my favor a lot but you know my background in advertising I did a lot of Google ad campaigns in my and pre okay yep so yeah so I do run that but we could such good organic traffic as well from Google because people you know when they say like co-working childcare North Carolina you show up yeah yeah yeah got it yeah so you but you also run ads you run your own Google ads so yes when I can I will run Google ads especially for things like conference reviews things that I will I know can kind of like an odd like immediate response and where if somebody clicks on it and I pay for it they you know I you know there's an ROI you know you'll show up and yeah I think so meeting rooms are I think you have to know what you're doing will you please tell people don't try this at home if you're not a trained professional yes okay yeah she's adding her ad anytime I see somebody in a Facebook group being like and I don't Google ads I'm like oh god please stop don't do that you could spend a lot of money without knowing I mean even Facebook is really like that I take Facebook ad courses I'm doing another one right now and just learn it you I mean there's a lot to know and you have to test and you have to be willing to lose some money and figure it out it is not a set it and forget it kind of thing yeah and there was I had a friend who said that they started a company and a previous person had done a Google ads campaign and they'd spent a million dollars on it without realizing that it was still running so that's the other thing yeah it is not a lot of people out there who tell you they are ad experts and they are not yes makes me so nervous yes no I get approached all the time for people trying to help me out with my advertising marketing and I was like I just have to say I gotta stop you right there it is harder for me to do it for myself than for for me to do it for other people but at the same time I know that anybody can come to me and say like oh I'm a social media expert and yeah and not have the background to really make it yeah worth your while yeah they've taken a class and somebody said now go sell yourself as like a social media agency or whatever and they're yeah they don't actually playing with other people's money that makes me crazy I love that you're doing meeting room ads I do I'm curious about I mean you beautiful meeting rooms have you you opened post pandemic is meeting room business a frame or growing I think it is I think that people are you know they're still kind of coming back together and they're they're like well when I want to get the team together and we no longer have an office space like where are we gonna go and there are there are lots of options around here but we just make it really easy for them and we make it like a It's a welcoming place to come and have a meeting. We've even had people who were kind of like splitting out. They were like, okay, well today we're meeting at blush. And tomorrow we're meeting at this hotel or whatever. And then they'll call me and say, hey, can we come back in today? We like your coffee better. - No. - Or we were more comfortable. - Yeah. I went up our members posted hotel meeting room versus coworking meeting room like comparison, which I loved. It was can we at 4G? I've given her a little shout out. We posted in our community manager group. I think that's such an important conversation because a lot of folks don't know. They don't understand what it means to meet at a coworking space. They understand hotels, but hostels, they're so expensive. They usually just blah, meeting rooms, especially smaller rooms, right? That's not their bread and butter. They want to sell ball rooms. So. - Right. - Now we have like the one I'm in right now is, it's a four person meeting room. - And it has a fabulous zoom background. Anybody watching on YouTube? She's a great background. Which honestly is another, I think like under looked aspect of meeting rooms today. I see a lot of blank walls and yours is like, so you got the plant, you got the sound, perfect, or you know, you get dials and then the beautiful, is that what would you call that? Is that artwork? I can't even tell. - Yes, so it's kind of, a lot of these panels are in my space and it's kind of our, - One of our signature, it's brand elements, yeah. - Mm-hmm. - Yeah. And you've got your matching pink vest on. Your blush vest. - Of course. - Yes. - You're amazing. - I have to be branded from head to toe. - Yeah. - No, I love it. And you've got this cute, it's worth watching the YouTube version. She's got her, her, her, I honestly kind of love the button. It's a great idea. It's way better than a name tag. - Yes. - Right. And then you don't need like the branded polo. You've got your cute outfit on, but you've got your button that says like, this is, you know, I'm in charge today. - I started out with name tags and then I had them 'cause I do have some people, some members that will help me out in the space and like, you know, man the front desk 'cause we're, you know, we're always staffed. But I found like the buttons just work so much better and just very easy for the button. - I love it. - So I identify, yeah. They're super cute. Okay, we're almost done. We're technically out of time here. Anything else that you would share about your experience, something that surprised you or a piece of advice that you wanna leave folks with who are thinking about doing co-working and childcare? - I would say, so the thing that surprised me, you know, especially given, you know, how I talked about, there's so many remote workers here. The thing that's really surprised me is how much, having the space and bringing people together has a field entrepreneurship among my community. And so that's been like the best surprise ever because we've had people who have, you know, kind of step back from their corporate role, started their own businesses. We have somebody who has been, she's been here for like two and a half years and she's been every level of member you can imagine. And she has a pretty nice, like sea level corporate role but she was like, I have been so inspired by this space. I'm gonna pursue my passion. So she's kind of like ramping down on that and ramping up her creative business. And she's like, it's really, it's because of the space that I met so many people and I knew I could do this and I could, you know, pursue that instead. So, and then we've had lots of great women-owned businesses that have grown at the time since they've been here. So just seeing the women who have started and grown their businesses has been the best surprise. - Instead of opting out. - Yes, exactly. - Yeah, awesome, congrats. Well, thank you. I so much appreciate you taking the time and sharing all of your nuggets of wisdom because there are people listening who will hit replay on this a couple of times because they wanna do what you're doing. So I love that. Well, we'll link to your socials and website and all that good stuff. And yeah, keep us posted on your journey. - Thank you so much for having me. - Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you like what you heard, tell a friend, hit that subscribe button and leave us a rating and review. If you'd like to learn more about our education and coaching programs, head over to everythingcoworking.com. We'll see you next week.