It occurred to me that not only have I not updated the blog in a while but that I hadn't mentioned The Works, the coworking cafe I opened in December of last year. Shame on me.
It's been a long, long six months going from the concept of combining a cafe with a coworking space to its actuality. It was some of the hardest work I've ever performed both physically and mentally and I wasn't even the contractor! Day in and day out, every little detail had to be addressed, every decision had to be made by yours truly. I thought most of that would be handled by the general contractor. Pretty naive on my part. It meant focusing in two realities: the very present and the oh-so future.
Originally, the project was slated for three weeks. Not even close. Granted I doubled that figure in my head. Even that...not even close. What started in September didn't finish until the beginning of December. It was a slow simmering boil of anger and frustration that boiled over every once in a while with (often misdirected) tongue lashings to whoever stood closest by. My wife and kids, God love 'em, were pretty immune but not completely. For standing by me the whole time they deserve my deepest love and appreciation...not that they don't already deserve that.
We officially soft-opened on the 18th of December, exactly a week before Christmas. Our Grand Opening wasn't until the 15th of January. I joked at our employee meeting the other day that if we were in rehab that we would just be past the halfway point.
We still have a butt-ton of advertising we need to do to get the word out that, yes, Wakulla has a new coffee shop. We also really need to get more coworking members in to start sharing the space and offset some of the overhead. More importantly they can begin to realize the true impact coworking can bring to their businesses, the benefits it truly has to not only their bottom line but to their own lives. I remember when I first "got coworking" when I partnered up with Denita on not just a project we shared in common but some other separate work we had to do. We both were mega-productive simply just occupying the same airspace. That "AHA!" moment is magical and I really, really want others to experience it.
Selfishly, we could use more business. More business at The Works would mean less stress on me right now. It's not just a money thing, it's a confidence thing. It means my vision has been validated. It goes beyond the lip service of "wow, what a great idea" that others share with me to "yes, Chuck, this is what I and Wakulla have needed! Sign me up!" Those conversions will mean I'm not completely crazy.
Till then, I tread.
