visionaries | She Owns It

CoWorking is Cutting Edge ( and Cool! A Primer. ) by @SBSLEducSoltns

March 6, 2019 by SJ Barakony Leave a Comment

Coworking is a remarkable concept that will enable many additional citizens to pursue their callings in entrepreneurship without the pratfalls of the prior 2 eras, the blue & white collar industrial ages.

No longer will the price tag, complexity, or fear of having to sign a multi-year lease, or rent to (eventually) own agreement be a stumbling block to the dream to be in control of your income stream(s); you’re now sharing costs & concurrently joining an entrepreneurial tribe.

What is coworking?!

This is a superb definition

Think it over: We’ve really only had this option for little more than a decade. Running parallel to the astonishing rise of social media & the proliferation of smart devices, co-working grew from humble beginnings.

At this point, choosing to become a member of an existing co working space, whether it’s new, or well established, tags you as a late ‘early adopter’ or at the onset of the ‘early majority’ class(es) of business owner/professional.

Intrigued to know more? Please click here.

Options for your business’ physical presence

All things being equal, there are 4 choices:

Work from home. The flexibility of merging personal & professional lives under 1 roof always has appeal. Yet, if you’re a mom-preneur, have other neighborly commitments, or are easily distracted by the mass media, you might want to ask the hard question: will you be productive, or will you be ‘’busy’ ?

The ‘coffee shop’ = office. Whether its an independent cafe, Starbucks, or Panera Bread, maybe you arrive early in the AM, order coffee & bagel, set up your notebook/tablet in the far corner near an outlet, & start working; that remains viable for some amongst us.

Conventional ‘bricks & mortar’. Some business models & professions simply must have their own physical space: Medical office/clinic? Restaurant/bar? Retail, esp. a clothing store?

And, then, there’s coworking. This article breaks down common options that most any space in your metro area will, or already is, offering.

Click to Tweet

“We break down walls so that we can breakthrough in our businesses!”

— Cynthia Chiam

Plusses of Coworking

Choose from the 4 above; none are ‘wrong’ – each option will appeal to someone & that someone might be you. However, let’s focus on the benefits of coworking.

You quite likely will …

Save a significant amount
Opt into various perks ( who doesn’t love ‘complimentary’ coffee?!? )
Find flexibility ( month to month arrangements are commonplace )
Learn how easy it can be to ‘barter’ services &/or products with your community/tribe

What if …

… co working hasn’t yet come to my area?

Take heart: many visionaries haven’t yet pushed outside the top 25 metros.

As always, there’s a trail of ‘breadcrumbs’ that the profit motive will enable, bringing facilities to your city.

One pioneer shares his vision – click here to read a short Q&A w/ him.

How Does Co Working fit into the Gig Economy?

Jim Collins, in his terrific book, ‘Great by Choice’, taught us to be able to zoom in & zoom out.

Let’s zoom out …

… & answer this Q.

1st, co working is similarly flexible. Do your research & check as many options as exist in your area; most spaces heartily welcome entrepreneurs who don’t want to sign multi-year deals.
2nd, the Gig economy spotlights project ( ‘gig’ ) based ‘work’; so does a co-working space. You can run this type of business easily & find much joy in the process
Next, this economy encourages interdependence, as does the coworking option. Your ‘benefits’ ( insurance, investment vehicle/s ) could very well come in a barter agreement with a sales pro who offers them to solopreneurs & sits right next to you in the space.
Last, your ability to be cash flow positive is accelerated; you can keep your prices aligned with your ideal avatars & earn more without having to pay steep lease or rent payments.

Suggested Profiles

Using hashtag #coworking as a starting point, I suggest 3 Twitter handles worth a follow:

Deskmag

kowrkdotcom

New Worker Magazine

If you happen to be in, or looking to move to, central OH …

… the options are a plenty! Here’s a quick primer on some tip top choices:

CoHatch

Brickhouse Blue

Haven Collective

& Serendipity Labs

Fantastic ‘All in 1’ Resources

As with any topic, the internet is a treasure trove of goodness, when used for altruistic means.

Co-working is no exception to this mantra. Here are a handful:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-rise-co-working-spaces/

* the BEST. The infographic on the above from December 2018 is amazing!

Top 60 CoWorking Blogs, Websites, & …

From coworking spaces to who is …

In the Gig Economy, Coworking spaces …

In short …

What exactly is coworking? Let’s explore.
4 options you have for locating your business.
The positives of choosing coworking
Coworking’s a big trend, yet it’s not everywhere yet. It will be, though. Stay tuned!
Coworking & the Gig Economy are ‘fellow travelers’ = deeply interrelated.
The Twitterverse, unsurprisingly, has valuable handles worth following

Thank YOU for reading!

SJ Barakony

SJ Barakony is a serial entrepreneur, futurist, & connector.

He lives in Ohio & is the Founder of Service Before Self Leadership: An Educational Solutions Provider.

He offers four highly customizable solutions to encourage families, individuals, faith institutions, & business owners to create & cultivate lifelong learning cultures in our homes & workplaces.

He’s been a guest on an educational podcast; been interviewed for an online small business community; is a guest blogger for Innovate NA; and has been an invited speaker five separate times for HECOA.

He believes strongly in youth & social entrepreneurship: He continues to serve two chapters of the YEA program (student mentor, mock judge, ad hoc consultant ) & has co-facilitated a session of the SeaChange Accelerator program.

He serves as the TDD for Cleveland & Columbus (Ohio) for the H7 Network.

He also recently became an educational advisor for Tessr.io, a startup in the exciting world of blockchain/cryptocurrencies that will be establishing a cutting edge educational foundation.

The Leadership Mindset by @relaxedmale

January 18, 2019 by Bryan Goodwin Leave a Comment

by Bryan Goodwin | Featured Contributor

Think of a great leader you have had the opportunity to be lead by. Do you know someone who didn’t just lead they inspired greatness? We all know one person who is like that. You can’t help but be drawn to them. They can light a fire under your keyster without even raising their voice.

For me, it is Jim Rogers, he runs a trucking company. He is this type of leader. In fact What caused me to realize that Jim was different was the second day I worked for Jim, he pulled a joke on me. It wasn’t a malicious joke. Jim was just joking around, and I had never had a feeling of being accepted in an organization as I did then.

So what is it that makes Jim’s leadership so different? Why does Jim’s leadership skills differ from the other business owners who I had worked for leading up to him? My belief is his mindset. What kind of mindset does a leader need to effectively lead his family or company? That’s what I want to explore today.

Can Do Attitude

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

As you were growing up you ever come across a family member or friend who held you back. Everytime you mentioned a dream or desire you wanted to do to this person they produced the statement of, “I don’t know if that is a good idea”. They made a statement of how hard it was going to be. The difficulty was always their main objection. Though We never need easy we just want worth it. Eventually, it was always suggested that whatever project you wanted to do just wouldn’t work for them, it was a bad idea.

Now that type of mentality is like an anchor to creativity and potential to anybody. It starts to hinder and stop the creative process. Especially when it comes from the leader of an organization.

The reason I see is fear. What if that young motivated employee steals all of my clients? If you don’t say no, it could possibly make you look weak or the team will see you as an ineffectual leader. They won’t respect you.

The fear-based mindset will always manifest the desired results. When you starve peoples creativity with fearful restrictions people become restless. They will see that the leader doesn’t want other people in his spotlight. The employees will see that mindset. They will treat it as ineffectual and they will leave. Paying top dollar to get the best employees is one thing. If you don’t let them grow and work to their fullest potential, it is a waste of cash.

Using a can-do attitude is like a breath of fresh air. Allow your team to use their strengths you will find out that their mindset improves. Their attitude is brighter. When your attitude is one of a Can Do mindset, you won’t be mad at your best employee because started their own business. You helped them understand that they can do it. It doesn’t mean it is just always yes but you get out of your teams way. You give the orders and let them find a solution.

Mentor With a Vision

With the Can Do mindset, Jim also is a mentor. Now he didn’t set me down and we have long in-depth conversations about his business practices and philosophies. Yet, if I had a question I could ask him and Jim didn’t treat his thoughts as a super secret.

A good leader mentors his employees. He helps them to understand directs and interestingly enough leads his team. Mentoring and coaching help the team gain clarity as to what they are working towards.

If they don’t know the “why”, your team can’t achieve the how. You will have to pull that team every step of the way often in the very moral defeating method of micromanaging. Therefor communicate with your team and they will grow.

https://twitter.com/lisadingle5/status/1083166078472278016

Calm

I have heard that Jim can and has blown his top before, but I have never seen it. Everything I have heard, I don’t care to see it either. To me, Jim has always been a calm positive person. I have worked under people who exploded at the slightest hiccup. The perceived conception of an inconvenience and poor leaders will become a raging screaming fit throwing toddler.

People didn’t stay long with the angry dude and in fact, he didn’t stay in business very long. All because he thought that’s what motivated people. People like leaders who are calm and assertive. Yeah, they can get angry at times, yet it isn’t a norm. Often the calm and relaxed leader is also easier to work with.

Find a way to stay calm when something does go according to plan. Your team can find that they will be more productive when they aren’t worrying about your exploding all over their productivity.

A Calm leader can be a port in the storm when it seems like everything is falling apart. Imagine if you had a boss who after a horrible product launch failed he could look and say well I learned something from this did you?

Sense of Humor

One thing all employees and team member like is the ability to relax. Yeah, there are crunch times that are stressful. If you are able to joke with your team it makes those stressful times a lot easier to deal with. The push to complete the launch can be a lot more bearable if people are able to smile from time to time. Now I’m not saying stop and take joke breaks but a good leader can see when things are getting a bit too intense and is able to regulate the pressure with a joke or witty comment.

Leadership is one of those points that can contain a whole lot of philosophical theories. Not everything works for every situation. Yet, a good positive leader will contain several if not all of these mindsets and attitudes. If you find that your leadership style isn’t achieving the results you desire. You might try one of these mentioned here and see how the people in your company react. No one has it all figured out. Yet as long as you are learning and improving then you are an inspiration to us all.

Bryan Goodwin

I am men’s life coach and blogger. I help people see their limiting beliefs and lead out of their patterns of self-sabotage, by getting them outdoors into nature. Doing so allows these folks to reconnect with the fearless child who thought they could do anything. They could be a mermaid or a banker. I want to show people that the American “can do” attitude isn’t dead but strong powerful and very much alive.

If you had a dream when you were a kid that dream is still waiting for the go-ahead even today. Make the goals that will help you reach your innermost dream. Those aspirations never died but are dying to get out. It isn’t too late. You can be what you want.

You can find my blog The Relaxed Male-outdoors leadership

http://www.relaxedmale.com

Trends to Watch in the final 365 days of the Decade by @SBSLEducSoltns

December 20, 2018 by SJ Barakony 3 Comments

by SJ Barakony | Featured Contributor

2019 awaits. How ready are you & your business for these 13 trends?

Can you believe it?! Yes, its true: we’re less than 2 weeks away from another New Years’ Day; so, let’s dedicate a toast to our businesses, our families, & friends!

Not only that … did you notice? It’s also the last year of the first decade of the ‘new’ century.

Where were you on 01 Jan, 2010?

Was your business even open?

How did you communicate with your clientele?

Have you rebranded since then?

… That’s NINE years ago, believe that!

The Mindset of the Futurist

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — Buckminster Fuller

#quotestoliveby #futurist

( Click to Tweet the above )

Many thought leaders, chief amongst them the futurists, visionaries, and creative disrupters, know of Fuller. He laid this cornerstone of thought and its now part of his legacy, to be embraced by generations not yet born. It is from this core thesis that we’ll push ahead – unveiling a market basket of trends that your business will be impacted by in some manner in 2019 ( & beyond. )

A Bakers’ Dozen

Laying out 13 that I, as a futurist, am personally invested in tracking; each of these are invigorating and, in the hands of the benevolent & bold, will usher in as yet unknown amounts of potential energy to our nation(s), states/provinces, and localities:

Mobile revolution

Smart Cities

Blockchain / Crypto currencies

Gig Economy ( Conceptual Age )

Automation ( AI, Machine Learning, Robots )

Autonomous Vehicles \ Drones

Holistic Wellness ( > sickcare )

Decentralized [ social & news ] media

Self directed education & learning ( schooling & credential seeking )

Communities / tribes

Social enterprises ( modern mutual aid societies )

Principles > politics

Holocracy ( future of ‘work’/places )

In pursuit of a deeper understanding of the bright future which awaits

Even a rudimentary understanding of 1, some, or perhaps all of the 13 trends shared above won’t be embraced at deeper levels of awareness, acceptance, and consciousness without continually reading, listening ( podcasts, audio books ), & watching ( videos, webinars )

Two #mustread books in this space are linked below, to further illuminate your path.

I wholeheartedly suggest investing in them as a holiday/Christmas present for yourself & for those whom you hold most dear.

A Whole New Mind

The Code of the Extraordinary Mind

Suggested Follows out in the ‘Twitter’verse

Futurist Rankings by Ross Dawson

Generations Timeline – After the Millennials by Anne Boysen

Gold vs. Cryptos: Invest or divest … Here … from Gerald Celente

4 questions to test your intellectual humility via Daniel Pink

Don’t Argue, nor Debate

Instead, as we see, hear, and experience more & more creative disruption which impacts our professional sphere ( inc. our business’ cashflow, income streams, etc. ), shall we abandon the negativity, time loss, & win/lose (or worse, lose/lose) outcomes from arguing & debating?

I propose an equivalent swap of the above two non futurist, consumerist terms for those that produce & add value: Discussion & rational discourse.

As 2019 dawns, I thoughtfully (channeling one of my many informal mentors, Mr. Dale Carnegie), throw down a challenge:

Whether with yourself ( self talk ), your staff, clientele/customers, or a prospect, engage in thought provoking win/win discussion or a structured rational discourse with him/her/them in the next several weeks

Word Play: Choices to make to embrace the transformation underway in our workplaces

As we ascend the ladder from unconscious incompetence on up to unconscious competence, let’s fully embrace how exciting each of these trends will be in our ongoing entrepreneurial journeys & resolve to learn new words

Some which are becoming anchored to the past as these 13 futuristic trends continue to evolve, expand, & replicate: ‘employee’ ; ‘hierarchy’ ; ‘college for all’ ; ‘health care’ ; ‘cash’.

Does this indicate that these (let alone others) will disappear forever? Not necessarily. Yet, the early adopters in our business networks will already grasp the above, and quite a number more will eventually ‘see’ as you have/will!

Websites, articles, blogs, & organizations: Learn More & Take Action

Define. Learn. (then) Do.

We’ve defined a vision for 2019 & beyond. With numerous resources are embedded in the post already, let’s expand your learning zone:, what if you want to self educate even more?!

Ever more important, investing time in additional concrete steps to ‘future’ prep your business venture would be wise. I’m applauding you proactively, if you choose to do so!