Today’s blog post is coming to you from Billy the Beaver, mascot for the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce, of which VIDA Coworking is a proud member. Billy is going on a months-long adventure, visiting Beaverton businesses and giving them an opportunity to show off what makes them a unique part of the city’s thriving economy.*
Well, VIDA had the opportunity to host Billy during the week of August 3-9 and we had a grand old time! So, without further ado, here’s Billy, to tell you all about his week at VIDA Beaverton.
Hello everyone! Wowee-zowee, I had a great time last week at VIDA Coworking: hanging out with the inspiring women on #TeamVIDA and finding out what it takes to run a coworking community. The main theme of my week? Hospitality!
Coworking Hospitality Lesson #1: Using All Five Senses to Create a Welcoming Space
At 9:00am on Monday morning I met up with Katie Morales, VIDA Beaverton’s Community Director, as she opened up the space for the day.
I walked through the door and was immediately drawn to the digital picture frame that was set up on the entry table. The frame shows images that welcome people in and tell them about all the things happening at VIDA this month.
VIDA holds monthly community lunches, happy hours, and wellness days; this month, they also had several events to celebrate International Coworking Day (August 9), and kept the fun going all week. I still have serious FOMO about the event calendar!
Once Katie was able to get me away from the magic picture frame, she gave me my first job of the day: build the music playlist.
Choosing the music is a very important job, because it sets the tone for the space. It’s important to play tunes that make people feel welcome and positive when they walk in, without distracting others from their work. I settled on a playlist filled with bands like Jungle and Oracle Sisters to get us into a good groove.
Once the music was on, we could move on to my next job: brewing the second pot of coffee for the day. How was it the second pot, you ask?! There are members with 24/7 access to the space, so there is usually someone who has already come in and brewed the first batch – sometimes hours before Katie arrives.
Beavers may be famous for being busy, but there are VIDA members who could put my whole species to shame!
It was a great day for brewing coffee at VIDA because we were breaking the seal on a new bean selection. Remember the happy hours I mentioned? Well, with the help of their friends at Percasso, VIDA Beaverton recently hosted a coffee tasting happy hour (in the morning!) so members could choose which coffees would be offered.
As Portland’s only truly local coworking space, VIDA is proud to partner with local businesses and vendors to keep our community thriving well into the future. So they were thrilled when members overwhelmingly voted for Thornton Family Coffee Roasters’ (a Beaverton roaster!) Jollop Java, and Portland Coffee Roasters’ Portland House for the new morning brews.
Believe it or not, brewing coffee is also a huge part of setting the vibe in a coworking space. Even if you don’t like to drink coffee, that freshly-brewed smell is a powerful way to tell your brain that it’s time to wake up, fuel up, and get down to business!
And, if hot coffee really isn’t your jam, VIDA’s complimentary beverages also include cold brew, tea, kombucha, and filtered water. They’ve got everything you need to stay hydrated and energized throughout your work day.
So, where does a person go after they’ve come through the doors and grabbed their beverage? VIDA Beaverton offers a variety of work spaces, including private offices, meeting rooms, and communal work areas equipped with sit-to-stand desks, ergonomic chairs, large tables, couches, a soundproof phone booth, and a fitness room.
My final “opening” task of the day was to walk through each space to make sure everything was clean, tidy, and made everyone feel welcome. There’s nothing worse than sitting down to a desk with someone else’s coffee ring on it, or a chair sprinkled with another person’s crumbs. And that was not going to happen on my watch!
In all, my first morning at VIDA Beaverton was a real lesson in using the five senses to create a hospitable environment. #TeamVIDA really ticks all the boxes:
Sight:
A light-filled, clean, airy space with colors that energize, but don’t distract
Signs that welcome you in and tell you about upcoming events
A wide variety of places to work and sit, showing you there is something for everyone
Sound:
Music that is positive and energizing, but not distracting
A cheerful “hello” welcoming you in and the light murmur of conversations taking place
Zones for those who need quieter workspace, and for those who need more stimulation
Smell:
Freshly-brewed coffee
The occasional meal or treat being prepared for a community event
Taste:
That first sip of your morning brew
A sweet treat, courtesy of the community candy dish
Touch:
High-quality furnishings
A variety of seating arrangements, styles, and materials for all the sensory needs
Real dishes for your food and drink
Clean, pristine work surfaces
Boxes: checked! It was time to move on to…
Coworking Hospitality Lesson #2: Meet the Needs of the People So They Can Get to Work
Listen. Not every job in a coworking community is going to be quite as fun as playing DJ or as pleasing to the senses as brewing coffee, but they’re no less important for the mission VIDA has set for helping members “Make Life/Work”. Sometimes…ya just gotta do the dishes. (And by sometimes, I mean multiple times a day!)
It’s not easy for a tiny little beaver like me to empty out bus tubs or load a dishwasher that towers over my head, but Katie helped me to see the importance of providing real, clean dishes and silverware to their members.
When people don’t have to worry about what they’ll eat their meals with or on, or scramble to make a cup of coffee before they leave for work, we help shorten their mental checklists and the stress of their day decreases just a bit more.
That’s also why they offer VIDA Cafe, stocked with more beverages, snacks, and full meals that members can grab, and pay for, a la carte. Sometimes people walk out the door without their lunch–or aren’t excited about the one they do have. VIDA Cafe, to the rescue! Whatever your preferences or dietary needs, they’ve got you covered.
Another less-glamorous, but equally essential, part of the job is the receiving and sorting of mail. VIDA Coworking has 115 active members at their Beaverton community, and serves an additional 35 virtual office members, so that adds up to a good bit of mail!
Not only does VIDA receive mail, but they also take care of packaging and sending mail for their members. How many times have you been unable to check off a to-do in your business or personal life, simply because adding a trip to the post office was just not possible? It’s just another way VIDA Coworking makes life/work for their members!
This all led to the most important lesson I learned all week, which I think gives the first two lessons their purpose.
Coworking Hospitality Lesson #3: Human Connection is What it’s All About
What makes the VIDA Coworking experience magical, is that #TeamVIDA does their best to meet people where they’re at. That looks like offering:
- Flexible membership options to suit entrepreneurs and remote workers of all kinds and budgets
- Month-to-month agreements, because they know life and business can be unpredictable
- A listening ear for when life and business feel overwhelming, exciting, hard, or joyful
- Monthly social gatherings where people can talk about all their life encompasses (not just business)
And how is #TeamVIDA able to offer this kind of social and emotional support for members? Because they are fortunate to experience the same support and connection as staff!
I was lucky enough to go on a field trip with Katie to the first VIDA Coworking location in NE Portland so I could meet all of the fantastic ladies who make VIDA work. Melanie (Founder & CEO), Kaitlyn and Maddie (VIDA Portland), and Joann (VIDA Virtual) were all there to give me a warm welcome as the temporary team member.
This was their semi-annual retreat and I got to experience how fun, thoughtful, and inspiring each of these women are. Between the team photo shoot, brunch at Besaw’s, the tour of VIDA’s upcoming third location in NW, and strolling the aisles at New Renaissance Books, I couldn’t believe that this was work.
But the truth is, these women were working. Throughout it all, they were:
- Connecting with members
- Strategizing office moves
- Discussing ways to support individual members
- Refining marketing messages
- Problem-solving space issues
- Examining floor plans
- Dreaming up future program offerings
- Investing in their personal growth
Phew!
It was both an exhilarating and exhausting day for this little beaver. I’m not sure I can keep up!
Thankfully, the next couple of days were a bit quieter and, now that I’d mastered the basic tasks of the job, I could settle into some of the sweeter parts of running a coworking community:
- One of the members took me for a ride on the Peloton bike in their fitness studio, because the air quality was bad, but we still wanted some exercise.
- Another member, who is an aesthetician, gave me a relaxing facial treatment and I might have dozed off in her salon…
Thanks, ladies, for the star treatment!
Throughout it all, my favorite part of each day was lunch time. Not because I got to eat, but because I got to eat with new friends. Every day at noon, members of VIDA Beaverton gather around the big dining table to share stories and life over a meal. Sometimes it’s just members, and sometimes their families join in, too. Everyone is welcome at the VIDA table.
And that’s really what hospitality is all about, right? All of the little details, services, and actions that add up and tell a person “you are welcome here”. Making sure the physical, sensory, and social needs have been addressed so people have the experience of belonging. Creating a space in which people feel safe and comfortable, so they can do their best work.
Thanks, VIDA Coworking, for welcoming me into the space and teaching me all about hospitality – the power that turns an office space into a community.
This is Billy the Beaver, signing off!
(*Note: You can follow Billy’s journey on BACC’s instagram page and the hashtag #whereisbillythebeaver.)
VIDA Coworking is Portland’s premier shared workspace, with locations in NE Portland, Beaverton, and — starting this October — NW Portland’s Montgomery Park, plus online at VIDA Virtual.