We are excited to introduce you to WingSpace, a lovely coworking space in Prescott, AZ. WingSpace recently opened their doors and are already doing wonderful things for their community. Recently we asked owner Melanie Banayat some questions about her space.
When did you open your coworking space?
WingSpace just opened for business on April 2, 2018 with 15 members.
What is your favorite thing about operating a coworking space?
My favorite thing about operating a coworking space is really all about connecting people – the real in-person connections. The idea of creating a workspace that is reminiscent of the TV sitcom, Cheers, where everybody knows your name, is a real motivating factor for me. I’ve been self-employed for many years and understand the impact that isolation can have on the mind and how working from home or a café can result in low productivity. Working in an environment that is designed for business productivity as well as access to a community of thinkers, doers and idea makers helps us remember why we decided to work independently in the first place. Why limit happy to an hour when you can work happy?! It’s good for the soul and good for our local economy.
What has been the most surprising/unexpected thing about operating a coworking space?
Hmmm? That’s probably a question that I could answer better once I have about 6 months under my belt. However, I must say, so many people stepped up and volunteered their time to help us get the space opened. A wonderful community of people came together to paint, build furniture, clean, and set up systems – it was incredible.
What’s your favorite story of one of your members?
I took Kathy on a tour of the space about two weeks ago. She told me she was tired of working at home – alone, and one week later she joined. When she came in for her first day to work at WingSpace, the place was buzzing with people coming and going. I saw her in a few conversations with other coworkers from time to time. In the middle of her workday she got up and walked around the space to stretch her legs and made her way over to me to say, “This is saving my life!”
That’s that kind of stuff that makes this all worthwhile.
Tell us about your space? How big is it? What kinds of amenities do you have?
Our space is 3,000 sq. ft.
We have 1 private office, two shared offices, and an open coworking area with dedicated desks and a variety of seating options for our ‘Frequent Flyers’.
We also have 3 bookable spaces:
1) The Zephyr is a small conference room with seating for 2 – 6 people, a desk and chair, flat screen TV with HDMI cord, and a whiteboard. This room is set up with soft seating (four comfortable chairs) for a more casual meeting.
2) The Constellation Room is a large conference room for up to 14 people seated at training tables with a flat screen tv with HDMI cord, two large white boards and a lectern.
3) The Vortex is a small podcast/consultation room for 1-4 people. Includes a table with four chairs, and a white board. This room also has acoustic panels on the walls, so members can bring in their own equipment for podcasting.
All part-time and full-time memberships have 24-hour access and meeting room credits with their membership.
We’re located in the downtown area next to Prescott College.
Amenities include:
• Fast WiFi
• Coffee/Tea/Water Bar
• Shared Printer/Scanner/Copier and Paper Shredder
• Free Parking
• Unlimited access to events and programming
What is your biggest piece of advice for someone wanting to open a space?
Pretty much the same advice everyone one else in the coworking industry gave to me – Build Your Community BEFORE You Open a Space! I spent about 8 month hosting a variety of different events, everything from weekly casual coffee meetups, a popup coworking day, a formal Business Idea XChange that was facilitated, and a three-month CoBoss program where 20 participants were divided into 4 mastermind groups that met for weekly masterminds for 3 months.
The second piece of advice is to surround yourself with a lot of support! Because you’re going to need it on those days when everything seems to be falling apart, and also for those days when everything goes right and you want to celebrate your successful day with a few high fives and WOO-HOOs!
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Congrats to WingSpace on your new space! Here’s to many successful years of community building.
For more info visit WingSpace:
wingspace.biz
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WingSpace is part of the Proximity Network so full-time members of any coworking space that is Powered by Proximity can use Proximity Guest Pass to drop in to work at the space during regular business hours.