The Luck of Your Office

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Hello again! It is Emily back this week with another blog post!

As you might now, our monthly theme for March is all things g r e e n—whether that is becoming more sustainable, making more money, or St. Patrick’s Day. Last week, we focused on the importance of being more environmentally friendly and even employed the help of our friend The Lorax! In this week’s post, we are examining The Pros and Cons of Coworking and how that can make a better bang for your buck and help you thrive. 

When working in a coworking space, you are exposed to all kinds of people and businesses you wouldn’t normally be exposed to. For instance, Ment houses a magazine, a lawyer’s office, a mortgage company and more. Many of those people wouldn’t cross paths if it wasn’t for their connection to Ment and we call that luck. We strive to create a community that members want to be a part of. Our members can network daily in the office and due to that community aspect, coworkers have a 50% higher chance of getting more clients or jobs.

Interested in making more g r e e n? Coworkers have reported higher incomes that those who might work in a more traditional office. We all love more money, so who wouldn’t want to get in on that? Coworking spaces have been popping up rapidly all over the world at a rate of more than 16% a year. They originated around 2007 with 14 coworkers and in 10 years time, there were 14,000 around the globe, with an expected 30,000 by 2022. It is one of the fasting growing industries and rightfully so. Our author states that it is because it has “the holy trinity of WiFi, coffee, and camaraderie.” On a serious note, coworking allows three major workplace trends to shine, which are the independent workforce, startup culture, and the third being corporate organizations looking for creatives in out-of-the-box ways. 

People who work in coworking spaces feel as if their work has more meaning. People feel they can bring their “whole self” to work, which is eliminated by the lack of office competition or politics. Working amongst people who have their own goals will in turn strengthen your personal ones. Members vibe off of each other, allowing each person to grow. 

Here at Ment Cowork, we feel honored to be creating this serendipitous atmosphere here in Bowling Green for our members and love that we get to be a part of their lives. We love that we can help them grow and achieve their professional goals. Ment offers a work environment that allows people to become the best version of themselves. And we feel pretty lucky to have those opportunities. 

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Enneagram Insight

Hello again! Emily the intern is back again and this time I am talking about one of my favorite things: the enneagram test.

If you don’t know what the enneagram test is, it is essentially a personality test. However, the enneagram looks deeper into the human psyche, examining why we do what we do and how that affects us. Here is a link to the official enneagram test so you can better understand what we’re getting at this week: https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test-2.

My enneagram is type 9. A typical type 9 is called The Peacemaker. Type 9s are easy-going, relaxing, and complacent to a fault. We are creative, supportive, and will go along with anything to keep the peace. We avoid confrontation and conflict as much as possible. Along with the personality type, there are accompanying wings, or sub-types, which describe your personality even more. I am a 9w1. A type one is a reformer, seeking moral truth and can be fairly idealistic. According to Enneagram Paths, 9w1 people “follow the rules and fulfill what is expected of them because they truly want to create a harmonious society.”

This week we are focusing on how the enneagram test and your personality type plays a role in the workplace. There are all kinds of personalities running rampant in an office setting—everyone knows that.  The enneagram allows a look into how each person works and how they can best suit their office setting.

In our article for the week, What Your Enneagram Type Says About Your Leadership Style, each enneagram is broken down and they explain how each type functions in a workplace. Each person has unique leadership qualities that they possess. For instance, type 9s probably don’t make the best leaders because we are more reserved and have a tendency to disengage or not take a stand. Not to say that 9s can’t be leaders, but they have a more reserved style of leading. We lead with a more relaxed nature and do whatever we can to keep the peace.

Other enneagram types lead differently. For example, the type 3 (the Achiever) is always trying to prove themselves to everyone around them. They strive for perfection at all times. Type 2s (the Helper) are self-sacrificing, sometimes getting in the way of what needs to be done. Type 6s (the Loyalist) are natural born leaders and plan for the worst case scenario. Their leadership style shines by planning every detail meticulously.

Another wing (ha, enneagram pun) of this week’s enneagram theme is Friends. Yes, the television show that every one on this planet deserves to watch and love. It has been fun to examine the qualities of the characters to determine what their enneagram type is. We are just focusing on Monica and Joey: two characters that couldn’t be more different. Monica is definitely a type 3. She is constantly trying to prove herself in whatever she does: her career as a chef, her relationship with Chandler or to her parents. Joey, on the other hand, is a typical 7 (the Enthusiast.) He couldn’t care less about things like a schedule or high-achieving. Joey’s mind jumps from place to place, not allowing him to finish things he starts.

It is fun to peer into the enneagram through the lens of my favorite TV show, but it is not just something of fiction. The test can help in the workplace. If you know your type, you can learn to better cater to your own needs and in turn, be more productive. I am so excited to learn what all your enneagram types are; let us know in the comments below!

P.S.: there is a band called Sleeping at Last and they release songs every other month for each of the enneagram types and they are all so inspiring. They have yet to release 9 because it is last, but they have songs for each of the other types. I highly recommend giving them a listen.

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The Where & The How You Love to Work

This week kicks off our office-crush campaign where we will be talking about where we love to work and how we love to work. The where and the how are more important than we sometimes realize. Not all great success start out in beautiful offices, the garage where Bill Gates invented Microsoft comes to mind, but having a comfy chair, natural light and decor matching your personality doesn’t hurt either and could actually foster the right frame of mind to keep you on track with your goals.

Let’s talk decor. Less is sometimes more and does not mean it has to be boring. At Ment, this is our office-crush style. We provide our members with private offices that are blank canvases waiting to be garnished to their liking. The mixture of large white and brick walls with neutral colors & natural light opens up all sorts of possibilities.

What are the things you can do to define your office-crush style that also fosters the right frame of mind? Here’s what we have found:

  • Think about what motivates you and then have a reminder of this somewhere in your workspace where you will see every day you come to the office. Keeping tokens of past accomplishments are usually small and can be easily displayed. By having these near, they are great reminders of how far you’ve already come and can make you feel proud and accomplished throughout your day.
  • The same goes for family photos, cheeky signs and goal lists, these are all reminders that could push you to keep going.
  • A great desk chair. It’s just like a bed, you spend a majority of your life in it so it’s worth splurging a little to get it right.
  • Not so glamorous, but invest in a document scanner or utilize the one we have for you in Ment! You will have less paper clutter and more desk space to keep clean and organized.
  • Accessorize with items that bring you happiness which falls in line with the lifestyle of hygge or if you have been watching Tidying Up on Netflix (do it) she explains how you should only keep the things that give you a sparkle feeling. She may have been talking about clothes, but the same goes for your office. Want a bottle of champagne ready to be popped every Friday after work? Add a bar cart and get the celebration started. Because after all, if we aren’t celebrating our accomplishments, little or big, what are we even doing it for? You can check places like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist for lightly used pieces that will keep your office design on budget.
  • Colors. As you may already know, each color has a different meaning behind it. Bring this concept in through desk and office supplies like paper organizers, staplers, pen holders or mouse pads. Get creative!
  • And to wrap it all up, it is recommended that you take the time every six months to do a cleanup and revamp things a bit to give yourself some new inspiration.

These are just a few and you can find out way more by reading our article pick for the week from Forbes called Create Your Dream Home Office Inspired By The Workspaces Of Top Influencers And Entrepreneurs. Guys – don’t miss out because the article is only about female entrepreneurs. There are some great tips in there for all office owners.

An office can be created anywhere & anyhow you want it to be. Not to keep throwing working from home under the bus, but it means that work is highly accessible to you at all times, and as a part of our work-life balance resolution we made (I know you haven’t forgotten about that!) we made a promise to work when work needs to be done and be present in our own personal lives just as equally if not more. As the cheeky sign says, “If you’re waiting for a sign, this is it.” Take the leap, start designing your own space in an office where you love to work and somewhere where you love how you work so that you can start achieving those goals, accomplishing the tasks and committing to yourself + your idea, whatever it may be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bringing Back the Nap

Thousands of years ago, the tradition of napping or siestas began in Spain as a time for people to sleep though the hottest part of the day in order to avoid the sun’s strong midday rays. As the years have passed, the nap has evolved into many different forms of a break in the middle of our days. Here in the United States, our siesta is most commonly at noon for a one-hour lunch break to leave whatever it is we are doing but does not involve sleeping or rest of any sorts. For some of us, nap time is a past time that we left in our childhood years and now actively work through since it may be the only time during the day that we get peace and quiet. Just like the nap though, we, as a society, change, evolve and adapt over time and it looks as though the nap tradition is making a come back into our adult years and it may be what you have been missing all along.

A very common amenity you will find when visiting coworking spaces is a dark room with dim lighting, maybe a sound machine and platforms with pillows, or more commonly referred to as a nap room. Why? Because it has been proven that daytime naps of 20-25 minutes long can restore focus and motor skills while reducing stress and allowing you to reset and recharge for the rest of your day. This “amenity” was originally created by The Huffington Post after editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington collapsed from exhaustion at her desk in 2007. Huffington predicted nap rooms will one day be “as common as conference rooms.” Turns out they were spot on because here we are over 10 years later and they are found all over the place as well as what are called nap-pods (look. them. up.) which are found in the offices of tech giants such as Google, Cisco, and Zappos.

Nap time during my work day? I know what you may be thinking – like we have time for that. But isn’t it worth the time if it means you will get an increase in successful results within your place of work and employees since they will be better equipped mentally & physically? We think so.

At this time, Ment does not offer a nap room but that does not mean we don’t support it! We think it’s the missing piece to many of our days and the key to a healthy work-life balance. We invite you to give it a try. Make the time – it’s only 20 minutes out of 480. You can also try a coffee nap: drink a cup of coffee before your 20-minute nap and you’ll receive the brain revitalizing benefits of a nap, plus an extra boost as the caffeine hits your blood stream right when you wake up!

 

 

 

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Travel & Cowork

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Another great thing about coworking: spaces are opening up all over the place. We aren’t the only ones who offer a first-time free trial day either. One of my new favorite things to do is to try to find a coworking space for me to work from for the day when I travel to different cities. You will find each one stands out from the next and bring their own work concepts to life in many different styles. Below are a few I have visited so far which I 100% recommend.

Covo – St. Louis

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Covo was such a productive escape for the day. It is located in an old bank building in downtown St. Louis and in walking distance from many of the hotels and the arch. Seen here is their main coworking lounge which is where I was stationed in a comfy yet supportive chair and table for about 3 hours. The noise levels were soothing, with music playing overhead and the occasional chatter of a team meeting up but never loud enough to distract.

To top off the experience, Covo offers their first-timers a complimentary drink ticket to their bar, Trust, which opens up at 4 p.m. throughout the week. I just so happened to be working on a day when they were having their member happy hour which was incredible of course. Every person I talked to had a unique story as to what they did for a living and what they liked most about working out of a coworking space. It was a day filled with working + networking which in my book is a very successful day.

Check them out on Instagram: @covostl

Industrious – Downtown Nashville

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Last Thursday, our intern Maddie and I jumped in the car and headed to Nashville for a quest of coworking. This entailed getting tours of all of the following spaces and meeting some pretty awesome community managers who were more than willing to show us the ropes.

First stop was Industrious at their downtown location with community manager, Blake. Blake was nice enough to be the A to all of our Qs about Industrious as a brand and as a leader in the coworking industry. On their website they mention having stunning offices, inviting hospitality and an inspiring community which could not have been more apparent. The sunlight beamed through their ceiling to floor windows overlooking Nashville which wrapped the outsides of the every workspace in the place. Talk about stunning.

Check them out on Instagram: @industriousnashville

Center 615 – East Nashville

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Next, we stopped over at Center 615 who has three buildings that make up their campus. Here we met Beth who gave us a tour of their main building which as you can tell from the photo above was definitely one of a kind. However, what I noticed right off the bat is that they are pet friendly! Let’s just go ahead and put out there that having your furry friend with you throughout the day doesn’t have to be statistically proven to know that it is such an added benefit in the workplace. (If you want to read more about this, feel free to check out this article!)

Besides welcoming pets, this coworking space has many added benefits for its members such as dry cleaning pick up/drop off, discounts at various Nashville businesses, nap & meditation rooms and even partnering coworking spaces around the country for their members to have free work days at. Beth and her team at Center 615 truly do have the details covered so their members can focus on the big picture.

Check them out on Instagram: @center615

Three One Three – Nashville

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The energy in Three One Three was just as positively uplifting as their community manager’s, Taylor, who showed us around at our last stop of the day. Upon walking in, we were greeted with a smile and a sniff – smile being from Taylor, the sniff was from Batman, the office dog. With white walls and floors and pops of color and texture, it is a work space that embodies it’s members and welcomes all.

This coworking space takes it to another level as they say, “Beyond creatives to all business profiles.” Their space includes an entire warehouse dedicated to their e-commerce members who need fulfillment centers to ship products. Past that, every nook and corner in the place has been transformed into a work spot which makes them perfect for teams of all shapes and sizes. It is a transformative space that is 100% made up by the people who are working there.

Check them out on Instagram: @313cowork

There you have it! The list will continue to be added to as we head into the new year. Our challenge for you is to do the same! A simple google search for coworking spots around me when you have some down time while traveling could lead you to some pretty neat places and people who could end up being a great resource for you in the future.

Happy coworking!

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Everyone Can Cowork {Even Corporate Companies}

Have you ever wondered who you have to be or what industry you have to be in to cowork? We’re here to put that question to rest because the answer is simple: all you have to be is you, no matter the industry. It is an option that has a one-size-fits-all type style.

Let’s start with some name dropping to give you an idea…

  • The company our printer is made by, Ricoh, had their innovation team work out of a coworking space called NextSpace in Santa Cruz for several months to observe how people work and where they hit pain points. They were able to use the members in the space for focus group opportunities and therefore later launched their Smart Presenter, a globally used paperless meeting solution.
  • Instagram was developed in just eight weeks in Dogpatch Labs, a coworking start-up hub in Ireland.
  • To bring it back home locally, artist Sarah Gust of Folk Sense Arts, coworks out of Ment where she creates, meets and comes to get inspired.
  • IBM, Microsoft, and Verizon, all use coworking spaces for their employees so they can be close to and easily interact with innovative startups.
  • For some even bigger names, WeWork memberships include Salesforce, Starbucks, Facebook, and Bank of America all choosing to have employees cowork.
  • Lyft, Pandora and Pinterest all have worked or are working out of Industrious locations all around the world.

As you can see, many different people are choosing to give coworking a try. Why? There is no simple one reason, but it has been proven that for corporate companies, spending time away from the office at a coworking space can spark new ideas and become part of the company’s strategy. It can help your people and your business thrive which is the point to doing it all, right? For those starting businesses, it is a chance to network and meet new clients within arms reach. And for those who work remotely, it gets them out of their at-home office or what we like to call the procrastination hole.

Being a part of this cultural shift to mobility is also about being a part of a social movement. It is no longer about just going to work to do a job. It is about supporting a healthy work-life balance, creating inviting atmospheres in a workplace, encouraging collaboration amongst departments and building community. This shift in our society is catching CEOs’ attentions as much as it is attracting freelancers and small business owners. It is altering ways of business function by giving employees the option to work remotely from a coworking space. It is promoting everyone to be their authentic best selves. The result from doing so is employees who feel more committed to your organization, and are more likely to bring their best energy and ideas to the office each day.

Article used: Why People Thrive in Coworking Spaces

 

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Who is Coworking and How has it Become an International Phenomenon?

The stats are in and proving coworking is more than a global trend, it’s an international phenomenon. According to an article released earlier today by Coworking Resources, in 2020, 40 percent of coworking members will be freelancers, independent contractors and part-time workers. These members range from the usual digital nomads, to startups, small businesses and even healthcare professionals and lawyers. And by 2022, there will be over one million coworking members in the U.S. alone and over six thousand spaces in the U.S. Can you believe it? What is even better is those who are leading this exponential growth are independent business owners and entrepreneurs entering the market for the first time such as our owner JD Haase.

Bringing the coworking concept to Bowling Green was a decision made to fulfill a need that was becoming more apparent. People are starting to need more flexible work environments to get their work done in. Not only are they needing it, they are wanting a more collaborative, productive space to work from instead of a traditional office. Corporate companies and enterprises such as Microsoft, Verizon and IBM are jumping on board with coworking as well by having some of their teams stationed in cowork spaces to promote creative thinking as well as innovation. So it is not just freelancers or digital nomads who are occupying our space which is the beauty of Ment – we welcome all industries big and small.

So, what changed and where did this need to kick the 9 to 5 M-F office job out the door come from? One big reason is the cultural shift to mobility however, some would say it is the millennial generation who shifted the workplace. A generation of questions being asked, working diligently in our own way and on our own time while constantly hustling on the side. A generation of change and it just so happens that this certain shift is being picked up and widely accepted across the world.

Though seen as millennial driven, all generations are partaking and adding to the accelerated serendipity that occurs in these types of spaces. A small business owner could bump into their new PR firm at the coffee station, their new graphic designer in the cowork lounge and then even their new legal representative in the next office over – accelerated serendipity. We can see why it has become an international phenomenon – it’s a one-stop-shop!

If you would like to see for yourself, swing by any time for a free tour and trial day. We have the space, you bring the ideas.

 

Article Used: https://www.coworkingresources.org/blog

Video Used: How coworking is changing how and where we work 

 

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HYGGE

Go look up hygge on any image search engine and notice how you feel when doing so. As Winnie-the-Pooh said, “You don’t spell it, you feel it.” I have recently begun reading this book called The Little Book of Hygge, courtesy of one of our coworkers here at Ment and although not too far into it yet, I can already tell it is a factor that comes into play in the lives of many when they are trying to live a better, more self-caring life balance. (Remember our little New Years resolution we made?)

So what is it? Hygge is the Danish lifestyle concept of cozy, comfortable and quality living. Think comfy sweaters, fuzzy socks, a warm cup of tea and the crackling of a wood burning fire. Chief executive of the Happiness Research Institute and author of this little book, Mike Wiking, describes it as being to the Danes what freedom is to Americans. This concept goes right along with our coworking wellness month. We don’t take any responsibility for desk fire-hazards, but having lit candles in your workspace, keeping your favorite sweater hanging on your chair or making an office playlist could all be deemed creating hygge in the workplace.

The Washington Post did an article about hygge as well as five other imported lifestyle concepts that have the potential to reach hygge status in the States. To read more, click here.

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It’s Ment to Be

It was two lines from an Observer article on coworking that made a lightbulb go off: One solution is for coworking spaces to trade on their own brands instead of the word “coworking.” Another would be for the coworking purists to come up with a new way to describe what it is they do so they don’t get lumped in with the rent-a-cubes. 

Our space has been under construction since December 2017. The team did an amazing job with a complete renovation wrapping up right about the time I was brought on board back in April. I knew my job would be fun because the great work everyone did would easily sell itself. So, I had a finished coworking space, it was like nowhere and no other concept I had ever seen in Bowling Green and it was sitting empty as my own little hidden treasure. We obviously did not want to keep it that way but we needed a name and a brand that reflected the space because it is exactly what makes us unique.

While researching names, I came across many great articles about coworking concepts and what has worked for others, but none struck me like the one above did. To trade on our own brand, which was not even established yet, meant that I needed to come up with what made our space desirable and efficient as a coworking space and then sell that. Following my online research, I asked our interior designer (Sarah Smalling Interiors) to give me the words she would use to describe our space:

Knowing that we wanted to stick with a four letter word, I began digging. These words fresh, elemental, biophilic, oldly enough began to remind me of a mint leaf. So for about a day, I let Mint cowork pay around in my head. “Mint Cowork, Cowork Mint, The Mint, I’m going to Mint.” All of this I kept practicing saying to see if it would work. Then I went back to the drawing board. What if I used ment instead? It is in so many of the words our space brings to life: achievement, commitment, advancement, enjoyment, refreshment, compliment, and elemental as Sarah stated.

And so we had it! Ment Cowork, where you can enjoy the ‘ment within a community for the success of your idea. It is a play on words but more importantly, it is a representation of what we aim to give our members. We want to give you a space to succeed in and achieve those actions that can be turned into real people, places and things. It is what the suffix ment does to words and it is what you can do to your career. It’s as simple as that and I like to believe it’s just ment to be. 

Written by: Hayley Hoback, Community Manager

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Benefits of Coworking Spaces

Why Cowork?

The Benefits of Coworking

Though they have been around for going on 12 years, coworking spaces are still a concept that many are not familiar with. Sure maybe you are if you live in a big city. But for those of us “small” town folk, it’s brand spankin new. Ment is here to give you the why and maybe that will help with the what.

  1. Flexibility: Who likes signing their life away and committing to a 3+ year lease for an office space – especially when you are just starting out your business venture. Coworking is perfect for those of us who are living our best creative life & with that, we might never know what’s going to come next. At Ment Cowork, we get that. Of course we want to be the tank to your think forever, but constantly changing members is a part of the process and also keeps coworking fresh. Leases start as short as a day pass all the way up to a full year.
  2. The Network is REAL: We have all heard about the importance of networking – in today’s world more people than not have gotten their job this way. In a coworking space, it is a 24/7 opportunity to network. Granted we don’t want to encourage people to bug others while they are working, but the occasional coffee pot breaks might be a good time for introductions and such.
  3. Did someone say coffee pot? FREE COFFEE Y’ALL: At Ment, we feel it is our duty to our country to supply our members with the best caffeinated drinks out there (aka Spencer’s coffee). Afterall, America consumes the 8th most coffee of any country out there. It is a fact that coffee increases energy levels, improves physical performance, Lower levels of depression and higher levels of happiness, and even FIGHT OFF DEATH. So in a nutshell, coworking = coffee and we offer it to our members for free.
  4. Diverse Community: The beauty of working in a coworking space is being immersed in a very diverse community. One neighbor could be a magazine and the next could be a travel agent. There is never a dull moment this way and there will always be new exciting hustle and bustle popping up.
  5. All-Inclusive: We value your time and money so we just cut through the hassle of opening up utility accounts. All you pay a month is for your membership and we handle the rest.

These are just a few of the reasons we think coworking is your next step to success. Whether you are a local or an out of town visitor, we welcome you to come find your own reason for why cowork.

Email [email protected] today to set up your FREE trial day before you begin your coworkment.

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