So I just read “Crush It” by Gary Vaynerchuk the other day. It took my mind about 2 days to cool off to a point that I could actually express some of my ideas in written form – a good thing. Sure, I’ve heard about a lot of his techniques through class that I have taken at BiG Austin. Actually, some of the classes I have taken felt like they were taken right out of his book, now that I have read it. It was really nice to hear it all from his perspective. He’s a regular guy, like me. He says himself that he isn’t a tech guru, neither am I. He’s smart enough to understand how to figure out how to make social media work for him, which is what I have been doing for the last couple of months. What he really did for me was give a complete picture of what can be accomplished with all of the tools that are out there, and what it looks like from the other side once you have been doing the right things for some time.

Right now I am at the point he was at 3 years ago. Ok, maybe I haven’t built a company from $4 mil in revenue to $60 mil, but as far as building a brand, I’m at the same point. And luckily I am in a position to chase my dreams as hard as possible. Nothing stands in my way. I have the flexibility of time and energy to make sure I am pursuing my dreams. What are my dreams? hmmm. My dream is to build. I love building. Ever since I was a child I have loved to tinker with things and build them. To look back on a project that seemed impossible at the start and then realize that you have accomplished it gives me goosebumps. I want to build a professional life that will allow me to help other people build what they want, and eventually allow me to have the freedom to make my personal life exactly the way I want it.

We are building Cospace with our passion and energy. Some people are actually beginning to hear what we are saying, which totally blows my mind. But I can understand why people are. First, it’s not a new idea. Coworking is catching on all over the country. The idea speaks to me, and it fills the void that is left when you leave a large company. Face to face interaction with people who know what they are doing is huge. No amount of reading online can ever compare to it. That is what Cospace is all about. Sure, there will be desks and amenities galore, amenities that will make anyone more productive and successful. But the real benefit of Cospace will be the relationships that will be built there, and the access to each other. Imagine sitting right next to someone who can help you with the exact problem that you have? Don’t think that is possible? It is. So far in about 5 Jellies, I have met people who can help me with my website, finding real estate, business planning, twitter, inspiration…and so much more. Just imagine what Cospace will offer once it is open!

The hardest part for me is finding a way to give back to the community that is helping me. I try. I honestly learn so much every single day that I go home with a sore brain. It feels like I am in school again. But this time, I want to be here, and I can see the benefit of doing all of this. I want Cospace to be my way of giving back to the community – to help people find their passion and the reason they go home happy, excited, and with a sore brain.

I made Kirtus read the book too. I knew it would speak to him as well. It did, and he’s still in the cool down period. If my brain takes 2 days to cool down from a read like that, who knows how long it will take him. But again, a good thing.

Stay tuned. More great things are on the way. And thank you Gary for writing a book that gives me goosebumps.

Andrew

I just wanted to let everyone know what is going on with Cospace. We are still definitely planning on opening. We can’t wait to open! There are still tons of things that we need to do in order to get open. One is find a space. Kirtus is going to look at a space tomorrow. It’s been very hard for us to explain exactly what we are looking for in a space, just that we will know it when we see it. Basically we are a real estate agents nightmare. Thank you Sumina for putting up with us so far.

Also, we have been building the community. You are all the reason Cospace will be such a great place to work. So that is why we go out every chance we get to meet with new people. Today is was the Round Rock Jelly with SheilaS, and then this afternoon we were at an event with Tech Ranch in Austin. The more people we can meet, the more ideas we can get to make Cospace remarkable. Next week we have a Jelly on Wednesday and a Meetup on Thursday. Details are on the home page. Luckily we really enjoy going out and meeting new people and hearing their ideas. That is probably the thing that excites me the most about Cospace, the chance to be surrounded by passionate people with great ideas.

Lastly, we have been very busy writing our business plan. I haven’t written this much since college. Actually, I never wrote this much in college. Writing a business plan is no small task. It forces you to ask every question you can about your concept, and then actually answer those questions. I’m very glad we are going through the process, and I can’t wait until it is finished.

Kirtus and I are throwing around the idea of doing our posts with video in the future. I like the idea because I won’t have to write so much, and it will be much more entertaining for you because you will really get to see the passion that we have for this project. Writing just doesn’t do it justice.

Andrew

We have finally decided on a permanent home for our Jelly’s (or is it Jellies…I have no clue). The Cospace team, Andrew and Kirtus, has made Texpresso on Anderson Lane the new home for Austin Jelly. We toured many, many coffee shops and other locations trying to come up with the best place for everyone to meet, and this place was the winner. We have one date set for December, and starting in ’10, we will meet twice per month until we have Cospace open. Then we’ll just move the Jelly into Cospace. We are very excited to be doing this in Austin. So far we have met a bunch of really exciting and interesting people who are all out there trying to make it happen, just like us. That is exactly what we had hoped for when we started the Jelly. So if you are ever curious what it is like to Jelly, or want to come out and meet some new people, drop by. We will keep everyone informed about times for upcoming Jelly’s on twitter

Andrew

I have been working on a couple of logos for Cospace for about 1 month now.  I am new to Photoshop and Illustrator, so it took me a little while just to get the hang of using the programs.  But they are both fantastic (The programs I mean.  You can be the judge on the logos).  I went through a few different ideas on the logos with help from a few people (Thanks Kirtus, Dee, and Clay).  Hopefully you will start to see these  logos out in public.  This first one is going to be our main logo.  It will go on cards and other letterhead that we may use. 

Then we have our community logo.  I call it this because I want it to be the logo that our community will recognize, or the logo that will get people’s attention when members are out in the community.  This one will be out in the form of stickers soon.  And then we may add it to shirts or something like that soon. 

Let me know what you think of them.  I can’t wait to start seeing them out in public. 

Andrew