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Leveraging Coworking Spaces to Scale Your Consulting Firm

 

For savvy consultants seeking aggressive growth, thoughtfully tapping into the thriving ecosystem of flexible coworking spaces unlocks immense potential. Beyond cost savings and networking, these venues offer vital community access, credibility and even lead generation for those who orchestrate partnerships judiciously. Yet deriving real advantage requires care.

 

As a long time management consultant scaling numerous practices over the years, here are my top tips:

 

Vet Culture and Member Fit Not all spaces suit consulting services firms. Seek out venues explicitly embracing consultants and agencies with cultures aligned to yours – no “no soliciting” stigmas. Take day passes to experience firsthand before buying memberships. Sample existing members for chemistry fits.

 

Forge Real Relationships Resist aggressively selling fellow members without nurturing authentic relationships first. Organically integrate, demonstrate thought leadership and aim to meaningfully help community peers over time before proposing collaborations. Unethical pitches backfire. Patience pays here.

 

Explore Unbundled and Lighter Touches To maximize networking with cost efficiency, negotiate selective member tiers granting partial access to event programming and venues as needed rather than overbuying full memberships if bandwidth is limited. Many spaces offer “community” options.

 

Volunteer for Leadership Roles Position yourself as an ecosystem leader by volunteering for member panels, mentoring roles, workshop facilitation and governance committees helping guide the space. This visibility seeds credibility, such as these pro business plans reviews, and organic referral pipelines long term.

 

Strategically Design Your Consulting Presence Stage a professional branding environment in your dedicated space or hot desk zone showcasing credentials, visual displays of work product and even guest seating for small client consultations when permitted. Visibility stimulates connections.

 

Co-Host Events Yielding Warm Introductions Propose open houses, niche seminars, co-working or social functions allowing other members to bring colleagues and contacts. With the host role, you get built-in introductions and relationship kickstarts that convert over time.

 

Activate Multichannel Outreach Touches Once community bonds solidify after months of genuine networking, execute periodic outreach campaigns featuring social media partnerships with the space, co-bylined thought leadership content and multicasting calendars, drip email campaigns and referral incentive programs.

 

Explore Event Sponsorship and Partnership Many spaces welcome sponsored workshops, demo days, pitch deck consultants (find the top ones here) incubator programs and community events aligned with member interests. Creative experiential activations and niche content partnerships amplify exposure unlike traditional advertising.

 

Offer Pro Bono Consulting to Selected Members Providing discounted or complimentary advisory services to a subset of members builds immense goodwill, referability and expertise associations without taxing capacity. Be selective and set limits around scope.

 

Invest in Premium Space Amenities For frequent users justifying higher price points, leverage executive conference rooms for small offsite client meetings along with upgraded equipment facilities. A polished home base supports efficiency.

 

Formalize Targeted Member Affiliate Programs Develop formal partnership frameworks allowing members referral fees with people like business plan writers, opt-in content sharing, joint workshop programs and cross-channel promotions while protecting IP and data. Structure win-wins.