128. Breaking the childcare model with Melanie Marconi
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TRanscription
128. How Vida Coworking is experimenting with onsite childcare
00:00:01 Welcome to the everything Coworking podcast, where you learn what you need to know about how the world wants to work. And now your host, co working space owner and trend expert Jamie Russo. Welcome to everything Coworking, podcast. Today's episode is super special. I think there are many of you listening that are going to be very excited to hear some insights around how this business works. My guest is Melanie Marconi. She is the founder of Vita Make Life Work. She has a co working space in Portland, Oregon, that also has child care.
00:00:44 I know some of you are pulling out your pens and pencils to take notes, and I tried to ask her all the questions that I thought folks would anticipate. There were really interested in this topic. If we didn't cover something that you're super curious about, please send me an e mail. Melanie was amazing, super open and just approachable and wants to be helpful. So if you have questions that we didn't talk through, you're dying to ask. Send me a note and I'll follow up with Melanie Jamie at everything coworking dot com.
00:01:14 Melanie is also really in an experimental phase She's learning a lot about the business and figuring out what the path forward is going to be to optimize the model that she's working on. So I definitely want to follow up with her and say, a year when she's, you know, taking the next step, check out her. So I Google imaged her space after chatting with her yesterday. And it's beautiful. Definitely take a look at it. Melanie was such a pleasure to interview. Actually, somebody on her team reached out to me.
00:01:46 I had not met Melanie in person and, you know, asked if I was interested in chatting with Melanie and I love that I get a lot of those and I want most often they're from vendors and always ask for sure. But if it's just a straight vendor pitch, as you know, if your listener of the podcast I say no to those unless there's something really compelling and it's something I feel like my audience really needs to know about. But I was dying to interview Melanie, and so if you might be in that camp, your listener and you thought, Oh, you know, maybe I should share my story, Send me a note cause I'll let you know if it's mount a great fit.
00:02:21 But certainly in Melanie's case, I was thrilled that she introduced herself and I had a really great conversation with her and learning about her business and how she got into it. And it just I love her mindset of learning, experimenting. But she's a super smart businesswoman, I can tell. So I hope you enjoy our conversation today. I am sitting here with Melanie Marconi, co founder of Vita Make Life work and co founder of VD. I Development Group is Well, she's gonna tell us her story and one exciting note before we dive in here.
00:02:55 Melanie is sitting in her podcast studio in her co working space. I think Melanie, you might be the only person I've ever interviewed in a podcast studio. I had one guest who had a podcast studio and didn't use it. It made this weird echo in the room, if you is it. And I kept thinking, why is he not in his studio so welcome? Thank you for joining me today. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to talk to you. Me too. Likewise. So I have so many questions about your story, So why don't we dive in?
00:03:24 If it's possible, tell us the moment when you knew you had to create a co working space that also offers child care. Sure. So I have been a long time entrepreneur. I've owned a company since I was 23 years old, and I became pregnant with my daughter and realized that I needed a change and I moved to a new city and bought a new home. And I ended up being basically remote worker from my own company. I was traveling back to L. A suit. A team in L.
00:03:57 A had a team in L. A. Okay was founded there. I lived there for 10 years, decided to move back to Portland. Or again, is Portland where you're from? No, No, Kelly. But I have a big like group of people here, A big community here, and I went to the University of Oregon. Go coax so kind of a home in the Suns. And so when I was basically remote working for my own company, it was great. While my daughter was really little.
00:04:23 And then as she got older and I was growing a team in Portland. We ended up getting to about six people on our Portland team. We were all women, all working from home. Five of us had kids. And so, you know, we would meet up in coffee shops and restaurants in my living room as you D'oh! And so I started looking for a co working space here in Portland and Portland is really fantastic because we have a lot of options, like truly, like, I think, per capita, like a lot of Coworking options.
00:04:54 And so I started going to them and checking them out and, well, you know, they were all great options. What I realized was that they were not built for the life that I was living, which is that it was a single mom. I was an entrepreneur, you know. I traveled some, but, you know, worked in an office, mostly, for the majority of the day, I had a pretty robust fitness routine, which I know you totally get. Yeah, I want to talk about that.
00:05:21 And I just kind of I had this life set up for me that was really working for me and none of the corking faces I was visiting really supported that strategy that I had put together for myself. And so I ended up not choosing any of them. And there we were again in my living room, you know, kind of doing the same thing. And I was seeing, you know, nationally, there were some women focused coworking spaces popping up on the wing and the Riveter. We're doing some really interesting things, and I thought, you know, they'll probably come to Portland eventually.
00:05:52 But, you know, we usually get things like five years later, and I can't wait five years and I had started talking to other women entrepreneurs in our community. And there was really a need to, you know, have your kids be welcomed, have your fitness schedule B, you know, honored and then have all of the other things in place that women really creative, like community and classes and coaching and all of these other things. And I thought, you know, I remember it was on New Year's Day.
00:06:21 It was kind of one of those, like, you know, New Year's resolutions, things. And I thought, you know what? I'm just gonna do it, and I did okay perfect so well back into this. So what is the company that you were running? And we talked a little bit in our kind of preach at that. You've still been running it. So yet Tell us kind of what that was about and what that looked like when you started running your spaces. Well, sure. So So my company is called Beady Eye Development Group and we do event planning, conference coordination and consulting for nonprofit organizations across the country.
00:06:53 And I started working for that division, basically right out of college. I did a really a brief stint working for some celebrity publicists in Los Angeles. So which is what, actually, my degree is in okay and did that briefly and just realized it was it, You know, the path for me. I mean, that was a great job, and they were great employers. And so the next job I took was basically the company that I started working for. And then about a year and 1/2 later, some internal things went down, and my two co workers and I at the time bought out the division that we were crying.
00:07:27 Why was called beady eyed development group. So, Yeah, I was 23. We took over the company had no idea Like what we're doing. We had one big national client, and, you know, we figured it out, you know, like with taxes were due. I remember, like we didn't even know that we had to pay city of Los Angeles taxes until someone like knocked on her. Oh, no. Where's your permit? We're like, Okay, so you figure out how to do that and figure out how to do bookkeeping.
00:07:55 And, you know, over the years, we've built this really robust company. We just had our 15 year anniversary of the company, and I just had my 17 year anniversary of working there. So it really has been like my lifelong career. I have great partners, and they were really supportive when I realized, you know, like this. I have had a whole career here, and I've loved it, but I have this new idea. I think it has such benefit, like for women and for the community.
00:08:23 And so they've been supportive, as I've, you know, kind of transitioned into doing beautiful time. But, boy, it's not easy to have, you know, two full time jobs and launch a new company. And and a kid and a kid. How old is your daughter now? She's almost seven. She'll be seven next month. Okay, guys, in first grade. So Yeah, I have actually, my daughter turned eight today. So after this, I'm gonna pick her up from school, and we're gonna bake her birthday cake.
00:08:52 Have you? Totally. So how long has Vita been open? So we opened on July 1st of this year. Okay? Just started our fifth month of operations, but it's been in process. So from the day I decided to do it, which was January 1st of 2018 it took a full 18 months to actually get the doors open, which was a pretty, you know, accelerated schedule. Really? But it still took quite a while. Finding the space was really the hardest part. I know people underestimate how long with that takes, it could be very frustrating.
00:09:27 And especially so again, I have so many questions I have to get tried to put them in order. So let's talk about so I'm curious about the need. So your daughter's in school most of the time. Yeah, but you still sort of had this. You know, you would show up at spaces and just not feel like you fit. But it wasn't specifically the childcare. No, it wasn't specifically the child care, but I do think that child care I mean, it's a huge issue for, you know, people who have kids like in every community across the country.
00:09:56 There's not enough of it. It's very expensive. But also, I just think there's Ah feeling to of spaces that are kid friendly and accommodate kids. And at the end of the day, there's always gonna be a day where you need to bring your kid to work or oh, that I was just talking to somebody. Chicago public schools who is telling me this were on strike for 12 days? Yes. Oh, my business coach. And she said one of her consultants had to bring her kid to work.
00:10:23 She's like, Well, I can't like to I don't have any other options. So, kids, Yeah, yeah, and 12 days of unexpected non vacation. Yeah, yeah, out of the blue. And like that stuff happens as you know all the time. And so, you know, when I was kind of planning all of this. My daughter was young enough where she did still need child care. It took a while, but many of our members still do need child care. And so the way that I envisioned the space working out was that, you know, it's almost like this full kind of community center where, like all of the needs, that you have some way of getting taken care of here so you can drop your kids and you can get work done and you can have a yoga class and you can meet with a coach.
00:11:08 And you can meet with our concierge if you need help, you know, shipping your shoes back when they don't fit. So kind of like all of those life needs would really be managed in a really, like, creative way in a really seamless way and like in a very beautiful space. So the kid piece was kind of the very beginning of it, and it was the foundation that allowed me to kind of think bigger on, like, okay, of child care is such a great need.
00:11:32 Like what other needs? Where else? Yeah, more of an ecosystem. Yeah. So how do you handle the we have to get into details because everyone's gonna be curious, The childcare piece and the legality of it.
00:11:45 And how did that impact your space search? Yeah, so, you know, and I kind of get why a lot of people don't have child care included, because it's not a cakewalk.
00:11:55 But I think that, you know, the value outweighs the challenge of getting it put together. But I had, you know, in my mind, we actually need quite a bit of space to accommodate, like, child care.
00:12:05 And I knew that it was really important for the child. Care to be very separate from the main cramping space.
00:12:10 Right? So I thought about 12,000 square feet, you know, to kind of do this whole concept.
00:12:16 And I had a vision in my mind of how I wanted it to look. And then nine months in, I found the space that were in.
00:12:23 And it's a really perfect setup in that it's in two almost separate spaces connected with a hallway. But yeah, space was really important.
00:12:32 And you need voting. I guess his child care considered commercial. Similar zone s Oh, yes. Oh, that was a piece of it, and the model that I have currently here in this space is that it's considered drop in child care, which has a different set of rules from, ah, full time child care center.
00:12:51 So that's the way that we're establishes a drop in centre Right now, we take no more than six kids at one time.
00:12:57 They can't stay for more than four hours over 20 hours per week, so there's some kind of the rules built in that allow for this to happen.
00:13:04 But on the foot side of that is staff egg right? And how to make sure. So we have a full time teacher who's here the entire time.
00:13:14 You know, from the kind of cash flow perspective like you also have to manage that as well. So it's supply and demand happening at the same time you have in the space that's available, and we opened in the summer, which was also really interesting, and I didn't really think about, But, you know, kids aren't in school in summer, and so we had a different flow of kids over the summer that we do now on.
00:13:36 Then one of the other kind of parameters is that kids have to be potty trained. Okay, so and you know, it's you're you're not taking infants Date three toe, depending.
00:13:48 Basically, yeah, body training is a personal journey. Exactly. Proper. You're out of the gym.
00:13:53 Yeah. So it's not aged based necessarily, but two and 1/2 to 3. And then we do have programs for school closure days and things and, like, you know, holiday breaks and things like that for the older kids.
00:14:06 And we're working right now. I'm putting together an after school program. Oh, interesting. Like a couple days a week.
00:14:12 So you know, which I had, you know, was my preferred, you know, kind of structure for me, for my daughter.
00:14:19 Oh, and that's just taking a little bit longer to implement that. I know even when the kids get older, they have activities.
00:14:26 But then you know there's after care at school and my daughter doesn't like it. No, it's super crowded.
00:14:32 It's even when I go that in there, it stresses me out. It's so full now. The woman, the main person, where's this headset?
00:14:39 And talks to the kids through a headset, and it makes me like super anxious with women there, but right, it's distracting.
00:14:46 You know, if I pick my daughter up three when school's out, you have to have that conversation like Well, look, I'm still working, right.
00:14:53 You and I have an only child. So now you have to entertain yourself without a screen. You start a hope that works.
00:15:01 But right. To have an opportunity to take her someplace on a smaller scale and still be able to focus and not worry about what she's up to would be amazing.
00:15:10 Yes, and that was basically the idea, like you can you know, I think a lot of parents like the idea of going to pick their kids up from school, and then they can come back and have something to do.
00:15:18 Well, you get another couple hours of work in, You know, also, we've learned a lot to in the last few months just about how you know.
00:15:26 Yeah, I'm sure you're running one long experiment right now. Yeah. Yes, we totally are. And it's been really fascinating to see.
00:15:33 And so, you know, we're taking a lot of these learning's to kind of tweak them for, you know, the next step that will be taking as a company.
00:15:43 So how do you manage the supply and demand? Do you were quite begins its drop in. But do you require commitment because that I mean the whole model is the co working models challenging because the most expensive line item after your rent is staff, Right?
00:15:58 So now you added another full time person for child care, right? Yeah. So I haven't perfectly worked it out yet.
00:16:05 I mean, basically, the way we've been running it so far is that we have, like, we basically underwrite a full time employee toe, have this as like, amenity to our members.
00:16:14 And so members do pay an hourly fee. You know, our that their kids are in Vita play.
00:16:19 Yeah, but it doesn't, you know. Oh, necessarily. Always cover the teacher. But, you know, I feel like that's a big piece of what we're offering.
00:16:27 And so we've, you know, continued tohave it. We're looking at a couple other models where it's a little bit more on demand, you know, because part of it too, like it really does depend on, like, who are your members, right?
00:16:40 Like as a corking bright unity. We exist to help support our members. And so it really does depend on how the members, you know, like what?
00:16:49 How old are there, kid, Right. Like, what are their work schedules? And so that's actually what we're working on now is figuring out, like, how can we actually best support you, you know, is drop in helpful?
00:16:59 Would other hours be helpful and really looking at it from all angles? And then that will shift over time?
00:17:05 Because as your member shift right there, all of a sudden ogre, you know, the age of the kids could drop or right?
00:17:12 Yeah, really dynamic. Yeah, right. Yeah. So yeah, right. And actually, I just this week hired what I'm calling an amenities coordinator, which I think is gonna be a really helpful piece, too, because, you know, we have a veto.
00:17:27 A lot of different pieces happening all at the same time, like Coworking and child care in the fitness.
00:17:33 And so she's gonna have, like, more of a direct, you know, kind of one on one line about the different amenities that we're offering and how we can really customize them thio and help people use them.
00:17:44 Yeah, yeah, training people. How to Yeah, totally. Yeah. So you're experimenting now, But eventually, how do you think the model will play out in terms of making that work?
00:17:56 So this is my bets. I think, actually, what is really truly needed is more than drop in.
00:18:03 I think what families are really looking for is more of, ah, long term, yet flexible. Yeah, into child care.
00:18:11 And so what we're looking to do for phase two is actually open a full service child care center still in the same building so it can be connected.
00:18:20 But that can offer care for infants and toddlers. Which is, I think, two of the most in need.
00:18:26 Yeah, the pain points total. A layup, especially here in Portland, like Portland is a great job at preschool and does a really tough job with infants and toddlers for everything to your point.
00:18:36 That's a good and a global problem. It's crazy how hard it is. So we're thinking about throwing our hat in to tackle that problem here and really making it, you know, even the way people do.
00:18:48 Child care is so different than 10 years ago, you know, it's not, you know, There's grandparent's helping out.
00:18:54 There's flexible schedules like if there's two parents and the family, they can work opposite schedules. There's all these different ways to do it now, and there's no child care solution that's really there to support.
00:19:06 You know, this new way of working and you're working really plays in to this dialogue and the solution.
00:19:12 And so I just feel like they're also needs to be a layer of child care That kind of fits into it, you know, totally.
00:19:20 But you're running into the trying to solve it. First is hard because you can see why the old model you commit thio.
00:19:29 I don't want to talk about what child can say that number out loud. I'm so glad that's over, all right.
00:19:35 But you know, even the aftercare I'm constantly like trying to manage. You know you want to keep your spot, but you don't want to over pay and right it's like, Yeah, it's an interesting at the mercy of like what's available and you can see from their side.
00:19:51 Well, look, they have cost. They need to cover that are not variable. There fixed costs, and so they have to manage which is what you're trying to do.
00:19:58 How do you manage that? Provide the flexibility. Do you see a scenario where your membership fees would be premium and cover some of that, like just the access to that?
00:20:09 Yeah. So we're a little bit premium as it is. Okay, I'm just offering this amenity and then the other amenities that we d'oh, we're definitely not the least expensive option important.
00:20:19 So I'm not sure how that will play out if we have to actually increase. I think what the bigger benefit will be is that our members would be able to have priority into the child care.
00:20:31 And just that and of itself, is a big situation here, too. So, you know, becoming a member of a co working space might be, you know, beneficial in a lot of ways.
00:20:43 And one of them could be, you know, just getting into it the extent. Yeah. So why do you want to do it yourself?
00:20:52 Good question. So I'm actually looking at a bunch of different options, you know? Either you know, hiring a director to do it or partnering with another group.
00:21:01 Thio kind of come in and do it. I think there's pros and cons to both sides, and I haven't quite decided, you know.
00:21:07 Okay, Yes. I don't want long experiment. I mean, does the argument could be we'll just co locate with bright horizons?
00:21:13 Yes. You know, So, yes. And that's the challenge I have with that. And, you know, so KinderCare is based here in Portland TRIBE also.
00:21:22 But I think that the truth is is that I just want to blow up the model in and of itself, you know, and I think that they're, you know, they do a great job in the model that they have, But I see a different way for the future of like what that could look like.
00:21:37 And so, you know, in that way it's nice to have a little bit of say, you're still sort of forcing yourself not to just partner, but to really say, What could the model look like?
00:21:47 And can you find a way? Yes. Have you fund raised and is that kind of on the plate for the next year?
00:21:54 Is short horizon. Yeah. So yes, So that I opened Vita in a very kind of multidimensional way.
00:22:01 So I invested a lot of my own money and resources. I raised $111,000 like in a friends and family round.
00:22:10 And I also got a loan from our economic development. Wow, great here in Portland. Yeah, which has been a good yeah.
00:22:17 And also, I love that you mentioned that because that's super inspiring for other people looking that even in a major city, Yeah.
00:22:25 And you know, they've all been interesting processes. Yeah, all of the different angles. And that one just on an advice type level, I would say is Find out who you know, who knows someone there because it's really, I think, difficult to get in the door, especially in a concept like Coworking, which, you know for us, is not new but industrywide from with historical funding, perspective is kind of new, and there's just not a lot of public data, the model Exactly, and not yet not enough success cases, right?
00:23:02 And I think that's why I was able to secure it in the first place. Is that I had, you know, someone you know, who I knew they knew that could kind of vouched for me and say, like, you know, at least give her a meeting and see what she's up to.
00:23:16 Sorry, it's a loan from them, not a grant. It's alone. Yes. Interesting at right now.
00:23:20 What do you think of grants? Yep. And did you fall under, like, women owned business or some category of I did.
00:23:27 And I'm think it was a federally backed program. I think it would had, you know, women majority owned, but the program actually had an f f.
00:23:36 Any component to it as well. Wow. So I really kind of interest is able to get the meeting it and fit in all the boxes that they had available.
00:23:45 Yeah. Okay, let's talk about the fitness component. What does that look like? So we have a really beautiful fitness studio on site, and we do at least one class a day, and our classes are free for our members.
00:24:00 So right now we have a yoga class Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We have a hit class on Thursday, which is 30 minutes and then a Zumba class again.
00:24:12 And then we have, like, a meditation and mindfulness class every Tuesday. It and who instructs those?
00:24:19 So two of the yoga classes are taught by my personal yoga instructor. They had prior to opening those, and they're really fantastic and well known in the community.
00:24:30 And then our third class is actually taught by one of our members in trade. Yeah, and she was really amazing to.
00:24:36 And then one of the yoga teacher's teaches the hit class and then on outside person for Zuba. And I'm actually looking for kind of innovative ways to bring outside community folks into the classes.
00:24:47 You know, they're really great classes, and they're already existing. So we're kind of looking to experiment a little bit with that to help benefit the community.
00:24:54 And you don't charge extra for members? No. So you're where you have to pay instructors. You're just paying them out, right?
00:25:00 To come do the service and then some traits. Yeah, Yeah, I'm sure you've heard me talk about this.
00:25:05 When I started inner space in Chicago, we had a fitness studio and managing wth e staff for the classes was a kind of a big challenge.
00:25:14 Yes, getting people to commit and be there. And yeah, So I have heard it. And it is, you know, it's getting to the point now, like I said, where I'm hiring somebody to kind of come manage.
00:25:25 And I think the only reason it worked so well for the last few months is that they I had worked with them before They ever like friends of mine and you and you knew they were reliable and they were brought in.
00:25:36 And they were, you know, Yeah, I wanted to support and b committed and yeah, reliable.
00:25:44 And how do you see that evolving in the future? Yeah, you know, that's a good question.
00:25:49 I mean, I think that there is a potential for it to be a pretty robust program. I think there's a couple actually studios who have expressed interest in, almost like moving their studio practice here.
00:26:02 So it could kind of be this cooperative thing where they have their own classes in their own students, and then our members can participate and you know the spaces there.
00:26:12 So it's like we can really maximize that. We also use the space for a lot of outside classes, like we did a rake e training and other kind of yoga training.
00:26:22 It's, you know, usable in that way too. So, yeah, kind of T b D.
00:26:27 I think that one is a little bit of a sleeper right now, and I think to your 10.2, it's also one that it's hard to figure out.
00:26:34 Right? You're kind of underwriting this big cost while you figure out how to maximize it. Yep. And also changing habits.
00:26:41 Because most people are not used to being able to fit fitness, do it at work. Where I exactly Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:26:48 And do they do it during the day? Do they write before After when everybody's different, but you don't.
00:26:53 You still have kind of a fixed population, and so you're not gonna write. And we kind of know who people are now and like, what kind of classes they like ish, you know?
00:27:02 Yeah. Do you have showers on site? No. Okay. That's the other thing. Kind of working around that, Um, yeah, but even ever, I may have space for one that we could build.
00:27:12 Yeah, I built one, but it was still one, and so was never gonna be practical for 10 people to go to hit class and then shower and get ready, right?
00:27:20 Like and dry hair. And do a looks like that but could be, you know, future in your model yet we do have a lot of dry shampoo and a blood drive.
00:27:29 Yeah, I e I No. Yeah. We won't talk about it. I am a frequent dry shampoo user as well.
00:27:38 You have to be. When you work out, you have to find a way to fit it all in.
00:27:42 That's right. Well, let's I mean, so you're still experimenting with a lot. And I I mean, I give you see, co founder.
00:27:49 Do you have another active like manager in the business? Yeah. So I'm a solo founder of Vita.
00:27:55 But I have a really fantastic community director named Grayer Kern, and she really is like, a huge support and really, is there, you know, to be on site for our members in the co working capacity.
00:28:08 So I totally commend you doing this because I remember when I started my space and was trying to do some of these new things and wasn't even touching childcare just like the fitness piece and the wellness peas, I think I felt like I would have been a lot braver to have a business partner, you know, because you're sort of admitting like, Look, this is not gonna be my best iteration for a while, right?
00:28:30 I'm learning. I'm experimenting. We're gonna figure things out, and you're probably taking a longer term view.
00:28:37 We're gonna figure out what the next X number of locations look like. And I think it takes a special personality to do that and sort of own it and say, you know, because we're so as entrepreneurs and you've been a successful business owner for so long, you know, hard on ourselves and want to be successful right out of the gate and saying, Look, yeah, we're figuring some things out, right?
00:28:57 It is really hard. Yes, because you have this vision and you want it to happen like immediately and right away.
00:29:02 And the truth is, it never really works like that. And you and I had, you know, beady Eye Development Group.
00:29:09 I had three other business burners. There were four of us there, and now it's just me. But, you know, I thought would be you know, it's something new, but yeah, to your point, it's a lot to manage.
00:29:20 And, you know, especially when you're still tweaking and exterminate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. the partnership thing.
00:29:26 I think the grass is always greener. Probably. Do you think, Oh, it's so hard to have partners have been great to do something on my own?
00:29:32 And then it's lonely in many ways, and there's definitely president cons. And I had the best possible business partners a beady eye to so would be a hard act to follow for sure.
00:29:41 Yeah. So you just opened five months ago yet tell us that kind of what does the future look like in terms of balancing beady eye and vita?
00:29:49 Yeah. So I'm actually gonna be transitioning out of owning beady eye by the end of this year for the past eight teen months.
00:29:58 Like as I had the idea and started implementing and opened up until boy three weeks ago, I was still working full time at beady eye and I just got to a point where, you know, I'm not doing anything.
00:30:12 Well, yeah, I was able to hold onto it for a while, and then it just got to be to overwhelming, Especially after we opened.
00:30:18 And as you know, like in the first couple months, things are just Yeah. You feel like you're drinking from a fire hose and can't think straight.
00:30:26 And yes, and you have all of their full time job. Yes, I got a kid than my daughter.
00:30:31 Yeah, so, you know, I think it was time and even just like being ableto like free up, like the brain space has been like the biggest, you know, kind of amazing outcome of it.
00:30:44 But I'll have to say, you know, it wouldn't have been possible for me to open Vita any other way.
00:30:51 And I think that often times, you know, as entrepreneurs or for somebody looking to start a new business, you have this notion that you have to quit your job and totally like they say, Like, you see it on TV, where people just right, like, run into the office.
00:31:05 Yes, exactly. I'm starting my own business than two years later. Their Facebook? Yeah, right.
00:31:12 Yeah, right. Exactly. And like I just knew, I mean, I'm a single parent, and so I, you know, just, you know, from a personal finances perspective, that wasn't an option for me.
00:31:21 But also, you know, it's just yeah, a lot of being able to time, manage and, you know, kind of looking way like meta big picture was, you know, possible because of the way I did it.
00:31:33 So for anyone listening, who is thinking of, you know, opening a space or doing anything entrepreneurial like, it's definitely, you know, doable.
00:31:41 Thio kind of do both at the same time, while you figure it out, even though it's very, very difficult to.
00:31:46 I feel like it's a little cliche because it now I hear it everywhere. But this the phrase you know, it's a season.
00:31:52 Yeah, like I feel like I don't have that perspective enough in my life. Like when I had my daughter.
00:31:59 You know, I was like, you sort of get the sense like my life is always gonna be like this, like an infant and trying to work and to all the things and then you realize I go.
00:32:07 It's doesn't really last that long. Then they turn into little human beings, and they're much more manageable.
00:32:12 But with you, you know, maintaining a full time job, which was probably had moments where you thought like you couldn't do it anymore.
00:32:19 But it's a season, and you can get through if you have sort of the longer vision and your y in mind.
00:32:25 We can get through a lot of things for a short period of time, totally, and also knowing kind of the exit and the end result, like land, you know?
00:32:32 Yeah, we plant like we've been planning for the last six months, you know, for this to kind of happen the way it did.
00:32:38 So I think that was really helpful to so back to the childcare piece because I'm trying. Tonto Sip ate all the questions.
00:32:43 Fever like, Why didn't you ask her this? You know, I have a number. It's interesting and not interesting.
00:32:51 I think it makes a lot of sense, but so I have this program called The Coworking Started School.
00:32:55 And I help people who and, you know, I think roughly 1/3 of the last couple of cohorts have been women wanting to do spaces for women, Really?
00:33:05 And not very many. I don't know if any of them are tackling the childcare piece, but very passionate like you were like, Look, we just haven't found the place that's for us.
00:33:15 And so they always want to hear of other people who have done this and been successful And what's that look like?
00:33:20 I mean, especially the childcare piece. What advice would you give to people, you know, without spilling your secret sauce?
00:33:27 But who are, you know, in a local market and want to try to figure this out? Yeah, So, I mean, if I I mean big picture advice, especially in the childcare side.
00:33:37 So it know that it is an experiment, and I think it really depends on you know, the city or n and the regulations that you have to work with.
00:33:45 But it's also you need to have a little bit of runway to figure it out because it's new and it's experimental.
00:33:53 And so, depending on the way, you set it up like it may take a little while to kind of figure it out, you know, in a way that makes it, you know, cost effective.
00:34:03 And so, like I said, I look at it as like, almost, you know, one of our amenity offerings and kind of rolling that into the overall, you know, membership kind of structure.
00:34:13 And also, you know, you're dealing with kids, right? And I think I didn't, you know, quite put two and two together either.
00:34:20 But like they're small humans with, you know, minds of their own. And, you know, the cool thing about Vita play, which is what we call our dropping program, is that once kids get in there, they actually feel this, like ownership of it.
00:34:34 In a way, you know, it's like cool to them. Maybe that they can be working and near their parents.
00:34:41 And so that's one thing that's really worked in our favor is like really creating a space that the kids can, like own and really feel a part of.
00:34:49 And so I think that that would be a great place to start as well. My next question was for you.
00:34:55 Are there men in your space is at all women. Okay, No men are welcome. I think at this 0.18% of our members are men.
00:35:04 We just hit 80 members this past week, so congrats. Thank you. Yeah, so definitely there.
00:35:10 Welcome. And I think you know, we have a very inclusive community and it's designed for women's lives.
00:35:17 But I think that that is really appealing. Thio All humans. Yeah. Do your met male members use the drop in service is some of them do.
00:35:26 Yeah, I know. It's funny. We talk about different generations. I was at, ah, work tech event recently.
00:35:32 They're talking about kind of the general workforce, and they break down to the age groups. The Millennials and the Gen Z and Joe Nexus would have called the and it's like they're trying to find the differences and there are.
00:35:45 And yet everyone to your point, is like a human and wants life to be easier and more flexible.
00:35:52 And they have, you know, slightly wants is in terms of maybe a sort of like where they're at in their life and what's important.
00:35:59 But there are a lot of commonalities. It's like, Well, we're all human, We all want community and we all want flexibility.
00:36:04 And we all want to be able to prioritize different things that are important at different times. Exactly. And that's what we're trying to help our members do is like, Where are you at?
00:36:12 What do you want and like, how can we support that for you? Yeah, At the end of the day, everybody kind of wants the same thing.
00:36:19 So what's next for Vita? Good question. Very end The experiment Yeah. So I think hopefully the experiment will continue.
00:36:27 On childcare front, there is a space available in our building that would be able to connect us. We're trying to see if it, you know, is properly coated and whatnot for child care to have a full childcare center.
00:36:40 So for infants, toddlers and pre school with priority for Vita members and then, you know, running that model and seeing what that shakes out too.
00:36:49 But we definitely want to open more locations, for sure. Here in our local market, where, you know, Portland is a pretty big metropolitan area now with Vancouver, Washington and some of the, you know, kind of southwest suburbs.
00:37:01 And so I think there's definitely room for another location or two here and then hopefully expanding outside of Portland into other markets.
00:37:08 Wonderful. Well, thank you for sharing your story with us, and you're still so new. I can't wait to check in, you know, in a year or two.
00:37:16 And see where you're at then. And what the experiment, you know, looks like and what you've learned.
00:37:21 Thank you. Well, thank you for having me and thank you for all that you're doing. And the co working front.
00:37:25 It's really great all the information you're sharing your welcome, while it's so meaningful to meet people like you and to hear your stories.
00:37:33 So until we chat again, Yes, thank you. Thanks for joining us on this episode of everything CO working.
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