One of our favorite things about owning The Post is being able to work around entrepreneurs and professionals like ourselves all day. It’s incredibly inspiring.
And just like you, we know entrepreneurship isn’t easy. It comes with its fair share of challenges and obstacles.
So, I thought I’d share three of the biggest hurdles Dan and I faced when starting The Post and how we overcame them.
Learning a New Industry
The first thing we realized when we started thinking about opening The Post is that we would need to learn an entirely new industry from the ground up. Learning the ropes was going to be a tall order. We knew what we wanted, but it honestly seemed impossible.
Figuring out how to design the space. How to run it. How to get members in the doors and create a great experience. It was a lot to take in.
Luckily, we had the good fortune of meeting a ton of great people in the coworking industry who were willing to help guide us. We found a mentor in Jamie Russo and we tapped into the Global Workspace Association.
We also got a ton of incredible support from our design consultant, Julia Date Designs. She and her daughter really helped us to ensure we were using the right colors and shades, getting our furniture layout right, and making sure our lighting placement was perfect. There was no way I could have designed this place on my own!
We even reached out to coworking operators in Arizona and were pleasantly surprised at how gracious and willing they were to help, provide insights, share experiences, and tell us their ideas and what worked for them.
The lesson we learned is that it’s important to remember you don’t know everything. And there are resources available and people who are happy to support you. You just have to be willing to ask for help.
Wearing Every Hat
Another thing we came to realize is that, for the first while, Dan and I were going to have to wear every hat–just like all entrepreneurs do at some point in their journey.
Dan had previously opened a number of businesses but for me, it was all new territory.
So, everything from operations to accounting, marketing and advertising, and overseeing our member experience was going to fall onto us for the first while. My son, Deric DiCamillo, and his girlfriend Allie Pastore, also volunteered a ton of their time when we first opened. If it hadn’t been for them risking their health and safety for us, there is no way Dan and I could have provided the upscale member services that we did.
Again, though, the network of people around us were able to provide guidance and support while we built a well-oiled machine. From there, we were able to bring on people to help us run the business.
And despite the challenges that came with wearing every hat, it was an incredible experience to learn so many new things.
The Pandemic
As many of you know, we were slated to finally open the doors at The Post just before the pandemic started. And we all know how that went: just a week out, we were forced to delay our grand opening.
As a new business–especially one in the office space industry–this was the worst case scenario. How could we run a workspace business without being able to have members in the space?
This meant we had to overhaul the way we ran the business and adapt our service offerings in order to align with our new reality. It wasn’t easy, but we made it work–and it’s all thanks to the loyalty and support of our incredible members.
It’s been amazing the last two weeks as new members are signing up for our coworking memberships! We love seeing and hearing members in the common area spaces. It’s such a big difference from a year ago when nobody was allowed to sit on furniture, much less pour their own coffee.
The biggest takeaway from it all–now that we’ve finally weathered the storm and are on our way back to where we want to be–is that we have an incredible community that was willing to rally around us and support us in our time of need. It’s an amazing feeling and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Here’s the thing we learned about entrepreneurship since we first got the idea to open The Post: while there will always be challenges, they’re all part of the hustle. And that’s a beautiful thing. We wouldn’t change it for the world.
If you’d like to learn more about our professional community here at The Post, get in touch with us today. Our team is available to speak with you.