[Hidden-tech] Have you considered starting a new coworking space?
Aaron E-J
the at otherrealm.org
Wed Oct 23 01:39:54 UTC 2019
In terms of the the theory side of things (coop structure, sociocracy,
ex.) I am all set, it is more just a matter of finding people who are
interested in committing a bit of time and resources along with me to
get things set up. That's the first step, after that, then we can begin
thinking about money and a location.
Aaron E-J
The Other Realm LLC
http://otherrealm.org
http://theotherrealm.org (Blog)
On 2019-10-22 6:36 PM, Andrew Bellak wrote:
>
> This is an interesting thread.
>
> It make me think of several people and organizations in the Pioneer
> Valley that I'd like to mention in case you want to connect with them
> on this idea.
>
> For coops, there's Coop Power, Cooperative Fund of New England and
> Wellspring Cooperatives.
>
> For holocracy, there's Ingrid Bredenberg although she may have moved
> out of the area.
>
> If you think sociocracy is related enough, there's
> http://sociocracyforall.org/about/ and folks based in Amherst.
>
> And I believe Paul Silva ran Click Work Space in Northampton, maybe he
> started it?
>
> And I know the folks at Amherst Works co-working space.
>
> All that to say that there are good resources in the Valley.
>
> Regards,
>
> Andrew
>
> --
> Andrew Bellak
> CEO
> Registered Investment Advisor
>
> Andrew at StakeholdersCapital.com
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> On 10/21/2019 8:23 PM, Aaron E-J via Hidden-discuss wrote:
>>
>> Yes, I am, although I am looking for a space that is conducive to
>> setting up a small shop and electronics fabrication space, maybe
>> eventually a wet lab – would this space be a good fit for this?Do you
>> have the exact address and know how much the lease is?Is anyone else
>> interested in such a thing?A while ago I made some move to get a
>> makerspace set up in the East/Northampton/Holyoke area and I'm
>> interested in seeing if anyone else is still interested again.As I
>> put forward a week or two ago on this listserv, I am interested in
>> changing the way employment is done, or at least creating another way
>> to go about it (link to the idea, also below:
>> https://otherrealm.org/Economy ).I would like to get a group of
>> people who are equally disenfranchised with the competitive nature of
>> employment and business dealings and are interested in working
>> together on creating such a worker cooperative model.Please let me
>> know if you are interested, I will be setting up some meeting events
>> to try to gather support so stay tuned.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> A discussion that was going on a local tech
>> entrepreneur listserve about the need to work for less than a
>> fair wage when doing contract work got me thinking of an idea I
>> had a while back. The idea is a kind of 'jobs fair' that would
>> be open to anyone, and anyone who attended would be either
>> guaranteed a job or funding for a startup. The amount of time
>> that people spend competing for: first a college degree, then a
>> job, then maybe funding for a business idea, is enormous. It can
>> often result in needing to compromise your moral principles and
>> spend most of your time doing things in areas you are not
>> passionate about. Constantly needing to be judged and being told
>> that you are not as good as someone else who got the job you
>> wanted, puts a tremendous toll on your wellbeing and desire to
>> interact with others. On the other side, someone looking to hire
>> the right person has to spend a considerable amount of time
>> wading through tons of applicants before eventually arriving at
>> someone you actually want to hire. And if you have an ounce of
>> empathy, constantly needing to turn people down because they are
>> not the right fit feels horrible.
>>
>> The way I conceived of the 'job fair' working would be
>> in two stages.
>>
>> The first stage would be a sign up and stakeholder
>> gathering phase. Job seekers would fill out an online form
>> detailing their skills and interests and any ideas for solutions
>> to unsolved problems they had. Employers (worker coops and
>> businesses that agree to not throw their employees under the
>> proverbial bus if the job does not work out) would sign up and
>> agree to employ people to work /with/ them and not /for/ them.
>> Business investors and venture capitalists would sign up and work
>> on forming business ideas with people who do not see an existing
>> role with any of the existing business that are hiring.
>>
>> Then the second stage would be the actual conference
>> where everyone gets to know each other and job seekers and job
>> fillers seek mutual skills and interests. The people who do not
>> have career goals and skills in line with those being sought, and
>> those with business ideas they are looking to actualize, would
>> work with the business investors and venture capitalists.
>> Together, they would form new worker cooperative businesses
>> around the solutions previously identified in the first stage
>> that everyone on the table can get behind. These cooperatives
>> would act as holons
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holon_(philosophy)>, each
>> independent entities, but with the ability to utilize each
>> other's resources to some extent. There would also be a buffer
>> fund established that all the cooperatives earning a positive
>> income would contribute to and those needing more income could
>> draw from. The way the investors would get compensated is that
>> they would be seen as one of the cooperatives. If the investors
>> want to withdraw some of their investment, their financial
>> balance would be negative and therefore a proportion of the
>> buffer fund will go to them. This siphoning of money to an
>> investor will only continue until a previously agreed upon return
>> on investment is achieved or the person invests more money back
>> into the system. Because the contribution will only be a portion
>> of the /profit/, if some or all cooperatives are not earning a
>> profit, they will not need to contribute to the buffer.
>> Obviously exact details will need to be worked out when more
>> people get involved, but that is the general way I am envisioning
>> the financing working. It may also make sense to involve
>> colleges and others in the education sphere. They could be seen
>> as business investors. Although they may not be providing
>> financial support, they can still provide significant resources
>> and as a result have a share of the profit. However, the exact
>> nature of their compensation would need to be figured out because
>> education is rarely easily quantifiable.
>>
>> The important point in all this is that people are not
>> competing – there would be the explicit edict that no one is left
>> out and no one is forced to do things they have no desire to do
>> (of course it may be necessary for some people to do undesired
>> tasks, but these tasks should be for the purpose of fulfilling
>> desired goals).
>>
>> What do people think of this idea and is anyone
>> interested in working on it with me? I would not be surprised if
>> we could get some grant funding to get the ball rolling.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> Aaron E-J
>> The Other Realm LLC
>> http://otherrealm.org
>> http://theotherrealm.org (Blog)
>> On 2019-10-21 5:13 PM, Val Nelson via Hidden-discuss wrote:
>>> HI HTers,
>>> Have you considered forming a coworking space? I know of an amazing
>>> space that just opened up that just looks like it's waiting for a
>>> coworking space to step in. It's in Northampton, in a beautiful
>>> setting. With off-street parking. Close to town but tucked away.
>>>
>>> I'm not looking to do this but it occurs to me that maybe one of you
>>> might be.
>>>
>>> Let me know if you want more info.
>>>
>>> Val
>>>
>>> *_____________________________________
>>> Val Nelson*
>>>
>>> THE BLACK SWAN COACH
>>> / for Introverted Women with Big Hearts/
>>> Life ~ Livelihood ~ Impact
>>>
>>> ValNelson.com <http://www.valnelson.com/>
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