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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
style="font-size:
12.0pt">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?<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Do you have the exact address and know how much the
lease is?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Is anyone
else interested in such a thing?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>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.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>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: <a href="https://otherrealm.org/Economy">https://otherrealm.org/Economy</a>
).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Please let me
know if you are interested,
I will be setting up some meeting events to try to gather
support so stay tuned.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span
style="font-size:
12.0pt">Thanks!</span></font><br>
</p>
<hr width="100%" size="2">
<blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span
style="font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif""><font size="4"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">
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.</span></font></font></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span
style="font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif""><font size="4"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">
The way I conceived of the 'job fair' working would be
in two stages. </span></font></font></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span
style="font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif""><font size="4"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">
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 <i><span
style="font-style:italic">with</span></i> them and
not <i><span style="font-style:italic">for</span></i>
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.</span></font></font></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span
style="font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif""><font size="4"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">
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 <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holon_(philosophy)"
style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">holons</a>,
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 <i><span
style="font-style:italic">profit</span></i>, 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.</span></font></font></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span
style="font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif""><font size="4"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">
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).</span></font></font></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span
style="font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif""><font size="4"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">
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.</span></font></font></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span
style="font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif""><font size="4"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"></span></font></font></span></span></p>
<hr width="100%" size="2">
<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span
style="font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif""><font size="4"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><br>
</span></font></font></span></span></p>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Aaron E-J
The Other Realm LLC
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://otherrealm.org">http://otherrealm.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://theotherrealm.org">http://theotherrealm.org</a> (Blog)</pre>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2019-10-21 5:13 PM, Val Nelson via
Hidden-discuss wrote:<br>
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<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAPbwwh-kAQWeRNnbp08ouwqo_S7OS3HJ5XFE=tzxCth-fnYgOQ@mail.gmail.com">
<div dir="ltr">HI HTers,
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I'm not looking to do this but it occurs to me that maybe
one of you might be. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Let me know if you want more info.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Val</div>
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<div><b><span><span><span>_____________________________________</span><br>
Val Nelson</span></span></b><br>
<br>
</div>
<div><span>THE BLACK
SWAN COACH</span><br>
</div>
<div><span><span><span><i>
for
Introverted
Women with Big
Hearts</i><br>
Life ~
Livelihood ~
Impact <br>
</span></span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr"><span><a
href="http://www.valnelson.com/" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">ValNelson.com</a><br>
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