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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>
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            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>
    </div>
    <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>
        <div><br>
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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>
                                                        </span></div>
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      <pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">_______________________________________________
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</pre>
    </blockquote>
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