A good thing about working for yourself can be the independence that it provides. But, some of the bad things about working for yourself can be the solitude and the lose of the ability to bounce ideas off others. Well, my wife was looking around Facebook a few weeks back and ran across a Group called CoWorking Knoxville and thought it would be up my alley.
Here’s how Coworking Knoxville describes themselves:
We’re a group of free-lancers, Web programmers, self-employed professionals, self-unemployed entrepreneurs, and various independent types who meet once a week in West Knoxville.
Rather than work out of home or solo out of a coffee shop, when we get together we share ideas, connections, resources, and strategies that help everyone grow their businesses and free up their time. We also introduce each other to new contacts and friends.
Coworking is one of the fastest-growing movements redefining the way we work across the country and has been featured in the past few months in Mother Jones magazine and The New York Times.
I decided to see what they were about so I joined the group on facebook and was invited to their weekly “meet up”. Since they don’t have their own meeting place they borrow space at a local Panera Bread. (If you’ve ever been to a Panera at lunch time then you know it’s a mad house!) I’ll have to say, I hate being “the new guy” in anything. Especially in something where you know no one and are meeting in a crazy restaurant. But I found them and all was well.
Although I didn’t get any work done (Although I did notice they would not bother you if you had work to do during this time), I did learn quite a bit about the coworking movement and met a good group of people. The group has plans plans to rent a space downtown in the future to use as an “office” for it’s members. They are calling this Knoxville Overground Ground and it sounds very exciting.
I don’t know what else I could say but that you should really check this organization out for yourself. The Coworking Knoxville Group meets every Wednesday from 12:00 to 4:00 at the Panera Bread at 4485 Kingston Pike Knoxville, Tennessee. This could truly be a great resource for any self-employed person.
Oh, and I can’t forget to point you to the website of one of the members, his passion for Fight Club has motivated him into creating some “Rules for Coworking“. That whole site is well worth a read!
© 2008 – 2009, Robert Owen. All rights reserved.
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