You Belong Here!

Recently, I had a conversation about the possibility of another company taking over one of our locations. It was an interesting experience—not because of the business conversation itself, but because it reminded me of something I've always believed about coworking:

The space is only part of what you're building. The people are the heart of it.

As we talked about operations, memberships, and the future of the location, I found myself thinking about the people who walk through our doors every day.

I couldn't help but notice how differently I think about a coworking business after spending years building The Muse Rooms.

For me, members have never been an occupancy number.

I've never looked at a spreadsheet and thought, That's member number 147.

I think about the person.

Knowing the People Behind the Membership

One of the things I love about being an independent coworking founder is that I get to know the people who choose to work with us.

I know the entrepreneurs who are building something from scratch. I know the creatives who need a professional place to work. I know the small-business owners who have grown from a single desk into an office. I know the members who have been with us through multiple locations and different chapters of their lives.

Those relationships happen naturally when you're present.

You notice when someone's having a great week. You hear about a new client they've landed. You celebrate when they launch something. Sometimes you also know when someone is having a difficult time, and simply asking, "How are you doing?" can mean more than you realize.

That is difficult to quantify.

But it is one of the reasons people stay.

Coworking Is a Human Business

We often talk about coworking as a real estate or technology business.

There is certainly plenty of both.

There are leases to negotiate, memberships to manage, access systems to maintain, internet connections to troubleshoot, and numbers that have to work. I've lived all of that firsthand.

But underneath the business is something much more human.

People are choosing where they spend a significant part of their day.

They are choosing the environment in which they build their businesses, meet clients, make connections, and sometimes navigate some pretty challenging moments.

That means the atmosphere matters.

The way people are greeted matters.

Whether someone knows your name matters.

Whether you feel comfortable walking into the kitchen and having a conversation matters.

These seemingly small things are what turn a collection of offices and desks into a community.

What Happens When Coworking Becomes Too Corporate?

There is nothing inherently wrong with scale. Larger coworking companies can offer resources, technology, networks, and efficiencies that smaller operators simply can't.

But scale can also create distance.

When decisions are made primarily through systems and metrics, it can become easy to lose sight of the individual people those metrics represent.

A 90% occupancy rate isn't a community.

A retention percentage isn't a relationship.

And a membership isn't simply a recurring charge.

There is a person on the other side of every one of those numbers.

That is the part of this industry I never want to lose sight of.

Why I Still Care

I've been in this business long enough to understand that caring doesn't make the hard parts disappear.

There have been difficult decisions. There have been locations that didn't work. There have been unexpected challenges and moments when keeping the doors open required an enormous amount of determination.

But those experiences have made me more committed—not less—to the kind of company I want to build.

I want The Muse Rooms to be successful, of course.

But I also want it to have a personality.

I want people to feel that there are real people behind the business.

I want our members to feel comfortable reaching out when they need something. I want them to know that their experience matters to us.

And I want the space to feel different the moment they walk through the door.

Belonging Is the Real Product

The longer I've been in coworking, the more convinced I am that our industry has sometimes focused too heavily on what we're selling.

Desks.

Offices.

Meeting rooms.

Amenities.

Access.

Those things matter. They are the foundation of the business.

But they're not the whole reason people choose one space over another.

People want somewhere they can feel comfortable, productive, connected, and welcome.

They want to know that they're not completely on their own.

That is especially important in a world where more people work remotely and independently than ever before.

We may have more technology connecting us, but that doesn't necessarily mean we feel more connected.

A good coworking space can bridge that gap.

Building Something That Feels Like Us

The Muse Rooms has always been a reflection of what I believe coworking can be.

Not perfect. Not corporate. Not designed to appeal to absolutely everyone.

But personal.

A place where you can walk in and be recognized.

A place where relationships develop organically.

A place where your business matters—but you matter, too.

That's what I want to protect as the coworking industry continues to evolve.

Because at the end of the day, we're not just managing real estate.

We're creating environments where people spend their days, build their businesses, and pursue their ambitions.

And I think we should care about the people we're asking to spend those days with us.

That's the kind of coworking I believe in. And that's the kind of place I intend to keep building.