Coworking Blog | Outlet Coworking

December 28, 2020

3 Benefits to Daily Office Space

3 Benefits of Daily Office Spaces

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated changes in the way we work. The trend toward working remotely—or anywhere employees could feasibly plug in a laptop—has been growing more widespread for the last decade but the pandemic forced these trends into the mainstream. Many companies have since told their employees they can work remotely permanently.

Companies are now rethinking their operations and coworking spaces are providing the opportunity to decentralize teams, scale up and down more easily, and cut down on travel by enabling staff to work from a desk nearer to their home. Flexible, short-term memberships at these spaces are a way for startups and freelancers to navigate an uncertain business landscape without the hassle of a traditional lease, while still enjoying the benefits and amenities of fully-equipped office space.

During the pandemic, coworking spaces have also had time to rethink their offerings to provide the ultimate in flexibility that customers are demanding. Daily office space rentals allow anyone to book workspace one day at a time, with zero commitments and on short notice. Whether you’re a frequent business traveler, a freelancer in need of a professional space to meet clients, or you simply need a break from the many distractions of working from home, renting an office by the day allows you to stay productive no matter the circumstances.

To rent an office for the day, Outlet’s On Demand program is now available. You can book productive workspace, private office space or meeting rooms instantly with no membership required.

Affordability- Because you only pay for what you use, daily office space rentals are the most affordable way to book a short-term workspace in a timeframe that suits your needs and your budget. Whether you’re a freelancer looking to get out of the house, or a large company looking for a temporary office for remote teams, you can avoid the usual monthly commitments and pay a simple, flat fee instead. There’s no need to pay for additional costs like security, maintenance, and office supplies.

Even more savings can be had when renting meeting space. Book meeting rooms by the hour, and not only can you meet with clients and coworkers in a professional environment, but you avoid ever having to pay for a room you’re not currently using.

Productivity- There’s only so much you can do while perched over your laptop in a noisy coffee shop or at home with the kids, TV, delivery driver, dishes, etc competing for your attention. With a daily office rental, you can supercharge your productivity by taking advantage of a fully-featured, dedicated workspace. Outlet’s coworking space amenities include high-speed internet, printers, stylish meeting rooms, a private phone booth, and unlimited local coffee from Camellia Coffee Roasters. Surrounded by like-minded professionals in a focused environment, you’ll find yourself more motivated and less distracted.Professional Appearance- When was the last time you met a client at their house? Chances are it’s very rare because it would look unprofessional. Renting a meeting room by the hour provides an opportunity to make a lasting impression on your clients, in person, and in a setting that’s more professional and private than your house or local coffee shop.

For more info on Outlet On Demand, click HERE or check out the video below!

September 29, 2020

New Hourly/Daily Private Office Available

Commitment in a time like 2020 can be hard. To help, we are offering daily/hourly rental private offices for the first time ever! You can have a temporary, safe and productive space to call your own. Renting a private office for the day can help small teams get some much needed face time, act as a trial run for anyone interested in join Outlet or offer a quiet escape from the chaos of working from home.

Reach out to us if you are interested or you can book HERE

March 17, 2020

An Important Message to Our Community – COVID 19 Update

Dear Members,

The County of Sacramento is directing all non-essential businesses to close as of today and for residents to stay at home. This will undoubtedly have crushing ripple effects throughout our region. However, with all of the evidence we have, this action is necessary to save lives. Outlet will be closed starting Wednesday, March 18 until it is safe to welcome our members back. We cannot thank you enough for your loyal support of Outlet Coworking. The entire Outlet team cares deeply about our members, guests, and our community as a whole and we are hoping we all make it through this crisis and re-open as quickly as possible. We appreciate your many concerns during these truly unprecedented times, and we want to relieve any uncertainties that you may have about your membership with Outlet.

Memberships will be automatically frozen until Outlet is able to reopen. Future invoices will be credited to reflect the time where our services were unavailable to you.
We will be accepting packages until Friday. Please begin sending deliveries elsewhere for the time being.
If you need to get items from your private offices or desks, your key fob will still give you access to the building.

We also understand the profound impact the closure will have on you, our members. As a small family business, it will be very painful for us as well. We will continue to support your businesses to the best of our abilities, and we hope you will continue to support us as well.

Be careful. Be safe. Call people you care about.

Sincerely,

Travis, Harrison and Carly

March 13, 2020

Reopening Outlet – New Policies

We got the green light to reopen Outlet on Thursday, May 14th! We are excited to welcome everyone back (though not everyone at the same time :P)! Several changes have been made to the space to create a safer environment for our members. We are also instituting new policies for our facility with the goal of ensuring the health and safety of all members and guests. We hope to be back to Waffle Wednesdays and handshakes/fist bumps/hugs sometime in the (near) future but we need everyone’s help in following these policies for now. Information about these changes as well as modified hours are below.

Changes to Space

Seating has been removed from common areas to accommodate physical distancing.
All HVAC air filters have been replaced with new HEPA filters.
Doors from the front room to the rest of the space will be kept open to reduce high touch point.
Coffee pots will be moved to the bar counter to reduce congestion/traffic in the kitchen.
Hand sanitizer will be available at several locations around the facility.
Sanitizing wipes will be placed on all coworking tables and in all meeting rooms.
Exterior doors will be kept open as much as possible to increase ventilation in the building.

Health and Safety Policies

General

If you are sick, STAY HOME!
If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, please follow all federal, state, and local guidance before returning to Outlet.
6 feet of physical distance between members should be maintained in common areas.
No gatherings in common areas.
No handshakes or any other personal contact.
Members are highly encouraged to wear masks and wash their hands often. Masks will be available at the front desk for members and guests upon request. (This may turn into a requirement, depending on updated guidance from Sacramento County.)
Staff will be wearing masks and will be regularly washing hands.
Disposable cups will be used for coffee, tea, and other beverages.
Members will place used dishes in the kitchen sink to reduce a high touchpoint. Outlet staff will load and unload the dishwasher.

Common Workspaces

Members are asked to wipe down their work surfaces with sanitizing wipes before and after use.
Occupancy limits will be in place for all common spaces to allow for appropriate physical distancing.
Updates on common workspace availability will be posted to our Outlet Slack as needed. You can join the Outlet Slack Channel Here.
High touch surfaces will be cleaned by Outlet staff regularly throughout the day.

Private Offices and Dedicated Desks

Private Office and Desk Jockey Members are encouraged to follow the common space guidelines within their private spaces.

Conference Rooms

All bookings will be followed by a 15-minute cleaning and ventilation period.
Meeting Rooms 1 & 2 will have a 2 person occupancy limit.
The Board Room will have a 4 person occupancy limit.

New Hours

Monday – Friday

8am – 6pm

(Members with 24/7 access are not affected by this change)

Reception hours will remain the same.

Monday – Friday

9am – 5pm

January 27, 2020

Use a Coworking Space to Lower Costs for Your Next Hire

Traditional offices are not your only option when considering workspace anymore. In the past, running a business meant having an office. Leasing an office space is a huge expense and a long commitment which presents a barrier to entry for most businesses. The cost of having a private office at a suitable location affects every business decision from hiring to product development. This is no longer the case.
Business models have changed and the workplace has changed along with them. Operating with a distributed workforce is the new normal. That’s why so many businesses have turned to coworking spaces to significantly reduce their costs and allow more revenue to pass through into profits. Coworking spaces open up cash flow by costing much less than a traditional lease for a private office and saves business owners the time and hassle of securing a lease and building out space that fits their needs.

Placing new employees in a coworking space also allows you to be more flexible. You can grow at your own pace and have the freedom to scale up or down as needed. Utilities, coffee, internet connection, etc are all included in the membership fee at coworking spaces. These various services really add up and can result in huge savings when working out of a coworking space.
There are other benefits besides cost savings to placing your new hire in a coworking space. Coworking spaces attract a community of like-minded workers where collaborations thrive and new connections are made daily. Think of it as a permanent innovation incubator, where the enterprises of tomorrow are born and serendipity is a way of life. There are also several different membership options available at most coworking spaces to suit your needs and budget. Everything from part-time coworking to dedicated desks and private offices are usually available.
If you are looking to explore how coworking can contribute to the success of your business while reducing your operating costs, contact Outlet Coworking to schedule a tour and find out more about our membership options.

January 14, 2020

Inside Look at Our New Desk Jockey Space

You know that feeling you have when you work hard on something, then the day finally comes when it’s finished, and you get to look at it with total satisfaction knowing all that hard work has paid off? Well, that’s exactly how we at Outlet Coworking feel today. Why? We are finally ready to open up our new Desk Jockey space in the loft upstairs!

The loft here at Outlet has gone through a few different iterations. We started out with a couch, giant bean bags and a big TV on the wall. After 2 years of the TV being turned on once a month and the room rarely being used, we decided it was time to make a few changes. We took the TV down off the wall, added a giant rug to make the space feel a little warmer and added a round table and chairs. Immediately more members started using the space but it still was the most underutilized room in the building. It was time for a major change.

We thought of several different possibilities including closing off the space into more offices but finally decided the best use would be more dedicated desk space. In this new version of the loft, you get all the open-air glory of coworking with the added luxury of personalized, private workspace to call your own. Help us write the next page in the story of the Outlet loft by coming in for a tour and coworking with us! We can’t wait to show you the new space!

Old Versions- I still think they are pretty cool!

December 31, 2019

3 Reasons to Join a Coworking Space in 2020

Goodbye 2019 and hello 2020!

Startup businesses and independent contractors need to find a balance between growing their business and controlling costs. Workers who have the option to work remotely are choosing to work from home instead of heading into a corporate office everyday. All of these groups can benefit from joining a coworking space! Coworking spaces provide the perfect environment of productivity, collaboration, and a sense of community at a much lower cost than traditional office space.

Here are 3 reasons (and there are many more!) you should consider joining a coworking space in 2020-

Community

Lets face it, working from home or on your own can get lonely after a while. One of the greatest benefits of coworking is that it allows you to interact and connect with some awesome people on a daily basis. Each day, you get to work alongside a diverse group of people–from entrepreneurs, to freelancers, to remote workers and even small startups. Coworking gives you endless chances to build relationships with game-changing people through time spent working in the same space (with community events and happy hours thrown in the mix, too). Rather than working alone from home, members of coworking spaces get to be apart of a collaborative and supportive community.

Productivity

Coworking spaces are designed to help their members be more productive. When working from home, I know I tend to get distracted by chores, kids, TV, etc. and while some of these things are technically productive, they aren’t the things I need to do to make money. I am sure this applies to other people who work from home also. Studies have shown that working out of a coworking space actually increases productivity. A big reason for that, besides removing the natural distractions of working from home, is having the energy of other people working around you who are also trying to succeed within their own businesses. Removing unnecessary distractions and being around other motivated individuals helps you to maintain your workflow and stay on task. Because of all the above, many employers have even started offering to pay for their employees’ coworking memberships, because they recognize the high value of the boost in productivity that coworking provides.

Earn More Money

One of the biggest fears people have about joining a coworking space is losing money on something they don’t need. The reality is a coworking membership is an investment that can help you earn more money than ever. Aside from the productivity gains mentioned above, another reason you can make more money is the possibility–and likelihood–of collaborating with some of the people you cowork with. When you’re working alongside other freelancers and individuals within different fields than your own, you gain the opportunity to organically offer your services to them and in return utilize their services as well.

May 13, 2019

Aaron Wilcher works to “inform colleges of where there is opportunity areas for workforce development”

This month we sat down with Outlet member Aaron Wilcher to talk about his work with California Community Colleges. I start with the most basic of questions- what do you do? “I manage a program for the California Community College System and work at the Los Rios Community College District,” he says. His project is called the Centers of Excellence, which is a project for the State Chancellor’s office for the Community College system. It turns out that California has one of the largest college systems in the world. Aaron informs me “there are 115 community colleges in the state of California and last I remember it is the largest system of higher education in the U.S.” I ask him to tell me more about his project. “What we do is we provide research and other internal consulting services for regions of colleges around the state. It’s really a technical assistance program so I am an analyst and a researcher. It’s a lot of regional economic analysis. Basically what we are trying to do is to to inform the colleges about where there is opportunity areas for workforce development. Especially around career technical education.” That sounds like a lot of data to analyze for 115 colleges, and Aaron informs me that his program covers 15 of the colleges around Sacramento and the northern part of the state

“We’re asking the question of; What should the role of community colleges and organizations like the Sacramento Employment Administration be?”

I ask him to tell me more about the type of data he is collecting and analyzing. He tells me, “the kind of research we are doing is called cluster analysis and it involves engaging partners around strategic planning efforts on a community wide or regional scale.” At the time of our interview he is preparing to release a report about hospitality and tourism in the Sacramento region. “There is a lot going on with hospitality and tourism here in Sacramento. Farm to Fork, agrotourism, the Convention Center, the soccer stadium coming in, and Golden One Center. All these different things and the big concern is the quality of jobs that are being created with all of this development.” I ask what specifically is addressed in the report, he tells me that, “We’re asking the question of; What should the role of community colleges and organizations like the Sacramento Employment Administration be? Should they be targeting industries that have some sort of wage challenges and frequently don’t produce good jobs? So it is an interesting question.”

Aaron has been working in workforce development for the last 10 years. “I sorta fell into doing this because I went to school for urban planning and studied economic development. I had been working at a community college and at the time it was during the recession and the work to be had was in trying to help people find work. So I just kinda landed there and I have been doing it ever since,” he says. Aaron has been a member at Outlet for the last two years but he already had coworking experience when he joined. “I had done coworking in Reno at a place called The Reno Collective. I was briefly trying to live in Reno and I was doing coworking when I was consulting for the organization I work for now,” he told me. I asked him why he likes working at a coworking space and he said, “I think part of why I came here was because I frequently work a lot of overtime and I needed a safety relief valve so to speak from the office to be able to work late nights and weekends.” Aaron can often be found in the Outlet front room on weeknights and occasional weekends, and he jokes with me that, “the thing that happens the most often that is funny is when I am here late people walk by and they are out partying and they are like, ‘go home! What are you doing? That guys still there!.’ That has happened to me more than a few times.”

To wrap things up I ask Aaron to tell me how he ended up in Sacramento. “Part of it was for work and another part of it was to get closer to the mountains where I spend a lot of my free time skiing and riding my mountain bike,” he says. “I come from the Bay Area, grew up in San Jose and moved to a lot of areas while I was going to school. I lived in L.A. and Saint Louis, I got my Urban Planning Degree from UC Berkeley. Like a lot of people I am following the herd out here to escape the traffic and cost of living.” Although he thinks that Sacramento is getting more and more busy, he still really enjoys his life here in Sac. “Mostly I like cruising around. I love that it is very walkable. It’s easy to move around. I like that there is a lot of stuff to do but the bustle level is so much lower than San Francisco. I don’t miss San Francisco at all.” Even stating matter-of-factly, “I prefer Sacramento to San Francisco.” Don’t we all! Before we finish, Aaron makes sure to include a message to his fellow Outlet members: “Stop by and say hello! I am always happy to meet new people. Especially if people are interested in the community college system or education and workforce development. Actually I am pretty interested in data visualization but that is not a skill that I have so if anybody does that, or if anyone is interested in public policy or just wants to have a coffee and talk about local politics or what’s happening in the city with all the development thats going on. I’d be happy to meet members and talk about what we do.”

If you would like to learn more about the Centers of Excelence then please visit http://coeccc.net/

March 19, 2019

Outlet Celebrates its 4th Anniversary

This month we are celebrating Outlet’s 4th anniversary. It has been our great pleasure to provide workspace for so many Sacramento small businesses, non-profits, artists, remote workers, independent contractors, and more over these last 4 years. In celebration of this milestone Carly, Travis, and I thought that we would share a little about ourselves, a history of the work we have done here at Outlet Coworking, and some things to look forward to in the future.

We first started working towards opening Outlet in the summer of 2014. At that time I was a working for my small boutique film company, Plaid Zebra FIlms, and was looking for a new workspace to accommodate my four man crew. Travis was busy with his property management company and homebuilding projects and was looking for office space so that he could expand out of his home office. It made sense to us that we should get an office together to share the burden of rent and utilities while our businesses continued to grow. It was then that the leasing agent we were working with informed us of a large office building in Midtown that was about to go on the market. We were familiar with the concept of coworking spaces and thought that we could follow the example of the other great spaces already providing flexible workspace beneficial to entrepreneurs and independent contractors in Sacramento.

From the beginning we wanted Outlet to be a family business deeply rooted in Sacramento. With that in mind we brought our sister, Carly, on as the Director of Operations and decided to use our personal savings as startup capital rather than looking for funding from organizations with interests elsewhere. We hit the ground running in the fall of 2014 with designing our tables and desks, even going as far as taking over the garage of our family home with staining and routing our large table tops, much to our mother’s chagrin. She only had to deal with our intrusion for a short time because we quickly moved into the building at 2110 K Street in December and spent the next 4 months remodeling the space and filling it with all of the bells and whistles we could think of. Then, in March of 2015 we celebrated opening for business with a grand opening party complete with a performance from the band that I was playing in at the time.

Over the next four years we learned that the work of building this place would never be done. We continued to improve and rebuild our facility, adding more and larger conference rooms, getting larger TVs, rewiring the network for faster speeds, and listening to recommendations from our members on where and what to improve. Our largest project would come in the spring of 2017 when we realized that the courtyard needed a major overhaul. Using the DIY skills that our father instilled in us growing up, we completely resurfaced the area with pavers that allow for better drainage and a more appealing look. My back still hurts when I think of the days I spent placing stones as the weather heated up that May. More recently we have been working to improve the aesthetic comfort of the space, adding a stylish new conference room, painting the stairwells and annex, and adding comfortable furniture to the back room. Changes are still coming as we intend to install a soundproof phone booth for our members to use for short calls or video conferences that don’t require a full conference room. That addition should be arriving in the next few months.

What started as a side project for us quickly turned into our passion. We have seen small businesses that joined us with a few employees grow from one office to two, to three, four, until they outgrew our space and purchased offices of their own. We have watched the success of our members as their organizations made a difference for students, fellow entrepreneurs, and the Sacramento community with their programs. We take great pride when members move on to bigger and better opportunities as they pass through our facility. They say that it is easy to sell when you believe in your product, and we truly believe that we provide a great service to our members here at Outlet. Thank you to all our current and past members for being a part of our community and allowing us to be a small part of your story. We hope to continue to serve you and others in the years to come.

instagram.com/outletcoworking

twitter.com/OutletCoworking

January 15, 2019

Photographer Garrett Cotham enjoys “the blend of art and physical labor”

After we hung some of his striking photography in the front room at Outlet, I sat down with member Garrett Cotham to learn more about his work and career as a freelance photographer. “I’ve always been interested in art, even when I was a little kid,” he tells me. “But when I was in high school I took a photography class which I just really took to. The first time I was in a darkroom and I watched the print come up in the chemicals it was like magic and just remember being blown away by it. I had no idea that’s what happend. Since then I just took to photography.” Garrett enjoys both the adventure of getting out into the world to capture unique scenes as well as developing, printing and framing the work afterwards. “I just really enjoyed doing the work- capturing scenes, working in the darkroom, the blend of art and physical labor.”

**“I specialize in photography. Mostly travel landscape based stuff. A little documentary also. I just kind of learned by doing. I still do.”**

Garrett specializes in travel and landscape photography, but he is quick to try out new concepts or techniques when the opportunity arises. “Mostly I try to stay open to learning about new processes. If something interests me to try to figure out either how to do it or read about it more, study it more and figure out how much it interests me. If I really want to pursue it.” Curious, I ask him about different techniques that he has tried out. “One thing a couple years ago that I got into was wet plate photography. I saw some work that just blew me away, it was really fantastic. Old school. Really old style like 150 years old. So I took a couple classes in San Francisco about how to do wet plate photography. It was really fun, I’m really glad I did it.” So, has he ever thought about switching specialties? “I’m open to learning new things but I always come back to the travel and the landscape things that I think are just closer to my heart,” he tells me.

**“In general I just keep plugging away trying to find places to show my work, to publish my work, just to get it out in the world and, little by little, it grows.”**

At this point we move on to the question that every freelance artists worries about constantly- how do you make money? Garrett is ready with a quick quip, “if someone can tell me how to do that it would be fantastic.” We both share a laugh, then he then gives me his real answer, “I have done a lot work for Kaiser Hospital in South Sacramento, I have done work for a couple law firms here in town. Done some work for Pipeworks, the climbing gym, and had some shows up there also, and as well as a few publications around.” I then ask him about what the future holds, asking about the stereotypical ‘5 year plan’. “I have no 5 year plan to speak of. Maybe I should,” he jokes, “In general I just keep plugging away trying to find places to show my work, to publish my work, just to get it out in the world and, little by little, it grows. And it has been growing for the last couple of years.”

**“If I could do huge mural prints and cover an entire side of a building with a photograph, that would be phenomenal.”**

We move on to the self promotion portion of our interview, when I ask him to tell me about what he has coming up. “Other than the show here at Outlet, which I am very happy to have, I don’t have any big projects upcoming at the moment but I do have work up in the world,” he tells me. “I mentioned Pipeworks. If you ever go there in the bouldering area there is a large mural that is 9 feet tall by 27 feet wide. It’s a panoramic shot of a place called The Buttermilks by Bishop. It is a popular climbing destination.” I tell him that I am familiar with his mural, since a close friend of mine regularly climbs at Pipeworks. Happy that I am familiar with his work, he tells me, “I love doing big stuff like that. If I could do huge mural prints and cover an entire side of a building with a photograph, that would be phenomenal.” He also tells me of some of his recent travels, and possible shows that could come from his work there. “A couple months ago my wife and I spent a month in Vietnam and it was phenomenal and I am hoping to do a show of Vietnam sometime in the coming year.”

**“I always liked it, even when I lived in Davis. I would come up here for Second Saturday shows and see galleries and stuff. It’s a great place to be.”**

Then I move on to talking about Sacramento. I start by asking how Garrett ended up here. “I grew up in the Bay Area. East Bay. But I came up to this region in ‘99 to go to school at UC Davis. Stayed there till about ‘05 or so and then went and traveled for a while,” he says. “When I came back I just kind of landed here. I had some friends who had moved here and when I came back from traveling I didn’t have a job or place to stay so I stayed with them for a little while. I found a job here and shortly after is when I met my wife. We got together and I just ended up here.” I ask him what he loves about the city itself. He replies, “I always liked it, even when I lived in Davis. I would come up here for Second Saturday shows and see galleries and stuff. It’s a great place to be.” When I ask him what he enjoys about it now he says, “the ease of Sacramento. It’s not crowded like the Bay Area. It’s not as busy. When it does feel busy, if I want to get out of here, you know, an hour, hour and a half and I can be up in the mountains. I can go hiking and be away from traffic and people and noise.” He continues, saying that, “it’s also easy to get around. I live just off of Broadway and pretty much anywhere I need to go, I walk. I walk here (Outlet) all the time. It’s just easy to get around. And great restaurants. Actually, phenomenal restaurants!” It’s always the food.

Find more about Garrett Cotham Photography at

garrettcotham.photoshelter.com

Come see Garrett’s art work in the front room at Outlet through January.

Special Saturday Afternoon Showing January 26th, 11AM-2PM

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