The Fellow Coworking wins 2018 Coworker Members’ Choice Award for coworking spaces

Manhattan, KS, (Monday 16 April 2018) — The Fellow Coworking today announced it has been recognized as winner of the 2018 Coworker Members’ Choice Award for Manhattan, Kansas. Members’ Choice award winners were determined based on the thousands of reviews, votes and opinions collected in a single year from coworking space members worldwide.

“The Fellow is our members. It’s not a building, a small business event promoter, or even just a desk to work from. It is an incredible community of hard working business owners, entrepreneurs, artists and remote employees who choose to work here everyday because they want to. I’m the smallest piece of the operation by having the opportunity to try to help them succeed and enjoy their work more. It’s really exciting seeing this project flourish in Manhattan,” community manager Josh Hicks said.

“Coworker is excited to announce the winners of the 2018 Members’ Choice Awards and celebrate the coworking spaces around the world that are making an impact in their community”, said Leanne Beesley, CEO of Coworker. “By putting a spotlight on coworking spaces that are providing a great environment and creating a community for their members, Coworker gives coworking spaces both large and small the ability to shine and attract new members.”

About The Fellow Coworking

The Fellow is a shared office space that exists for non-profits to operate out of, mobile business professionals to collaborate, remote employees to have a creative hub, artists and startups to have an affordable workspace. The Fellow boasts inspiring workspaces, welcoming communities, 24/7 access, small business resources, and modern amenities such as private mail, a conference room, unlimited coffee, event spaces, private parking and more.

About Coworker

Coworker, the member-powered platform for the global coworking community, enables people to find & connect with their perfect coworking space wherever they are in the world.

5 Elements To Improve Your Work Productivity Today

If you're reading this, you understand the pains that come alongside of working from home, in coffee shops, in your work vehicle, a public library, or even in the back of Panera.

Thankfully, there are many quick ways to instantly improve your productivity while trying to get work done. A few free secrets: all you need to do is make a quick run to Target, sign up for Spotify Premium, or check out your local coworking spaces.

There's more than just that however. Let's get to it.

1. Bright, natural lighting

This is not only crucial for the natural process of your body, Vitamin D, etc.. but it's truly has an enormous effect on our physical and mental well-being.

It turns out cooler light makes workers more productive. Exposure to natural light is especially beneficial to workers cooped up in an office all day. Natural light from both the morning and evening has been found to decrease depression and improve mood, energy, alertness and productivity.

 

2. Music

Spotify Premium is our go to. We all have our own music that brightens the day, motivates us to run and exercise, meditate and relax. This holds true for working and productivity as well.

We've found that upbeat, instrumental jams along with throwing it back to the 70's, 80's, 90's, and even simply choosing the curated playlists Spotify already has listed. You can find and follow our work playlist here!

 

 

3. Plants

The easiest to maintain and the prettiest to look at: Snake Plant, Philodendron, and Jade.

4. Get rid of closeby distractions

We all know working from home is toxic because of distractions like dishes, Netflix, kids, pets, and so on. One of the quickest ways to be more productive is to make your workspace as clean and clear as possible.

Creating space for a dedicated workspace in a second bedroom of your house for work only is a good start.

5. Coworking

Number 5. You guessed it. Coworking.

Actually, maybe not. Coworking is thriving in large cities, but only a small number of remote employees, small business owners, and entrepreneurs are turning to coworking spaces in cities under 60,000. We believe coworking cures the first four of these ideas instantly.

We've designed our space with all four, and more, in mind. One of our members put it best by saying, "I've gotten more done with my business in the past year than I ever would have at home."

Coworking is simply a shared office space, with business amenities, resources, and flexibility. It is on the rise, and estimated that by the end of this year, 1.7 million people will be working in over 19,000 coworking spaces.

Everyone gets their first day free to our coworking space! We want you to believe coworking for yourself. Stop by anytime, fill up a mug with fresh coffee, and get work done!

See you soon!

Reworking the Work Space - Manhattan Magazine

(Original feature in The Manhattan Magazine.)

The space of a car was all the room Josh Hicks needed to conceptualize his big idea.

During a drive home to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens with his wife, Shelby Hicks, her brother and his wife, Josh learned that his vision to create a shared space for small businesses was not a new concept. His brother-in-law was already a member of a coworking space in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

"It was like the sun came out for the first time in six months," Josh says, realizing that he and Shelby didn't have to "create this whole animal."

The couple and their team received keys to the building to began renovations about 12 weeks after Josh’s epiphany. They drove to Sioux Falls that same day to participate in a 12 hour think tank workshop with other owners of coworking spaces.
 

Josh, Shelby, co-founders Derek Richards and Caleb Amundson, and co-owner Allyn Weddle, enlisted a crew of volunteers to stage an eight week renovation of The Fellow’s building at 1125 Westport Drive to make it “modern, clean, and open.”

Concurrently, they pre-sold memberships and prepared for a launch part in April 2016 to beat the exodus that occurs during the summer vacation season. Fast forward. Today, The Fellow’s six sold out private offices have a waiting list, and its 3,000 square feet of coworking space are shared by half of the up to 60 members-small business owners who are 21 and older-who can use it as an office away from home, particularly when no office exists. It’s a small membership fee to use the space, or interested parties can purchase day passes to try it out. The first day is free.

The Fellow has served more than a shared working environment, however. Art shows, live music, non-profit events, and even church services are held in the building’s gathering spaces, which include a consultation nook, conference room, and a cafe- each furnished with technology. Josh and Shelby’s personal experience as small business owners served as their inspiration for opening The Fellow. “My wife and I are also photographers, so we were working from home and coffee shops,” Josh says. “We finally hit that rut of working from home.”

The lack of a true work environment and the distraction of everyday duties began to cripple the couple’s morale. They created their new business venture to avert such a struggle for small business owners like themselves. “The Fellow is for anyone who works from home, coffee shops, or remotely,” Josh says. “It is a space, but it has members.. It’s its own community.”

Free Day Access for National Coworking Day

National Coworking Day is celebrated by shared office spaces all around the world each year on August 9th. We first heard about the annual event from our friends who own and manage Plexpod, a coworking space in Kansas City. They are attempting to host the worlds largest day of coworking, and it makes sense. Plexpod recently purchased the old Westport middle school and high school, and is converting nearly 360,000 square feet into usable coworking space.

For National Coworking Day in Manhattan, we will be offering free day passes for whoever wants to come through our doors tomorrow.

That's right. Free wifi, free coffee (provided by Arrow Coffee Co,) free desk space, and even free conference room reservations are all available tomorrow.

If you enjoy your day trying out our coworking space, you can sign up for any membership and get the first month 50% off.

We hope to see you tomorrow!

StartUp MHK pitch competition opens registration.

Earlier this summer entrepreneurs in the Manhattan business community launched StartUp MHK, a pitch competition with a chance to win thousands of dollars in seed capital to help launch their business idea on the real market.

Registration is now open for the practice pitch on August 26th, 2017 beginning at 9am. Peoples State Bank is presenting the pitch competition held at The Fellow. This is the event to fine-tune your pitch and get helpful tips from the Pitch Competition judges. The event is designed to help you with your plan and your pitch.

Mike Honeywell, a partner in JNT Company, a Manhattan-based marketing firm, helped produce a similar event in Jefferson City, Missouri.

“If you’ve been thinking about starting up a business or somebody has said, ‘You ought to start a business,’ this is the place where you’ll get more support than you’ve ever got in your entire life,” he said.

For the inaugural year, Honeywell said the goal is to have a pool of $5,000 to $8,000 to distribute to the three businesses with the best pitch. He said he hopes to hear 30 to 40 pitches.

The StartUp MHK 2017 Pitch Competition will be September 23rd at Peoples State Bank.