BetaLoft

We have closed.

Drew — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:43:19 +0000

I want to begin by thanking you for your support of BetaLoft. Being able to open this business and new creative environment has been a dream come true and we could not have made it this far without your interest in coworking.

After 9 months of pouring tens of thousands of dollars into the Loft to keep it up and running, my wife and I no longer have the means to sustain it and the Loft is not seeing the growth we projected and hoped for. As a result, we have decided to close.

I believe in the coworking movement and fully expect to see a full-time coworking space return to the Wasatch Front in the near future. We may have closed our physical location, but we are planning to still be champions and local advocates of coworking. Look for us to organize weekly ‘Jellies‘ in and around the Wasatch Front in the near future.Thank you all again. It has been a pleasure getting to know you and I hope we can keep in touch.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me
Sincerely,
Drew Tyler

Spark your Brilliance

Drew — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:32:01 +0000

The Loft is always a great place to learn new things and spark your brilliance, but we figured we’d give you a few specific dates to look into. Whether you’re looking to belt out some Journey tunes, wrangle your business books or get schooled in the huge pond of Social Media, we’ve got you covered this week!

First! This Saturday, Feb 20th, is the 3rd installment of TechKaraokeSLC. What exactly is TechKaraoke you ask? It’s no different than the genuine thing, we just throw the word Tech on it to make it enticing to our friends who are inclined to speak geek. Join KJ @ktdata and all of his awesome geek gear This Saturday from 7pm -midnight. details

Second! QuickBooks class with Backyard Bookkeeper on Monday the 22nd 5-7pm.
This 4 week class includes 8 hours of basic Quickbooks training, customized bookkeeping recommendations and guidance for your business, and related reference materials. Class size will be small (no more than 12-13 people), with lots of scheduled time for individual questions and business-specific issues. Register now to reserve your seat!
February 22nd – March 15th. Classes will be Monday evenings, 5-7 pm, at BetaLoft. details

Third! The SMAC Social Media workshop returns to the Loft Thurs the 25th & Fri the 26th. It will cover the basics of social media, the basics of strategy, and provide you with a good solid foundation of social media understanding for you to build upon. This is 2 full days of full-contact Social Media. The code “SmacFeb” will get you 50% off for this week only! Register for the event http://smacsocialmediaworkshop2.eventbrite.com/

Don’t miss the testimonials from previous attendees http://shuaism.com/2010/01/february-social-media-training-classes/

State of the Space Address

Drew — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:35:49 +0000

January is a fine time to look forward and consider the potential accomplishments and goals of the upcoming year. BetaLoft has been around for 6 whole months, and we’ve accomplished a handful of both simple and great things. We expect 2010 will bring about much much more. Here are some things I personally hope to see this year.
How does BetaLoft and/or Coworking fit into your goals this year?

More Groups. The Loft is nothing if it isn’t a comfortable place for people to network and share. This past year we’ve been home to CodeAway, S.L.L.U.G, Salt Lake iPhone Users Group, and we were key in the beginnings of the Salt Lake Autodesk Users Group. We’ve also hosted numerous other groups from the Social Media Club of SLC to Startup Princess‘ SLC chapter.

More Loft Activities. We tried last year to hold a separate night of fun each month at that loft, some were very well attended, others…well anyway this year we want to see a growth in the energy that surrounds these Loft nights. We’ve had nights of playing Rock Band, TechKaraoke, and Christmas parties. This year we hope to include LAN parties, board game nights and more parties.

More Members. Obviously any coworking space is benefited by having dynamite members. We hope to increase our ‘Spark’ by increasing our membership base. We have so many unique individuals who frequent the loft it’s a veritable cornucopia of professional awesome sauce. It can only get more savory, the more members we have!

Kill the Hyphen. It’s coworking…not co-working. Editors, your spell-check is wrong. please see doescoworkinghaveahyphen.com and have a nice day.

More Start-ups. BetaLoft is a perfect place for birthing new ideas, new designs, and new companies. We hope to see more startups calling BetaLoft home.

More Giving. We believe in giving, and giving some more. We have hopes and dreams of spearheading Utah’s first Givecamp. More details to come, soon!

You Don’t Need an Office to Have an Office Party

Drew — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:04:32 +0000

It’s almost inevitable, if you have a cubicle…your company probably throws a holiday office party. For the 3 years I worked for a small production company I had my own closet office and an office party was one of our annual perks. It was a great time to set work aside for a few hours and enjoy the Holiday spirit.

Now, like so many other independent nomads out there, I have no “Office.” Does that mean I have to miss out on the goodies? The good times? Getting the brick wrapped in colorful paper for the gift exchange game? Not this year!

Here at BetaLoft, we’ll provide the “Holiday Office Party” for all you independents that wish you had a holiday party to go to. So, If you’re a freelancer, independent professional or telecommuter, please join us on Friday, Dec. the 18th for our “Tech The Halls” Christmas party at BetaLoft. Come enjoy the festivities from 7pm on. Drop in for a few hours or stay all night. Bring your family and friends!

Plan on a classic white elephant gift exchange game around 8:30pm. Then around 9p we’ll have TechKaraokeSLC K.J. Kevin (@ktdata) all set up to spin your requested Karaoke hits.

Fee free to bring some board-games or whatever you think will make this bash fantastic! Email me if you’re interested in helping out!

TIME: 7pm-?? Dec. 18th
WHERE: BetaLoft
WHAT: TechKaraoke (same as any old Karaoke,just sounds cooler with Tech on the front), White Elephant Game, Games, Snacks, Fun, like crazy office party lamp-shade wearing fun!

The Betaloft backstory

Drew — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:01:22 +0000

From the beginning I’ve known that any pursuit of this concept that included the core values of transparency, and collaboration would require more than a ‘business model.’ Something of this nature needs a community. Community has to be the first priority, I think that idea is lost on many corporate companies, where the bottom line has been the focus. Really this idea came about from my graduate studies in the field of Journalism. A perfectly fantastic industry of serving the community that has been destroyed by their focus on the bottom-line and the corporate conglomerations that refuse to be socially responsible.

The germ of the idea of coworking has been with me for quite some time, I just didn’t know if it was feasible. Until… my sister forwarded an article from the Tribune about a space that had just opened in Orem. Cowork Utah. The Cowork Utah website and the newspaper article introduced me to the term ‘coworking’ and led me to some fantastic co-working resources online. I was like a kid in a candy store, reading everything I could on the movement, devouring every blog post, exploring all the existing co-working spaces’ websites. I examined the models and methods, and explored the concepts; sustainability, synergy, collaboration etc. My co-working ‘research’ almost overshadowed my Graduate Research. In finding the trend and literally the word ‘coworking’ I found an earlier concept I had entertained, that of a “digital salon,” could be sustained.

I planned for more than half of a year, deciding on what to offer and who to offer it to. I started looking for funding when I knew the idea was going to be fulfilled. However, in the beginning I self-funded the launch of BetaLoft with the gracious blessing of my wife who allowed me to use over 75% of our personal savings. I found a tremendous Zion’s Bank branch manager, Scott Sluis, who assisted me in jumping the many flaming hoops of the SBA. It took almost 4 months from the time my Loan was approved, to satisfy all their desires, before I got the Loan. As for supplies, I looked at the other coworking spaces in the US and gleaned ideas from each of them. I also knew that depending on what space I ended up in, the furniture needs would change. We’ve come a long way from paper and business plans to being a fully operational space, but it’s been a dream!

Coworking as an investment

Drew — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:31:56 +0000

I read a nice article on Web Worker Daily about justifying coworking as an investment. It was a quick read and basically covered the hard costs that come with coworking. It mentions several groups that could benefit from the brick & mortar presence and the space to meet clients.

The focus of the post was “How and when does it become a justifiable expense?” essentially looking at what there is to gain from coworking, assessing the risks and costs and then making an informed decision. All together a good solid article that looks to help you decide if Coworking is right for you.

However, this article quickly dismisses the part of the equation that is the “good feeling and sense of camaraderie you miss from your days working in an office setting” and focuses on the hard costs and benefits. I would add that those “good feelings” are too important to put aside when making your decision. The intangibles of coworking are exactly what coworking is about. Without them we’re talking about executive suites and coffee-shop hopping. Coworking is about boosting productivity through synergy. Surround yourself with like-minded people and benefit from the collaboration, the support and the productive atmosphere.

Whatever it is that you place on the scales to decide if coworking is right for you, consider the value of those intangibles and the value of being involved in a community that supports you and your ventures.