If you're a start-up, entrepreneur or frustrated cubicle farmer and dream of making work more about what you do than where you sit, you should really follow the LaC team throughout their journey.

The Trip
11,921 Miles
1,080 Hours
55 Stories
45 Days
35 Cities
20 CoWorking Joints
1 Roadtrip

About Rise of the Cubicle Farmer
Rise of the Cubicle Farmer is a 45 day Road Trip documenting the changing landscape of the idea of “work” among entrepreneurs, small business people, and progressive corporate types.

AJ Leon and The LaC Project are traveling across the United States and Canada to meet with entrepreneurs, digital nomads, workshifters, small business people, co-working centers, founders of business web applications, executives in large corporations, authors and academics – to capture stories of people leveraging technology to create innovative businesses and empowering work environments.

We will be meeting with people about how they define their work as something they do instead of some place that they sit.  We want hear stories and understand how coworking, workshifting and modern web applications have changed how people manage their businesses and live their lives.

Who are the Crazies behind this project?
AJ and Melissa Leon are the passionate and digitally nomadic entrepreneurs behind The LaC Project.  AJ blogs about relationship marketing, social media and the experience economy over at www.ajleon.me . AJ also writes a Newsletter dedicated to helping you launch your business and social projects and act on your ideas.  Sign up and receive the Rise of the Cubicle Farmer eBook for Free!

Why are we doing this?
Our primary goal is to tell inspiring stories of small business owners and entrepreneurs using technology, web applications and modern work environments (ie coworking spaces) to run their businesses and projects in interesting ways and on their terms.  We are hoping to educate and empower aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners to follow their lead.  To show them that the tools are out there, they just have to start leveraging them.

We also want to highlight larger corporations that are leading the enterprise revolution away from the corporate cubicle farm culture by enacting workshifting and distributed workforces.

Where are we going?
Our 10,000 mile route will take us across 26 states as well as two Canadian provinces.  You can check out the entire Route here.  If you have your own story to tell about your rise from the cubicle farm culture, you can request a stop and we’ll do our best to swing by if its on our way!

Who are our sponsors and why did we approach them?
Our full sponsor list can be seen here.  Every single sponsor that we approached provides products and services that we personally use and love.  We want to make business people aware of these amazing web applications and products that are either free or ridiculously inexpensive to show how you can run a seriously robust business in an ultra lean way.

The following is a re-post from the Jelly Long Island blog.  

One of the initial triggers that led to the blog post, Why are there no Coworking Spaces In Long Island?, and eventually into our growing bi-weekly Jelly event, was the book Emergence – The Story of the Centre for Social Innovation.

Emergence is the first of a three part series published by CSI entitled Shared Spaces for Social Innovation. The three part series offers a comprehensive overview of the CSI shared space model.

Part 1 – Emergence – The Story of The Centre for Social Innovation

Part 2 – Rigour – How To Create World-Changing Spaces

Part 3 – Proof – How Shared Spaces Are Changing The World

Having read all three books now, one of the concepts I found most fascinating (especially after our last Jelly) came from Part 2 – Rigour.
The most important thing to remember is that you are not just creating a physical space – you are creating a social, environmental, and psychological space too. Each of these elements deserves careful and deliberate “curating“ to achieve the vision and goals you have set.

Heres Why.

Yesterday’s Jelly was held at the Citibank Conference/Breakout Room, generously donated by Citibank and RXR Realty. As I’ve probably said a hundred times already, “the space was awesome!” We had a huge U-shaped conference table, a big area with couches, private bathrooms and more…the perfect space to aspire to when we are ready to move to a permanent space.

Anyway, as yesterday’s event went on, I was not the only one to realize that the vibe was not quite as energetic as the previous Jelly. While I heard from several folks they were able to get a lot of work done during the day, something was a little off. I even heard the word “library” thrown around a couple of times.

Around 3:30 PM, several of us in attendance gathered outside the work area to discuss the days event, and how we could improve things for Jelly #4.

Larry Reiter, President at EcoEnergy Consulting and Supply Corp, wins the prize for the most insightful post-event feedback. He noted that u-shaped configuration/formal layout of the work area was the culprit for not encouraging as much interaction as there could have been. After thinking about the layout of the room in our previous Jelly, Larry was 100% right.

In our previous location, we made a concerted effort to randomize how the tables were laid out. As a result, people felt much more comfortable walking around the room and interacting with others in attendance. The U-shaped conference configuration tended to limit the interaction in the workspace to only those who were seated right next to each other. Larry’s point was highlighted further during lunchtime where several of the attendees sat together at a rectangular cafeteria table and the conversation flowed much more readily.

While we easily could have adjusted the layout mid-stream yesterday, I am kind of glad we didn’t as it taught us an important lesson about how much the space dictates the overall vibe of the room.

On the positive side, some of the other issues we had during our first two events were non-factors, and most importantly, we added several interesting and passionate members to our growing Long Island Jelly community.

If you’re a Long Island solopreneur, start-up, freelancer or small business and want to work alongside other passionate folks “fighting the fight”, our next Jelly is for you.

Spaces are filling quickly and there is only room for 25 people. To RSVP please click here.

Image Source: Part 2 – Rigour – How To Create World-Changing Spaces

As I mentioned in my previous post, your office is an extension of your brand. CanvasPop really helps you to proudly display that brand by extending it onto your walls, and ultimately creating a more beautiful place to work for you, your staff and your clients.

BTW - CanvasPop was recently featured on one of the coolest office interior design blogs in existence The Office Stylist.

Here's How The Service Works:

10 Reasons To Give CanvasPop A Try

1) Every canvas we print is handmade.

2) Gallery-quality canvas and life-like printing.

3) Choices! Choices! (and more choices) 

4)  Every canvas created from a photo for you is treated with an ultra-protective UV-matte laminate.   

5) 100% satisfaction and lifetime guarantee.

6) Rich, vibrant colors come from state of the art canvas printing technology.

7) Free digital proofs = no surprises.

8) All mounting hardware is included.

9) Being able to work with photos from any source means that you can upload that special picture of someone close to you and have it printed to canvas and sent to them as a gift.

10) A passion for printing powered by proven technology.

When we contacted CanvasPop to get more information about their company they were generous enough to set up a promo code for Open Office Space that offers our users free shipping.

The following free shipping code should be entered in the promotion box on the shopping cart page: openofficespace8fs  

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Your Office Space Is An Extension Of Your Brand

     
A little over a week ago, my wife and I hopped on a plane to Dublin, Ireland to check out the sites, sounds... and Guinness.

While in Dublin, we had an opportunity to visit AMWorks, a coworking space right in the heart of the city. 

Alan Richardson, Founder of Amworks, was extremely hospitable throughout our stay and a tremendous help in organizing the filming of this interview. Aside from the slight accent (we couldn't agree which one of us had the accent), I found it very interesting how the residents of AMWorks described the benefits they derive from working out of a coworking space. Definitely highlights some common threads that a coworking space offers...regardless of location.

A few quotes from the interview are below:

"The best feature of AMWorks is definitely the diversity of its members. There in a broad range of businesses which creates opportunities for collaboration." Alan Richardson - Founder of AMWorks

"You also engage and you find people quite helpful as well to help you do certain things. So from that perspective, I have to say its been a very impressive exerience so far." John Kamara - Co-Founder of Achieve More Business Training www.achievemorebusiness.com

"We have worked with several of the other small business in here..." Conor Lynch - Founder Connector www.connector.ie

"It's a great opportunity to network internally and share advice and help spur each other along to work more effectively." Greg Fry - Co-Founder of Achieve More Business Training www.achievemorebusiness.com

"The reason I got a good deal on my logo design is because the people here told me to go to someone. So you use each others connections, each others networks, I find it absolutely perfect." Herbert - Founder of CareerTrotter     www.careertrotter.eu

Other Ways To Follow The Interview Subjects:
Achieve More Business/Career Coach: (Greg Fry & John Kamara)
Blog:
http://wwwcareerscoacheu.blog.com
Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfry
http://ie.linkedin.com/in/johnkamara
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/achievemorebusiness
www.facebook.com/thecareerscoach
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/careerscoacheu
You Tube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/achievemorebusiness
http://www.youtube.com/careerscoacheu

   

At each Working Lunch event, guests view the premiere of the latest Basso On Business episode, and get involved in a live, interactive business discussion with Rob and leading experts.The goal of Rob's lunch program is to motivate and support small businesses with innovative presentations, business growth strategies and informative speakers.

The focus of the event I attended was Matt Silver of Ultimate Class Limousine. Matt runs a very successful company but seems to have a little trouble managing the long list of tasks that he is faced with on a daily basis. In many cases, even handling tasks that are responsibilities of his employees.

After the 30 or so business owners watched Matt's video a spirited conversation ensued regarding what Matt could/should do to better organize his business. My contribution during the event = a BIG ZERO!

Anyway, a few days after the event it dawned on me that I missed an opportunity to share one of the single best pieces of business advice I ever received...especially as it is so relevant to Matt's organization challenges. 

The following is a letter I sent to Rob detailing this advice (It was re-posted as a guest blog on Rob's site)

Hi Rob,

Part 1 - Emergence - The Story of The Centre for Social Innovation

Part 2- Rigour - How To Create World-Changing Spaces

Part 3 (coming soon) - Proof - How Shared Spaces Are Changing The World

I dare any entrepreneur to read this book and not feel at least a little ping of interest in opening/ working out of a coworking space. As a matter of fact, I was so personally inspired by this book, I am seriously considering putting out my feelers to see if there is any real interest from others in starting a coworking space here in Long Island, New York. 

Based on my preliminary research there are a grand total of ZERO coworking spaces on Long Island.

I want to know Why?

Is it because Long Island is just too spread out?

Is it because mass transit is somewhat limited and getting to a space would require a car?

Is it because there are not enough entrepreneurs on Long Island? 

Is it possible that there are coworking spaces in Long Island and I just don't know about them?

I did find a couple of random past threads from others looking to start coworking in Long Island but these folks never seemed to get beyond the planning stages. Why?

With the amount of colleges situated in such a relatively condensed area you would think that some young motivated entrepreneur would have led the coworking charge by now. But to my knowledge, this has not been the case. 

So for the last time, as quickly as coworking spaces are popping up throughout the country, WHY hasn't anyone launched one in Long Island? It seems to me that Long Island can certainly benefit from an infusion of entrepreneurial energy.

To quote from the book Emergence "If you're in, I'm in..." If you have any interest in exploring the concept of coworking in Long Island, please reach out to me as I would definitely be willing to coordinate a meeting. I can be reached at david (at) openofficespace.com

Here are a few of great excerpts from the book:

Openness & Light. "...light is how you achieve openness...I don't think people should be anywhere where they can't have access to natural light."

Equally essential to creating and sustaining this sense of community are common spaces. Everyone coming into or out of their office in CSI has to pass through the common area, and much like the living room in your house, it contains all the essential for a comfortable break: an arrangement of couches, a rug or two, a coffee table piled with newspapers, a few plants and knick-knacks that have been picked up over time.

There is much wisdom in the old adage that bonds are forged and friendships formed over the breaking of bread. It is wisdom that hold to this day, and it was over shared meals and communal lunches that CSI's members first and most strongly developed connections to one another.

The selection process itself was an exercise in breaking traditional workplace models in which factors beyond a potential member's ability to make rent were taken into account.

Animation as opposed to programming, is all about enabling community rather than directly trying to create it: it's a philosophy of supporting and fostering an environment in which collaboration emerges naturally rather than intervening to try to instigate collaboration by sheer force of will.

Now, on to the next book in the series, Rigour.

Content Source: Centre for Social Innovation

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On Wednesday of last week I had the pleasure of attending the Entrepreneur Summer Launch Party at WorkBar Boston, an awesome coworking space in Boston. The event was co-sponsored by WorkBar and Grasshopper (The Virtual Phone System Designed For Entrepreneurs)  and brought out some of Boston's finest entrepreneurs. (more on the actual event in an upcoming blog post)

Anyway the space was so impressive I decided to push my luck and asked to come back the next day for a formal tour of the space as well as an interview with the founders and a few of the residents.

As a follow up to my last 2 blog posts regarding furnishing the "optimal office space" and modern trends in office furniture, here are a few great resources (blogs/books) to help provide you with some additional inspiration and ideas for creating YOUR ideal office space.

BLOGS

The Office Stylist

A few quotes from the interview: 

"One of the biggest trends in the office furniture industry today is the decline of the cubicle. The cubicle walls are coming down and their allowing employees to interact and collaborate."

"They're using the open office space that's left over when they shrink those workstations and doing more with the in-between areas."

"Companies are intermixing lounge areas where people are working with their laptops. They're incorporating informal meeting areas at regular height or even cafe height for more of that Starbucks feel." 

"The worker of the future is going to be more mobile than ever, they're going to utilize new technologies. But they're still going to need to collaborate with their fellow employees, and colleagues, and exchange that information in real time. So, the workspace of the future is going to have to be more flexible and open to support those activities."

About Waldners Waldner’s Business Environments Inc. markets office furniture of brands such as OFS, Metro, Kimball, Steelcase, KI, and Hon. The company also offers furniture storage and refurbishing services. Its clientele include SAP, Ernst & Young, PrimeMedia, Readers’ Digest, MTV, HomeLoanBank, PepsiCo. Random House, GE Capital, Canon, and Sony. The company has strategic alliances with Adden, Buro, Falcon, Golden Oak, ISE, Jofcon, Lucia Group, and Vitra. Waldner’s Business Environments was founded in 1939 and is based in New York City.

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"When and entrepreneur or a small business is planning to do a new space, I think its really important to examine closely where your company is now, and where you want to be in the future. It's important to examine your work processes..."

"Something as simple as walking through the space, and looking at some of the work arounds that people do to their environments to make it work for them. Are their pads on the chairs? Maybe they need a new chair. Are their monitors up on a bunch of books because the there not at the right height? Are their storage components empty and filled with just their shoes and their purses. These are the type of things that can help you look at how to design a new space, and to design it in a way that's functional for your employees."

"For instance, the younger generation, Generation-Y, there not going to want to work in the typical cubicle, they want to work in these different office environments, they want to work in the lounge areas in the cafes...so you want design your space accordingly if you want to attract and retain that type of employee."  

"What we're really finding is the most important workplace issue for employees these days is access. Access to people that they work with, access to technology and access to information, and that's what's really driving the trends."  

About Waldners Waldner’s Business Environments Inc. markets office furniture of brands such as OFS, Metro, Kimball, Steelcase, KI, and Hon. The company also offers furniture storage and refurbishing services. Its clientele include SAP, Ernst & Young, PrimeMedia, Readers’ Digest, MTV, HomeLoanBank, PepsiCo. Random House, GE Capital, Canon, and Sony. The company has strategic alliances with Adden, Buro, Falcon, Golden Oak, ISE, Jofcon, Lucia Group, and Vitra. Waldner’s Business Environments was founded in 1939 and is based in New York City.

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