An interview with Susan Evans and Jacob Sayles of Office Nomads

As part of our ongoing, informal series of interviews with coworking pioneers around the country, we caught up with Jacob Sayles and Susan Evans, co-founders of OfficeNomads in Seattle, which opened on November 1, 2007, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Spike Gillespie: What role do each of you play?

Susan Evans: Jacob and I team to run, manage, and build our space. Official titles range, but tend to include things like “co-owner, co-founder, janitor…”

Spike: How did you decide to start OfficeNomads?

Jacob Sayles: I’ve fantasized about something like this for years, and last April I created space in my life for the idea to form. First step was to search around for other folks who might be doing something similar. I heard some crazy kids in San Francisco had something going on so I started there. As soon as I saw coworking I knew what I needed to do.

Susan: For me, the idea behind Office Nomads came from thinking about creating more sustainable, neighborhood-based workplaces for independent and flexible workers. As we grow and change what “work” can look like for each person, we also need to change how that work can happen. After meeting Jacob and realizing I had a partner with whom to make these ideas really come to life, it was a pretty easy decision to move forward. Combine this with the the appearance of other coworking spaces opening up around the country, and our little idea felt even more supported. It was incredibly inspiring to read their stories and share ideas. We could not have felt as good about opening our doors without the encouragement and idea sharing from people like Chris Messina and Tara Hunt of Citizen Space, Julie Duryea of Souk, Alex Hillman of Independents Hall, and Derek Young of Suite 133.

Spike: Once you decided to go forward with the idea, how did the plan unfold?

Susan: Jacob and I met over coffee for the first time in July 2007 to introduce ourselves and think about stepping into this business together. It was an ambitious plan — starting a business with a relative stranger — but once we realized we shared a similar vision and well-matched energy, moving forward happened quickly. At the time it felt like progress was slow, but in the end we took the business from idea to implementation in about 6 months! It was this fantastic flurry of ideas, energy, and progress, and then there we were: keys in hand, a completely empty space, and a hopeful opening date ahead of us. It was pretty incredible.

Spike: What’s your space like?

Susan: We have 5000 sq. ft. of a relatively open office space divvied up into several general areas. No cubes, no barriers, just nice open spaces that are slowly getting covered in paint and artwork…

Spike: What’s your business model?

Jacob: For many complementary reasons we emphasis simplicity throughout our business model. Structurally we are a for profit LLC owned and financed between the two of us. Profit isn’t our first objective and we laugh when people get excited and think we are going to make millions. Our goal is to build a community of cool people doing cool things that we can be a part of. The business model is a means to make that sustainable and keep us in cool digs. With that as our motivation we offer simple, all-inclusive pricing at monthly ($475) and daily ($25) levels. This lets people think about what they are doing and not how many pages they printed. It’s also easier for two folks who have other jobs to manage. My sister Kara is our rock-star bookkeeper and she handles the billing once a month.

Spike: What have your biggest obstacles been? How did you overcome them?

Susan: Knowing our strengths and not trying to do everything. Both Jacob and I tend to be pretty eager and can run the risk of doing everything on our own. It’s important for us to let go and have others help us along. Having Kara, our amazing bookkeeper, is one perfect example. It’s about knowing what we’re good at and being smart about delegating the other pieces that can enable us to do what we’re each best at.

Spike: In retrospect, what would you have done differently?

Susan: Most likely, nothing. It has been a great learning process already, and each little roadblock on the way has taught us something about making our business even stronger.

Jacob: Yeah, I’m proud of us too.

Spike: Do you see the place evolving?

Jacob: It’s constantly evolving and we knew it would. The simplicity I talked about is also because we don’t want to predict the future. We want to create a basic framework and see what develops. That’s the fun part!

Spike: With all the working your doing to make coworking work, do you have time for your “real” work?

Jacob: I feared working two jobs would make me go crazy but in fact it’s actually nice to change things up. Two days a week I’m across town focusing on different problems for different people. This change up forces me to put Office Nomads down and I don’t think I would be able to do that so easily if this was my only job.

Susan: Ditto.

Spike: What do you think about the buzz of coworking — think the reality is matching the hype?

Susan: Heck yes. It is great to watch people come in the space and see what it’s all about. All of this attention seems to be because coworking has come along at just the right time for so many people.

Jacob: The excitement about coworking is directly related to how under valued community has been for so long. Now that it’s reached almost absurd proportions where people primarily interact with others at a service level, the pendulum is starting to swing back the other way.

Spike: What else would you like to tell me?

Jacob: We have enjoyed tremendous success in our first six months because of the global Coworking community. The discussions on the mailing list and looking to other spaces for examples is how we were able to go from idea to business in just six months. I love visiting and being visited by other space owners and coworkers. I am grateful to be in the company of such amazing individuals.

Susan: I think the coworking community has been so successful because we’re talking about bringing people together — humans are social animals. We’ve been working so hard for so long to getting ourselves to be stronger individuals, but we’ve been neglecting the importance of community. Coworking offers one way for people to start coming back together. It’s refreshing.