What if your coworking space has plenty of inquiries and still sits half empty?

Two years ago, Melissa Schilo took over Access, an 18,000 square foot coworking space on four floors at the bottom of a condo tower on Fort Lauderdale's New River. Access had been open 10 years and was 55% full. Today its 57 offices and 16 dedicated desks are full, and Access has a waitlist for offices.

Melissa has spent 20 years in flex space. She spent 11 of them at Servcorp, where she turned around the Belgium location by €100,000 in 10 months. After Servcorp, she worked at JLL and then consulted for small, independent operators. Geo and Melissa catch up ahead of the GWA conference in Miami, where Melissa is leading a panel on sales and marketing.

In this episode, Melissa walks through the order she uses to turn around a coworking space: people first, then process, then product, then converting the inquiries a space already gets.

We talk about:

• Why Melissa checks every member agreement first, to see which offices could go empty in the next three to six months
• How Access went from 2 dedicated desks to 16 at $450 to $500 a month, while flex desks average about $275
• The half-price first month Melissa offered on about 10 offices so prospects could try the space before signing
• How repricing three meeting rooms took them from about $1,000 a month to more than $10,000 a month
• Why Melissa turned down a member who didn't fit the community, and why she sends some prospects to other spaces in Fort Lauderdale
• Adding questions and answers to the bottom of every page of the new Access website, so ChatGPT and Grok recommend Access when people ask for coworking in Fort Lauderdale
• Moving Access to OfficeRnD, and the paper inquiry sheets Melissa borrowed from Beth de Graffenreid
• Being laid off at JLL, and why Melissa now works only with small, independent operators

Melissa's next targets are meeting room revenue of $18,000 to $20,000 a month, more virtual office members, and booking meeting rooms through the Access website without a call. Catch her sales and marketing panel at GWA in Miami.

Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:

Melissa Schilo on LI

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What did three flex operators take home from the biggest coworking conference of the year?

Giovanni is joined by Jessie Glew, CEO of WOTSO in Sydney, and John Herring, President of FUSE Workspace in Texas, for a candid recap of the GWA Conference in Denver. Jessie joined from an early-morning walk in Sydney, and the conversation covers business and personal growth in equal measure.

We also get into:

• The opening JLL and Yardi session: the 30% by 2030 forecast, the more realistic 13 to 17% range, and why third-party data matters to banks and investors.

• Why the industry needs a shared set of 10 to 15 quarterly stats, and how the KPI session sent John and Jessie back to rebuild their own reporting.

• How operators are really using AI: WOTSO's training bot and internal ordering marketplace, plus the gap between beginners and experts in the room.

• Big rocks, 5:00 AM wake-ups and rebuilding routines after major life changes.

• WOTSO's growth from 42 locations to a target of 50 by year end, and what is next for the industry.

If you missed Denver, this is the next best thing.

Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:

Jessie Glew on LinkedIn

WOTSO website

John Herring on LinkedIn

FUSE Workspace website

Connect with your Hosts:

Connect with Giovanni on LinkedIn

Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn

Find Jamie on the Everything Coworking Podcast

What happens when a coworking operator stops waiting for software and builds his own?

Mike Thakur, founder and CEO of WorkLodge in Houston, is back. After 11 years and a decade of mixed results with ad agencies, he rolled up his sleeves and started building with AI. Since turning his system on in March, WorkLodge has hit a record number of tours almost every month, some months 40 to 50 percent above their previous best.

We also get into:

• How Mike built his own booking system, landing pages and ad tracking with AI, and captures leads even when someone abandons a form halfway.

• Lola, the AI phone agent that answers when the front desk can't, books tours and sends summaries into Slack.

• Why meeting rooms are booking out with non-members, and the 12-person room Mike wishes he had built sooner.

• Why AI hasn't cost a single job on his team, and why he says it lies and needs a human to check it.

• Moving back to Houston, putting his kids to work in the business, and the nonprofit project he is still searching for.

If you've wondered what AI can really do for a flex space, this is an episode you'll want to hear.

Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:

Mike Thakur / WorkLodge on LinkedIn (company page; personal profile URL not verified)

WorkLodge website

Connect with your Hosts:

Connect with Giovanni on LinkedIn

Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn

Find Jamie on the Everything Coworking Podcast