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<p>Well, building a "kinder-garden for grown ups" business can get
tough I guess.<br>
<br>
Should not every* business start by trying to solve other peoples
problems? Ommiting a few(funny I should say) anecdotes, open a hw
repair shop and gradually add-up on "opennes" and "self-help"
tools.<br>
<br>
When a 1700EUR 4K TV stops working 2 weeks after the varranty is
over because of a notoriously flawed power circuit design, you can
easily charge 150+ EUR for a repair and still end up with a happy
customer - that's for 20-80c on capacitors and maybe 30min of your
time.<br>
<br>
I'd say use a business model that already works, get your
cash-flow/finances/processes sorted and gradually grow into the
"pure-er" makerspace roam. A few examples:<br>
HW Repair shops<br>
(power)Tool rentals, esp. building and carpentry<br>
Workspace rentals(carpentry)<br>
Coworking (IT)<br>
Car diagnostic<br>
<br>
Those are - deppending on the location aot - known to produce a
net income even if not managed very good.<br>
Once you have your survival-infrastructure set up, you may
gradually add a small coffee-space on the side, workshops,
lectures, even "cloud" services - whatever your
area/customers/member-base is able and willing to finance - but
the income-producing core will stay unaffected even if your
makerspace coffee-corner idea turns out to be a black hole for
money.<br>
<br>
The hw rep. shop example was chosen because that's the kind of
business that already requires most of the tools one would need to
run a small-ish makerspace. It's not the only one, hell even small
farmer shops could grow into a type of diy farming makerspace, my
point is, you have to have a running business first.<br>
<br>
@non-profit models: Strongly deppends on your country /
legislature. In general, eu has not as many strings attached as
the us - but you may still end up in a situation where it's "sell
your soul to the devil" or close the doors .. have to be careful
with anything that deppends on donations(whether state, corporate
or private)<br>
<br>
idnc_sk<br>
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<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dňa 11/15/2017 o 9:43 PM Tarek Ahmed
napísal(a):<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAFVd5Gj3aDM4uK3BBbWVnUqwGRxufoCExSHOQo4BjR_VZ0uoaQ@mail.gmail.com">
<div dir="ltr">You can read the employees reviews since they
opened till this year to see how different it was from any
maker/hacker/fablab or coworking space model.<br>
<br>
<a
href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/TechShop-Reviews-E515949.htm"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/TechShop-Reviews-E515949.htm</a><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Nov 15, 2017 at 2:58 PM, Ben
Brown <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ben@generik.ca"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">ben@generik.ca</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> I think the community
is as important to a hackerspace's well-being as the
building and tools -- in fact I would submit that's what
makes a hackerspace as opposed to just a community
workshop or co-working environment... or a TechShop. <br>
<br>
You also need a good source of (volunteer) labour and
people who are passionate to keep the community going (and
by association -- the space alongside it). Paying staff to
do the same may be the smart thing to do to keep people
accountable to their commitments... but only if you can
afford it.<br>
<br>
I never really considered TechShop as part of the same
ballpark as NFP spaces, but it was an excellent resource
for advanced tools and training. They will be missed.<span
class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
Ben</font></span><span class=""><br>
<br>
<div class="m_7544236285215774737moz-cite-prefix">On
2017-11-15 2:19 PM, Edward L Platt wrote:<br>
</div>
</span>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="m_7544236285215774737gmail_signature"
data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
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<div dir="ltr">
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<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>One of the most important
questions, which I remember
discussing with Jim Newton and
Dale Dougherty shortly before
TechShop Detroit opened, is
whether the space is primarily
about the tools or about the
community. Community without
tools is still useful, but less
so the other way around.
Community takes less money to
maintain, but more work,
although if you do it right,
that work can be fun and
meaningful for members.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Ed</div>
</div>
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