We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gina Schreck. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gina below.
Hi Gina, thanks for joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard
At The Village Workspace we want to address all the needs of working parents. Whether they are starting a business, running an organization or just need to be among other brilliant people while they work. We address the needs of working parents by having a kids room filled with toys, books, and crafts to occupy the little ones while mom or dad gets some work done. We know what it’s like when schools close due to COVID or weather. We also allow the fur babies in our workspace. We know having dogs at work reduces stress levels and brings people together. Another unique feature is our two nap rooms. Furnished with velvet and reclining lounges, we understand that there are times you need to put yourself on timeout to relax, regroup or just start the day with a moment of meditation. Our nap rooms are the perfect spot for moms who are nursing or pumping. There is a refrigerator in one so mom doesn’t have to stash breast milk in the kitchen fridge next to someone’s tuna salad! Our fitness center has bikes, treadmills, a rowing machine, free weights, yoga mats, BOSU balls, and SHOWERS! Let’s get that workout in before starting the day or before heading home so you can spend time with those most important to you when you arrive home.
Gina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I owned a marketing agency for 15 years and as we were exploring office spaces around the South Denver area, we couldn’t find anything we all agreed would be the perfect workspace. We jokingly said, maybe we need to create the perfect workspace. The idea wouldn’t leave my head and we set out to create a space not just for our team, but for lots of entrepreneurs, organizations and individuals who didn’t want to work alone or in a boring office space. We filled the space with plants, music (even in our bathrooms), beautiful wallpapers chandeliers and warm colors to make it the most welcoming workspace. But we know that a space is just a space without a vibrant community of people. We have worked hard to attract “obviously fun people” which has become our criteria for people coming in to work here. We want people here who want to be around people. We host painting parties where we all wear Bob Ross wigs and just have a great time, free marketing classes, and lots of educational events each month to get people together, laughing and learning. It’s not just a place to work… it’s a community where YOU BELONG!
We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.
I recently sold my marketing agency, SocialKNX, because I had to make room, or brain capacity for expansion of The Village Workspace. I realized that it is really hard to pay attention to two different businesses. It became unfair to my marketing agency team since I was always too busy for meetings and focusing on growth there. I was approached by someone who was looking to acquire a marketing company and the timing was perfect. One lesson I learned is to build value in your business early. Whether you ever want to sell it or not, build value as if you are going to sell one day. I read and now live by, the book, Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz. It helped me create a business that would be more valuable when I decided to sell it.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Everything about opening this workspace illustrated resilience. We self-funded the project and of course everything costed more than budgeted. My husband started saying he did not feel good about us doing this. I had many moments and sleepless nights wondering if I had waited too long to start this. After all, I was 55 and instead of planning to retire, I was planning to open the first of many coworking spaces. One night I went to bed feeling the weight of defeat. I said to myself, “My ship has sailed and I need to let go of the dream.” But when I woke up I realized the ship was still in the harbor and I had to get busy. We opened March 2, 2020 only to have our world turned upside down two weeks later. We have not only remained open but we have been thriving. We are about to open another location in Capital Hill at the end of 2022.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thevillageworkspace.com
- Instagram: @TheVillageWorkspace
- Facebook: @TheVillageWorkspace
- Linkedin: https://Linkedin.com/in/GinaSchreck
- Twitter: @GinaSchreck
- Yelp: @TheVillageWorkspace.com