Expert Interview with Silvia Steude and Katja Thiede — juggleHUB
Once you have met Katja and Silvia, you will see what we see here — two very sympathetic and successful women. These working moms followed their passion and in 2016 founded juggleHUB, a Berlin coworking space that offers childcare. We got to chat with them — read below how they are involved in coworking!
Hey Silvia, what does coworking mean to you?
To me coworking means community, escaping the isolation of a home office and meeting other people with whom I can share ideas, collaborate on projects and generally just socialize.
What have you learned through running juggleHUB as a coworking business?
Be prepared to wait a while until a community starts to form. Although many people were excited about the idea of our space opening up, that didn’t translate into members signing up and paying.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Have other forms of income, like meeting rooms and team offices. Coworking alone does not create the necessary profit to cover costs.
Which new work trends do you see as particularly positive?
For Katja and me, the most important aspect of new work formats like coworking is the freedom of the individual to choose where, when and how they want to work. In our case, coupled with our flexible childcare, we hope to give more freedom and flexibility to parents especially.
How are you connected to the national and international coworking movement?
Locally, we are in constant exchange with the small to mid-sized spaces in our city; nationally, we take part in the annual coworking barcamp; and internationally, we occasionally exchange with other spaces that offer similar services to ours (e.g. childcare).
What kind of news feeds or networks are you following to stay updated?
We are members of different Facebook groups and networks that focus on topics like entrepreneurship and new work, but also of networks that cover topics suited to our target group (i.e. groups for parents).
Also, the monthly Coworking Berlin meetups keep us updated about what’s happening in the local coworking scene.
How can newcomers to coworking get involved in helping the coworking community grow?
By not hiding behind the walls of your space and reaching out to people in the neighbourhood, or to people who might not have had any connections with coworking at all. Community building and connecting people is the key — by keeping that in mind, you can come up with all kinds of ideas to foster exchange inside and outside your space. As a first step: get connected with other spaces. In Berlin especially, this is very easy.
Who else do you think people should have heard about?
Coworkies — a group of coworking enthusiasts travelling the world and gathering insights into spaces all over the globe. They also have channels (e.g. Slack) to foster exchange between space managers and form a global coworking community. [Note from the author: check out our interview with Pauline from Coworkies!]
Tobias Kremkau, community manager of St. Oberholz and one of the leaders of the German Coworking Federation. If there is one person who knows about coworking history, trends and things to come, it’s him.
Do you currently have a project that you would like to get people involved with?
We are planning to start our own accelerator for women founders. And we are working on a project with a multi-generational focus. Both are still in the very beginning stages. If people are interested in working on these projects with us, we’d be happy to meet them.
Want to read more about juggleHUB? Follow them here:
Follow juggleHUB on Twitter
Chat with Katja and Silvia on the juggleHUB Facebook page
Visit their website: jugglehub.de
The Expert Interviews series is a series of interviews with people who stand out in the national and international coworking movement. We love to share their unique perspectives and experiences.
Who do you want to see here next? If you have any suggestions or would like to share your own insights on coworking please contact press@cobot.me.
