New ShiftUp Co-working space in Fremont
There are a couple of notable new initiatives afoot in the creative community. One is the ShiftUp Co-working space officially opened in Fremont on Sept. 27 and the other is a new networking group called Creative Connect Seattle.
The prime mover behind ShiftUp is local marcomm veteran Eben Greene, principal of United Creations and, before that, Eben Design. He’ll be relocating United Creations from Green Lake to the new space at 600 N. 36th St. in the heart of Fremont.
Greene is partnering with Seattle newcomer, Communo, to—as the release says—“foster creative collaborations, business development and affordable office space in ‘The Center of the Universe.’”
Patrick Orr, VP marketing & growth for Canadian-based Communo, which launched an office in Seattle in June, said, “Eben knows first-hand the burden of trying to align agency operating costs with variable revenues and runs his agency on an agile staffing model, like other Communo members. His values and experience align very closely with our memberships and he’s a strong advocate for sharing economics.”
Said Eben: “We’re really trying to have a co-working/collective environment for our agency, so it makes sense to build a relationship with Communo. We’re starting to rev up on a lot of projects and we want to have access to professionals who are vetted and who we trust, so we’re not scrambling to find people.”
The co-working space is offering preferred pricing to Communo members who have marketing, advertising and creative specializations. Greene said packages will be customized for the unique needs of tenants, whether they’ll be dropping in several times a month or have a dedicated desk. You can learn more about ShiftUp Co-working at www.weshiftup.com.
And Seattle-based content marketer Ashley Hoffman, also working with Communo, has formed a new networking group called Creative Connect Seattle (CCS). It’s aim is to “give creative professionals the confidence to sell themselves and the knowledge to close the sale.”
Ashley, who runs her own creative firm, Ashh Marketing, said: “We identified this as a need. We want to help creative people better sell themselves without having any of the ‘ickiness’ that comes with the word ‘selling’ or ‘sales.’”
She added that many of her colleagues are amazing at their craft but really struggle with the sales side of the equation. The group was formed in July and has grown to some 350 creative entrepreneurs who want to build a successful business on their own, but need help with business development.”
“I’m saying this as a creative myself,” Ashley continued. “Writing is what I do, but when it comes to talking to people and sealing the deal without feeling like a used-car salesman, it’s a lot easier said than done. I know this is a problem a lot of us face.”
CCS meets at 6pm the second Tuesday of each month at rotating venues. There’s no mandatory RSVPing, no charge and no pressure, according to the message on Ashley’s website. You can find CCS on Facebook and learn more about Communo at www.communo.com.