Mit “OutaSpaces” wollen eine kleine Guest-blogpost-Reihe starten, wo sich verschiedene internationale und nationale coworking spaces außerhalb unseres betahaus-Dreigestirn (Köln und Berlin) vorstellen. Es handelt sich um Menschen und ihre spaces, bei denen sich – über die üblichen Berührungspunkte hinaus – untereinander Anknüpfungen und Verbindungen ergeben haben, die uns dazu ermutigen, ein Stück des coworking-Weges gemeinsam zu gehen.
— written by David Zepeda & Carlos Espinosa —
The Founding of “El 3er Espacio” – the first Co-Working in México City
“El 3er Espacio” is one of the first co-working spaces in México and the first in México City. As entrepreneurs, we (David Zepeda and Carlos Espinosa) noticed last December the need to have a formal space to work instead of staying at home or in a coffee shop, although the high costs and long term contracts were a considerable barrier to office rental.
Thanks to our financial and entrepreneurship experience, Carlos and I developed the business plan, which was the first stage of our plan. However, a hard step of the project was the creation of the network because all our close friends are people working at banks, insurance companies, etc., and currently they do not necessarily need a space like this. It is difficult in México to find freelancers and convince them to get out of their place.
At the beginning, like other owners of co-working spaces around the world, we wanted to make so many things and promote a lot of activities related to the co-working concept; nevertheless, the co-working idea was not well received by the Mexican community used to work in places like corporate offices. Nowadays, the things are changing and the community is interested in discovering this new concept of work.
Early in 2011 we were trapped in a vicious decision making cycle between having a place without a network of freelancers or build the network first. So, in the middle of January after numerous meetings, some changes in the original business plan and several circumstances, we found a very nice and affordable place in a neighborhood called “La Condesa”, kind of like México’s version of Soho in New York.
This issue of having an accurate location to setup the co-working space was one of of the most difficult parts of this project because México City is huge, with at least 5 important business areas and expensive rent prices. Therefore, we think we made the right choice with our current location.
After 3 months of this adventure we are happy to arrive at “El 3er Espacio” every morning and wonder what is going to come or who is going to visit us. We are learning new disciplines; new personalities and above all we do our best in order to spread the co-working style into our society.
Currently we are a team which offers financial, legal, IT and marketing assistance to help Mexican & International entrepreneurs, artists, and freelancers who want to continue growing their business. Also, we promote cultural activities, conferences and expositions. The main idea is to create a multifunctional space based on co-working and co-ideas.
In the future we hope that more people can get involved in this co-working lifestyle. Moreover, we would like to encourage the mindset of working together as a community.
Get connected with El 3er Espacio on twitter and facebook
— written by David Zepeda & Carlos Espinosa —