Eventually I'll make it out for Cereal Creative. Keep up the good work Jonathan on covering all the CoWorking locations popping up in Sacramento!

I didn't expect my goofy photo to be the 1st thing I'd see when I clicked the link. Those are great couches though....and I intend to either buy some for our office or swipe them from yours!

Your breakdown is correct enough. The environment can work well for corporate workers as well as non-profit organizations. Along the lines of your roommate metaphor, costs are driven down by sharing resources amongst many. We figure this is a great thing for Start-ups or micro businesses that need to stay competitive by reducing over head. Our goal at the end of the day is to create a win win situation for the owner of the office and the tenants within it by developing a culture of support, fun, and hard work while allowing the owner to achieve above market rent. If seen from this perspective, then many of the empty office spaces could use some coworking in them.

To be honest, Coworking is what you make of it. We've only given you our interpretations of the trend, so I apologize for lack of detail. Here are a couple examples of people who have used our space as a coworker, and why 1.) Mobile Account Executive, go into a private office to make a sales pitch or meet a client for one on one. Doesn't want to use a coffee shop. 2.) Journalist, needs an open desk to type up their latest research without having to be in a lonesome library. 3.) Real Estate Agent, wants to network with people and ask about using twitter. Wants to get out of their home office. 4.) Lobbyist, needs a space to read some paperwork away from the usual sterile office 5.) Graphic Designer, hops onto the Wi-Fi and prints out some samples, doesn't need to be in a dedicated studio 6.) Social Person, surfs the web and joins our events, simply likes to network 7.) Massage Therapist, use a private office for sports massage session I hope these examples delineate the model a little more clear. Please understand that this is only our interpretation of how we want to work and is by no means the only method. It's our goal to be as inclusive as possible and use the open office space for as many activities as possible.

Excellent article Janna! Sacramento is a wonderful place for the coworking trend to emerge. First let it be known that I work at Capsity Offices, a Coworking Office in midtown, so most definitely my view will be skewed towards this model. I think coworking is a method for blending the diversity that exists in Sacramento. The different silos that were created can be merged in a way that allows for uniqueness but also a sort of unifed identity; which is why we started our coworking office. We knew we liked to work, create, and have fun, so why not invite everyone over and share what we have. Our focus is on blending the small/micro businesses and social networking communities. The work day is typical of any other office in the sense that you have a place to work with the space providing all of the necessary assets such as Wi-Fi, beverages, private office, print, fax, etc. Where the divergence happens is at the cultural and social levels as well as lowering overhead. In Coworking spaces, the physical and cultural boundaries can be creatively over come through the work environment that provides an implicit support and comfort with creativity and motivation. The environment consists of people that genuinely appreciate each other and are more relaxed. Some real life examples occur from SacStarts who coworks out of Coffee Garden every Tuesday and The Urban Hive who is housed in a Midtown building with unlimited potential for all things cultural. In San Francisco there is Sandbox Suites and Citizen Space. In Chico there is Uptime Studios. And the list continues to grow. I think the goal is simply this: make the work environment more user friendly!