In 2020, we planned to launch our business. But the year had other plans. Fortunately, we’ve found the perfect place to make up for lost time.
March 2020. The job resignation had been given and the childcare arranged. Like so many people, we had big plans for the year. We’d finally gathered the courage and the clients that would allow us to take the plunge into entrepreneurship—to put careers, families, and perhaps most importantly, our sanity, on the line for the dream of building The Lausanne Guide into the digital publication we knew, in our bones, it could be.
We’ll spare you the gruesome details of the following weeks. But in brief, there were lots of tears, questions, and ultimately walking back decisions that we knew were the right ones at the time they had been made. And then, like all of you, long days of waiting. Isolation. Second guessing. Everyone knows the story.
Of course, there were victories in the mix. We managed to stay on track for our website relaunch and to rebuild some of what had been lost. We spent countless evenings on Zoom, revisiting our plans again and again.
But here’s the thing, we’re relational people. We never would have started a website with a purpose to connect people to their city and to one another if we were comfortable stuck behind a computer screen. So much can be done online. So much cannot.
When we finally regained the strength to go at it again, we knew that we wanted to work together in the same space, albeit safely. The first months of a new business are so fragile. We had to be able to look each other in the eye, say what needed to be said, support one another and push forward, together.
Working at Cospire
So, we choose to work from Cospire, an airy, bright and modern coworking space on Rue de Genève. We’ve been aware of Cospire for a while and even wrote an article about it a couple years ago, but the experience of working from here has been better than we ever could have imagined.
The main room is flooded with light. That, keenly paired with natural wood features and muted pastels, creates a calm space perfect for settling in and focusing on the tasks at hand. For those who are easily distracted or who need to bunker down to focus, there are large felt privacy panels available to set up at individual workspaces.
Best of all, the coworking members are so respectful of the need for quiet. There’s a collective sense that this is a place for getting work done. Even still, we’ve met such interesting people over lunches in the common living room or while making coffee in the kitchen. We’ve learned about projects in IT consulting, change management, and transportation – the knowledge and diversity of expertise is fascinating and refreshing.
Membership at Cospire is flexible. Perhaps now more than ever, it can be difficult for independents and small businesses to plan too far in advance. You can come just for the day or sign up for a month-to-month package depending on how often you expect to use the space. If your situation changes, no need to panic about contracts and commitments. Read more about the options here.
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Come Work with Us for a Day!
Choosing to work outside of our homes and in a coworking space was such an important decision for us and our business. And we know that we’re not the only ones! That’s why Friday April 30, we’re inviting five of our readers to come and work with us from Cospire to see if it could also be a good fit for you. We’re limiting the places because, with COVID, we’re most comfortable keeping things small. If you’d like to come and work with us, send us an email at hello@old.thelausanneguide.com, and we’ll get your name on the list!
Cospire
Rue de Genève 100
1004 Lausanne
www.cospire.work
Instagram: @cospire.work