The way we usually act towards strangers or something new is with suspicion. Is this a “poisoned apple”? Why do we think that? Because we are usually brought up this way. If someone gives you something for free, he must have an ulterior motive. And this is usually true, but it does not have to be a bad thing. If you understand the motive of the other person and you can go along with it to enter into a win-win situation that can be Ok. Concerning “Free Coworking” I have some benefit from it, because it sets the “law” of social capital in motion. When I promote and develop something like “Free Coworking”, provided it is good and beneficial for others I will receive some return from it. This might be a social capital return or a financial capital return. And it is precisely this process that I am trying to promote with “Free Coworking”. The benefit or return is not just for me, but for everyone involved. By entering your name and skills/projects in the “Free Coworking” Skill Sharing not only you, but everyone involved has an immediate return and benefit. You can easily and effectively promote and share your skills now with everyone on the open spreadsheet.

This is a new kind of economy. I would call it a connected economy. This means you are and feel connected to your fellow coworker. Because your are connected and share the same values, there is no problem to accept the “free apple”. It is only when you are not connected that you prefer the “paid apple”. The “paid apple” system though has a major drawback. It promotes distrust and alienation. It hinders creativity and free exchange of ideas, products & services. Instead of growth it produces more and more fake financial and fake social capital.

This is why “Free Coworking” (connected and open)  is more sustainable and more effective than “Paid Coworking” (fewer connections, less open). It is therefore my strong conviction that we have to evolve coworking from the “paid system” to the “free system” as soon as possible to reap the real benefits for coworking and our society as a whole.

Act today and start your local “Free Coworking” Campaign. We now have a “Free Coworking Resource” page to support you in this endeavour. “Free Coworking” is not against “Paid Coworking”, “Free Coworking” is just the next step in the evolution of Coworking.

A free economy is a connected economy. Only if you are connected, can you receive services for free.

How are the coworkers and the coworking spaces going to attract this “Financial Capital”? It is the “Social Capital” that attracts it! What is the “Social Capital” in terms of a coworking community? Coworkers love the work they do. They love the people they work with. They believe in cooperation, teamwork and last but not least they believe that there are more good people around than bad!!! Why is that important?

Because this touches a frame of mind that many people have. Many people believe that good intention is a scarce resource. The contrary is true. Check with yourself and adjust if necessary. Translated to work and work output we find the following: To produce and distribute excellent services and products you need a special quality of cooperation. Only people who love what they do and who can work with the people they love can provide this. Coworking spaces can provide these excellent services and products more often and with a higher likelihood the more widespread “Free Coworking” will become. The key is an evolution of every party involved in the process. Only trust, openness, dedication, patience, fairness, sweat, fun and love will lead to “Free Coworking”. And the great thing is that it will work!!! It will not only work in one or two places, it will grow and grow.

The number of coworking spaces is rapidly going to increase because people just want to work this way!!! “Going to work” will have a totally new, fresh and positive connotation. Whereas before people dreaded to go to work because they had to do something they did not really like in an environment they felt not particularly comfortable in, now in a coworking space it is just the opposite. You can choose the people you work with and the work you do. How is that possible?

“Free Coworking” means working in teams and a community you choose. To be productive and happy you have to be able to say yes to everyone in your team and environment from the bottom of your heart including yourself. In many instances this will require an evolution for everyone involved. But once the team starts to evolve it does not take very long for it to become a “dream team”. Imagine the experience of working in a “dream team” once! This is great, but imagine you can do it again. Another day another “dream team” is going to form and more people are going to learn what it takes. And this goes on and on and everyday the social capital grows.

Still in doubt whether this might work? At the moment the setting up of a coworking space is largely a process of “Pull”. You tell people how great coworking is and you hope to convince them to come along and try it. This can be quite trying at times and aims to fill your space nothing more. Imagine people could work for free in your space and a “Push” process would start. People would want to push into your space. For someone to enter the coworking space for free, he or she would have to go through a certain “registration” process. This process would involve setting up a profile for this new coworker. What are the skills, experiences, interests and projects of this person. What would be an ideal team for this coworker etc.

Thanks to an internet platform coworkers could indicate when and where they were available and interested to participate in a project. The client and/or the project representative would invite the coworkers in the coworking space or the area of the coworking space reserved for “Free Coworking”. The team building and the project could start.

This is how I see “Free Coworking” to develop in practical steps. There will be existing coworking spaces that will offer some areas of their operation for “Free Coworking”, while there will also be some new spaces that will start with “Free Coworking” from the word go. To support both types we will set up an additional coworking directory called the “Free CoWorking Directory”.

If you look at the enthusiasm for the upcoming Jellyweek (16th to 22nd of January) you get a good indication that the time for “Free Coworking” has definitely come. If you want to lend your support to “Free Coworking” beyond the Jellyweek join our Facebook Group “Free Coworking“. The aim of the Facebook Group is to raise in excess of 15.000.000 € in Social Capital which equates in my calculation to more than 10.000 committed members to this cause. Join and spread the word for “Free Coworking”!!!

If you are still in doubt whether this might work get inspiration from the video below.

The reason for choosing  ”Consideration of Social Capital for Coworking” as “Project of the Week” for “Week 25″ in 2011: Research on Coworking and its effects on society is still very young. We are just about  in the process of finding a language and bringing together various areas of scientific research and economic activity. The use and consideration of “Social Capital” in the context of coworking provides a very promising way to attract more people to coworking and to establish a sound foundation of discussion.

In a very practical way this discussion has already started and is showing an effect  in the Facebook Group “Coworking Worldwide” which has  tripled in size (130 to 393 members) this week.  If you are interested to learn more about  Social Capital you might be interested in the Third Social Capital World Forum in Austria from the 23rd to the 24th of September 2011 (see also Open International CoWorking Calendar).

- “Unser lokales Netzwerk war nicht groß genug, um den Laden schnell genug voll zu bekommen. Irgendwie hatte wir angenommen, dass die Leute die ganze Zeit schon auf Coworking warten und es dann gleich richtig los geht. Follower auf Facebook, Twitter etc. und auch Besucher von eigenen Veranstaltungen sind noch lange keine festen Kunden fürs Coworking. Hier haben wir falsche Schlüsse gezogen.”

- “Wir waren nur zu zweit, eine größere Gruppe ist da besser, insbesondere was Arbeitsverteilung und Netzwerk angeht. Die zeitliche Belastung hatten wir erheblich unterschätzt.”

- “Coworking ist viel stärker lifestyle-orientiert als ich vorher eingeschätzt hatte. Style, Kult, trendy und entsprechende Atmosphäre. Ähnlich wie Kneipen (die) von einer bestimmten Zielgruppe angenommen werden oder eben nicht.”

Nach Ansicht des Videos zur Eröffnung des neuen Spaces im Schwarzen Bär 2  (unten) bin ich sehr guter Hoffnung, dass das Edelstall Team die Analyse von Jens Hansen nutzen kann, damit sich Coworking in Hannover erfolgreich etablieren kann.