Canvas Rebel Feature
We were excited when Canvas Rebel reached out for an interview on the history of the Broadway Collective and how we developed and launched our Englewood SOBO private office and cowork space. Check out the article below!
Hi Ann, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The concept of Broadway Collective was born out of the need for more office space for our real estate investment company ELEVATION. Our team grew which meant we needed to find a new home for our company. I am a realtor and set out in Aug 2021 to find space. We love Englewood and the Broadway corridor as it is such an eclectic area with so much going on so we focused our efforts here. I saw what now is our current building and fell in love with the mid-mod feel and its floor to ceiling windows. I also knew it was meant to be as the original metal signage read the ‘Martin Building’ and our last name is Marlin so with one quick fix to make the ‘T’ an ‘L’, the building would be wholly ours!
We knew the entire building was too big for ELEVATION. We are entrepreneurs at heart and what better way to support and serve other small businesses than to invite them into our space! We created Broadway Collective as a private office and cowork space with the mission and intention of ideas, people, resources to connect and collaborate. We are a down to earth, design forward co-working space celebrating forward-thinking businesses. It is a place to amplify business ideas and productivity by connecting with growth-minded entrepreneurs and small businesses.
We knew this was a worthwhile endeavor and honestly, a needed offering as so many businesses operate out of homes and coffee shops. We offer the opportunity to level up businesses by providing office space, dedicated desks, meeting rooms, podcast room, event space, networking and class opportunities and a freaking awesome community.
With my hospitality and design background, we have created a high touch, high design service for businesses to grow and thrive. We want people to be excited to come to work and maximize productivity and creativity in any business sector. We offer a space where they can feel confident in bringing clients or potential clients in such a well designed, professional atmosphere.
Ann, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
What we are most proud about is the space we have created to bring people, industries, and professions together. Our private offices, meeting rooms and podcast room allow entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and small businesses to cultivate their brands, enhance productivity and thrive. Businesses have come to us in their infancy stage as well as well-established companies to carve out a space that they can customize and call their own.
Our ultimate goal was to be able to connect businesses through day to day operations, networking events and member events. We love opportunities to introduce people to each other personally and professionally and have been able to establish business relationships that resulted in business being passed back and forth. We have also been honored to be a part of several businesses’ growth and journeys that allowed them to scale in a successful way to where they ultimately outgrew our space because of their success. How cool to be a small part of their history!
Our brand is truly about collaboration, hospitality, and care for the businesses that are in our community.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The best advice I can give to build your local reputation is get involved, get involved, get involved! Even before we opened the doors, I immediately joined the Englewood chamber so that I could meet the businesses that make up Englewood as well as the people who run them. It was so important for us to establish COLLABORATIVE relationships as we have found this is the quickest way not only to get our name out but to cultivate genuine relationships that ultimately lead to business. We offered our spaces to the City of Englewood, chamber members, and outside businesses to host events, meetings as well as utilize our office spaces.
From being involved, not only have we met amazing people, we have been asked to sit on boards and to be a part of city happenings. In our first year of business, Broadway Collective was nominated as Emerging Business of the Year! I was honored to be awarded Chamber Member of the year.
In a broader sense, we have built our reputation in the coworking market by developing partnerships with other cowork spaces. By having a growth mindset knowing that there is enough business to go around, we have been able to send leads to other spaces when we didn’t have availability or the assets that the potential client was looking for. In turn, other spaces are referring the Collective when they do not have availability.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Two strategies that have been instrumental for us in growing our clientele beyond building our reputation are our online presence and word of mouth. We again started our online presence before we opened. Once we had our website up and running, we started our Google, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin Profiles. We took followers with us through our design process and construction. This was a great way to introduce ourselves to the community before they really knew what type of business we were building. Once we did open our doors, we hosted a grand opening and the city hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony. From these, we attracted people that we may otherwise not have met right off the bat. This foot traffic and early clients allowed us to collect amazing reviews which we cherish so much!
Word of mouth is so valuable and effective. As mentioned before, we get to be a small part of a business’ history when they office here. Being that we offer a high touch building management service, our members love to share their experience and what the Collective has to offer to their friends, family, and colleagues, This also happens when outside businesses rent our spaces, rooms, offices, and desks. They love the atmosphere, vibe, and our community that they end up sharing with other people. It is the highest compliment that we can receive!
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