CAMP Coworking

Closing our doors at CAMP Coworking

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:11:00 -0400

When I started CAMP Coworking in June 2010, I wanted to build something with the support of my friends and community that would serve the rich culture of starters here in Omaha. For two solid years we supported the endeavors of over a dozen businesses that called CAMP home, and worked to offer opportunities for learning and inspiration to our community. Book tours, startup weekends, workshop classes, launch parties, speakers, poetry slams, and more happened within the walls of CAMP and I’m proud of facilitating a space where so many connections and ideas were created.

Today I am closing the doors at CAMP for good. A combination of reasons has contributed to my decision, mainly the financial burden of maintaining CAMP and new opportunities I am pursuing with my other companies.

After CAMP, I will mainly focus on building Hello Holiday, a social shopping site launching in July that I co-founded with Sarah Lorsung Tvrdik. Our goal with Hello Holiday is to introduce a charming and exuberant approach to style and the online shopping experience, and we are working to build our inventory right now—finding the right clothes to make every woman feel ready to take on the world. Our mission is to bring emerging designers into the mainstream fashion market and offer a carefully curated selection of apparel and accessories to modern women. The new Hello Holiday office will open in Benson soon.

Princess Lasertron, my bridal bouquet and project design company, will operate out of my house—like I did from the beginning—where I will be finishing my first book set for release in Spring 2014. By working at home, I’m looking forward to spending more time with my two-year-old daughter. We moved into CAMP nearly a week after she was born and she has been along for the entire ride.

CAMP was never a moneymaker—that’s the truth—and unfortunately I can no longer afford to sustain it. It’s hard to admit that things didn’t go as I wanted. Knowing when to stop is as important as knowing when to start, and it’s the right time for me to bow out.

This was a very difficult decision that I’ve been mulling over for months. I feel so lucky and honored to live in this community on the Silicon Prairie. We have an ecosystem here that is so supportive of entrepreneurship and creative culture, and coworking is a small piece of that puzzle. Although CAMP is closing, there are other spaces and venues that will fill that need and I encourage you to participate in building communities there. Coworking isn’t about space—it’s a philosophy and movement that empowers people to make their work better through collaboration, creativity, and openness. Coworking is about serving a need that people have, and that example is something that I’m glad CAMP brought to Omaha, and I’ll be glad to see it continue to spread. Thank you to everyone who has been a supporter, client, and friend of CAMP over the years. I’m excited for what’s to come.

Thank you

megan hunt

Crossposted:
meganhunt.me
princesslasertron.com

Ludum Dare #23 game jam/compo this weekend!

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:25:24 -0400

Hey all if you are into game development then you’ve probably heard of the Ludum Dare gaming competition/jam. Starting tomorrow, Friday April 20th 2010, game developers/designers/artists/composers from all over the world will collectively work their brains to mush over the next 48 hours to try to comlete a working game. Sounds like a romp!

Camp has graciously opened its doors for much of this weekend to facilitate any groups or individuals who need a non-distracting place away from home/coffeeshop/school to make their game. While Camp won’t be open the entire 48 hours, we will be open for a great deal of the weekend. Hopefully you’ll be sleeping or dreaming about game designs during the times we’re not open. The Weekend Schedule is below:

Friday 4-20 (all times CST):

11 am - Doors to Camp open. check the place out. get set up. set your email away-messages. (come any time all day).

8pm - Game Jam/Compo starts!

12am midnight - Camp closes its doors for the night in order to sleep.

Saturday 4-21:

11am - Doors to camp open again

12am midnight - Doors to camp close. get sleep and eat.

Sunday 4-22:

11am - Doors to camp open

8pm - Compo/Jam over! Decompress and chat with people finally. go home take a shower.

9pm - Camp closing doors for the weekend. Good luck with judging!

Camp sweetheart, Dave (@mrlasertron), an indie game developer for Slouch Couch Studios will be there much of the weekend either working on his own stuff, or working on his Jam entry. Stop by and hang out!

photos of our new conference table from measure cut cut studio

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:07:28 -0400

Peter Cales is a designer and woodworker, and we’ve really enjoyed learning about his craft and his process, which he shares in generous detail on his blog at Measure Cut Cut. A few weeks ago, he delivered a commissioned “black and birch” striped table for CAMP Coworking. We were in need of a new conference table, and wanted something well-designed and bold, with some feminine je ne sais quoi. He sourced reclaimed wood from the Witherspoon Mansion and hand-cut each leg with the perfect amount of detail and curve.

Silicon Prairie News's first Omaha Startup Job Crawl: Photos from the event

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:45:33 -0500

Last Wednesday, over 200 students and recent graduates and 40 companies filled the Mastercraft Building for Silicon Prairie News’s first Startup Job Crawl. CAMP hosted ten area startups as they met with students about job shadowing, internships, and jobs.

Here at CAMP we are looking for a Community Manager, so it was great to connect with some area students who could possibly be a good fit for that role. We will make a post in the coming week with more details about the position, but if you are interested in working at CAMP full-time feel free to email us for more details at hello@campcoworking.com.

Thanks to Silicon Prairie News’s Danny Schreiber for the following photos of the Startup Job Crawl in the Mastercraft Building. It was a great time! Read more about the event here on SPN.

Our startup ecosystem here in the midwest is vibrant, growing, and there are so many opportunities for students entering the workforce that makes our community such an exciting place to live. On April 4, SPN is hosting another Startup Job Crawl in Des Moines, Iowa. If your company would like to participate or if you would like to register to attend as a student, watch the SPN website or contact Brittany Mascio for details at brittany@siliconprairienews.com!

CAMP x The Uncool: Trash Can Kids Zine Release Party

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:20:48 -0500

Erick Abernathy, otherwise known as Erick Uncool, is an Omaha high schooler who started a movement to increase diversity and acceptance among his peer groups called The Uncool. In his words, “The Uncool isn’t just one person, it’s a movement. Together, we are a new generation breaking the walls of the old guard, combining different cultures, beliefs, values, and backgrounds into one.” The stated mission of The Uncool is to bring together cultures that would otherwise not have the opportunity to communciate—for example, by producing concerts that feature both hip-hop and indie rock artists, or giving emerging artists a platform to share their work.

Last Friday, CAMP hosted the release party for The Uncool’s first “Trash Can Kids” zine (available online for purchase). With hot chocolate, painting, and lots of laughter and new friendships made, The Uncool brought together people of all ages, races, and backgrounds in our community. Dojorok of the Midtown Marauders spun original mixes that inspired impromptu breakdancing, rapping, and discussion.

Happy to share these photos taken during the event by Jesse Osterbuhr.

Links: The Uncool Store // The Uncool on Facebook // Trash Can Kids on Tumblr // DOJOROK on Soundcloud

Fun Funds: How CAMP spent our drop-in money this month

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:21:19 -0500

About a year ago we moved from a $20/day fee for coworking at CAMP to a suggested donation of $5. It was a risky move but we hoped it would bring more workers in each day and make the space accessible to a more diverse group of workers—students and freelancers, for example. We have seen our membership pool grow and we have also seen the dollars in the jar by the front door stacking up, and after our 2011 accounting was finished we saw that it was a good bet that we made.

To illustrate our success, here are some of the things we funded at CAMP in the last three months through donations from drop-in workers:

Flatscreen TV for presentations, movie nights, and relaxing
Pizza for everyone who worked past 9pm
A whiteboard wall and a chalkboard wall (SO overdue)
Our well-stocked bar cart

CAMP is a community of workers that caters differently to drop-in workers and full-time members, but we are equally thoughtful to the needs of both groups. Our late-night hours are great for those who are focusing on side project here, and our “suggested donation” policy has opened the door to some of the most inspiring people we’ve met.

For other coworking space owners who are either struggling with a high daily donation rate or just interested in more types of people through the front door, try moving to a suggested donation. It’s really been successful for us.

five books that changed my life and my business - a post from megan hunt of princess lasertron

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:43:46 -0500

At CAMP we have an ever-growing library of inspirational books that people can curl up with on one of our comfy chairs when they want to take a break. There are five particular books that have been so influential to me that we give them out for free to CAMP visitors who are looking for some motivation. Here are those books and my words about why they are the greatest.

The Martha Rules by Martha Stewart
Martha is truly the original H.B.I.C. and in our modern times one of the true revolutionaries in business. The Martha Rules is a book targeted toward entrepreneurs, but Martha’s wisdom is equally applicable for anybody seeking to identify their passions, turn on their creativity, and live a more beautiful life.

The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau
Chris Guillebeau is a friend to me who inspires me by living an unexpected, unconventional life that brings him joy, happiness, and success. In his book he reminds us that nobody is going to give us permission to live our best lives, and nobody is going to tell us what that life is. The hard part about being happy is that you have to figure out what it is for yourself. But the easy part about process is that nobody else can tell you that you can’t have it. I love the common sense, practical advice, and the friendly voice.

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Rework is a great book to pick up when you need a quick espresso shot of motivation, or a reminder of how to do the damn thing after a hard day at work. There are cute ink illustrations that begin each new section, and the table of contents makes it easy to browse through the short chapters. There is a great sense of humor and emphasis on new business axioms like “meetings are toxic” and “the longer something takes, the less likely it is that you’re going to finish it.” It’s a great book to read if you are into working lean and feel yourself being bogged down with day-to-day minutia.

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
This is the first book I read when I decided to start a business in 2005. It was recommended to me by my creative writing professor who now owns a cat hospital with his wife in Arizona (of all things). The E-Myth is a classic, popular business book that serves as a practical guide to business problem solving and finding your strengths at work. The most important and practical point Gerber makes—the “E-Myth”—is that entrepreneurs often discover that running a business doing what they love is often not what they expected as far as workload and responsibility. Reading The E-Myth helped me consider my business plan realistically before diving in.

Poke the Box by Seth Godin
This is the newest book on my list and it’s all about what has been intuitive to me since I started my business—that we all want to fit in but to be more successful than your wildest dreams you have to do something different. This book addresses your fears and excuses that are keeping you from taking the first step, and then takes your initiative and shows you how to carry through your actions to a meaningful conclusion—hard work and a rewarding life.

If you have any others that you recommend I’d love to hear about them so we can add them to the CAMP library.

xo
meg

Princess Lasertron is a bridal designer, writer, and speaker who works with over 300 brides each year. Visit her studio at CAMP Coworking and follow her at Lasertron on Twitter!

Jump on the Interstate: Five reasons to commute to CAMP

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:09:09 -0500

One of the most common concerns we hear from coworkers before they take the plunge into coworking is that CAMP, located in North Downtown, isn’t a convenient drive from West Omaha or South Omaha or wherever they are commuting from. Find out why our CAMP commuters are glad they made the trip:

1. In a coffee shop or a smaller workspace, distractions are everywhere. But with 2,000 square feet at CAMP, you can have a phone conversation, bring a client in for a meeting, or even take on an extra employee or two without the anxiety of disturbing those around you. We have the space to allow you to work at your best alone or with your team—whether it’s sitting at a desk, in an armchair with your headphones on, or on a comfy couch with a cup of Starbucks coffee.

2. A short commute to the office—20 minutes or less—can lead to more productivity and results in your work. If you’re jumping on the interstate from West Omaha to spend the day at CAMP, use the travel time to focus on what you want to accomplish and prioritize your tasks that day. If you’re self-employed or work from home, you will notice the difference in focus and productivity that comes from working in a supportive coworking space as opposed to a home office. A recent Gallup study showed that the happiest people and most productive workers get eight hours of social interaction every day. We have trouble finding time to be social when we are always working, but at CAMP you can have both.

3. With a full-time membership, you have the flexibility to work any time you want. If you like to beat the traffic, you have the freedom to come in early to work or head out later and you’ll never be bounded by business hours. You can also get to know your fellow night owls and early birds in the building—there is always someone buzzing around.

4. CAMP’s North Downtown location is close to everything you already want to be a part of. Just steps from Blue Line coffee, the Hot Shops art galleries, Film Streams cinema, great music venue The Slowdown and the new TD Ameritrade Stadium, home of the College World Series, you don’t have to feel like you are missing out on Omaha’s cultural offerings. Commuting to CAMP puts you in a great environment to engage with customers, and you always have the opportunity to take in a show or go out to dinner after a long day.

5. At CAMP, you can benefit from the creative energy and professional resources of everyone else in The Mastercraft, where we are located in suite 119. Dozens of major players in Omaha’s entrepreneurial scene are located here, including web and graphic design companies What Cheer, Secret Penguin, and Grain & Mortar, Birdhouse Interior Design, photographers Minorwhite, cinematography studio Torchwerks, TACKarchetects, community engagement evangelists MindMixer, and more. The full list of current tenants is on The Mastercraft website, and there are even more amazing tenants coming in soon (but we’ll let them make those announcements themselves). Our community here is open, collaborative, and always willing to lend feedback, advice, and even a skateboard lesson or a frisbee match.

"Who can work at CAMP?"

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:26:00 -0500

We’re often asked about who is allowed to work at CAMP Coworking, or what kinds of projects our space is best suited for. The short answer is, anything! But perhaps some of these types of coworkers in particular…

Software developers: It’s easy to find a comfortable place to settle in for a long night of coding—at one of our desks, our conference table, on the couch or in a cozy chair. Diet Mountain Dew’s always in the fridge.

Photographers: We have ample desk space to settle in for a long photo-editing session, and you’ll find countless photo backdrops not only in the Mastercraft Building but in the North Downtown neighborhood!

Graphic designers: CAMP has served as home base to many of Omaha’s most in-demand graphic designers, and the Mastercraft Building community houses some of Omaha’s top design companies. When you join a coworking space like CAMP, you can benefit from the shared knowledge and experience of all the other workers to take full advantage of your potential.

Web developers: We have free wifi with dual-band 802.11agn for anyone who needs a dependable and fast connection.

Journalists and freelance writers: Stretch out on one of our couches or curl up in a cozy armchair for a long writing session. And help yourself to free coffee and soda!

PR and marketing consultants: Our 1900 square foot space is large enough for you to manage your clients over the phone without disturbing others, and the other small business owners in the Mastercraft Building community provide an amazing network of business opportunities.

Attorneys and accountants: Tenants at CAMP have access to a private conference room just a few skips down the hall for confidential meetings.

Students: We welcome daily drop-ins by donation, so when you need a change of scenery from your dorm room or library, come down and meet some new people, brew a pot of coffee, and cozy up on the couch!

We also love to host groups who need a place to break out and focus. In the past, CAMP has hosted everything from corporate brainstorming sessions, theater rehearsals, classes, and startup hacking sessions.

Omaha Wordpress Usergroup meeting! Read more about them on...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 02:54:00 -0500

Omaha Wordpress Usergroup meeting! Read more about them on twitter at @OMAWP.

Create & Bitch at CAMP #1

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 03:47:00 -0500

On the second Friday of every month, CAMP hosts Create and Bitch, a casual time for people to drop in and bring their own projects in and make stuff! Created by Courtney Gill Zurcher of Inez Gill, our first event last week was a great success and a few dozen ladies and gentlemen came by and enjoyed tea provided by The Tea Smith and a long night of crafting, making art, and collaborating!

Here are a few photos:

If you’re interested in coming to the next Create & Bitch at CAMP, swing by every month on the second Friday, bring $3 for treats and drinks, and have a seat next to some of the most creative and fun pals in Omaha!

Coworking breeds success: Downs Design + Image Made = Grain & Mortar!

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:28:00 -0400

Year-long CAMP Coworking tenants Downs Design and Image Made recently announced their merge to form Grain & Mortar, a brand strategy and design company. In mid-October they’ll be packing up their 800 computer monitors and moving just down the hall from CAMP to their new workspace in the Mastercraft Building.

Image Made was started by Michael and Kristin Dekay in 2008 after the economy left Michael jobless. The couple set off on their own business journey, with Michael handling the design and development, working in Wordpress and designing print materials, while Kristin managed the client content by writing copy and providing photography. They came to CAMP in July 2010.

Downs Design was a small studio started by Eric Downs to offer creative print and web design for other hardworking small businesses (like Princess Lasertron!). With a focus on partnering with companies with have a passion for the power of great design, Downs built his portfolio and grew his company to a three-person operation in the last year while working at CAMP full-time.

We are so excited about the birth of Grain and Mortar because everything about the two companies—right down to the way the merging happened—exemplifies the spirit of collaboration, creativity, and support that coworking is all about. As a simple handshake and agreement, the DeKays and Downs say they believe that they are each benefiting equally, and their clients have the most to gain as they are now able to combine all of their creative resources to offer design work unparalleled by any of their competitors.

According to their new company website, “Grain and Mortar” symbolizes the Midwest values of hard work, honesty, trust and reliability—four characteristics that the G&M team carries in spades.

So, who’s on the team?

Eric Downs, Creative Director / Owner
Mike DeKay, Creative Director / Owner
Kristin DeKay, Operations Director / Owner
Liz Hunt, Art Director
Joshua Goodell, Web Developer

Congratulations again to Grain & Mortar! We will see you down the hall!

Badassery at Work: our coworking talk at Meet the Pros

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:20:00 -0400

Meet the Pros is a two-day event sponsored by Omaha’s American Advertising Federation chapter to connect design students with local experts representing a wide scope of careers in design. This year’s February event featured workshops, keynote speakers, student portfolio reviews and lots of one-on-one time between area professionals and the next generation of design talent here in the Midwest!

CAMP co-founders Megan Hunt and Eric Downs were invited to deliver a keynote talk about how coworking is changing the way people work, and what a typical workplace may look like in the next 5-10 years as coworking concepts continue to become more accepted and pervasive in mainstream corporate environments.

The talk? Badassery at work: Collaboration, creativity, and coworking.

One thing we talked about was what we have learned working at CAMP in the past year—here is a list of some of the lessons we shared with the students:

Marshmallows shoot better when they’re soft, but hurt more when they’re dried out.

Investing in some extracurricular activities for your workspace is well worth it. You might be surprised when you take a break by throwing a frisbee, riding a scooter, or shooting marshmallows at a pal that your downtime turns into something productive. Bouncing ideas off of each other and collaborating to think of new solutions to frustrating problems is an everyday occurrence in a coworking space.

You can do whatever you want at work.

One of the reasons so many employees in corporate America are so disengaged is because mainstream employers haven’t accepted that there are many “working styles” that lead to the greatest productivity for different people. A space like CAMP is a great once-a-week retreat for a group of coworkers who flourish in a social, collaborative work environment. CAMP has hosted small teams from several of the country’s largest companies based here in Omaha, and each of those teams experienced not only productivity, but happiness and satisfaction which resulted in an increase in overall morale. In other words, not everyone works well in a desk, and why should they? Coworking spaces empower employees to be in charge of their own style of getting things done.

We want to impress our peers.

Put simply, we work harder when we are surrounded by people who are working hard. When one of us is working late, everyone is motivated to put in a little but of extra time or effort into their own projects.

Despite working in different industries, we have more in common than we think.

At CAMP, we have had coworkers with all kinds of jobs—a multitude of graphic/print/web designers, computer programmers and developers, apparel designers, reporters and freelance writers, lawyers, accountants, photographers, marketing experts and consultants…the list goes on and on. Although we work in different businesses, we share our triumphs, challenges, and solve problems together and everyone benefits. Hooray!

Entrepreneurs need support.

One of the reasons we go into business for ourselves is to make our own rules, but over half of entrepreneurs abandon their first businesses because they aren’t prepared for the emotional and financial commitment to making a startup succeed. One of the ways to beat those odds stacked against you is to surround yourself with people who have gone through—or are going through—exactly what you are, and people who are willing to share their network of support with you. With coworking, that’s exactly what you get—a sounding board when you develop a new idea, a support group when you need to commiserate, an advisory board when you’re ready to take a leap, and a drinking buddy to go out and celebrate!

The talk at Meet the Pros was a great opportunity to connect with students and people about to enter the workforce. We’re eager for the creative industries to adopt coworking principles—it will increase morale and improve the quality of life of so many creative minds.