Why does Bar Harbor need a coworking space?
Anyone who has tried to rent an office in Bar Harbor knows it’s difficult to impossible to find a professional looking space with nearby parking that costs less than $400/month (once you factor in high speed internet, trash removal, utilities, etc).
Even if you don’t need a space on a daily basis, having a place to meet clients means you aren’t stuck meeting in a coffee shop (can be noisy or unprivate), the library (collaborative but not business-y), or meeting clients someplace like your home (you have to clean).
Anchorspace can serve both the needs of heavy and light office users by providing relatively affordable office space with all amenities included, close to both downtown locations and parking, for both regular, daily users and more occasional, drop-in users.
In a town of entrepreneurs, we know the space will be well used and well loved. We also have evidence via a feasibility study conducted during the summer of 2014 that not only is the town of Bar Harbor supportive of the idea but people have already expressed interest in renting space when this happens.
Does Anchorspace have private offices?
No.
In having a clientele of people serious about their businesses, we see the value of collaborating and sharing a space (and it’s not just us- other people noticed this long before we did).
While you can’t go into an office and close the door, there is still opportunity for privacy if you’re a person who prefers to put your nose to the grindstone with little to no interruption. Basically, it’s as private as you want to make it with our rolling walls helping you create your own nook.
For those times where a call or meeting is necessary, we’ll have a conference room and two ‘phone booth’ spaces available.
Anchorspace isn’t a giant water-cooler where everyone stops and chats. The purpose of a coworking space is to increase productivity, income, networking opportunities and for those individuals and businesses who wouldn’t have access (especially from a home office). For statistics on how coworking spaces have helped entrepreneurs, this website has some information for you!
Note: You never know you like something unless you are willing to try. Like our friends at The Engine Room in Portland, we’ll let you pay a monthly rate to try Anchorspace for a month… then if you like it you can sign a month to month agreement.
Why ‘Anchorspace’?
Well let’s ask ourselves: “Where do we put down an anchor?”
We put down our anchor when we are not under sail.
Startups and launching is hard work… and these kind of businesses are in need of lots of support that we can’t offer. In short, we aren’t an incubator. Think about this being a space for you if your business is already sailing and needing to maybe get to that next level of success. Or just need to get out of your house. Coworking spaces have helped other businesses achieve a level of success that they might not seen otherwise, as this Inc. article explains.
We put our anchor down with boats like us.
What happens when you get a group of motivated, interesting people with complementary skills together? We hope to show Bar Harbor just how cool that is. Businesses in this space can help each other out, working on projects or causes together.
We put down our anchor somewhere safe.
Safety will be an upmost concern for Anchorspace users. From programmable locks to background checks on renters, we’ll take the safety of businesses who call AnchorSpace home seriously. It’ll be like the sophistication and technology of being in Portland while still getting to be here in Bar Harbor.
How much are spaces?