Give your network a boost: become a coworker!

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Survitaminez votre networking : devenez coworker !

We’ve mentioned it before on this blog: coworking has a host of benefits. But did you know that it can also bring you clients? Some testimonials from Hive5 coworkers.

The creator and manager of Hive5, Gaël Van Gijsegem, calls on the coworking members himself. “I think it’s important that members of our community build business relationships together, that’s part of the magic of coworking. And so I decided to lead by example.” From the very beginning of Hive5, Gaël therefore relied on the first coworkers. “Our invoices, for example, are managed in Smoall, the online management application developed by Bastien Wauters, one of our first coworkers. Bastien has since recruited new clients within the coworking space. And we now offer, in collaboration with Smoall, the Hive5 Business Tools. Later, when we created the Hive5 website, another coworker, France Watelet, was in charge of the design and the launch. As for the content, including the article you’re reading right now, it’s created by Fred and Lise, from Ex Abrupto.”

A vast web of relationships…

Ex Abrupto is also a client of Smoall. “I met Bastien in another coworking space”, explains Fred Wauters, founder of Ex Abrupto. “And I was quickly seduced by his software. I must say that I don’t use Smoall only because I like Bastien: when we spoke, I was looking around the market and I hadn’t found anything that really suited my needs. Smoall was what I was looking for, and I still haven’t found anything better! And it’s nice to have your software provider in the same workspace. When I have a question or a feature suggestion, I can go and talk to him directly. In the meantime, Bastien has also become an Ex Abrupto client, as we take care of producing articles for his blog. Just like for Skwarel‘s website, and for Comptaline’s clients, for that matter. And, by the way, our accounting is managed at Comptaline. And it was Patrice, from Comptaline, who told me about Hive5: it was Gaël’s very first client!”

… in which everyone quickly integrates

But you don’t have to be part of the “first guard” to benefit from the network effects of the Hive5. Catherine de Buck knows something about that. “I had come to the opening of Hive5, and I had taken a part-time job, but I wasn’t there very often. And then, one day, Bastien from Smoall commissioned me to do a translation. One thing led to another and I ended up working in a more commercial capacity at Smoall. And as I came more often, other coworkers at Hive5 came to see me. I started working for Aislin, who works for a European NGO from the Hive5, and then for Pax Familia.

While Catherine still gives Bastien a hand, he has also hired one of the trainees from Diversicom. “It’s an ASBL that deals with putting disabled people to work. Christophe Benois was doing a discovery internship at Stepchange, another Hive5 host. We spoke one day while eating a sandwich in the Hive5’s little communal cafetaria, and he came to work at Smoall after his internship.”

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