If you’ve been in the Common Desk community for the past few years, then this probably isn’t the first time you’re hearing the name, “Common Desk – Anywhere;” but here in recent months, we’ve expanded Common Desk – Anywhere to include a robust list of service offerings, and we’re pretty freaking pumped to tell you about them.
So what’s Common Desk – Anywhere, exactly? Anywhere is the product of our theory that you truly can be productive in any place, as long as there’s a structure in place to help you do your best work. Common Desk has always prided itself in its physical locations, like Common Desk – Deep Ellum, – Fort Worth, – Granite Park, and – Oak Cliff because of the productivity and sense of community we’re able to invoke within our walls.
But one day (probably after a few beers at Angry Dog), we had a crazy thought– what if the productivity and sense of community we love to create weren’t limited to our walls– what if we were able to give our members the same experience they get within our walls, but in all kinds of off-the-wall locations, like a tropical destination or from within a mobile workspace?
And just like that, Common Desk – Anywhere was born!
Common Desk – Anywhere started with one service offering 2 years ago, but in the past 3 months, we’ve expanded it to include two new offerings, bringing the grand total to 3 unique experience services, all under the name “Anywhere.”
The original Anywhere service offering was this portable mini Common Desk of sorts that we had custom built to let us popup a workspace Anywhere and have it give people a little taste of what Common Desk looks like without necessarily having to travel to one of our physical spaces. We first rolled out this popup coworking concept to be the Base Camp Coworking provider at Dallas Startup Week 2016, and since then, we’ve used Anywhere’s popup coworking setup to sponsor conferences like Circles and Squares, act as a showroom for future Common Desk locations, and to be a flexible workspace solution for companies needing temporary flex space. Not a bad start, huh?
Okay okay, time to get to the exciting stuff. The brand-spankin’-NEW stuff. We’re excited to officially tell you (in full) about the two most recent (and FUN) additions to Anywhere!
The first new Anywhere add-on is a little thing called a “coworkation.” Don’t worry, we’ll define:
Coworkation: a paid work trip that can be combined with aspects of coworking and taking a vacation. From “cowork” + “vacation”
Since our motto is “Experience Work,” and we’re all about creating unique opportunities for our members to both connect and experience the work that they do day-in and day-out in different ways, we thought to ourselves, “WHAT IF we curated all-inclusive member-only workations to give our members the chance to work from a beautiful destination while fueled by adventure and the connectivity that would come from getting to know other members over margs and surfing lessons on the side?” And thus, Common Desk – Anywhere member coworkations were imagined!
We announced our newest Anywhere service offering to our member community a few months ago, and their excitement has us begging for our first trip to be here already. We’re planning to head to a tropical destination in the Fall of 2018 for our first official member workation trip; anywhere from 20-30 will join us for 5 days of remote working, beautiful views, “community events” like surfing lessons, yoga sessions, Catamaran tours, hikes, and happy hours! The trip cost will include all of the above, plus lodging and two meals per day. All members have to do is sign up, secure and pay for the flight that works best for them, cover the trip fee, then pack their bags and get hyped for an unforgettable coworkation experience!
We’re still securing the exact destination of our first trip, but we’ll have all details finalized by the start of summer, and we’re buzzing with excitement for the memories made during this first Anywhere coworkation!
The second new Anywhere add-on is this really sweet vintage Airstream trailer that we’ve remodeled alongside our pals at 44Build to act as a mobile, rentable conference room and workspace. The 1972 Airstream looked pretty rough when we first saw it, but 44 worked their magic, and alas– a beautiful mobile workspace was created.
The Common Desk Airstream is only 3 weeks old now, but it’s already making big (air)waves in Dallas. We rolled it out (once again) just in time for Dallas Startup Week, and we parked it right outside of Ross Tower for the week of DSW18. All week long, we served fresh hot and iced Fiction coffee for free out of the Airstream and provided a cool and unique place for people to drop in, get a little work done between Startup Week sessions, have conversations with new friends, and just kick it for a bit.
Right after Dallas Startup Week closed out for 2018, we immediately rolled the Airstream to Oak Cliff to be the coffee provider for the first ever Taste of Oak Cliff event. It was colder than any Saturday in April ever should be, but our staff had a blast sharing hot coffee and warm smiles to everyone who dropped by that day.
The Common Desk – Anywhere Airstream is perfectly rentable, and it makes for an awesome change of scenery for standard company offsite meetings, brainstorm sessions, leadership sessions, hands-on workshops, or a vintage coworking experience. To learn more about renting our Airstream for the day, just send over a lil inquiry to info@thecommondesk.com!
You can expect to see the Common Desk Airstream posted up at major hotspots around Dallas from here on out; if you spot it, drop in and say hi (chances are there will be free coffee and swag)!
So Why Is Common Desk Doing All Of This Anywhere Stuff? Our CEO Sums It Up Best:
“Mobilizing productivity helps people connect on a deeper level. Our members might work near each other from our office spaces on a daily basis, but when they connect over the same table in a vintage airstream or over margaritas on a remote beach, all of the sudden their level of connectivity has no choice but to be stronger. And with so many professionals having the ability to work wherever they want, we want to provide a simple and seamless avenue for our members to make their workdays more memorable, both in the office and out of the office. And what better way to do just that than an all-inclusive workation or off-site airstream coworking session?”
- Nick Clark, CEO of Common Desk
With all of these new service experiences, it’s clear to see that we’ve got nowhere to go but Anywhere. Join us on our journey to finding productivity all over Dallas and beyond!
