Team

No one can do it alone. No one. If you think you can, you are a bona fide Superman.

Finding others with complementary skills can decrease your blood pressure and save you a lot of grey hair. If you find certain aspects harder than others, e.g., marketing, social media, and sales, hire someone who is an expert in that field.

You can test your team’s motivation and mindset in the early days by asking them to move into the space. Let them stay and pay them a lower salary during this time – this will give them a chance to experience the concept and fully understand the mission of your business. Let them live and breathe it.

If you cannot live with them and they don’t get on with the other staff members, you can quickly see that they are not the right fit.

When you open your second space, you may distribute your tried and tested team amongst the two buildings, with two of them taking on the host role in both places—saving money on employees in the beginning and getting them to learn another position that they might not have previously considered.

Here are some skills/people you need to succeed with a coliving space:

Host – to nurture the community and organize events. Depending on how big your space is, they may also need to do maintenance and turn around rooms and beds between guests. They need to be a phenomenal “people person” with some experience in the service industry. They must be professional, friendly, understanding, insightful, polite, and driven.

Sales – this can be a part-time role, marketing/sales to acquire new guests. Follow up with previous guests, motivating them to come back. Registering your space to Airbnb and Coliving.com is not enough; you need someone specifically working on this.

Business Developer – the Salesperson can also do this part. Setting up new spaces takes a lot of effort, including discussions with space owners and investors. Setting up the space with furniture and even a vase of flowers before taking photos.

Legal – On demand. Before you set up houses in a specific area, you should get a legal advisor that checks if you will run into problems with your scheme. You must have someone checking the rules and regulations regarding coliving in your specific location as it’s different for each area. Also, as some guests may be rotten apples and need to leave the premises, you should have a legal advisor that can deal with the person should the matter arise.