Welcome back to another Coworking Values Podcast folks! Where we try to update you with all things about the coworking community.
In this episode, we are having Alex Ahom of AlexAhom.com back! We did a podcast with him before, and it’s been a long time. He’s the founder of Shhared coworking space in Hamburg, Germany. Alex now manages his own future of work and workplace consulting. Alex will be sharing with us all about what it is like to close his coworking space due to the pandemic. The journey of him moving across countries, starting his coworking space, and what did it take to get over the fact that he has to close it. We are also going to be talking about Alex helping startups with inclusion and diversity. How they can make their business be more inclusive and diverse.
What did it take for you to get over the fact that you have to close your coworking space?
Well, for me, as I said that the transition into the space was, it was clear to me. I had to do it. And, as you said before, and I, and I’ve said before in public, and you know, I’ve done a bit of public speaking about this kind of stuff. You know, I’ve consulted to a few businesses of different kinds.
We want to start flexible workspaces. And, it was clear to me and obvious to me that I had to do it. And, it was difficult because I’m not an architect. I’m not, I’m not classically trained in those kinds of things. But I knew what I wanted to be a part of. And I knew what the community I want to be a part of.
I’m very active on social media. So I knew, I asked a lot of people, what would they want from their work experience? So I built the place really for people. With a common challenge and I did it alone. I didn’t have any investors. I didn’t have any co-founders. I didn’t have a golden egg or, or anything like that.
And so it was a lot of, a lot of hard work, a lot of sleepless nights. You know, it puts stress on the family for sure. Put stress on me, obviously. But I fail to say that, I put everything. I tried everything and I did everything for that, for that chatter. So when you come to a point when you realize that a new chapter’s coming, if you’ve done everything you can, then it also, there is a certain amount of peace.
There was a sort of certain amount of positivity and so it wasn’t, the closing down part was not as hard as one might think because I tried everything. And I said that to my kids, I’ve got three kids. I said to my kids, if you put everything into something, if you put a hundred percent of effort into something, if you fail or if, if you learn or if it doesn’t work the way you wanted to, you can hold your head up high.
And because, you know, you’ve tried everything. And, I think a lot of people know, especially in the European continent. You know, I’ve travelled a lot. We’ve travelled a lot, speaking about this kind of stories, you know, we’ve blogged and done these things before, and we’re still, you know, coworking flexible work.
It’s still in its infancy in this, in this way. So we were early pioneers, we were early actors. We are early actors. Um, but yeah, but in terms of the mental side of it the closing down part, wasn’t that difficult for me. I was proud of what I’ve achieved and what I’ve learned and all those people that I served and all those businesses that I helped.
And I’m happy with what I’ve learned and what I’ve done. And closing the doors doesn’t change that.
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Coworking Values Podcast: Alex Ahom
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