iQ Offices challenges: Overcoming COVID and Building Community

Speaker 0: what were some of your toughest challenges that you faced building iq offices, and how did you navigate through them?

Speaker 1: well, calling, i would say, covid was the biggest challenge we had. covid, like, by far, was the biggest challenge we had. we had never there was no form of any business plan that i'd ever put together that contemplated going through, you know, a pandemic where it was gonna be against the law to use our workspace if you weren't an essential service. that just that was not part of the equation, so i definitely was not expecting that to happen. that was a very difficult time, because we, you know, we had to figure out how to keep the company running. we had a lot of fixed expenses that we had to incur during that period of time. we had to look at, you know and it was very much a learning. we had to look at, like, what did we need to do and how do we need to make changes in the organization through that period of time to ensure that we could survive? because it was very much survival. and, you know, in a lot of ways, we got to the point where we had a lot of structure of, we had a lot of staff and we had a lot of infrastructure. and i would say through that, it reinforced to me one what is the most important thing in any business, which is people. it's always people. and we had always invested in people and having a high staff to member ratio, meaning that on-site at a location, we would have more staff per member than you would typically see in our industry. and because of that, and the reason why we had that is because we wanted to make sure it's it's about the human connected experience. it's that's what makes our space just special. like, what you see behind me, any architect can quantify and build. it's not that hard. anyone can sign a lease. anybody can replicate what you see. what you don't see is the service culture, the service mindset, and how our staff and everyone within iq cares deeply about each other and our members. and when we went into covid, because we had that structure in place and we had all of those relationships and we built that trust with our members, we were able to work to get through to the other side. and so we did all kinds of different things to get there and to help out our members during covid to get to the other side, to make sure that they were taken care of, to make sure that they were safe during that period of time, to make sure, that we also too had a sustainable business. and i would say it was really telling in so many ways because, first of all, our members became our partners in a lot of ways. a lot of members said, like, hey. i know this is tough for you guys. like, i know that this has gotta be, like, excruciating. and we're like, yes. absolutely. it is. but, you know, we're not but, also, we gotta figure out what makes sense for you too in the context of making sure that that we keep this business alive, that we all survive together, right, on this. and we had, you know, we just had so many grand gestures of kindness through that period of time, because of that. and it was all because of those relationships. it was all those investment in people, during that period of time. and it just reinforced what i believe going into covid, is, it is all about the people, and you gotta create amazing experiences for each other. that's really what it's all about. we we want we need to do that first for all of our staff. i like to say when people started iq, this may not be your last job, but i want this to be your best job. that's what you know, because i we want this to be an environment that you love what you do. that's very important to us. and then by extension, that translates into a service offering for our members where they feel that caring and they feel that connection. and that's really what draws people to the office. surprisingly, you know, interestingly enough, and i mean, maybe it seems obvious, but it's not beautiful space. it really isn't. people's space is great, but, you know, it really isn't that. it's it's the people. that's why that's why people go train and drive downtown and, you know, do all you know, and spend twenty dollars for lunch and everything else because they wanna be around the people that they see when they're here.

Speaker 0: it's funny that you mentioned that because i think it's a combination of the two things. i think they come because they need a place. the initial, i need a meeting room. i need a place to have a call. i'm downtown in between meetings. and then once they've tried it, they're like, oh, i'm here. i can now, during my coffee break, i can talk to, like, people about the basketball game and this and that. i'm not working by myself. but not only that, it's the community and expertise around you. i remember, working out of the coworking space that i use, talking to the google ads expert across the way when i asked questions, for my client. and there was, a couple legal people around that you could ask questions about quickly about that stuff and social media and different companies that quickly you had all the skills you needed, that you could grab over coffee or a quick meeting just in your office that you're friends with that really felt like you were part of something bigger than you are. and i think that's what makes people stay. i, a lot of times, i think they arrive because they think i need a space to work, and they realize what they really needed was all these other people.

Speaker 1: yeah. absolutely.