Coworking for Creative Problem Solving
Ever been stuck on an idea or problem and thought "I wish I just had somebody to talk this out with?"
Brainstorming is important for innovating and problem solving, but if you’re working remotely or starting a business on your own, you might be missing out on a key component to creativity - in-person collaboration. Cahoots exists to provide a place for great minds to innovate and collaborate. This is why we created Hatch, a monthly roundtable where entrepreneurs can get new perspectives in person.
In the wake of the pandemic, video conferencing has opened up an expansive world of new connections to people in all corners of the world, but it’s also curbed creativity. A recent study found that video conferencing eliminates key components necessary for creativity, resulting in significantly less creative idea generation.
When you share a physical space with your collaborators, you are looking around the room and taking in a lot more information from each other and your surroundings that prime your brain to stimulate new thoughts or ideas. When your attention is on a small screen in front of you, your brain narrows its focus, impacting your overall ability to think expansively. Think of a horse wearing blinders - it can be helpful if you’re trying to narrow your focus to one path, but when you’re trying to explore all the paths available, it can crush creativity and make your job much harder.
If you’re an entrepreneur or an individual whose job relies on creative problem solving, lack of in-person collaboration can be crippling. In addition to running all things Cahoots, our Executive Director Chelsea Hohn is a solopreneur and runs her own flower business, Wildscape Floral Co. Our Marketing Consultant Liz Barney also runs her own business, and both have experienced the woes of not having in-person collaborations. When one of us had an idea or a thought, we would find ourselves sneaking away to different spaces in Cahoots to talk through problems or ideas, whether it was a lunch time talk in the sauna, curl up in a cozy couch nook to talk it out, or a debrief while Chelsea arranged the weekly florals for Aventura.
After creating Flock, a weekly standup for remote workers to connect throughout the week, we wanted to build on that to create a space to support entrepreneurs. The term Flock was inspired by Liz’s own backyard chickens, and keeping with the inspiration from her feathered friends we created Hatch, a monthly mastermind where entrepreneurs can incubate ideas together.
The premise is simple - each month, a small group of people gather around a table, where each entrepreneur has a dedicated time to bring a problem or idea to the table, and then the others can offer perspectives and brainstorm ideas with them. Our roster is varied, with entrepreneurs from all different walks of life and approaches. Often, that is just the support that our entrepreneurs come looking for.
“The people in my company are like-minded, and we tend to have similar approaches to solving problems,” shared Michael Henry, founder of CorkCRM, a service for professional painters. “I find it really helpful to get perspectives that are completely different from what I would normally hear, it helps me look at things in new ways.”
While video conferencing can help to connect to people across the globe, if you’re going to throw spaghetti up against a wall to see what sticks, it’s way more fun with good company, and you’ll probably end up with a lot more noodles to throw, or as we call it, unlimited pastability.
While our current mastermind is full, we are accepting applications for a waitlist and hope to be able to open up additional groups and similar resources in the next few months. If you know an entrepreneur in your life who could use support, please go ahead and sign up for our waitlist - because when great minds come together, anything's pasta-ble!
