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What Really Goes on at MMM Headquarters

I’d love to retire early, but then what? 

Although I retired about thirteen years ago, and continue to be retired, about one year ago I opened up a little business on Main Street here in Longmont, Colorado. It is a multi-purpose gathering space, under the guise of a coworking space, with the typical-for-me grandiose name of “Mr. Money Mustache Headquarters”. Or, MMM-HQ for short.

At the time, I wrote a blog post about it, and promised to keep you updated on how it was going. Since then, many people have been asking for updates. Approximately one group of random roadtripping Mustachian tourists has stopped by each day to peer in the windows*. And several people are considering opening their own coworking spaces in other cities, if the case for it looks good.

Although this HQ is a small scale thing (we are hovering at about 50 members and I’d love to get to 80), it has provided me with some great lessons in both life and business, which are long overdue for sharing.

Plus, I can now fully vouch for the idea as a good one for other people to pursue, given the right situation. Owning a coworking or other community-oriented space can be both a good business and a great life choice, for people before or after the early retirement stage.

So, here’s what I’ve learned after launching into the most unexpected business of my life so far:

1: Owning a business can be like a having mental health therapist that pays YOU:

As I always say, early retirement is great, but it doesn’t mean you’re allowed to stop working. You need to accomplish something meaningful with almost every one of your days, whatever “accomplish” and “meaningful” mean to you. You also need to get out of your house, strain your muscles, have positive interactions with other humans, and experience at least a bit of hardship. These are simply parts of the recipe for Human happiness, like a series of buttons you can press to get more of it.

A therapeutic January morning in the Prisonyard Gym with special guest Jesse Mecham

So in my case, adding HQ to my life has been a very nice way to press more of those buttons. Almost every morning, I walk or bike or jog the 1.2 miles down to the building bright and early, open up all the doors for some fresh air, put on some music, and sweep the floors or make coffee or set things straight in preparation for the day. Then I head out to the patio and the “Prisonyard” outdoor gym beyond to do some basic weight training before I get sucked too deeply into computer work or any to-do lists.

As the day goes on, there will be a random stream of members and conversations and tasks and meetings and errands around town, which is just unpredictable enough to keep each day fun.

And the best part of it all is that it’s completely optional work. I can choose not to visit, and the members take up the slack and care for the place themselves. I can go on vacation and nothing blows up while I’m gone.

Owning a coworking space has all the benefits of having a really good office job where you like all of your coworkers, except without the accompanying obligations or politics. I refer to it as my therapist because a visit never fails to put me in a good mood, no matter how I felt before deciding to head down there. And a healthy and reliable way to make yourself feel great is an important part of any life.

2: It’s easy to arrange big events, but slower to create a consistently buzzing daily scene.

The year started big, with about 90 people crammed in for the first pop-up business school. Then, the vibe flipped around completely as we moved on to just a few people hanging around during normal days, working on laptops or perhaps the squat rack. But there have also been a pretty good series of after-hours events including barbecues, potlucks, regular meetups of the Northern Colorado Mustachians Group, a visit and Q/A session with YNAB founder Jesse Mecham, a Virtual Reality demo night, a music jam or two, and various charity and learning events and markets.

The annual Beer Club charitable meeting, comprised mostly of my neighborhood Dad friends.

On the down side, it takes more work to meet and sign up each new member than I expected, and we tend to lose more than expected, as people who signed up early but realized they don’t really need a coworking space have dropped out. And in the classic Blogger’s Dilemma where the demographic of the audience often reflects that of the writer, we end up with quite a high percentage of well-to-do white males in our 30s and 40s, which could lead to the term “Broworking Space”. But I’m trying to break this trend!

On the upside, the community side has been just as good as I had hoped. Thanks to the magic of our private Slack group, Members of HQ have been helping each other with both business and leisure pursuits on a daily basis and the connection has helped all of us including me. I often joke that my primary purpose for this coworking space is as a “Friend Harvesting Machine”, and it is living up to that promise.

3: The Money Side of Things

In principle, coworking is a good business model because it works a bit like a gym: you can have a large number of members sharing a common space because not everyone is there every day. This is why there are so many companies expanding into the business like WeWork, Regus, Proximity, Galvanize, and a zillion more.

But like any business, your income and spending need to be balanced.  I’ve deliberately gone low on both sides, by starting with an affordable building and subsidizing it with my own mostly-unpaid labor. Because of this, the $2500 per month income (50 members at $50 each) is enough to sustain the place including property taxes, utilities, maintenance, beer (and artisinal coffee from one of our own members!) The downside of this approach is that our space is smaller and less fancy than other coworking spots. It was really just one big room until I opened the Tinyhouse conference room in June.  Since the space is still way underused on any given workday, we could easily double this to 100 members, which would bring the business up to $60,000 of gross annual income – more than enough to sustain any reasonable lifestyle with very part-time hours.

Normal coworking spaces will tend to have a much larger building, with hundreds of members paying between $150 and $300+ per month for semi-private working spaces, or more for fully dedicated offices. This leads to higher rent and utility costs, plus the need for at least one full-time administrator and even a receptionist (although both can be the same person, which could be you if you are motivated.) The end result is a good income stream, at the expense of a business that requires real work on a fixed schedule.

So you can see why MMM-HQ is taking the slower paced road, for now.

4: So, should I start my own? (or join one?)

If you’ve got the time and energy, hell yes!

If you are thinking of opening a space in roughly the MMM-HQ model (or already have one), feel free to give me the details by dropping me an email via my about->contact form. Before doing so, I’d suggest you

  • start by putting up a good website with your proposed building/location, amenities, monthly cost and your contact info.
  • Then share it around with anyone you know who may be interested and get feedback.
  • Then email me with that you have so far.

At this point, I will link to it from my own HQ page, which will then become a directory for a network of community-oriented Mustachian coworking spaces. You can gather interested parties first before taking the plunge, although I would suggest that you only do this if you are financially well established and not overly dependent on the whims of bank financing.

Although I would (of course) charge no franchise fees, we could still set up an informal sharing arrangement where members of any Mustachian Headquarters affiliate location would be free to visit any other one.

And if you are wondering if joining a club like this is a worthwhile use of your own fifty bucks a month, I have to say it’s hard to see the downside as long as you use the amenities and like socializing with other people. If free coffee, beer, work space, an outdoor gym, tool library/workshop and access to fifty local entrepreneurs is not worth it to you, then I’m not sure what is!

In The Comments: Do you have any questions or comments about this or any other lifestyle or post-retirement business ideas? I’d be happy to answer them, and hopefully many other entrepreneur-readers will be willing to share their own knowledge and experience as well. 

*Out of respect to the members who are in there trying to get real work done, please don’t show up unannounced – instead, join one of our public meetups if you happen to be in the area, which I always announce on Twitter and usually Facebook too.

  • CB FI September 10, 2018, 6:54 am

    There is no reason to feel bad or apologize for having attracted a certain demographic. We ladies, for example, have lots of woman-only spaces, including female-only coworking spaces such as Make Lemonade here in Toronto. If female-only spaces are beneficial, then by equality a space that is male-only should be equally beneficial.

    Reply
  • The Debt Shrink September 10, 2018, 5:47 pm

    LOVED “can be like having a MH therapist that pays you”. Yesterday another psychologist and I were talking about opening a MMM-HQ co-op space for clinicians who want to partially retire or generate extra income after hours. Our idea is to own the building and provide space so providers just come in, see as many or few patients as they want, have some common areas for clinicians to meet up, and everything else is taken care of. Any thoughts how the MMM-HQ model may or may not work for us?

    Reply
    • John Manganaro December 26, 2018, 10:54 am

      @TheDebtShrink – I know this post is a little old but wanted to reach out. Followed MMM for some time now. I live in Boston, am a psychotherapist, ride bikes, like to fix things myself, blah blah blah … I have my own private practice but have been recently obsessed by the idea of owning a MMM-HQ type space for therapists. (might have a space down the street from me). I don’t have many people that think like me so I figured I would reach out … may be we could mastermind together! Looks like you’re interested in a similar thing. Let me know … jjmango18@gmail.com

      Reply
  • Mike Rosehart September 11, 2018, 11:20 pm

    I love this idea!! We have a pretty great group here in London, Ontario, Canada 60-70 show-up to our monthly outdoor meet ups. Our group is London on FIRE. Pete (MMM) and Jacob are the sources of our fire inspiration. I reached FI at age 24. I’ve been following along and read every article since I was about 17. Now I spend most of my time trying to give back by coordinating meet ups and doing education YouTube videos on FIRE.
    I think a franchised MMM headquarters would be so cool! I’m into real estate in a big way (as I used that as my primary hardcore savings investment vehicle), so it makes a lot of sense for me.

    I’d be willing to drive down with my family to meet you in person. It’s actually a bucket list item…while I was grinding as an analyst towards freedom I made a list of things I could once I was FREE.

    I’d love to do some videos with you on YouTube if you’re willing. I’ll do all the editing and filming. The Gen Z love video content and find it very palatable.

    Feel free to reach out to me – I’d dedicate a whack load of time to any of the above ideas and would LOVE to sit down with you.

    Lurker from the shadows Mike Rosehart.
    Thanks again for being my inspiration to reach FIRE. I’ve been following since the beginning :)

    Cheers,
    Mike Rosehart

    Reply
  • Anonymous September 12, 2018, 8:26 am

    Great article as usual!
    I am a member of a co-working space in Sheffield, UK, which is run as a co-operative. It’s called Union Street if you’re curious! I would definitely agree with the benefits of co-working spaces, I learn so much from co-workers here.
    For commenters worried about cost, I’m looking into a labour for membership exchange with my co-working space. Sign up, convince owners that you are a useful person and see what happens!

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache September 13, 2018, 6:26 pm

      Yes, great idea! I could definitely use more help at my own coworking space and would trade free membership for good cleaning and other work as well.

      Reply
  • Married to a Swabian September 23, 2018, 6:35 am

    Hey MMM, have you used your HQ for doing one on one personal financial planning for people? Reading lately about the state of average Americans finances and it is shockingly far from what we talk about here! Over 60% have no budget and nearly 60% don’t even have $1000 in the bank.
    I think that most of these people are intimidated by money management and / or embarrassed about their situation and see a financial consultant as someone a “rich white guy” meets with. Sites like this one are a tremendous resource for financial planning. I’m thinking that doing face to face personal financial consulting could be rewarding, as a next step for these folks. Seems like it could be huge underserved market.

    Reply
  • Erik Orozco October 4, 2018, 8:10 am

    Greetings Mr. Money! Concerned newbie mustiachian of little faith here. I took a listen to Paula Pant’s podcast as she interviewed Suze Orman. Mrs. Orman adamantly hates the financial independence retire early movement. I would graciously ask for your take on her comments and point of view.

    -She argues that catastrophe will befall everyone at some point. 500k or even a million dollars will not save you!
    -Artificial intelligence will cause unemployment rates to go up to 25% by 2030, causing a shortage of employment taxes in the market, ultimately increasing tax brackets!
    -5 million is the lowest number she through out during her rant and went as high as 100 million in order to retire and be “alright”

    here’s a nice summary of the episode:
    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-biggest-financial-mistake-you-could-ever-make-according-to-suze-orman-2018-10-02

    Reply
  • Catprog October 9, 2018, 10:01 pm

    It may not be the same but I go to a hackerspace a couple of cities over down here in Australia.

    Reply
  • Denise Melanson October 26, 2018, 5:18 pm

    Hi again. You know, realise i didn’t tell you that i like your blog when i left the last comment.
    Anyhoo.. WIFI? do you have access to the Internet in this space? Or is there an expectation that everyone is tethering to their phone or other apparatus? As i can’t do my job without access to the internet.
    just curious
    thanks

    Reply
  • Jason November 28, 2018, 7:13 pm

    Lighting round, MMM:

    (Hey Jason, MMM here – answers inline for easier reading!)

    1. Using free version of slack or the ~$8 per month version?

    Free version, because it’s not $8 per month, it is $8 per PERSON per month. Which would burn of a full sixth of the entire headquarters income!

    2. You provide keys or fobs to access the space? If fobs, how much was that setup?

    I use an August Smart Lock. A bit fussy but it works. So everyone can get in with their own phone and/or a keypad I mounted outside the front door.

    3. Ever charge more for “special events”?

    Not so far – everything has been free. But I’m not opposed to it if appropriate.

    4. Have you found the community growing organically since you started the space or do you nudge it in any way to build it?

    It grows organically through people emailing me when they hear about it. But other people quit or move away, so I need to publicize it more and bring in more co-owners to boost the energy level. Stay tuned!

    5. Concerns with not having the site “staffed” when in use?

    Nope, this is the best and only way for a small place like mine to avoid losing money. There need to be no fixed costs beyond property taxes and utilities and coffee/beer.

    Thanks for this post! Appreciate any other info you could provide. Looking to start something similar in IL.

    Reply
    • Jason November 29, 2018, 6:49 pm

      Awesome. This is super helpful, MMM. Thanks!

      Reply
  • Brad Spencer December 25, 2018, 4:09 pm

    This is so brilliant.

    Love the low-rent/high-value model. I’ve LONG thought the coworking model as its done here in Orlando was wayyyyyyy too expensive. Here the issue is all the coworking spaces for open-room are around $100 a month which is fine. But the parking is always 40% more than that minimum and it’s far…so walking in swealtering humidity or paying out the nose for a close parking garage space just stinks :(

    I dig this “Focus on what matters not on what doesn’t” model…and at $50 a month this is super high value.

    Wish I lived near one.

    (I’d totally copy this model just focused on other biz ventures atm to do this the right way)

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache December 26, 2018, 4:57 pm

      That all sounds great Brad! … but I’m confused by the word “Parking” – what is that and why would it be related to coworking? ;-)

      Reply
  • Russ August 4, 2020, 7:24 pm

    Where does everyone park? Is this a commercial building or ondusrial building? Sounds interesting. I haven’t heard of them in Phoenix Metro.

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache August 4, 2020, 7:42 pm

      We all park our bikes in the back yard at the HQ – except those of us who walk, of course ;-) But unfortunately, there is still only one MMM HQ location – just the original here in Longmont.

      Reply
  • Ron Lucase October 25, 2020, 8:35 pm

    Hey folks! I live in the Kensington/Chevy Chase/Silver Spring, MD area and would love to open something similar to this. I like helping people fix everyday issues like, small plumbing, carpentry and electrical jobs in house or at the shop. Heck, even some of the easier car projects, like brakes would be fun to teach others. Bike repair and tuning? I would also envision loaning tools to the members to help complete most of these tasks and others. Computer repairs and upgrades.

    For the teleworkers I would also like to have a few small quite spaces and a small collaboration room for some formal working sessions. We would have monthly meeting/BBQs and hangouts. The idea would be to me meet new friends and help each other with common and not so common tasks. I envision an old school set of dumbbells’ to help keep us fit. The whole beer thing would need to be investigated on the laws and insurance requirements for our area.

    Of course a lot of this depends on the COVID-19 and future treatments. If any one in the Kensington/Chevy Chase Silver Spring area is interested let me know.

    Reply
  • Justin July 14, 2021, 6:07 am

    Hey Mr.Money Mustache

    I’m really curious about your outdoor gym. I’m considering something similar at my next house. My question is: What do you do about rust on the barbells in the elements? I don’t think I’d mind my plates getting rusty, but my racks and bars I’d be more worried about corrosion. Has this been a problem for you? Do you keep them covered when you don’t use them?

    Justin

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache July 14, 2021, 6:28 pm

      Nope, rust isn’t a big issue (the bars are typically chrome plated and everything else comes painted). Then you just spraypaint anything once every few years if it needs a touch-up. No need to waste time covering and un-covering such frequently used valuable equipment!

      Reply

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