What happens when a small business coach realizes her clients need more than advice—they need a place to actually work? She converts the loft she's been living in with her family into a coworking space.

This week, Jamie Russo sits down with Sue Reardon, co-founder and community connector at Suite Spotte in Forest Park and La Grange, Illinois, for one of the most fascinating origin stories we've heard on this podcast.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How Sue went from coaching micropreneurs to realizing coworking was the missing piece
• Why it took two years to get the Forest Park location rezoned
• Her "test and invest" mindset—constantly experimenting with flexible memberships
• Why she stopped doing evening events and started showing up with soup and wine instead
• The "Team Mashup" concept—bringing remote and in-office teams together

This conversation is proof that coworking works best when you stay curious, listen to your members, and aren't afraid to test unconventional ideas.

If you're an operator wondering how to create authentic community without forcing it, or navigating flexible memberships, this episode is for you.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Sue Reardon on LinkedIn

Suite Spotte Coworking website

Everything Coworking Featured Resources:

Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space

Coworking Startup School

Community Manager University

Follow Us on YouTube

What happens when a coworking expert walks into a national coworking brand as a day pass user—and the experience falls flat?

This week, Jamie shares her recent day pass experience and turns it into a practical checklist for operators who want to treat every day passer like a potential long-term member (because they might be).

It's the holiday season, which means travelers are staying with family, needing to get work done, and looking for a place to escape for the day. Day passers might be transient—or they might become your next member, referral source, or meeting room regular. But if your onboarding process is clunky, your team isn't asking questions, and nobody offers a tour, you're leaving money (and relationships) on the table.

Jamie walks through exactly what went wrong in her experience and what should have happened instead—from the moment she walked in the door to the moment she left without anyone noticing.

We talk about:

• Why signage, parking info, and wifi instructions should be crystal clear on your website
• The Shop app effect: why consumers expect frictionless checkout (and how Flexspace.ai makes this possible)
• Why your day pass booking process should never require 20 minutes and multiple steps
• The power of a simple tour—even if someone's rushing to a call
• How to read the room and offer help without being pushy
• Why introducing day passers to members creates instant belonging
• The one question your team should always ask: "Has this person been here before?"
• How to use your CRM to track referral potential and pain points
• Why seasonal offers and meeting room packages are perfect day pass conversion tools
• The Enneagram lens: why some people want to be seen and others want to be left alone
• Designing your space so people have to pass the front desk (and why that matters)

If you've been treating day passes as transient revenue instead of relationship opportunities, this episode will shift how you think about every single person who walks through your door.

Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:

The Revenue Playbook (Operator Membership)

Everything Coworking Featured Resources:

Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space

Coworking Startup School

Community Manager University

Follow Us on YouTube

What happens when a flex workspace veteran with decades of global experience decides the future isn't about branded coworking takeovers—but about making flex invisible so the building itself can thrive?

In this episode, Andrea Pirrotti, Head of Real Estate at infinitSpace, shares her unconventional approach to helping landlords activate underutilized space without heavy CapEx, long lease-up timelines, or the friction that comes with traditional flex operators.

Andrea's background is extensive—she ran global marketing for IWG across 65 countries, led operations at Office Evolution, and now she's bringing a Dutch operator's profitable, partnership-first model to the Americas.

We cover:

• Why spec suites look like a solution but often lose money for landlords
• How infinitSpace's semi-white-label model (Beyond) blends into a building's existing design and brand
• The fatal mistakes operators make that Andrea's team capitalizes on when taking over failed spaces
• Why "high optics, low friction" (like a barista at the entrance) creates outsized value without blowing budgets
• The magic 10% rule: why every building should dedicate at least 10% of inventory to flex
• Why banks still don't know how to value flex revenue—and what needs to change

If you're a landlord wondering whether flex makes sense for your building, or an operator curious about partnership models that actually work, this conversation is essential listening.


Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Andrea Pirrotti on LinkedIn

infinitSpace website

Everything Coworking Featured Resources:

Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space

Coworking Startup School

Community Manager University

Follow Us on YouTube