Everything you need to know about Fabulous Facelifts, Powerful Photos, and Punchy Podcasts

Global shutdowns aren’t great. They are downright scary and legit uncool. For me and many others it’s meant shuttering doors, losing money, and the beginnings of a long-term roller coaster of “what if’s” and “what do we do now’s”. There have been a few good things to come out of closing the doors namely, the elusive facelift. Businesses putting off repairs and updates took the opportunity to make those updates. Here in Butler, I know of at least a few brick and mortars who revamped and overhauled their space while foot traffic was limited. Other upsides have included having time to think about messaging, dreams, and what the future looks like.

Celebrating the Facelift

One of those businesses happened to be the building where ConnectWork on Main is located. The HollyPointe is a 4-floor office building with a basement level. It’s been a part of Main St for generations. The current owners, the Stoughton family, bought it in 2016. Before it was the HollyPointe Building it was Jaffe’s, a retail store with high-quality items. The store closed in the 1980’s.

While grand and expansive, the HollyPointe has needed a facelift for a few decades. Cheri (Stoughton) Readie, one of the owners, had big plans when the building was purchased to update it and make improvements. The shutdown provided the time and space required to do just that. 

With the help of family and friends, the Stoughtons pulled off a gorgeous transformation with limited resources. Many pieces came out of storage to be reused and upcycled for the project. A few highlights include new

• Paint on the high traffic floors and common areas
• Decorative ceiling on the first floor
• Lighting and eye catching fixtures
• Fabulous and clear signage

Contactless Professional Headshots

When the owner of the building approached me about being open during the VIP Mixer, I of course said yes. I was excited to share my space! To offer a value add to the event, I hosted contactless professional headshots. You can read more detail on the nitty-gritty of that from the photographer. I think the pictures came out freaking amazing. What do you think?

This was completely free to the attendees. We are looking forward to having more sessions like this one in the near future. Those in Motion did a fabulous job! It was really neat to see attendees be all smiles after the shoot.

Tours of the Cowork

In addition to tours of the rest of the building, the CoWork was the first stop on the tour after the first floor. Attendees had a chance to check out the space, hear what we are all about, and ask any questions. With my disinfectant spray handy I said goodbye to each tour and ran through spraying every surface down. For real, I felt a little crazy doing that but it was what I needed to do to feel comfortable with having people come through. Showing off the CoWork facelift was definitely a highlight.

Podcast Recording

In addition to the event, there were a few podcast recordings where I got to talk about

• the cowork
• what I’m trying to create
• buying a brick-and-mortar business 3 months before COVID-19

The episodes aren’t out yet but when they drop, you will hear a fully transparent account of all things cowork, facelifts, and how it’s really going. Spoiler: it could be worse but it also could definitely be much better. In fact, it would be so much better if you were hanging out with us. 

Don’t get me wrong, the brick-and-mortar part of the CoWork is awesome. I’ve had a lot of fun daydreaming, designing, and curating the perfect blend of furniture to create a fun functional space. The only thing missing is a few more good humans who are looking for a place to land in all this chaos. I talk about all that and more in the episode. You can listen below.

Sharing what we’re all about

After talking to tons of new people about ConnectWork on Main and what we’re all about, I’ve noticed a couple of things about myself. The things I love about my co-work are not always top of mind for everyone else. In addition, I tend to focus on (and share) details that don’t show the whole picture or highlight the benefits well. Hooray for self-awareness and identifying places to improve.

Things I love about my cowork

• Sensory friendly
• Inclusive
• Make your own desk location with nesting desks
• Pop up Podcast/audio recording and photo studio concept
• Mad Men vibe sans the chauvinism

Benefits of being a member

• Free (local) coffee… Need I say more?
• Use of color printer/scanner (included in membership)
• Conference room use up to 20 people (or within any lower constraints per mandate)
• Closed door offices for meetings or long phone calls
• Joining a community of epic humans who are excited to meet you and see you succeed
• Be part of our Slack channel
• And more 😛

My hopes and dreams

My dream for the cowork has always been to have a place where you could work alongside friends and create a space where everyone felt like they could excel and have fun doing it. The missing piece is having you there. I’ve done my best to make membership accessible and the space appealing. I’m excited to meet and welcome humans who know when they find ConnectWork on Main that it’s the right place for them.

See you at the cowork,

Gael