August is our favorite month of the year! Why? Because it's CoWorking Month, a time that we dedicate to honor our members, our team and our entire Work Awesome community. We have an action-packed month full of fun and surprises. Because 2020 left us with no options for in-person events, this year we are doubling down.

I want to share some interesting news about coworking and its impact on the commercial real estate market. As we move forward post pandemic, more and more companies are choosing flex space options. Many of them used the pandemic as a test to see IF employees could work from home and used the model to cut back on overhead and reduce their footprint. It's working! More people are choosing to work NEAR home by cutting commute times and money spent on fuel, lunches, business attire and personal work overhead. Home can be such a busy, noisy space and many have found working near home with flex space to be the perfect balance. I asked two industry leaders to address this topic and their article and video are below.

Check out all of our special offers for the month! We will have networking events, head shot opportunities, special deals and Refer-A-Neighbor bonus is DOUBLE this month. We are also partnering with one of our members at France OffiCenter for a celebratory Happy Hour on August 19. Join OC and Jeff Brown, an Owner of The Fair on 4 at the Mall of America, for fun, food and shenanigans. Jeff is providing a great venue, drink specials and free axe throwing lanes where we can get out all of our aggressions! OffiCenters will provide appetizers and, of course, our Work Awesome Members! We're celebrating CoWorking and our 40-year anniversary. Plus, we will honor some special team members and there will be drawings and prizes as well. Don't miss this event!

We are showing our support for two of our OneCommunity Partners as we kick-off the month with the Randy Shaver Cancer Fund Gala and Golf Classic. Then, we're sponsoring a boat for Jesus in the City at their 11th Annual Fishing for Life Tournament on Lake Minnetonka. There is always time to donate to great causes. If you know of a Minnesota non-profit that could use help from One Community Program have them fill out the OneCommunity Application for our consideration.

Finally, please fill out our 2021 Member Survey. It takes just a few minutes and there is an opportunity for you to win a gift card. Also, your OC Team is in a contest to see who gets the most members to complete our survey. So, it could be a win-win for you and them! Thank you in advance for your feedback.

I am so appreciative of all of the support you’ve shown us this past year. It's proof that we are STRONGER TOGETHER. It is our honor to provide you all with a Work Awesome experience. We were never closed, not even one day, during COVID-19 and it's my team who deserves ALL of the credit. I'm looking forward to celebrating CoWorking for the entire month. Let’s all have some fun . . . and throw some axes!