2 Marketers and a Coworking Podcast

Charlotte Kirby left a career in health care recruitment to open Markham's first coworking space, and ten years later, she runs three Village Hive locations across the GTA, spanning suburban Markham, industrial-adjacent North York, and midtown Toronto at Yonge and Eglinton.

Along the way, she has landed a landlord partnership from a cold Google search, survived opening two locations during COVID, and stumbled into a thriving wellness niche with 40 psychotherapists booking on-demand offices, on top of the members she serves across her portfolio of spaces.

In Episode 29, Charlotte shares how she built a profitable multi-location business by staying scrappy, saying yes to the right opportunities, and doubling down on what she has before chasing what's next.

We discuss how:
  • Charlotte went from burnt-out hospital administrator and reluctant work-from-homer to coworking operator after a sold-out TEDx event pushed her into a livestream at the Center for Social Innovation, one of Toronto's first coworking spaces, and a for-lease sign on a historic Markham schoolhouse did the rest
  • Her North York location started with a cold email from a landlord whose sister had simply Googled coworking operators, and Charlotte won the deal partly by being one of the only people who bothered to reply
  • When that North York building sold, the new landlord toured the space, kept her on, and converted her management agreement to a lease, and Charlotte says the business makes more money now without the revenue share
  • She tested demand in Aurora with pop-up coworking days at an art gallery and a media company, filling every seat and measuring success on two simple signals: attendance and whether attendees said they would consider a membership
  • Her therapist niche found her, growing from two on-demand offices to 40 psychotherapists and a dedicated wellness floor at Yonge and Eglinton, with a WhatsApp group where practitioners refer clients to each other instead of competing
  • Her marketing team is mostly herself plus a part-time contractor, her HubSpot sequences have sat dormant for months, and business is still strong, which raises the question of what happens if she ever turns everything on
  • AI just might be driving her virtual office boom, including one lead who arrived via Gemini convinced the Hive supplied easels and drop cloths for a paint and sip, which is exactly why operators need to feed AI complete, accurate information
  • Three locations serve three completely different demographics, from condo dwellers escaping small spaces to private school parents killing the day, all under one brand with one marketing approach, and her current focus is revenue maximization over expansion
If you want to hear how an independent operator builds a decade-long business one smart yes at a time, this one's for you.

Want to connect with Charlotte Kirby? Find her on LinkedIn and check out The Village Hive.

By the way, you can also:
About 2 Marketers and a Coworking Podcast

Hosted by Kevin Whelan of Everspaces and Taylor Mason of Talemaker, 2 Marketers and a Coworking Podcast dives deep into marketing tips, tools, insights, and strategies you can actually use to grow your coworking business. 

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About Lucid Private Offices

The Village Hive is a network of coworking and community spaces across the Greater Toronto Area, with locations in Markham, North York, and Midtown Toronto at Yonge and Eglinton, offering private offices, coworking memberships, meeting rooms, virtual office services, and on-demand offices.

Creators and Guests

Host
Kevin Whelan
Kevin Whelan is a marketing advisor and trainer helping coworking/flexible office businesses build profitable growth.
Host
Taylor Mason
Taylor works with coworking operators and flex office industry service providers from across North America to craft and implement customized, done-for-you, results-driven content marketing strategies.I work with coworking operators and flex office industry service providers from across North America to craft and implement customized, done-for-you, results-driven content marketing strategies.

What is 2 Marketers and a Coworking Podcast?

Hosted by Kevin Whelan of Everspaces and Taylor Mason of Talemaker, 2 Marketers and a Coworking Podcast dives deep into marketing tips, tools, insights, and strategies you can use to grow your coworking business.