Some were there since day one. Some were there a week or two after we opened the doors to CapeSpace Hyannis on June 8, 2016. They are a select few of original CapeSpace members – there are a little more than a dozen total – who have been with us for this exciting ride of coworking, community, and connection.
Initially, they became members for purely professional reasons. They wanted a place where they could be more productive. They wanted a business mailing address that didn’t list their home address. They wanted an office setting that wasn’t as costly as leasing an office building, but was more structured than their house or a coffee shop.
While they found that at CapeSpace, they discovered so much more. As we celebrate our five-year anniversary this month, we caught up with a few of our earliest members to talk about what CapeSpace has meant to them.
Rob Cushing
CEO, Port & Starward
Two years after he launched his search engine marketing firm in 2014, Rob found exactly what he needed from a professional workspace at our Hyannis facility.
“I was working out of my house and I didn’t want, for personal reasons, clients coming to my home,” he said. “CapeSpace was a good jumpstart for me to have a physical business address, number one. Number two, it was a really good professional facility with an open area to do work that wasn’t my house and not a coffee shop. Having a place like CapeSpace where I wouldn’t be distracted and had that level of professionalism was absolutely key.”
Rob, who helps a variety of small- and medium-sized businesses throughout the country get found online, said he loves when his work is successful and his clients “get more calls and hits on their site with people reaching out to them on a contact form. … I like helping people get the word out about their business and seeing them get results.”
CapeSpace has given him a place where he has been able to provide this service for his clients. He is not alone; his fellow members are reaping the benefits of what CapeSpace has to offer.
As for our five-year anniversary, he said, “it is a testament of how well Robbin runs things and how well she maintains CapeSpace with a great staff. They have all collectively done such a good job at maintaining the place, even during COVID.”
Dale Shadbegian
CEO, Cape & Plymouth Business
Five years ago, Dale was working out of his house. If you Googled his business back then – at the time, he was founder and CEO of 118Group Web Design and SEO – it showed his home.
That’s why he jumped at the chance to grab a Business Mailing Address membership not long after CapeSpace started. After that point, if you Googled his business, our coworking center at 100 Independence Drive in Hyannis showed up.
As Dale began to visit CapeSpace to pick up his company’s mail, he decided to start working there a few days a week. “I really enjoyed it and started to meet people,” he said. “I met Dylan [Steven] there, who became my business partner. I made a lot of good business connections there. As my business grew, I started to get work from people who were there by the nature of networking and saying hi to people.”
That is just one of the ways CapeSpace has impacted his professional career since 2016. “I would say CapeSpace allowed my company to grow quicker and more professionally than if I had kept working at home,” he said.
He credited CapeSpace Founder and President Robbin Orbison for taking pride in her work. “She will never do anything that isn’t to the best of her ability,” he said. “Anything they do at CapeSpace, you can trust it is of the highest quality.”
Dale, who purchased Cape & Plymouth Business Media in January 2020, said the community aspect of CapeSpace is what has made it stand out over the past five years. He’s found that CapeSpace is more than just a place to work and “has really become a part of the fabric of the community. They are always doing more than what you would expect a local business to do. They are always helping their clients in more ways than you would expect a coworking facility to help them.”
Bob Tranchell
HECM Senior Vice President, The Federal Savings Bank
Prior to coming to CapeSpace in 2016, Bob didn’t know much about coworking. “It didn’t really resonate largely with me because there wasn’t anything on the Cape like this,” he said.
Bob, who has a Business Lounge membership, said CapeSpace has given him a professional setting where he can conduct his work. He works closely with clients 62 and older who are seeking Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, also known as reverse mortgages.
“It gives me a quiet place outside the home and also gives me an opportunity to meet with clients in a great environment,” he said. “It also gives me an opportunity to network with other members at CapeSpace.”
He was effusive in his praise of Robbin and her team for the work they did during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow members like him to safely work and meet with clients. “It was phenomenal for me because my clients are over 60 and most are vulnerable,” he said. “Normally I’d go to their house, but with COVID I couldn’t. CapeSpace gave me an opportunity to close loans in a COVID-protected environment, where I could meet with clients with the plexiglass partitions.”
He recommended CapeSpace for anyone who may be working out of their home or who is seeking a professional space to work while visiting the Cape during the summer. “I think it has been tremendously well done from an aesthetic standpoint and a financial standpoint,” he said. “Robbin and her team have been nothing but amiable and malleable. They work with you to meet your needs and continue to upgrade the space and make it better. It is a shining example of what a coworking space can be.”
Learn more about the flexible workspace services we offer in Hyannis by clicking this link.