Forge News and Updates |
Tell us a little bit about yourself…
My name is Lauren Cushman I went to Birmingham-Southern College, where I played volleyball and majored in English. I graduated in 2016. I met my husband Wil while at college, and we got married in 2019. We live in Crestwood and love the cozy, artsy neighborhood!
Lauren is the Forge Marketing and Community Manager
What do you do at Forge?
I am the Marketing and Community Manager here at Forge, which means I do a little bit of everything.
What brought you to Forge?
My journey to working here at Forge has been so crazy! I was actually a member here at Forge in 2018. Shortly after, I started working in the coworking industry here in town. When I saw the opportunity to work at Forge come up, I jumped at the chance. I’m so happy to be here!
What are you looking forward to about working here?
I love the energy here at Forge. There are so many go-getters, and it’s so fun to be in the mix with so many amazing startups and new businesses. I feel like we are right in the center of Birmingham’s business growth.
Tell us about your pottery business…
I started doing ceramics in 2018, and it quickly grew into a business as I got more interest in people buying pieces. My cousin and I work together on Lemon and Vines. We sell on Instagram and direct to customers via our website, and we also do markets like ArtWalk, CahaBAZAAR and various pop-ups around town.
A dinnerware set by Lemon and Vines
If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would you choose?
I would choose to be at home, working in my pottery studio. It’s my happy place and it’s where I feel the most creative and inspired. Then I’d go out for a great glass of wine at Golden Age with my sweet husband.
What is your favorite thing about Birmingham?
I love that Birmingham feels like a small town inside a big city. It seems like everyone knows everyone in some way or another. Another favorite thing about Birmingham is the art community. There are so many amazing artists in town and so many art events like markets and festivals. I also love that right now, it feels like we are experiencing a huge period of growth and business development here in the Magic City!
Forge News and Updates |
You may be wondering, where do I begin? If you are new to the entrepreneur world or just looking for a way to improve your business more, you came to the right place. Forge wants to promote your business in whatever way we can, that is why we have compiled a list (in no particular order) on some resources to help you and your business succeed.
1. The Elevation Academy
The Elevation Academy is an online digital marketing resource that is available 24-hours a day. It is available to you, yes you! It provides training and knowledge on social media, email marketing, website development and marketing strategy for small businesses, brands and organizations. Their courses are designed to help you begin or to refresh your brand’s marketing with strong foundational information and skills. When you join The Academy, you become part of a community of small business owners and entrepreneurs seeking to elevate their marketing.
https://theelevationacademy.mykajabi.com/
2. Profit to Prosperity
Profit to Prosperity was started by Stevie Jones and is a way to clarify and manage the finances of a thriving business on your own. Through her program, members are given full access to financial resource library, live group coaching program and community that was created to support female entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners. The group focuses on business financial foundations, so that members can be set up for long-term growth.
https://balanced-by-stevie.mykajabi.com/profittoprosperity
3. Create Foundations
Create Birmingham is all about investing in imagination and invention. Through their programs, they both construct and support diverse avenues for commercial and nonprofit creative success. Create provides a multitude of programs and coaching methods to help you run your business or nonprofit more effectively. Embracing your creative side and identifying potential weaknesses in your business or nonprofit before they get out of hand.
4. Co. Starters
As a part of Create Birmingham, Co. Starters seeks to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with the skills and ideas to put their plans into action. It applies the lean business model methods that is popular with high-growth startups and businesses of all kinds. This program will train you to turn a passion into a thriving and sustainable small business or nonprofit.
https://createbirmingham.org/programs/co-starters/
5. Connect
The best way to grow your business is to grow your network. Birmingham’s newest virtual network, Connect, is designed to do just that. It is a weekly meeting that enables you to meet other individuals. We have both virtual and in-person meetings and breakfasts that focus on growing your network and your business.
https://workatforge.com/connect/
6. Legal to English
Legal to English is a new online community with resources for business owners brought to you by Gatehouse Law. At Gatehouse, we know it is true that every business needs legal, but we recognize that not every business is ready for a lawyer.Every entrepreneur should have access to quality information about the legal that impacts their business every day no matter what stage they are in their journey. Legal to English is a community driven source of information and support from our lawyers and the entrepreneurs who work with us. Legal to English will provide you with clear guidance and steps to protect your business where you are right now and give you clear answers in an “it depends” world.
https://www.legaltoenglish.org/
If you are looking for a place to network and grow your business even more, book a tour of Forge today! See how our memberships can help fit your needs. Click the link HERE.
Forge News and Updates |
Coworking offers a wide variety of benefits, many of which cannot be found in other work environments. At Forge, we strive to create an environment where you and your business can grow. Here are our top 7 tips on how to get the most out of coworking here at Forge!
1. Engage with Others
Take advantage of a space that allows you to network with others by having conversations with those around you, attending member events and learning what others do. Engaging with others promotes both growth for your business and you personally.
2. Set a Consistent Schedule
With scheduled work hours you can work around your most productive time. Forge is open 24/7- providing the morning bird and the night owl all with equal opportunities. With a wide range of when you can work, pick a time to so that you can have a consistent work schedule and enable yourself to balance life better.
3. Attend Member Events
We have a multitude of opportunities for you to meet others and enjoy doing so. Our member happy hours, breakfasts and lunches connect you with new faces and help you form connections in your workspace. We have so many members make connections with fellow members that help their business grow and we love to see it!
4. Use the Phone Booths to Take Calls
Here at Forge, we have three phone booths available for you to take your calls in. Hop in a phone booth for a Zoom meeting or phone call as needed! This allows you the privacy of your own space and you never have to worry about being interrupted.
5. Conference Rooms
Wow your clients in our beautifully designed conference rooms, and no longer have to meet in crowded coffee shops. Our 5 different sized conference rooms are perfect for holding meetings, whether one-on-one or larger group sizes. A benefit of being a member of Forge is getting discounted conference rooms rates! Easily book a room on our website.
6. Sign up for Connect
Connect is a virtual networking event that allows you to connect with other business leaders in Birmingham. Do this all from the comfort of your own home or from our coworking space. These weekly meetings allow you to introduce your business to the group, hear from others and most importantly CONNECT!
7. Take Advantage of the Location of Forge
Located in the heart of Downtown Birmingham we are within walking distance of amazing restaurants, coffee shops and companies. Being just steps away from the Pizitz Food Hall allows you to treat yourself or your clients!
Forge is a coworking business focused on creating a professional, clean and exciting work environment to encourage the productivity of all of our members.
If your business is looking for creative opportunities to expand your business and get out of your home office, schedule a tour of Forge!
Forge News and Updates |
Here at Forge, we want to create an environment that fosters collaboration, innovation, and productivity. We believe that our services, staff, and space offer all of our members a unique working experience where we invite them to be the best version of themselves.
At Forge, we value your time and efforts as much, if not more, than you. However, coworking spaces can be distracting and loud at times, and we want our space to contribute to your work, not takeaway or distract you from it.
With that said, we love that Forge offers members open spaces to connect, work, and collaborate, but we must remember the etiquette of coworking space. Whether you’re a coworking space expert or a newbie, we believe these are great reminders of proper behavior and etiquette for any coworking space.
1. Use your headphones
We love that you’re listening to you Monday morning pump up playlists – music is motivating guys! However, I don’t think Gabriel from Chicago wants to hear your country rap blaring through your phone speakers. We also love that you’re talking to your grandma for the 3rd time this morning trying to help her take a screenshot on her iPad; however, the whole office doesn’t need a tutorial on screenshots. We want you guys to have the freedom to listen to music, podcasts, take calls, etc., but we respectfully ask that you do so via headphones or not utilizing speaker phone.
2. Don’t overstay your welcome
We love when you utilize conference spaces or working areas; however, we urge you to stay for your allotted time and not overuse it – these spaces are shared for a reason. We all have that one friend who tends to unintentionally stays their welcome. While we love their company, we do not really know how to kindly ask them to leave. Don’t be this friend. We’re not expecting that you leave before your time ends, but we encourage you to be mindful of how long you’ve been in rooms or phone booths.
The phone booths are the perfect little getaway for phone calls, but we ask that when you’re done to not stay hidden away for too long, online shopping is a dark hole – we get it. We only request that you are aware of your time in phone booths, plus online shopping can happen at your desk (it’s much easier on a laptop too!).
3. Keep your space tidy
Remember when you were a kid, and your mom was always on you about cleaning up after yourself or cleaning your room and making it presentable? Well, we ask the same of you when you use our space. Sometimes, if I left it messy for long enough, my mom would come behind me and tidy up or clean-up after me. At Forge, we are not going to be your moms – you have great ones already so no need for us! Jokes aside, all we ask is that you keep your working areas free from too much clutter, throw away your trash, and make sure the space is clean for the next person.
4. Be considerate
Coworking spaces are awesome (yes, we are a little biased). We want all of our members and guests to feel welcomed and loved. You play a role in that as well. We simply ask that you be considerate of other people, everyone’s time, our spaces, and the staff here.
We love that you’re here, and we hope that your experience goes above and beyond your expectations. We are going to do everything we can to make sure your time here is as comfortable and easy as possible. While we are doing our part, we kindly ask that you do yours, as a member, and remember these coworking space etiquettes.
Forge is a wonderful place to work and connect or network, even if virtually (thanks COVID), and we are so excited you are here! Please reach out to us if you need anything! We love that you chose us to be your working home!
Forge News and Updates |
This past week at Forge we had the pleasure of hosting our first in-person event since the pandemic. And even better is that it was a Lunch and Learn with one of Forge’s members Kameron Monet!
Instagram is a great platform to promote your business, reach your target audience and show the behind the scenes of running your business. One of Kameron’s favorite tools to use on Instagram is Reels! Kameron shared how she creates various types of Reels to connect with her audience in a fun, creative and effective way!
Kameron is a YouTuber, influencer and lawyer – a queen to say the least. During her Lunch and Learn she dove into how to grow your business or personal brand using Instagram reels.
Benefits Of Using Reels
She highlighted 4 of the benefits of using the reels feature on Instagram.
- You can create fun, unique and engaging short videos.
- Instagram prioritizes reels
- It increases engagement from your followers through video content
- They have a longer “shelf life” and continue to get views even for weeks after the original post
Instagram provides many different tools to help users create and edit their reels content. These aid in pushing content to the forefront of of reels. Kameron included Important things to remember when creating reels
- Adding humor or creating a more serious topic into something comical can attract more attention.
- Use trendy songs and sounds (these can be found by googling “viral Tik Tok sounds or music now”)
- Always have a call to action- whether that be in your caption or the video itself.
- Don’t be afraid to repurpose content- it is okay to reuse photos from the same day or videos you took months in advance
Always keep in mind that the type of following you have is more important than the number of followers. This may look different for everyone, but remembering that you would rather have a handful of loyal followers who actively engage with your content than hundreds of bystanders who are not supporting you personally or your business.
Creating a Reel
- In the Instagram app click create where you would usually begin a normal post or story
- From there it will give you the option to create a reel
- Once you click that, it will open up to allow you to use multiple tools including adjusting the length, adding audio, a timer to align your videos and effects to change the overall appearance.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY- always save your reel and once you take it off of your feed and only have it in your reels tab you cannot undo this action.
Remember, people buy from people so don’t be afraid to share the story behind your business!
If you were unable to attend the event the YouTube video can be found HERE!
In addition, Forge is running a Summer Special for new members! If you join in the month of May or June you can buy one month of Coworking or Dedicated Desk space and receive an entire month FREE! Book a tour today!
