How much does it cost to run Coworking Bansko?
by Matthias
Members often wonder: How much money is the coworking space generating as a business? The answer is: yes, we break even, but we also reinvest our cashflow to improve the space. And Matthias volunteers his time instead of drawing a salary or dividends.
Our monthly fixed cost are about 8,700 lev. Last year we have spent about 12,000 lev on average per month, so each month we have some variable costs that we spend on improvements.
We break even at about 50 members and we have some great months with double that. But we also have low season months where we are barely more than 50. Plus long-term members pay less per month than short term members and we often host a volunteer or barter memberships. So even if you see lots of members, this doesn’t translate into bags of gold :-)
Our fixed costs are:
About 75% are salaries (Cvetelina, 2 cleaners, 1 handyman, 1 helper), rents (Social, Quiet, Gondola, Storage), utilities (electricity, pellets, heating) and repayment of the founder loans for the initial setup costs and operations before breakeven.
The additional variable costs that average about 4000 lev are expenses like constant maintenance, lots of money for the garden, buying/replacing furniture, upgrading the wifi, expansion, branding, IT tools, organizing weekend events, hosting volunteers, buying a nicer coffee machine, merchandise like shirts, bags, hats etc. Some of this is a choice, others a necessity.
What comes out of Matthias private pocket, and is therefore not included in the coworking costs, is buying board games (better not count how much those games are…), most toys, and travel/tickets/accommodation to international coworking conferences or other events to promote Bansko.
There are also some for-profit projects that are run independent of the coworking space by Matthias, like the Bansko Nomad Fest and the Bansko Business Park. More longer term investments to grow the Bansko ecosystem. These costs, and future revenues, are not included in the coworking balances.
I think in general these are great numbers and we are well in line with how other coworking spaces budget. But we will need to have about 100 members on average to be fully financially sustainable without requiring founders contributions. Without Corona we probably would have his this important milestone this year, now it will probably another year. but super happy what we accomplished so far.
And we have a very positive impact on the local economy. Members spend about €1000 per month locally and we had about 900 member months last year, so this puts our contribution close to €900,000.
A lot of money for the local business around the coworking space and an impact that I am very proud of.
And this is not even counting the impact that we make on our members lives. By making connections to new travel buddies, business partners and soulmates (or at least a casual companion). By helping them to grow their business and their personality. By showing them how they can be the best version of themselves.
How would you ever put a price tag on that?
