During the first 5 months of our travel, it’s been almost impossible to build a work day routine. Between the various time zones, hotels and forms of transportation, I’ve had to sneak in reading time whenever we’ve had access to internet or time to sit and reflect.
In my world, knowledge is geometric. It builds on itself, so lost time is almost a permanent loss. I’m thankful that E has always given me time to work and attempt some sort of daily routine.
Getting to Sevilla would be the first time since April in which each of us would have a daily routine. E at school and me at a proper office. E picked her school well in advance of our arrival in Spain because she needed to reserve a space. Picking office space for me was much harder because visiting the space was critical. I have worked in co-working space with open floor plans before and found it a very comfortable environment. E helped find several good options and in our first few days in Sevilla we planned to visit them. I say them, but our decision was made when we visited the first location. Arcadia Co-Working was going to be my home for 3 months.
When we first walked into Arcadia, Victor (one of the two proprietors) met us and was very generous with his time. He explained contract terms, helped Emily and I select desks (Emily worked at Arcadia for a week before her school term began) and even took time to show us some fun nightlife spots on a tourist map he had. We weren’t going to meet a cooler guy than this, so we signed the deal right then and there. We didn’t need to visit any other spaces.
We didn’t meet Victor’s business partner, Sergio, til later, but he’s equally as wonderful a guy. If everyone in the world were as caring and pleasant as these two gentlemen, the world would be a far better place. These guys are Arcadia and if you don’t like them, then Arcadia isn’t for you. Plus there’s likely something wrong with you. Get them started on movies, comic books or Star Wars and you’ll need to pull up a chair.
Sevilla is a conservative place culturally. Yes, Sevillanos are progressive minded but they respect traditions. In this case, tradition means working in a corporate office. Co-working space is viewed skeptically or as a bit weird. The proprietors of Arcadia, Sergio and Victor, are on a mission to bring a more flexible work environment to Sevilla. Around the world, temporary workers, contract workers and vendors are becoming a larger and larger part of the economy. Leaving aside the complex employment rules in Spain, telecommuting and contract work allows global reach for knowledge workers (aka digital nomads). And in Spain, there is a talented work force that can be tapped by global employers.
So where do these modern-day digital nomads work? Working from home is a bit too informal and lacks proper structure. Securing proper office space is expensive and clunky given strict lease terms. The latter doesn’t work for irregular contract lengths and flexible projects. Hence the global rise of the co-working model. Sign a contract for as long as you like for as many employees as you like. Want a flexible desk, pay less. Want same desk daily, pay more. Everything else is on an a la carte basis – pay as you go for conference space or for private phone call space.
I’ve worked in 5 co-working spaces during my career including Arcadia. Each is a slightly different flavor. Some are more formal, some less so. Some are focused on solo work, some are focused on fostering collaboration. Some cater to day 1 start ups and some cater to flexible (or quick capacity) space for the largest corporations in the world.
In Spain, co-working is a bit of an outlaw model (I know Sergio and Victor are laughing about this but not too heartily). The powers at be don’t understand this emerging model and think it’s a way around collecting proper taxes or subletting space for residential purposes. Or perhaps something even more illicit. The guys at Arcadia are not only bringing a new model to Spain but they’re having to lobby for the digital nomads at the same time. They’ve even been raided by the police to account for their odd business and had to defend their “renegade” business model on national TV.
But those early start up related issues have now passed and the question turns to expansion and more innovative ideas. Arcadia is located on what we’d call the second floor (but it’s called the first floor in Spain). Would a ground floor model work? Maybe a café type workspace downstairs and a more formal workspace upstairs? What other services would be helpful?
Sergio and Victor run a terrific space. True gentlemen. They are open minded and flexible. Strict and by the rules when they need to be, but affable and gregarious most of the time. The office vibe and their tenant mix reflect the beautiful spirit of these two gentlemen. Sergio is a bit more reserved and Victor comes with more flair. Together they’re the perfect missionaries.
Most of their tenants are long term but they welcome all comers. During my time at Arcadia, I’ve witnessed digital nomads rent a desk for a day, a week and a month. I’ve even seen some sales conferences set up in the conference room for an afternoon or for the week. Most of the tenants work by themselves or are solo enterprises, but I’ve also seen groups take down multiple desks. Even though change is constant, Arcadia feels like a proper work community. There’s a whatsapp group for the tenants so that community information can be shared but it’s often a pretty hilarious string of conversations that often have little to do with work. Mostly I use them to practice my Spanish.
In keeping with the digital nomads spirit, my fellow co-workers at Arcadia are from all over the world. The Netherlands, Switzerland, Scotland, the US, France, Costa Rica, pretty much you name it and they’ve had someone from there. Most of the businesses are tech in nature – mostly online gaming and various education business models. Some of the folks are back end programmers or work in marketing. One woman (from the US but moving to Dubai) even worked for Carim – the ridesharing start up in the Middle East.
For me, Arcadia was the perfect mix of business environment and social enterprise. The people are there to work and build routine in their workdays, but casual conversations and social interaction abound. I got my work done but I also got to meet some interesting people. Victor’s wife, Esther, works out of Arcadia as well and it was fun comparing world travel stories. Somehow we got to her love of Bali and I mentioned that E and I did our honeymoon in Bali. I countered that if she loved Bali, then I think she’d really love Sri Lanka. Now it was her to chuckle, as she and Victor honeymooned in Sri Lanka. Awesome!
On one my last days at Arcadia, I was asked to film a testimonial for Arcadia. I heartily agreed. Not only is co-working perfect for the evolving workforce of the world but it fills so many important needs for Spain. And with two perfect missionaries like Victor and Sergio, I have no doubt that Arcadia and co-working will succeed in Spain. I give them perfect score and an enthusiatic recommendation.
I’m told the testimonial will soon be posted on Youtube and when it is, we will post the link here:
Check out the Arcadia Co-Working website. Pay careful attention to the Us section (though the translation could use some help). If you don’t see what makes these guys special, we’ll refund your wearehere.blog subscription fee. https://arcadiacoworking.com/?lang=en
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