The WeWork Trap Nobody Talks About Every week, another coworking operator tells me the same thing: "I want to scale like WeWork." Here's what they're missing: Your members didn't join for the kombucha on tap or the neon signs. They joined for you. I've watched brilliant, quirky, deeply local coworking spaces try to strip away everything that makes them human. They replace their hand-drawn welcome boards with corporate signage. They swap their owner's morning coffee rounds for an app. They trade their messy, beautiful community for a "scalable experience." And their members leave. Because here's the thing about authenticity that nobody teaches in business school: People don't buy homogenised spaces. They buy into the person who shows up every day, who remembers their dog's name, who built something that feels like somewhere. So how do you figure out who you actually are? Not with ayahuasca retreats or expensive consultants. You sit down—with yourself, with your team—and answer one question: "When the shit hits the fan, who are we?" That's it. That's your values. That's your differentiator. That's what people are actually buying. Your values will evolve. Your community will shape them. But they start with you being brave enough to admit what you stand for when everything's on the line. The bottom line: Your members chose your space because you're NOT WeWork. Stop trying to become what they're running from. This is exactly the kind of positioning work I help coworking operators nail in The Community Builder's Email Engine—where we turn your unique story into members who stay.

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