From Office Break-In to An Amazing Partnership (A Look at My New Office Space!)

Earlier this year, my video studio was broken into. This was the space where I recorded a ton of YouTube videos, course videos, and livestreams, as well as hosted a lot of team meetings. It was a special space, and I grew to love it very much. But because of the break-in and the lack of security in the business complex where this office was located, I decided it was time to move out and find a new space. Here’s how that process has unfolded, and the exciting new partnership that has emerged!

Losing Gear and Dealing with Fear

Shortly after the break-in happened, I published a YouTube video showing what happened. I also got a little emotional about it, mostly because it just felt very violating.

Honestly, it’s not the stuff that was stolen that matters the most to me. We’re working with insurance to replace or at least pay for some of what was stolen. It’s the fact that I just didn’t feel safe working from that office anymore.

So I decided we had to move out. And the big question became, Where are we going to move?

We looked at some options for business spaces around the area, including warehouses and other commercial offices.

We also considered WeWork, a well-known coworking space with nearly six hundred locations around the world that serve independent business owners. WeWork offers memberships with either office space, or just access to the community and amenities like internet, conference rooms, food and water, and events in their amazing locations. [Full Disclaimer: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

I've actually been a member of WeWork for a couple of years, via one of their lower-level memberships. I’ve visited the San Diego downtown WeWork location a bunch of times, and I even host a monthly meetup there the first Wednesday of every month that’s open to everybody. Check out this video to get a feel for the meetup:

From Indecision to An Exciting New Space for Creation

At first, I didn’t know if WeWork would make sense because we were so used to our old 940-square-foot space, one that was entirely our own. At WeWork, the office spaces tend to be pretty small, and although you can reserve time in the conference rooms, you’re still working in a shared space with a lot of common areas.

I was on the fence—until the folks from WeWork reached out and had a little discussion with me.

To make a long story short, we are not only moving into WeWork to build our new video studio, but we’re about to partner with them in some really interesting ways!

We now have two adjacent office spaces that will give us a smaller storage room as well as a 10’ by 17’ space that we can build out from scratch. Caleb, my videographer, and I are going to make this the most efficient, best-looking studio/video/podcasting/livestream recording space that’s ever existed.

We're excited because several other companies that heard about the break-in have stepped up and offered to help. Companies from Roland to Rode to Yellowtec to Audimute to Heil have pitched in to create something amazing here. As we build out this space, Caleb and I are going to share every step of this transition and build with you along the way.

So this will make for dozens of YouTube videos that will answer a lot of questions, from how to reduce the echo in a room to the best way to light yourself for livestreaming to how to simultaneously conduct a podcast and record a video that’s worthy of YouTube engagement? We already have hundreds of ideas that we’re working on right now, and I’m pumped.

But I’m also excited about WeWork.

More than a Recording Space—a Place to Be a Podcasting Leader

I learned a lot more about WeWork as a company as I started to consider how we might use the space. What’s really exciting is that a lot of WeWork’s locations are building out podcasting studios around the world for their community members to use.

Through a conversation with one of the regional directors, I may become somebody who can help lead the WeWork community in terms of how to podcast, from what gear to use, to setting it all up, to using the recording space effectively. We’re still in the early stages of determining how that might work, but I’m just really, really excited for the opportunity.

I’m also hopeful that the WeWork connection will provide access to people and businesses who use the space so that SPI can better serve them. And obviously, although the space is smaller, I feel good about it because it’s much more secure. I know the moment I step into that space—whether I’m conducting livestreams, recording YouTube videos, or interviewing guests—the right energy will be there, and it’s going to work out for the best.

When Life Throws You Lemons, Make Lemonade (and Redesign Your Site, and…)

Although what happened with the break-in was terrible, I’m trying to make the most of it like I did with my layoff back in 2008. There seems to have been a blessing in disguise here, which is always a big lesson for all of us. We can make things however we want them to be, based on the story we tell about what happens to us.

The timing is also good because of what’s happened so far this year with bringing Team SPI on board. They are allowing me to spend less time on the mechanics and behind-the-scenes of Smart Passive Income, which opens up more time for me to focus on bigger, more legacy-based things that are really exciting to me.

This includes some topics I’ve teased here and there (especially on social media) that I’m excited to talk about, but for which Smart Passive Income is just not the platform. These are things like our education system, parenting, entrepreneurship in education, and even some tech-related things that I really want to talk about, but that just don’t lend themselves to the platform I’ve built here at Smart Passive Income.

So don’t worry: I’m not going anywhere on Smart Passive Income! It's actually going to be built out to become even more useful as we learn how to make the best use of our team and other resources to better serve all of you. So don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere—that's for sure. I’ll just have more time to talk about these other topics and ideas that are also really important to me over at PatFlynn.com.

And by the way, we’re redesigning both Smart Passive Income and PatFlynn.com. We're stepping into and investing a lot into the future of these two brands, and I'm really excited about that.

The new studio will also allow us to reshoot a number of assets, like some of my online courses. We’ll be creating even better 2.0 versions of those courses that will come out later next year, as well as another, brand-new course on email marketing. I’m super excited about that one, and you’ll be hearing a lot more about it later this year.

Ready to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone?

This whole experience has shown me that as you begin to grow as a business, there may be opportunities out there with the people and companies you’re working with if you’re willing to step out of your comfort zone and ask. That’s how I love to do business, so I’m really excited and thankful for the WeWork opportunity.

I highly recommend WeWork, and I invite you to use my referral link if you want to check it out.

(Note: This is an affiliate relationship, and I do get a commission if you use that link.) I’m also happy to invite you to the San Diego WeWork downtown every first Wednesday of the month if you live in (or are visiting!) the area.

And if you have any questions about WeWork, I’m more than happy to answer them for you.

They have spaces for almost everyone, from solopreneur businesses to companies of twenty-plus and even fifty-plus. In fact, Teachable even used one of WeWork’s Brooklyn locations as a work environment before moving into their own space a couple years ago.

I’m really excited about and thankful for the WeWork opportunity, and for everything else that’s coming up for SPI and the Pat Flynn brand. I hope what happened to us, from the studio break-in to the exciting new partnership with WeWork, gives you inspiration that your own setbacks can be opportunities in disguise, if you’re willing to tell yourself the right story!