In an earlier blog, I talked about the story that led to myself and my business partner launching Third Door. Another frequently asked question is 'Why Third Door?'

In the research for the feasibility of a concept of integrating a flexible workspace with a flexible onsite nursery, we covered the notion of 'Third Space/Place'.

This wiki entry explains quite nicely Third Space/Place http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place:

'The third place is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. In his influential book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989, 1991) argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place.

Oldenburg calls one's "first place" the home and those that one lives with. The "second place" is the workplace — where people may actually spend most of their time. Third places, then, are "anchors" of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. All societies already have informal meeting places; what is new in modern times is the intentionality of seeking them out as vital to current societal needs. Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true "third place": free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential, are important; highly accessible: proximate for many (walking distance); involve regulars – those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there.'

So there you have it, in simple terms, Third Door is a spin on the term Third Space/Place. A door not to your home or to your work place, a 'third door' to work from and make new connections. It's a great name for the concept of an integrated workhub and daycare nursery isn't it?

We decided on this name as there was alot we could do with branding at launch and in the future. Additionally, the name is not a conventional name for a nursery, which suits us perfectly as we are not a conventional daycare nursery. Our target are working professionals who happen to be parents and who would be happy to call their place of work 'Third Door' rather than Hopping Bunnies or something similar!

www.third-door.com

Third Door has been lucky with the amount of press coverage we have had since we launched the business back in May 2010. We have been covered by BBC Radio London Breakfast show, BBC London News, The Guardian (twice!), FT, Nursery World (three times), won a few awards along the way (Best Start Up, Best Local Business by Lloyds TSB, Smarta 100 2011 winner, and a finalist for a few others). It's been great and really helped us stamp ourselves as the first in the UK to enter the area of merging a workspace for the self-employed/home workers with a flexible onsite nursery.

The concept of Third Door is such a brilliant simple idea that has left many people asking why it it hasn't been done before.  However, more importantly, I believe the story behind Third Door has helped us gain much of this press coverage. It is a lovely story and I would recommend that everyone starting their own brand or company also pulls together the story behind their business. People are always interested in stories and we have used our story countless times. It is one that I will never tire of telling as the story has led to me launching and working passionately on Third Door and also as a result I am lucky enough to take both my children with me to work everyday!

When my daughter was 5 months old and I was halfway through my maternity leave, I realised that I didn't want to go back to my corporate job (Global Brand Research Manager), which as wonderful as the company I was working for is, I just didn't want to do any global travelling or commute full-stop.
I had always harboured ambition to set up my own business so I decided to get together with a like minded friend and brainstorm as many ideas as we could. So with our daughters in tow we started our brainstorming session. However, what we didn't expect was how difficult it was to get into the flow of 'brainstorming' whilst tending to the needs of our girls with one of the girls constantly needing some kind of attention, be it nappy change, feeding, entertaining, holding etc.

So in a bid to get them to sleep we went to the local Starbuck's and then the local park, both of which made no difference. I remember clearly feeling very frustrated and saying to my friend how great it would be to leave the girls somewhere where they could be looked after whilst we worked nearby!

Being a researcher, I started looking into this idea and found a similar idea based in the States. Additionally a number of insights were revealed, some new, some old; many new mums are to reluctant to return back to work as they are nervous about placing their child in childcare. More dads want to spend more time with their child during the workday instead of just mornings, evenings and weekends. More and more people are able to work from home with the advent of mobile technology; all one needs is internet access, a laptop and mobile phone and they can work from anywhere in the world.

However, with this comes the added problem of loneliness, missing the office buzz and having the distraction of household chores. Third Door would solve many of these problems and through creating a membership space we would enable networking, collaboration and a sense of community.  One of the most important insights was lack of flexibility in the traditional nursery model and at Third Door, members would be able to pick the sessions they needed as long as they give enough notice.

My husband and co-founder, was studying for his MBA (self-funded) at the same time and was just finalising his dissertation project. I suggested he focus on this idea I had been researching. He thought it was a no-brainer as he was feeling all the pain points I had already identified of working from home around a small child. Yusuf worked hard on a feasibility plan of our concept. We were thrilled when he received a distinction for it. At around the same time, my employers had announced that they were making redundancies so I decided to take voluntary redundancy (despite just finding out we were expecting baby no.2).

The next big step was to get funding for our project. We worked hard to turn the feasibility study into a fully functional business plan with all the right numbers for the bank, only to be told a big 'NO' by the bank! We were informed that they could not compare our business against anything similar so they didn't want to take the risk (at around this moment of time, the recession had just been officially announced, hence the reluctance by the bank).

Obviously we were gutted but rather than give up so early in the process, we decided to pool together all our savings. We remortgaged our home and sold some equity to friends and family. We then went ahead with logo design, finding premises, strongly negotiating everything so we could save money. I worked right up to the night our son was born - I had a week's rest before I was back working towards the launch. We decided not to give up and to presevere as we totally believe in Third Door and we knew we would end up being grumpy old people if someone else ended up doing it instead of us! That's enough to get the fire going, new baby or not!

We launched the business when our son was 6 months old and it's been quite a journey to date. The business model has evolved with time, but we are still true to our vision of excellent customer service and helping make the lives of working parents that little bit easier! Our long-term plan is to have a Third Door in every urban town in the UK and we would love to meet any interested parties along the way who help us realise our vision and be part of the journey.

I'd love to hear you comments and if you also have a story to tell, we'd love to have you as a guest speaker at a Third Door event.

Working patterns are changing. More and more people are striking out on their own or working from home. In fact it's probably time to say goodbye to the traditional office, goodbye to the kitchen table and even goodbye to Starbucks!

Welcome to Coworking. For small businesses, teleworkers as well as freelancers and the self-employed, coworking is becoming a viable option for basically getting things done. It's as simple as that.

Coworking is a new trend that is emerging around the world, which is where professionals come together in a shared workspace to help reduce costs by sharing equipment, to access a collaborative community of fellow entrepreneurs/professionals and to work in a professional workspace. Coworking offers an exciting alternative for people longing to escape the confines of their four walls, the distractions of working from home or the inconvenience of working from a public venue.

Here are the reasons why our members love coworking at Third Door:

Reason 1: Third Door has SUPERFAST and super efficient WIFI. Multitask like crazy on your laptop!

Reason 2:  The FLEXIBILITY we offer at Third Door, join as an ad-hoc or monthly member.

Reason 3:  First Coworking space in UK to offer an ONSITE NURSERY for those who need it.

Reason 4: Opportunities for NETWORKING and COLLABORATION with fellow co-workers (Members Intranet site to connect with fellow coworkers).

Reason 5: Comfortable chairs, bright airy room with excellent lighting, to help you work more productively throughout the day.

Raason 6: Access to shared resources: printing, books, member's brains!

Reason 7: Book your slots on our bespoke online booking system...about to launch!

Reason 8: Access to private spaces: Meeting Room, Offices, Phone Booths as well as lounge space

Reason 9: Access to guest speakers, events, workshops

Reason 10: FREE TEA & COFFEE all day

Our pricing structure is very flexible and cost-effective.

We'd love to hear from you, please call us on 0208 8770098 or email on hello@third-door.com to arrange a visit.

Demos, a thinktank, have recently published a report called ‘Reinventing the Workplace’.  The report, published last week emphasises how flexible working is "particularly important" in a sluggish economic climate.   

The report talks of strong evidence to show that more involved parenting improves the life chances of children, a better work–life balance increases individual happiness, a more flexible workforce is more able to bear the burden of an ageing population, and the Big Society will require people to have more time to be active citizens.

The report goes on to say it would be "short sighted to sacrifice flexible working rights on the altar of short-term economic recovery", particularly because they can be complementary, in that greater availability of flexible working allows for a more inclusive labour market, expanding the size of the labour force and expanding output.

This is certainly something that Kirsty agrees with, who became a mum for the first time ten months ago.  Realising that returning to full time work in the City would result in her missing out on precious time with her young daughter, she was keen to find an alternative solution.

Whilst on maternity leave, she attended an NCT meeting at Third Door and inadvertently realised that she’d found the answer to her dilemma.  She had found a flexible solution that would allow her to work full time and spend time with her daughter. 

Kirsty and her husband, Jonathan use Third Door three days a week.  She explained why the solution works for her: “It’s perfect.  I only live 10 minutes away which means I get to spend an extra two hours in the morning with her.  We get to enjoy lunch together and have an extra hour in the evening, as she’s right there when I finish work.  I also get to sneak a peek at her throughout the day and I am on hand should she need me.”

Kirsty has worked as a Finance Manager in Business Development for her employer for five years.  As her role is predominantly project based and doesn’t necessarily require her to work from a specific location, she approached her employer to suggest that she work from the office three days and Third Door twice a week to enable her to spend more time with her daughter.

Understanding that balancing work with family commitments had become a priority, her employer agreed to the change, knowing that Kirsty was still able to deliver a full day’s work and see her young daughter.  She generally spends Wednesday and Friday at Third Door, but is able to change her days if she needs to be in the office. 

Kirsty added; “The flexibility afforded us is terrific.  We are able to change our days if necessary and it doesn’t matter whether Jonathan or I use the workspace.  And as it’s a fully Ofsted registered nursery we can also leave the premises if we have or want to.”

Clearly there a number of initiatives that need to take place if the economy is to have any kind of kick start.  But, one of those has to be to encourage employers to get smarter about affording flexibility to a workforce that will deliver retention, commitment and performance. And that can only mean a healthier bottom line for everyone!

To download the full report by think tank Demos click here

Reinventing_the_Workplace_-_web.pdf (1.07 mb)

Today is our birthday. Exactly one year ago we opened our doors and embarked on a huge adventure. And what an adventure it has been!

We were the first flexible workspace with on-site childcare in the UK and we’re pleased to say that things are going great guns. So much so that we’re now looking to expand. Let us know where you’d like a Third Door by leaving us a comment below!

About us

If you’re not aware of Third Door, here’s a bit about us. We give parents the perfect solution: a place to work uninterrupted in an open-plan office while their children are taken care of in an OFSTED registered nursery downstairs, as and when they need it.  We now have over 100 members, a quarter of whom use the space between 30 and 90 hours a month, with the remainder using it on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Many of our members sign up thinking they’ll just use us for occasional extra cover. But they quickly realise that it gives them far more benefits than they anticipated and so switch to using us as their primary place of work and childcare.

The main benefits cited by our members are flexibility, social interaction and networking.

Here’s what some of them have to say:

“I never realised just how lonely it was working at home on my own. Coming to Third Door is like being a part of team with the chance to have a gossip and catch up with work colleagues. You get a cheery smile and the chance to socialise with other people, rather than just staring at four walls.” Emma Insley of Insley Consulting.

“It’s the flexibility that we love about Third Door.  A regular nursery just doesn’t allow for changes in hours or days and has none of the convenience of being able to work in the same building that your child is being taken care of. Third Door has given me the freedom to work the way I want to work and still ensure that our little girl is taken care of,” Rosie Nottage, a garden designer.

Setting up Third Door has been a massive learning curve. It’s not as simple as a regular nursery model and in a tough economic climate, it has been a huge amount of work (we would all quite fancy a day off!).  But we now have a fantastic team in place, all the systems are operating smoothly and we’re learning continuously about what our customers need.  We’re confident that it’s a model that works and we’re ready to expand. Parents need this new way of working and we’re committed to giving it to them. Evidence to this is the amount of emails we are regularly receiving, where parents have felt the need for a workspace with childcare, researched the idea and come across Third Door!

Our membership costs just £60 with various packages available depending on the hours required. The space can be booked as little as 36 hours in advance and can be used as combined work space and childcare or just one or the other. We also have meeting rooms for hire and we hold regular networking events on a range of subjects. To find out more go to www.third-door.com or our Facebook page

Finally, if you live in the area and want to help us celebrate our first birthday, we will be holding a Big Lunch on Sunday 5 June outside our building on Point Pleasant, Wandsworth. We’ll be closing the street, setting up tables and invite any locals or interested parties to come along and join in the fun. There’ll be loads of kiddy activities, food for sale plus you can bring a plate of food to share too, and it’s a great way to meet other local parents and business people. It’ll run from 11am – 4pm

We’ll write more on this next week. So watch this space for details.

Till then, we’re off to celebrate turning one!