By Tianne van Woudenberg directly translated from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sociaal-kapitaal-tianne-van-woudenberg
The Seats2meet-concept is driven by an important principle: the sharing of abundance. Apart from renting out seats there are also seats that we can share for free with independent professionals so they can work and discuss. Since these seats are available thanks to abundance they do not have to pay for this, or at least not in a monetary form.
However, this is not to say it is completely free; they pay with social capital! I’ve realized that the concept of social capital usually raises some questions. What does it exactly entail? Why do you work with social capital, and how does it actually work?
Social Capital
At Seats2meet.com ‘social capital’ refers to the willingness to share your abundance of knowledge and your network, and to be open to serendipitous encounters. We facilitate this by giving you the opportunity to book a flexible workspace for free if you let us know what you will be working on. By means of a dashboard we are able to give people insight into the knowledge and skills present at the Seats2meet location. In this way we can optimally facilitate serendipitous encounters between the independent professionals present at the location!
Why?
We live in a society that is changing all the time and which poses many challenges. Elise de Bres (my business partner) and I believe that connecting people is the most important prerequisite for a better future. As an individual, community, country and citizen of the world we can conquer any challenge, as long as we can do this together. That is why we create an environment that facilitates connections between people and the sharing of knowledge. This will eventually and organically lead to co-creation. In short: the ecosystem facilitates the exchange of social capital and the sharing of abundance.
Do I have sufficient social capital to offer, and if so how can I do this?
Everyone has knowledge, talents and a network! Being open to helping others by means of your knowledge, talents and network is enough. How? By fetching coffee for the other people in the open lounge and starting a conversation, or asking your neighbor what they’re working on during the lunch break. You could also participate in one of the short network sessions we frequently offer. Do you have another way that works better for you? That is fine as well! Do you have a pressing deadline and no time for small-talk? No worries, it is okay to be anti-social every once in a while!;) But not too often, of course!
What do we offer independent professionals?
In exchange for your social capital (the sharing of your knowledge and abundance) we offer you a space to work with wi-fi, coffee, tea and lunch. However, keep in mind that “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” If you don’t want to contribute in social capital we expect you to pay in monetary capital. You can do so by booking a meeting space.
Either way, YOU ARE WELCOME!
