(FYBR) Building Bridges in Business through Co-working Innovation
May 02, 2024
Matt Mittan / Doren Tripp
Embarking on a voyage through the transformative world of co-working spaces, we're joined by Doren Tripp, the quintessential serial entrepreneur whose life tapestry is interwoven with threads of innovation from Oklahoma City to the bustling optimism of Wilkesboro. With a backstory that spans continents, Doren's eclectic upbringing has honed his savvy in marketing and real estate, eventually leading him to play a part in the realization of Masthead Coworking. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone intrigued by the potential of communal workspaces to ignite passion and purpose in today's professionals.
Craving connection and collaboration in your work life? You'll be captivated by the community-centric haven Doren and others have fostered, where isolation is ousted by an orchestra of networking opportunities and productivity sings in harmony with work-life balance. We traverse the landscape of Masthead Co-working, exploring how the flexibility and diversity of this venture not only bolster individual prosperity but also energize local economies. Join us as we unveil the profound impact of co-working spaces on entrepreneurial ecosystems, where the next wave of innovation is just a shared idea away.
Embarking on a voyage through the transformative world of co-working spaces, we're joined by Doren Tripp, the quintessential serial entrepreneur whose life tapestry is interwoven with threads of innovation from Oklahoma City to the bustling optimism of Wilkesboro. With a backstory that spans continents, Doren's eclectic upbringing has honed his savvy in marketing and real estate, eventually leading him to play a part in the realization of Masthead Coworking. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone intrigued by the potential of communal workspaces to ignite passion and purpose in today's professionals.
Craving connection and collaboration in your work life? You'll be captivated by the community-centric haven Doren and others have fostered, where isolation is ousted by an orchestra of networking opportunities and productivity sings in harmony with work-life balance. We traverse the landscape of Masthead Co-working, exploring how the flexibility and diversity of this venture not only bolster individual prosperity but also energize local economies. Join us as we unveil the profound impact of co-working spaces on entrepreneurial ecosystems, where the next wave of innovation is just a shared idea away.
from white lightning to lightning fast. The wilkesboro find your back road podcast covers all the people, places and things that make wilkesboro one-of-a-kind mountain destination. Enjoy lively conversations as we welcome artists, local business leaders, event organizers and creatives from around wilkesboro. It's's the Wilkesboro Find your Back Road podcast and let's welcome our guest for this episode, doran Tripp, is with us and really looking forward to our conversation today.
Matt Mittan:
I'm a big fan of co-working spaces and their impact on the community, so we're going to get into all that, but welcome to Find your Back Road. Glad to have you on. Hey, thank you so much. Happy to be on here, matt. Well, you know, this is something that's been. It feels like it's been in the works for some time now and even though this is the first time we've met, your name has come up so many times and there's been so many attempts for us to get into your studio, and when we connected up for this interview, we were on video. I was like, oh, look at that, I forgot. Yeah, full-out studio. It's such a different thing to experience as a broadcaster doing interviews, seeing people that have a fully decked out, capable studio, so this is a real treat for me as an audio geek.
Doren Tripp:
And I love playing with this sound system too. The audiophile inside of me really, really enjoys the quality and just the ease of access too.
Matt Mittan:
Well, we're going to be talking about masthead co-working, and before we get to that, though, share a little bit about yourself, because I know you're a serial entrepreneur, and I joke around with people. I say you know, entrepreneurship is the only word you can put serial in front of and not have charges pressed against you. So you know, tell us a little bit about your story, how you ended up where you are and doing what you do.
Doren Tripp:
Sure, I'd love to.
Doren Tripp:
Yeah, so I initially spent the majority of my life actually living abroad.
Doren Tripp:
I lived in Europe, but the majority of my time actually was a little bit over 18 years spent in Mexico, grew up a missionary's kid and then did philanthropy, even as an adult, down there and everything missionary's kid and then did philanthropy even as an adult down there and everything.
Doren Tripp:
But the way that I got here actually is, I was living in Oklahoma City, which is where my wife is from, and a lot of my family is there, so that was kind of our, like our, landing place. Whenever we traveled we'd go to other countries or do other things, but we'd always kind of, you know, migrate back to Oklahoma City. And so the the opportunity to come out here and kind of see the space arose, because my parents had moved here, um to work for a local organization and so, upon kind of seeing the space and seeing this, this community here, we were really um intrigued and then, um one thing led to another and actually a job offer came up to to come out and actually open this space, because they they knew what I was doing in oklahoma city and they brought me out here because of that.
Doren Tripp:
And so really what I was doing previously was I had a branding and marketing company and, um, I was able to actually employ my my friends in mexico and stuff and so I was able to actually employ my friends in Mexico and stuff, and so I was able to do high quality work with people with degrees at a lower budget than the local market.
Doren Tripp:
So it was kind of a win-win for everybody.
Doren Tripp:
But actually I owned a PR and project management company that focused on building and remodeling ultra-custom homes in downtown Oklahoma City building and remodeling older ultra custom homes in downtown oklahoma city, and so basically my goal was to make sure that the contractor to the subcontractors were happy and the contractor to the public was happy, and so I was doing that and then in the, in the means of doing that, actually helping with kind of organizing tech and kind of innovation-focused meetup groups and pitch competitions and different things along those lines and hooking people up with mentors and stuff.
Doren Tripp:
And so whenever the opportunity to come out here and focus on the buildup of the space as well as the promotion of the space, and then actually create that atmosphere for innovation and bringing in entrepreneurs from different walks of life, the promotion of the space, and then actually create that atmosphere for innovation and bringing in entrepreneurs from different walks of life and bringing in different individuals to come together, it kind of felt like a perfect fit of kind of everything that I was doing at the time and so kind of jumped at the opportunity, and so that's really how I got here, and it's been an amazing journey. The whole time has been just phenomenal, getting to kind of, I guess, integrate into this great state of Wilkes.
Matt Mittan:
Yeah, how did you find your way into coworking? Was it your travel and your work in different fields around the world where you hopped in and out of different coworking spaces or co-op type spaces, spaces or, um, you know, co-op type spaces? Um, what was? What was your evolution into saying you know what I'm going to, I'm going to get into the business and the service in the community of creating and managing a coworking space.
Doren Tripp:
Yeah, I think, um, I'd only been to a for you previously.
Doren Tripp:
Um, usually, when I was traveling, I was, I was working from, from home, um, and so, in, in kind of seeing the space, the thing I saw, you know, because because working from home it gets, it gets lonely.
Doren Tripp:
Um, not only does it get lonely, but whenever you have the distractions of life be it, you know, laundry, dogs, animals, you know of any kind, family, um, or just you're sitting down and you realize, oh, oh, I could go take care of the dishes while I'm waiting for this call to start it, just your productivity goes down and also, just like, if you are working from home, you're never working from home, you're homing from work, right, you're always in set of, I can take another email, I can make another call, I can post again on the socials or whatnot, because you're at work.
Doren Tripp:
And so whenever the mindset of like, okay, let's, let's do a co working facility, let's create a space for people to go do their work, leave you know, go home, to go to decompress, to be able to like disconnect and stuff I was extremely excited about that to create a better, you know, conscious effort in developing a better work and life balance. We like to say that we want to help people be more efficient while they're here at the Master Corking so that they can be more effective and more present when they're at home.
Matt Mittan:
One of the things I think is wonderful about coworking space because Michelle, the co-host of this program, and I we use coworking spaces as we travel and it's a great place to focus and do production and follow through phone calls and everything and be in an organized space. But the other thing that's wonderful about it and I think this speaks to your community advocacy is the networking that you can do when you're in a cowork-working space. It's like you build an entire warm lead network of people that can become your ambassadors and become your allies in growing your businesses. You also help them grow yours, and I'm talking about tenants within a co-working space. Do you find that to be true here in the Foothills?
Doren Tripp:
area? Oh, most definitely. I think you know something that we find here and what's cool about our space so massive co-working is actually part of Flywheel Co-Working, and Flywheel Co-Working has been, you know, operating co-working facilities for the past 10 years and they have a location at Winston Concord and another one soon to open it in greenville, and so you know they're managing this space as their, their first, um, like rural community, um, location and um. What we're finding and even even you know just being here and just kind of watching you know, not even hearing from their stories, but just watching is you have people from different walks of life are sitting next to each other that spark up a conversation that actually inspire better work in the job that they're doing right. So you've got somebody that's doing creative design and is building a logo that's sitting next to somebody that's, you know, developing programs for their organization that they work for, and the creativity of the individual sitting across the desk from them inspires them to go like, hey, I'm going to think out of the box and I'm going to create a better, you know, pdf graphic, or I'm going to, you know, actually put a little bit more, and then you know they're sitting next to somebody that's working on credentialing, or they're sitting next to you know a lawyer and talking with the lawyer or whatnot, and the dynamic is is in is innovation, because now there is friction from different industries and so we love that.
Doren Tripp:
The aspect of you know so many of our members here. It's beautiful because they literally are paying another member for services. Right? Because they'll go, hey, I need somebody to to do a roof and we're like, oh, we've got a roof in here. I'd'll be like, oh, hey, I need somebody that's got some information on philanthropy. I'll be like, well, we've got philanthropy in here. We've got people with creative design, or we've got people with doing programs or people doing real estate or whatever it is, and they're all able to collaborate because they don't have to go outside and get on Facebook or get on Google and be like, where is a good location to get information on XYZ? We just go, hey, that person next to you, they've got the answer for XYZ, and so it's an ease of access. And no one in here. We tell everybody we're not selling.
Doren Tripp:
This is not a networking place where you come in, give out all your cards and start soliciting for stuff like, no, this is, this is family, this is community, this is, you know, I want to help you when you're down and you know, as a community, whenever someone's you know rising to the top of the mountain, we're celebrating. You know, we're excited and you know that's. That's the difference, really. A grow and add another office space or whatnot.
Doren Tripp:
For us, we really want to see the impact, we really want to see the growth in our entrepreneurs, and one of the cool things, too, is being in a co-working space is creating a path to self-reliance. Space is creating a path to self-reliance, and so that's a huge thing for us is creating self-reliance within people, because then they know like I can do this right, and not only can I do this, but I've got a community of people that literally whenever they get here and they see me and they say hi and they check to see like how I'm doing, they're actually committed to making sure that I'm doing good and they want to like adjust and help me with my day if I'm not doing good.
Matt Mittan:
Yeah, and talk to people that aren't familiar how coworking works. You know if they're listening and they're going. Oh well, I don't know if I want to commit to signing a year lease for an office suite or something like that. There's different degrees of engagement and obligation or utilization. Talk a little bit about how that works at Masthead Coworking.
Doren Tripp:
Yeah, totally so. Coworking in and of itself is the physical space, you know, be it like an office or what we call like open desks or hot desks, and so when you think of like open desk, think of like the desk that you see at like the library or that you see, you know, at your school. They're just kind of like free use and you're able to just wherever you drop your laptop, that's where you're at for the day. So we have a big variety of, you know, different size offices. We've got these different, you know, open plan spaces and for us it's a month to month, right, because we're so focused on, you know, helping out the community and we're focused on startups, entrepreneurship, and focused on, you know, the remote worker and everything. We want to make sure that you have the money to pay for next month, because, as a startup, you never know, right, it's's one of those like I don't know if you'll afford it.
Doren Tripp:
And so for us, we we decided that you know, we're going to do it months to months. You know some spaces they'll go for for a couple months, but for us we do months to months and we start at like 125 bucks for an unreserved and that means you can come in 24 7. We've got a door system. You just tap your phone-7. We've got a door system. You just tap your phone, you get in. You've got unlimited coffee. We'll teach you how to make an espresso. You want a latte? We'll show you how to make a latte Tea.
Doren Tripp:
And you know, we've got.
Doren Tripp:
You know, amazing furniture, amazing conference rooms, a great community. We even have like a mentor deck, which is this awesome program out of Flywheel where you get online and you say, hey, I want somebody in programming and somebody in AI or I need somebody in real estate and in operations, whatever it is, and it'll categorize that and it'll give you all the options of mentors that are standing by that you just go ahead and jump on and schedule a time to meet up with them. And so what happens with us is some people look at it and they're like I can't afford, you know like 125 bucks for a desk. We're like, well, how much do you pay for your internet Because we have fiber? And then you pay for your coffee. How much coffee do you drink and you go down the street to your local coffee shop, and then how much do you pay for your networking? How much do you pay for your conference rooms? When it all comes down to it, it's all cost of occupancy. Our office is more expensive, but our cost of occupancy makes it where you actually are saving money by using our space.
Matt Mittan:
And the last thing I want to touch on and I think this is so important and speaks to the growth that is happening for Wilkes County and the surrounding area speaks to the growth that is happening for Wilkes County and the surrounding area, but it's not just about the space you have and the co-working and all the benefits that we've been talking about. You're also doing programming and events in that space as well. Talk about that briefly and then also tell people how they can find out more information and follow up, whether they're a local person looking to have a space that they can work out of or someone's traveling and visiting and they want to be able to go ahead and have a place they can set up and do some of their work while they're visiting oh, definitely, definitely, yeah, um, this city is is in such an amazing um stage right now of of growth, and you know it's.
Doren Tripp:
It's so many different people coming together and working together. You know we've got the amazing. You know TDA with Thomas Sally and stuff. We've got the amazing. You know Chamber, the EDC, you know everybody from. You know the Wilkes Community College it's like so many different people. And then all the business owners and people that are out. You know the public officials that are focused on the growth in this company.
Doren Tripp:
It's just really cool to be a part of, and so something that we contribute to that growth is programming, and programming specifically directed towards entrepreneurs and startups and creatives specifically right now and in the future we'll be adding more. So one of the initiatives that we started, that actually designed last year, is called Idea Expo, and that one is basically the opportunity for you to get in front of a crowd of people you share just a few minutes of who you are, what you do, what is your business and your idea or your idea right, because some people that have ideas, they don't have the ability to discuss them with people that have, you know, accomplished things or that are at a stage where they want to give back to the community or have taken an idea into fruition and become equitable. And so this is basically you get up, you talk and then you say this is my problem and I need the community's help on.
Doren Tripp:
X, y, Z thing, this or that, and so we create what we call a brave space. Like safe spaces are really hard to make, because my safe is different than your safe, but my brave is the same kind of brave that you need. And so we want to create a brave space where entrepreneurs, or soon to be entrepreneurs, can come in and say, hey, I've got this idea. What does the community think of it? And does the community think it'd be beneficial for me to do as a means of like going out on my own or starting a side hustle, stuff like that?
Doren Tripp:
And yeah, and then the other one we have is like called creator exchange, and so that one's focused on, you know, the creative industry, and it's talking about what's new and coming in AI, what are adjustments to Google, you know what's coming with, you know, a new graphics trend or whatever. And so you know we have other things like Community Day, and we do stuff with the Wilkes Entrepreneur Network the last Wednesday of every month, and so we do a lot, a lot, and we continue to support others that are doing things by, you know, having them use our space and whatnot for conferences or seminars and stuff. But yeah, in regards to your question about how to find us. You can visit us at wwwmastheadcoworkingcom or any of the socials at Masthead Coworking. You'll be able to find all the information.
Matt Mittan:
Well, that's fantastic and anyone who's listening to this on podcast, available just about everywhere. We'll put a link in the description as well, and I know this is going to broadcast. This is broadcast on Biz Radio US. It's really a pleasure to talk to you finally. It's been something that we've had on the bucket list for a little bit of time now, and I'm glad we finally were able to do that. So thank you again for what you're doing, not only with Mass Head Coworking, but what you're doing in the community, and it is greatly appreciated. We're glad to have you here.
Doren Tripp:
No, thank you so much for all that you do as well, and, yeah, we'll look forward to having you in our space soon. I can't wait.
Matt Mittan:
Thank you for listening to the Wilkesboro Find your Back Road podcast. To request an interview spot or to advertise email info at wilkescountytourismcom.