Images by Jeff Sampson Photography.

      “I need to come here every day,” said Jeremy Brown, founder and publisher of Throne Publishing Group.

      Brown is one of the part-time members of Meso, a co-working space in downtown Sioux Falls.

      “You see people doing deals… it gives you more ideas. It makes you want to do more,” Brown said.

       And that is exactly what Josh Aberson had hoped for when he opened the space last September.

       “It’s like 24/7 networking,” Josh described. “If you’re going to put yourself in a position to want to expand your business quickly and get around other people that are going to help you do that, but at the same time have low cost and low risk and all that kind of stuff, it’s a total win-win on every level.”

        But before the site was even chosen and before a single chair was picked out, Aberson crowd sourced to find the elements of a successful co-working space that fit the local business culture.  

        “Occasionally the same kind of conversations kept popping up, like ‘I need a space like this’ or ‘I would like to have a place to congregate that wouldn’t be my full-time office,’’ Josh recalled. “Finally we just kind of said let’s just break this down and look at how it’s possible to make it work in Sioux Falls, and how we can lay the whole thing out.”

         And how it would all lay out would come directly from the source: potential members. “It’s all about the members,” said Josh. “You can’t just have this idea, put it out there, and just expect it to work. It has to come from the bottom up on something like this.”

         And another large source of how it came to be stemmed from his wife, Christie, whom they say is the silent partner of the endeavor. Contrary to the term, Christie has been anything but silent in the process. Each plays a vital role with Meso.

         In regards to their official job titles, Josh replied, “We’re kind of changing [our roles] as we go along, you know?”

         “I’m more detail and service oriented, and you are more visionary and sales oriented,” Christie said looking at her husband of five years.

         Having one another as their other half in more ways than one has been good for them so far in their first “public” business venture together.

         To read the rest of this article, pick up the December issue of 605 Magazine today! 

Facebook Comments