You could hit the gym and workout before heading to work. Or, you could simply head to work and (co)work out at the same time.
Confused? You shouldnโt be.
Those of us confined to an office are slowly sitting ourselves to poor health, one sedentary day after another. So it comes as no surprise that one forward-thinking coworking space in St Paul, Minnesota, is actively bringing fitness into the workplace.
โBeing trapped sitting is the worst thing you can do for your physical and mental health; not to mention your productivity,โ says Anne Hendrickson, founder of Work It.
โAll the sitting while you drive and work, plus unhealthy food, leads to decreased energy and poor sleep. It is a vicious cycle.
โI knew our society needed to change. So, I decided to lead the charge.โ
Launched in August 2017, Work It is a wellness-focused coworking space that fuses fitness into the daily work regime. It comes equipped with 15 treadmill desks, 5 bicycle desks, 30 adjustable sit-stand desks and a basement fitness room. It also has secure bicycle racks and an accessible bathroom with showers.
Built on a promise of โa better work environmentโ to promote wellbeing and work/life balance, every workstation is โactiveโ – meaning members can walk, bike, sit, stand, or wobble as they work. The two-floor workspace is wheelchair accessible and thereโs also a private lactation room, โso your whole wellness can happen while you work.โ
It sounds like an incredibly well-rounded workplace business model. And yet, this is Anneโs first foray into the flexible workspace market.
Previously, Anne ran her own doggie daycare business, Downtown Dogs. After a chance offer, she sold it to a client and setup a freelance consulting business, providing leadership and performance management services to small businesses. But like many sole traders, Anne began to experience the frustrations of limited flexibility.
โI couldnโt work from home because I have two small kids. I couldnโt focus and be productive in a coffee shop, and there was no coworking that was flexible enough for what I needed.โ
Anne also craved a healthier environment.
โIt is really hard to eat well when you freelance and youโre traveling from site to site all day,โ she said. โMy background from the โdog worldโ was focused on evolutionary development. I knew people needed to move to work and feel their best.
โSo, I started to imagine Work it.โ
Anneโs coworking journey took around two years to come to fruition – most of which was focused on finding the right physical space. โI wanted ample free parking, lots of natural light, and a good, central location. A good central meeting spot is not easy to find.โ
Eventually, Anne found 635 Fairview Avenue. With funding from an SBA Loan and proceeds from the sale of Downtown Dogs, she leased two floors of the building and began fitting-out the new space.
โI lived and breathed and imagined every detail of my new space!โ she says. โI wanted it to change lives. People could be giving so much more to the world and their families if it werenโt for obesity, back pain, and heart disease. And sitting just fuels these conditions in our society.โ
Armed with grit determination, Anne worked closely with a team of contractors, a designer and an architect to realize her vision, โwhich was no small taskโ. Even adding a kitchen with an oven and cook top was a challenge due to design and licensing restrictions, but Anneโs resolve eventually won through.
After a โlong, hard build-outโ, Work It opened in August 2017, and the response so far has been positive. โMostly, people need the workspace, and the โcontext blendingโ of fitness and office is something they love once they get here.โ
Anne has plans to โaggressively grow membershipsโ over the coming months and eventually aims to roll out a Work It franchise. Another driver is Work Itโs ethos of positive change, which is directly linked to its growth objectives: โFor every 25 memberships, we furnish one public school classroom in our community with active seating, like we have at Work It.โ
And although the space is little more than one month old, Anne is pleased with the response – as much for herself as for the business.
โIโm hoping to see many more people trying out Work It and seeing the benefits Iโve already experienced just in the few weeks we have been open. I have so much more energy for my kids, my clothes are looser, and Iโve made tons of professional contacts.
โIโm also sleeping better, despite the anxiety of opening a brand new business as a sole parent and sole owner!โ
Find out more at co-workit.com.
