If she puts something in her head, Helga Schuller can be very persistent. This also applies to their idea of setting up a coworking space in Dorfen. Corona did not allow her to be dissuaded from her plans either.
By Birgit Lang
Dorfen - Now "the Cowerker" with 200 square meters of office in the electronics store "Technikwerker - Der Heuschneider" are about to open. During her time in Munich, the 45-year-old Dorfener came into contact with coworking (English for "to work together"). In the coworking space everyone works independently, but still has human contact with the others. "Why isn't that available in our region, especially when it comes to our commuter numbers?" Thought the trained carpenter and studied interior design. As such, the wife and mother of a six-year-old daughter work in the Thalmeier store in Dorfen.
Because she was so captivated by the idea, Helga Schuller started looking for suitable spaces and found what she was looking for with Stefan Tremmel, who was looking for a new use for the former café in his specialty shop.
It is a place where large and small meetings can take place, where you can work together, but also where everyone has their own “favorite” job with the appropriate infrastructure and technology. He can book this flexibly in package prices at different tariffs, either only on a daily basis or per month.
In recent weeks, Schuller has completely redesigned the area according to her own ideas in an “industrial look”. "We had the first inquiries before the lockdown," she says. Her coworking project connects everything she can do well: furnish, bring people together, create networks, organize and help other people.
Her husband Hans, a SAP developer from the Upper Palatinate, helped her with the implementation. "We financed everything from our own resources," says the 45-year-old. Her husband took care of the startup's IT. “He installed the entire router and login system, and we can selectively enable access to the Internet using vouchers with time passes. We could get started right away. ”The Dorfener Stadtwerke also helped and installed an optical fiber connection in the coworking space. Stefan Tremmel and his team took care of the business solutions and the electronics.
There are 14 workstations with height-adjustable desks and self-developed OSB modules that can be used as filing cabinets, for technical equipment or as a cloakroom. They can also transform themselves into a quiet seating area for chilling out or into a “think tank” (English for think tank).
There is also a small kitchenette and a large table that can be used for drinking coffee, breakfast, lunch or as a meeting corner. A larger standing bar with bar stools and a lounge corner will also be created here. At the moment, however, the common areas are not yet fully usable due to the corona restrictions. The separate Heuschneider meeting room with the necessary equipment is available for customer discussions or concept developments.
The coworking space offers a flexible opportunity to work for a mixed clientele, for all age groups and different professional sectors. Especially now that home office is the order of the day and there is a trend towards economy sharing, but not everyone can find the right framework at home, it can be an ideal solution to book here.
Whether young entrepreneurs who want to save money for an expensive office, working mothers who want to work in the morning in peace, employees who take the plunge into self-employment or people who want to build a second mainstay. Everyone is welcome.
And with the "cowerkers" he may meet a graphic designer who helps him to set up his own homepage, or an accountant who takes care of his accounting or at least can give tips for it. There will also be workshops and presentations on specialist topics soon, preferably in cooperation with the support group. "Everyone can register with us."
"It is an exciting thing and completely new for Dorfen," says Schuller and is convinced that there will be much more work models like this in the region in the future. For example in Isen, where the new mayor Irmgard Hibler would like to work for it.
