WORK Lakes Region offers more than just desk space in Lakeport

LACONIA — WORK Lakes Region founder and owner Jodie Gallant welcomed the Lakes Region Chamber and numerous local business owners at a grand opening ceremony at the coworking space at 51 Elm St. Thursday night, a year after she initially opened the business.

“I’m wildly excited, I think this is a great opportunity for our community to have a place to work together and meet new people and maybe just work a little less because you have an opportunity to be focused,” Gallant said. “I think it’s a great way to learn to elevate our collaborations and our connections through the work that we do — it’s really exciting.”

The process of opening the business wasn’t easy, she said.

“Just holding onto a vision and making sure that I could discover opportunities that made sense to execute and bring this to life, with the freedom of also being willing to let it go if it wasn’t going to make sense,” she said. “Fortunately for me, it did, and we’re here tonight with the grand opening, which is really what I wanted to do,” she said Thursday night.

Gallant said opening a coworking space has been a dream of hers for 10 years.

“Now we’re standing in it and it’s just really exciting,” she said. 

After two years of research and conversations, Gallant was ready to have a go at it and opened her doors last year.

“Our program here is a diverse program,” she said. “We have 12 private offices, we have eight dedicated desks and we have 51 seats for people, in a coworking model for hybrid use ... can slide in and out when you want.”

Gallant, who also owns and operates JMG Marketing, signed her lease a year ago to the date of the open house. A wall within the building has art depicting large flowers.

“We chose the dandelion wall with intention and purpose, we do call this the dandelion room,” she said. “Most people think dandelions are weeds, but they’re not. They actually show up and fertilize your grass when your grass is too tight and unwilling to grow and be healthy. Dandelions only flourish and stay in your grass until it’s healthy again, and then they never come back, and I feel like in our leadership and in our work and in our business models, we do the same — we help customers when they need us and then they fly when they don’t anymore.”

Gallant said the dandelion metaphor represents her vision for WORK and what it could bring to the Lakes Region.

“For me it was a great representation of what I’m trying to create here in the Lakes Region through the shared community of work,” she said. 

Monthly memberships at WORK Lakes Region are available and the building is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Those who sign up can receive an access code to enter the facility at all hours.

Gallant said the advanced technology utilized by the building is one of her favorite aspects of the business.

“It’s really designed to be unstaffed, even though I’m here a lot; I’m happy to help in a lot of ways. With the hybrid work model that we’re now more accustomed to and introduced to, you can go to the website, it will drop you to a shopping cart. You can book through the calendar or you can sign up,” she said. “You get an onboarding email, you get a digital key and you can slide in without talking to anybody — you can literally become a member within 15 minutes, access the space and whatever that looks like for you.”

In addition to numerous partners in website design, construction and advertising Gallant referred to in an address during the event, she noted hiring knowledgeable technology staff was key to the businesses development.

“I’m really excited that we’ve been able to find all of the tech staff that we can to make that happen, which is really exciting,” she said. 

Opening WORK Lakes Region took a collaborative effort and she appreciates everybody who had a hand in helping her vision become reality, she said.

“It would’ve never happened without the partnership of Scott Everett and Paugus Properties, and then all the local businesses that helped us ... do the construction and build out of the space,” she said.

Her family, who also contributed time and effort to opening the facility, remains a source of personal gratitude, she said. 

“I just also want to continue and thank my family,” she said. “We are an all-hands-on-deck kind of family, even when we don’t want to be."