For Megan Cyphers and others who already made the transition from office worker to at-home employee, the COVID pandemic didn’t disrupt their work lives as it did others.
For most of the past four years, the Sequim transplant from Southern California called her back bedroom her workplace.
That’s about to change.
“I realized I wasn’t alone in my feelings to get out of my home and go to work some place nice every day,” Cyphers said from her new work home in downtown Sequim.
Cyphers is CEO and founder of Locally Known Cowork, a shared office space at 112 W. Washington St.
The business, located in the same building as Hurricane Coffee Co., celebrates its genesis with a launch party and ribbon cutting from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1. (RSVP at tinyurl.com/SEQlkc)
Coworking spaces, Cyphers said, offer not only a place for working professionals to get their jobs done but collaborate with others — needed now more than ever, after a couple of years in which many people haven’t been socially interacting.
“Sometimes someone needs a quiet place to be, to come in here and have a creative thought,” Cyphers said. “I think people flourish if they have a routine.
“It’s also a great way to meet people … a great opportunity for people to be collaborative.”
Amenities at Locally Known Cowork include an open floor plan — no cubicles — along with two private conference rooms, a kitchen/break room with coffee, office supplies and — perhaps the most important — good Wi-Fi.
The location is also in the heart of Sequim’s downtown, Cyphers noted, with easy access to “everything you could need.”
Membership rates vary depending on how often members need to use the space, from daily to weekly to by-the-day (there are day passes available).
Users simply get an app on their phone to provide access.
Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. but those could expand, Cyphers said.
About 10 members are already lined up to use the space, she said.
The workspace could also be a great resource for visitors to the Olympic Peninsula, Cyphers said, for professionals who want to get a head start on a visit by ending their work week remotely with time at Locally Known Cowork (or extend their stay by starting the work week here).
Deciding to cowork
After growing up a little north of San Diego, Cyphers got her undergraduate degree (while playing Division I soccer) at the University of Southern California, and earned her graduate degree splitting two years at Boston University and overseas.
She and her husband Sam, a Yakima native, decided to call Washington state home, moving close to his parents.
And though working from home the past four years provided a way to make the move, it also spurred the decision to open up a coworking space — a move Cyphers said was always percolating in her mind.
“I found [working from home] wasn’t suitable for productivity,” she said.
She said many of the clients she has with her regular advertising business rarely desire a face-to-face, Zoom or phone call; everything is done on the computer.
Cyphers said many people who look in her new office don’t really understand about shared work spaces.
“I love that this is going to enrich this community; it’s a new model of working,” she said.
Not just a shared work space, Locally Known Cowork can also serve the community as an event venue, from a company holiday party to a birthday spot.
“You come in here and it doesn’t feel like an office,” she said.
For more about Locally Known Cowork, visit lkcowork.com, call 442-236-3845 or email Cyphers at megan@lkcowork.com.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Megan Cyphers stands outside Locally Known Cowork, a new shared office space in the hart of downtown Sequim. The business celebrates its opening with a launch party and ribbon cutting from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1.
