Funding Sources
December 30th, 2006Most things in life are spoiled by the need for money.
Having graduated college, I have a few ideas of what I want to do with the next part of my life. None of them involve working under someone else, and hopefully none of them involve others working for me. My primary goal is to be a part of a workers cooperative that is able to provide its members with living wages. I am not sure how to get started on this without some working capital.
I have entertained a few different ideas. The primary one has often been starting a coffee shop. The question is can a cooperative coffee shop sustain reasonable wages for its worker-owners? Red and Black Cafe is doing it. Normally the average employee in such a shop would make below a living wage while the managers and owner might make reasonable salaries. In a cooperative, the salaries are divided equally–will it be enough? Of course it depends on how well the shop succeeds. Most fail.
I am inspired by Octane Coffee in this dream. Octane is a local shop with my favorite atmosphere in Atlanta, but it is is certainly not a cooperative.
Workers cooperatives exist all over the place, although I do not know of any in Atlanta. The model can be applied to any business. I would entertain any number of ideas. Another good one is a micro ISP that provides wireless network infrastructure for apartment complexes, hotels, and other buildings. This is a for-profit version of NetLeap.
That being said, I am currently working for a software startup. Working here is not that different than school. It is an arrangement that is not directly involved in any meaningful life goals, but at the same time it hopefully brings me closer to doing something worthwhile.