Name: Julie Duryea
Age: 37
Location: Portland, Ore.
Education: B.A. in English from University of California at Santa Barbara
Job Title: Owner of souk, a co-working space that caters to freelancers, independent consultants, and entrepreneurs in the Portland area
What She Does: Named after the Moroccan word for “bazaar,” souk provides communal space for self-employed professionals to plug in their laptops, exchange ideas, and work outside their homes without the overhead of renting a traditional office. A self-proclaimed “one-woman show,” Julie handles everything from day-to-day operations like invoicing customers and cleaning up after meetings (customers can rent conference rooms) to marketing tasks like attending networking events and updating souk’s Twitter account.
How She Got Her Gig: Julie discovered an untapped need for a co-working space when she worked from home as a consultant for local nonprofits. “I didn’t like the isolation,” she says. “My husband would come home and I’d pounce on him. Then I would go to coffee shops, but they’re such distracting environments. What I observed there was how many people use them as a satellite office.” She was “itching to start a business,” and Portland’s community of artists, consultants, and other self-employed types inspired her to give this “nomadic workforce” a work space and sense of community.
Creative Connections: Julie’s desire to connect people was a driving force behind her business. In fact, she introduced one of her customers, a shoe start-up, to the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network. “From that connection, they were one of only a handful of start-ups selected to pitch before a group of angel investors at an annual event,” according to Julie. The company has since graduated to their own office space, but Julie says that connecting with investors and being able to focus on their product (and not IT issues or running an office) helped them get a running start.
Money Matters: Since Julie opened souk in January of 2007, she has had some part-time help, but she has chosen not to outsource her accounting. “It’s very important to stay close to the numbers because you’re the one who needs to know what your cash flow is,” she says. She sets aside one day a week to deal with invoices, bank statements, and other financial forms.
On-the-Job Advice: As Julie says, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” so you need to think about long-term strategies as well as how to meet the daily demands of running a business. She also reminds would-be entrepreneurs to “celebrate successes, no matter how small.” So don’t downplay the excitement of landing a new client or getting mentioned in your local paper.
This Job's for You if: You can “cultivate curiosity and find ease in adapting,” two lessons Julie learned from studying yoga. She also stresses the need to be a strategic thinker. “You need to love learning and not be frustrated by it. Have that entrepreneurial mind-set that whatever comes across your plate, you can solve it.”
