Hub Coworking Hawaii

Hawai‘i's Best Coworking Space

Member Benefits

The Past Four Years at Hub Coworking Hawaii

Back on August 23rd, The Hub celebrated its 4th year of operation out of our Queen Street location. We are so honored to have made it this far as a coworking space, creative outlet and a gathering place. Together, we have grown through renovations, a rebrand, community volunteer opportunities and countless events–pau hanas, networking opportunities, movie premieres, crop swaps– just to name a few! We only hope that this growth continues long-term, and that we can provide the location, resources and opportunities for you and your business to, as we say, “do well and do good.” 

Before 2020, the Hub was a community resource for businesses needing a venue for their meetings and events. The Hub was and still is a gathering place for many of its own community members allowing the businesses in our own network to spotlight their products/services. While events have taken more of a back seat nowadays, we can’t help but to reminisce on some of the past events that we have had the pleasure of hosting. We hope to bring events back when we’re able to gather in a safe manner again.

  • Art@Hub Shows
    • The Hub has had the pleasure of having it’s space beautified by murals painted by local artists. Artists would create murals or installations on the common theme of “Community.” In exchange, the Hub would provide membership or residency for artists to continue their work or provide classes to the community. Each artist would also be featured in their own Art@Hub Show where they’d display their gallery of work. Local artists that have created murals or installations for the Hub are Lauren Hana Chai, Boz Schurr, Aimee Dukes, Shenae Tam, Bai Xin Chen, Ryan Higa, Aria Villafranca, and Lauren Trangmar.
  • Indie Lens Film Nights
    • In partnership with PBS Hawaii, we would transform our Main Event Space into a theater and feature independent documentary films focused on a variety of social issues. PBS Hawaii would even bring pizza, a popcorn machine and arare/mochi crunch. Some popular features were “Out of State” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Indie Lens Film Screening of Bedlam
  • Climathon
      • In fall 2019, we hosted the first ever Honolulu Climathon. We hosted the Climathon Honolulu Hackathon with guest judges Chelsea Harder of Hawaiʻi Green Growth, June Matsumoto of Pacific Islands Institute, and Chris Barzman from Sustainable Tourism Association of Hawaii. We focused on sustainable tourism and guided our participants with the guiding question of: “How do we reduce the human impact of tourism in Honolulu?”
        Climathon 2019 Winners Team Get Zero Wasted
  • Wellness Wednesday
    • Awakened Mana has been hosting Wellness Wednesday events once a month at the Hub since our early Impact Hub Honolulu days. They are creators of conscious events and products. With a focus on movement, health, sustainability, growth and community, their events and products inspire reflection and an awakened consciousness. Popular events have consisted of Sound Healing Meditation, Kombucha Brewing Workshops and Light Alchemy. 
  • Weekly Member Luncheon
    • Formerly held every Wednesday in the community kitchen, our Member Luncheon was an opportunity for our members to connect with each other during the lunch hour. We’d provide pizza or food from local neighborhood restaurants (thank you, Thyda’s Tacos!) and break the ice for everyone.
  • Monthly Crop Swaps – Back on! 
    • This series of events was born from members sharing their abundance from their home gardens and crops. Our amazing members would bring in apple bananas, mangos, marrungay leaves (malunggay/moringa) and all kinds of herbs to share with others. We figured why not make this a monthly occurrence? This was also the perfect pairing with Long Spoon Farms to help with the monthly efforts as they were providing a similar community service in Kaimuki. 
Crop Swap meeting in our community kitchen

Another growth point of ours has been our membership. Our core group of members has changed over the years, as we steadily welcome freelancers, digital nomads, entrepreneurs, small business owners and non-profit organizations seeking a flexible workspace. Our variety of month to month membership options and offices allowed our members to use our space at their convenience and scale up when ready. When COVID-19 made its way to the Hawaiian Islands, we were just as worried as everyone else. Our memberships took a hit and some long standing office members had to vacate. Since then, we’ve reached a new demographic of remote workers, businesses seeking office space that didn’t require a long lease and workers wanting an alternative space to their home office (or dining tables). 

We’d love to recognize several of our previous members, that have scaled their businesses over the years:

After working with some incredible entrepreneurs/companies, we were inspired to make a greater impact in our community. Since 2017, we have created and joined forces with a variety of programs that have allowed us to provide many mentoring, coaching and networking opportunities for our members and the greater community.

Programs:

The Social Impact Incubator Program helps fill the opportunity gap for very early stage entrepreneurs – especially educators – in Hawaiʻi. SIIP is a six month program where participants gain access to content specialists, top-notch mentorship, weekly learning modules and up to $8,000 in capital to take their venture to the next level. We are currently working together with Teach for America Hawaii on the second cohort of entrepreneurs.

The Hawaii Freelancer’s Network is open to any small business, entrepreneur, freelancer or business leader, current or aspiring! Via monthly workshops at the Hub, HFN helps to connect members to the greater community and share valuable knowledge and insights. 

  • Women’s Personal Finance Group

Women’s Personal Finance workgroup was a casual bi-monthly meetup at the Hub for any woman that wants to learn more about finances, better understand their own financial habits and needs, and get more comfortable asking questions and learning about this big subject. 

Women’s Personal Finance Group Meeting

 

Highlights from our Impact Hub Global Takeover

You may know that Impact Hub HNL is part of a larger network of Impact Hubs around the world- there are currently more than 100 Impact Hubs in diverse locations like Mexico, Germany, Rwanda and Japan.

To highlight the collective impact of these coworking spaces, the Global team allowed us to ‘takeover’ their social media accounts. This gave us an opportunity to share what we think is most important to us here in Honolulu – our great members that are doing awesome things in our community.

Read more in this feature blog about how we envision Impact Hub HNL as part of the global Impact Hub community.

We were so excited to highlight the members and organizations that make up our community – both the individuals and the companies that are making impact across the islands. Click the images below (or here) to learn more about the changemakers that call Impact Hub HNL home.

The Global team also wanted to meet the team behind Impact Hub HNL, so we shared some pics of our team doing awesome stuff: George & Anne adventuring in New Zealand, Nam grabbing keys for our new Hawaii Kai location, Meeta sitting on her throne, Andrea cuddling goats on Maui, Josh with his pup, and Prerna enjoying Hawaii adventures. Learn more about our team here.

It was important to us to highlight the physical space, too! We love our rad location in Kakaako and the local amenities we can take advantage of, but also well as the interesting and functional spaces we offer within our Kaka’ako location.

 

Why Should I Pay for Coworking?

By Nam Vu

Believe me, I know the value of a dollar. My wife and I have been working independently for 20 years. We know what building a business in your garage is like and we know what it is like to operate on a shoestring budget.

So why would we help start a coworking space, and why do we think it is a good idea for people to pay to cowork? Why would anyone pay to cowork? The bottom line? It is in your best interest.

If you think I’m full of it and just trying to sell you something, then feel free to stop reading. BUT, if you follow me on this short journey, I think you will be surprised in the end.

I don’t need coworking – I can work from home and coffee shops

Sure, I’ve been there, done that.  Working at home is great… for the most part. And for the occasional meetings, a coffee shop does just fine.  Or does it?  Maybe five years ago, it was still OK.  But lately, trying to get a table at a coffee shop is just plain frustrating.  And then there’s the Wi-Fi which often does not work, or hobbles along when it does work.  And the fighting for power outlets….UGH!  More often, I have to reschedule meetings because of issues at the coffee shop  – think of the loss in productivity and the opportunity costs.

Working from home is great and we’ve done well for a long time.  The biggest challenge with working from home, especially if you are an independent worker, is stagnation.  There’s no one to share ideas with, no surprise conversations to spark new ideas, and no one to challenge those really bad ideas that you thought would be your lottery ticket.  The lack of collaboration and idea flow can eventually put you into a rut that could cost you a lot in the long run from missed opportunities.

The best way to grow a business is not cutting costs, but increasing revenues.  Keep your eye on the opportunities!

The Real Reasons to Cowork: It’s all about the community and the opportunities

Sure, there are a host of amenities and benefits to coworking at Impact Hub Honolulu:

  • Free organic coffee and tea
  • Fastest publicly available Internet in the state of Hawaii
  • Different seating for different workers (bean bags, couch, cafe table, etc.)
  • Showers (yes, we have showers)
  • More events than you have time to attend
  • Member pau hanas with free beer
  • and so much more! See our full list of amenities here.

When you come and check it out, you will find that we’ve spent hours and hours working on creating a space that is cool, inspiring, and uplifting.

But here’s a secret:  that’s not what we are building.  What we are building is not what you can see when you walk around the space.  Not the cooling blue concrete floor, not the beautiful murals on the walls and ceilings, and not the things that we provide. Although a lot of time and effort and resources have been used on these things, in the end, these are just part of the facilities.

What we are building is a community… an ecosystem and a place where serendipitous collaboration creates opportunities.  And it is not only about business and money.  It’s about ideas, wellness, and balance.  It’s about collaboration to make this world a better place, and sometimes starting first with ourselves.

As someone recently said to me, “I want to do well, by doing good.”  That stuck in my mind and now I use it all the time, and it’s become a focus for our company: Doing well, by doing good.

But, anyways, why would anyone pay for coworking?

It depends on what you are looking for.

For people who are new to coworking its about the facilities: Wi-Fi, desks, chairs, printer, meeting rooms, tea, coffee, toilets, etc.

Once you have coworked for a while, its about the community and the atmosphere and what it can do for you: an inspiring environment, events, introductions, collaboration, sense of belonging, friends, partnerships

Once you become a part of the coworking community, its about the community itself and what you can contribute: platform for events, sharing your expertise, mentoring, collaboration, sense of fulfillment

There is so much that still needs to be done, but I am so excited to be a part of this community.

Drop by and say hi and check out the space: you can schedule a tour here. 

Join our Membership Discount Program

As a member of Impact Hub HNL you are eligible for discounts from other members and neighborhood businesses. From movies to mortgages, skincare to services, we’ve built a very cool network for our Members. Learn more about currently available member discounts here.

Do you have a discount that you’d like to offer our members? GREAT! We are happy to create partnerships with both member and local businesses. Please see our flyer below, and contact us to learn more or get started.

Waikiki Brewing Company on Tap at Impact Hub HNL

Cheers to the newest addition to our kitchen: two taps from our friends at Waikiki Brewing Company! We are so excited to offer this beer. Not only is it DELICIOUS, but Waikiki Brewing is our neighbor on Queen Street in our awesome Kakaako neighborhood.

This local brewing company started with a seven barrel facility in Waikiki in 2015. They quickly outgrew that space and just recently opened their second location in Kakaako to expand production. Their newest location is home to 20 barrels and has allowed them to quadruple their production.

WBC takes pride in being a ‘hub’ in their community: not only does their business host dozens of local jobs, and they host community and business events at their locations. The company is also really cognizant about source reduction. They purchase their beer cans from a local facility, donate spent grains to a local farmer, and even upcycle the grain bags after use.

Brewmaster and Partner Joe Lorenzen says, “Our brewery not only has helped to drive our local economy, but has provided a wonderful community gathering place at our pub.” If you wish to learn more about WBC, you can always drop in and chat with the brewers and bartenders to learn more about the beer processes (they don’t currently offer scheduled tours).

They currently have nine beers available on tap at their breweries, and we are lucky to have two available to us. Currently we’re pouring the Ala Moana Amber Ale and the Skinny Jeans IPA. These will rotate so you’ll hopefully get to try their many regulars and specials. Members are welcome to help themselves to beer (at whatever time you consider to be happy hour) and, of course, we ask that you drink responsibly.

Cheers to you and your business!

Meet Numi Tea – A Delicious New Addition to Our Kitchen

Impact Hub HNL membership has lots of benefits: good community, cool events, great networking… and an unlimited supply of organic coffee and tea! You may have seen that our tea collection expanded a few weeks ago, thanks the good folks at Numi Tea.

Numi Tea is a longtime partner of the global Impact Hub community, and we are very excited to share their great teas with our members here in Honolulu. Numi is a cool company producing an array of delicious teas for all palates: we like both their teas and their mission.

We’ve expanded our collection of teas to include many more decaf and caffeine-free options, including Moroccan Mint, Chamomile Lemon, Ginger Lemon, Rooibos, and Dry Desert Lime. We’ve also got more variety for black teas (including a bold Earl Grey and an earthy Pu-erh Tea), and more green tea options (including Gunpowder Green, Toasted Rice, and the popular Jasmine Green). These teas are all free for members to sip and savor while you’re working here at Impact Hub HNL, so try them all!

Why do we like Numi? Numi is a small company based in Oakland, California, that’s committed to making delicious, natural teas and creating a big impact in tea communities around the world.

They use only whole ingredients in their teas (no flavorings, natural or artificial) and they use only non-GMO and organic ingredients in their blends, which is better for the soil, better for farmworkers, and better for us.

And just like Impact Hubs around the world, Numi is committed to making a difference in tea communities. Not only is Numi a founding B Corp, they focus on Fair Trade or Fair Labor standards for their farmers. According to their website, “The FLP program fosters direct partnerships, and encourages brand holders to have a direct role in the social development of their supply chain. It is also complementary to Fair Trade Certification and can be applied to products and supply chains where Fair Trade Certification is not available.” Finally, they are deeply committed to ecological sustainability, both in their packaging and in the offices.

Hopefully you’re inspired to sip on some of their yummy and teas now that you know how cool the company is. You can see more tea inspiration on their Instagram and learn more (or order more for your house) at Numi.com.