Since Work.Life started back in 2015, we’ve supported thousands of businesses to grow and thrive under our roofs, from budding startups through to more established companies.
Our second favourite pastime is watching our members excel. Our first, is telling everyone about them! We’re highlighting founders who’ve grown their businesses (and their teams) within the walls of Work.Life coworking spaces.
Joe Binder joined Work.Life as a one-man band, and look at him now – a casual 15 hires later, and his company WOAW is building brands for some of the country’s most prominent CEOs and founders. We chatted to Joe about how he started WOAW, his journey at Work.Life, and his ambitious plans for the year ahead…
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to start a business. At University, I launched and grew a YouTube channel to over 20,000 subscribers and learned loads about social media in the process. After graduating, I had an opportunity to combine my love of entrepreneurship with my interest in social media. So, I took it. Enter, WOAW.
We build personal brands for founders and CEOs and use social media to redefine personal branding, so that our clients can construct their own unique audience that they can access anytime. The digital landscape has changed significantly over the last couple of years, and it’s now more important than ever for business leaders to build their reputation online.
Joe and the team at Work.Life Camden
I joined in January 2018 as soon as I set up WOAW. I needed a reliable space to work, so that I could have a clear division between sitting on the end of my bed at home and doing ‘proper’ work in an office. The fact that I would be surrounded by other entrepreneurs was a big pull factor for me, and we’ve ended up meeting a number of our existing clients from working in the space. The community here is brilliant and so welcoming.
When I joined, I was a solo hot desker. Every day I’d come into the space, take a seat, open up my laptop and get to work. Though, while I was working, I’d always have conversations with other small business owners in the same position as I was.
Gradually we expanded to 5 people. Then, we took some time to establish clear processes, ways of winning and built impactful case studies. After that, things really took off. The team more than tripled in size in 9 months.
Eventually, we needed our own private office space. So after hot desking for a few years, predominantly at Work.Life Camden and occasionally at Work.Life Soho, we finally took our own 8 person office in Camden. This was a huge moment for us and felt like a massive step towards being seen as a ‘proper’ business.
Flexibility is important to each of us, so we’re able to make great use of the space using a rota system. This means that the team can enjoy full flexibility in working from home or working from the office. Over the next few months as we continue to grow, it may be the case that more people want to be in the office more often. I feel safe in Work.Life’s hands, meaning that if we do need to move into a bigger space it will be a seamless experience – just like last time.
I’m now grateful to say that we’re a team of 16. This time next year, we would have likely passed the 30 person mark… but let’s see how we get on!
The last few years has been a period of massive growth and momentum for WOAW. We’re now fast approaching our £1M ARR target and have also significantly diversified our portfolio of clients.
We now work with a wide range of founders, CEOs and leadership teams of high-growth businesses, and our clients have become our biggest supporters. A massive milestone for me and the team was watching our name get plastered onto the door of our office. Each of us are massively proud to walk in every morning.
I’m absolutely buzzing to press forward with our ambitious growth plans for 2022.
The WOAW team out and about in Camden
All the basics have always been covered, from Wifi to coffee to warmth in the office. Small things that are a pain if you have to manage them yourself. The Work.Life team have hosted countless events and had too many pizza-gatherings to count, all of which have facilitated the forming of great relationships.
The Work.Life team has always been incredibly welcoming to each new team member, showering them with gifts and goodies on their first day.
As a business owner, there’s many things that Work.Life supports me with. The flexibility is a huge help, as well as not having to worry about the tedious side of having to manage an office yourself. If the coffee machine breaks, Work.Life will fix it. If the internet goes down, Work.Life will fix it. If the heating suddenly breaks, Work.Life will fix it. Things that may seem insignificant, but when you’re trying to move at a million miles an hour – it helps to have them all covered.
The really good vibes, particularly held up by Cara and Georgie. It’s always a great atmosphere. Some favourites among the team are Pizza Thursdays, Wellness Wednesdays and especially Whatever-the-name-is-for-the-reason-we-get-croissants-and-pain-au-chocolates-in-abundance-on-Mondays.
Not to mention, it’s always great meeting other talented entrepreneurs in such a relaxed environment.
We’re looking to more than double the size of the business and continue our work with brilliant entrepreneurs and business leaders; inspiring millions through the impactful content we help create.
In short – we’re going to WOAW.
We couldn’t be prouder of OG Work.Life member Joe’s incredible success with WOAW. If you’re interested in following in the footsteps of WOAW and becoming a member at Work.Life Camden, book a tour now or get in touch at camden@work.life.
