Episode Summary

“Do you know who your coworking space’s biggest competitor is? It’s the Home Office, working from home.” - Lucy McInally

Unreasonable Connection Going Live! London, February 2026.

🎟️ Tickets go on sale in January 2026.

The entire day is co-created by the coworking community builder on the co-creation waitlist.

Lucy McInally, founder of The Inclusive Coworker and coworking industry writer, drops a truth bomb that stops Bernie mid-conversation. After two years in a beloved coworking community that closed down, she’s been working from home ever since—despite being one of the industry’s most thoughtful voices on inclusive community building.

This isn’t a story about laziness or preference. It’s about the hidden friction that kills coworking adoption: the 50-minute commute that used to be 25 minutes, the Spanish conversation anxiety that paralyses Bernie from entering perfectly good spaces in Vigo, the seasonal darkness that makes walking across Blackheath feel unsafe for Lucy.

Bernie admits his own contradictions—knowing 15 coworking spaces in his new Spanish city but unable to pluck up the courage to walk into any of them.

Lucy shares the practical magic of Clockwise Edinburgh: free yoga in the morning after her trial day, whiskey tasting on Friday evenings, and invitations that converted her from a curious visitor to a committed member.

The conversation unearths something deeper than marketing tactics: the micro-barriers that prevent connection, the difference between discount-led positioning and value-based invitation, and why showing lifestyle trumps showing desks every time.

This is for anyone who’s wondered why perfectly good coworking spaces struggle to fill their rooms, and why the biggest threat to your community might not be competition—it’s comfort.

Timeline Highlights

[01:15 ] Lucy’s revelation: “The biggest rival with your coworking space isn’t another coworking space. It’s your home.”

[03:13 ] Lucy’s confession: “I was part of a coworking space for two years... it closed down... I haven’t joined another coworking community.”

[05:00 ] Bernie’s Spanish anxiety: “The realistic blocker is, I’m so apprehensive about speaking Spanish to anyone that I don’t know.”

[05:50 ] Lucy’s commute reality: “What was 25 25-minute commute initially for me, then turned into 50 minutes... I don’t have the capacity to commute in and back again.”

[08:46 ] Bernie’s Vigo challenge: “It’s more of a membership place than a drop-in place... It’s hard to buy a day pass.”

[09:38 ] Lucy on trial days: “A lot of spaces here offer that free trial day... it is a really good way to test out if a space is right or not”

[11:54 ] The Clockwise magic moment: “Tomorrow we’re doing a yoga class in the morning... and we’re doing a whiskey tasting on Friday evening”

[12:58 ] Lucy’s safety barrier: “To get there, the most direct way is to walk across the heath... I don’t feel like that’s the safest way to commute.”

[13:13 ] Bernie’s coffee ultimatum: “If I go to a place that looks amazing and they’ve got this mediocre coffee machine... I don’t want to go there.”

[14:38 ] Bernie’s pricing frustration: “Their main flyer was 50% off... devaluing their product... then in the small print it read ‘for your first month’ I was ripped off before I even took the offer.”

[15:30 ] Lucy on value positioning: “You don’t need to say 50% off, because if you give me all the benefits... then I’ll pay full price”

[16:44 ] Lifestyle over space: “They don’t just show, here’s the space... They show, this is where we go for drinks... some of the local restaurants”

The Hidden Geography of Working From Home

Lucy’s confession hits like cold water: the coworking advocate who can’t bring herself to join another space. This isn’t hypocrisy—it’s human truth. The space she loved closed, her commute doubled, and suddenly the sofa became the easier choice.

Bernie’s Spanish paralysis adds another layer. He knows coworking spaces, runs coworking events, literally wrote about coworking citizenship—but anxiety about speaking Spanish keeps him from walking into perfectly good spaces opposite his apartment. The expertise doesn’t translate to courage.

These aren’t edge cases. They’re the hidden geography of remote work: the 20 micro-decisions that tip someone towards isolation over community. The slightly-too-long journey. The slightly-too-awkward interaction. The slightly-too-much effort.

Working from home isn’t just about convenience—it’s about avoiding the emotional labour of belonging somewhere new.

Why Location Anxiety Is a Real Community Killer

Lucy’s Blackheath revelation is faced by women everywhere: the most direct route to a promising coworking space requires walking across heathland in seasonal darkness. For women especially, safety calculations happen automatically, unconsciously filtering out options that men might never consider.

This geography of anxiety shapes community access in ways that marketing rarely addresses. It’s not about the space itself—it’s about the journey to get there, the time of day, the lighting, the route home.

Bernie’s Vigo situation adds another dimension: language anxiety creating invisible barriers. The professional confidence that works in London evaporates when faced with Spanish conversations. Suddenly, every interaction feels like an exam.

The spaces that win understand that accessibility isn’t just about ramps and doorways—it’s about emotional safety, practical safety, and the hundred tiny comfort calculations that happen before someone leaves their house.

The Discount Trap That Devalues Everything

Bernie’s visceral reaction to “50% off your first month” captures something essential about positioning. The space he loves—genuinely loves—cheapened itself with Black Friday language that made him feel manipulated before he’d even walked through the door.

Lucy’s counter-insight is brilliant: if you communicate the real value of community, connection, and belonging, people will pay full price. The discount suggests you don’t believe in your own worth.

This isn’t about being expensive for expensive’s sake. It’s about leading with what matters: the yoga class that happens the morning after your trial day, the whiskey tasting on Friday evening, the invitation to become part of something larger than workspace rental.

The spaces that thrive understand they’re not selling desk time—they’re selling the antidote to isolation. That has value. Price it accordingly.

When Cool Becomes Exclusion

Bernie’s story about feeling excluded by “two incredibly good-looking guys with MacBook Pros drinking cappuccinos” reveals how aspiration can become alienation. Those photos weren’t meant to exclude—they were meant to attract. But they sent a clear message about who belonged.

Lucy pushes back with nuance: there’s a difference between having a clear niche (tech bros for tech bros) and accidentally signalling exclusion through lazy representation.

The all-male panel phenomenon isn’t usually intentional—it’s what happens when you book from your immediate network without thinking about whose voices are missing.

The most successful coworking marketing shows real people in real moments, not aspirational lifestyle shots that feel like permission structures. Projects in Brighton nail this: they don’t just show the space, but also highlight where members go for drinks, local restaurants, and the lifestyle that comes with joining this community.

It’s lifestyle marketing done right: inclusive, specific, and rooted in an actual place.

The Ecosystem Advantage

Lucy’s insight about Projects showing “this is where we go for drinks in Brighton” reveals a sophisticated understanding of community value.

Coworking spaces aren’t islands—they’re part of local ecosystems. The best ones make those connections explicit.

Bernie’s Indy Hall observation reinforces this: their content makes you want to move to Philadelphia because it showcases the entire cultural ecosystem in which their members participate. It’s not workspace marketing—it’s place marketing.

This ecosystem approach serves dual purposes: it shows potential members what they’re joining, and it demonstrates the space’s commitment to local economic development. Members aren’t just renting desks—they’re becoming part of a network that supports local businesses and cultural life.

The spaces that understand this become genuine civic infrastructure rather than just commercial property.

The Trial Day That Actually Works

Lucy’s Clockwise Edinburgh experience offers a masterclass in conversion through genuine invitation. The trial day wasn’t just about testing the workspace—it was about experiencing the community.

The sequence matters: trial day leads to tour, which leads to an invitation to a yoga class, which leads to whiskey tasting, which leads to membership. Each step built social connections and demonstrated ongoing value beyond desk rental.

This isn’t about elaborate programming that smaller spaces can’t afford. It’s about understanding that people join communities, not workspaces. The yoga and whiskey weren’t expensive add-ons—they were evidence of what membership would feel like.

The spaces Bernie visits in Vigo that don’t offer day passes miss this entirely. Without trial experiences, potentia