Chelsea Self / Post Independent
Anyone looking to start a business in western Garfield County can look to Rifle Cowork on Third Street downtown for help with all their business related needs.
The coworking space opened its doors last month, hoping to serve as a place for young professionals, small business owners, and longtime employees to go learn more about the business they’re in or to discover how to start one of their own.
Rifle Economic Development Corporation Assistant Director Katie Mackley said the shared office space is open for anyone to come tour and get a feel for the space as she looks to build it into a resource hub for business owners across western Garfield County.
Northwest Small Business Development Center consultant Jonathan Stokely said the organization hopes to have a counseling desk at Rifle Cowork once a week or every other week depending on the need.
He said the consultant will provide insight into all areas of a small business, including marketing, financial help, website building and more.
“Everybody has a skill or specialty they can get monetized,” he said. “SBDC is set up to help small business owners and their concerns.”
As a Western Slope consultant for several years, he sees the Rifle Cowork as a great place to foster and create an open business community.
He said the coworking space can provide a space for young business owners and entrepreneurs to share and bounce ideas off one another and provides an open space to think in new years.
“The community it creates is another part of the helping hand the SBDC wants to be a part of,” he said.
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Rifle Economic Development Corporation Assistant Director Katie Mackley said those interested can sign up for three levels of membership.
The first offers a dedicated desk at the coworking space, which young entrepreneurs or stay-at-home employees may use as their own. It becomes something of a makeshift office, she said, The coworking space is equipped with high speed internet, print access, free coffee and more. The dedicated desk goes for $299 a month. Mackley said two people have signed up for the dedicated desk thus far with two more available.
The next level offers a flex desk option to members. While they won’t have a dedicated desk at the coworking space, they are free to use any open desk whenever they want. The flex desk option is priced at $99 a month and though Mackley said no one has signed up for it yet, she hopes to host more events and workshops in the next few weeks and months to attract new users.
Finally, daily membership at the coworking space runs at $20 a day.
The resource center officially held its grand opening May 24, becoming the second coworking space to open on the Western Slope in the last year. This one, however, is in western Garfield County.
