Entrepreneur Vanessa Terry opened a new collaborative workspace in Virginia this year. Drop in for a visit, and you’ll find a whole host of activities going on at any one time:
Classes on writing grants, on business structures, and on taxes.
Workshops about financial freedom and entrepreneurship.
Coaching sessions around marketing, branding, and networking.
And last but certainly not least, there is an entire ecosystem around the business of becoming and being successful as a notary, which is in fact, the heart of Vanessa's business.
Vanessa Terry became a notary back in 2014. “I was always talking to friends and family about it, showing them how it worked,” she said. “Then someone suggested that I teach a class about becoming a notary, and I thought, why not?”
The rest, as they say, is history.
“Our new physical space offers notaries the tools and resources they might not otherwise have access to,” Terry explained. “We can provide them with a virtual address, an office to meet with clients, and conference rooms for presentations. They can book a media room to produce videos, take photos, or record podcasts.”
It is a full service, flexible workspace that fits right into the coworking world, serving a niche community of notaries.
Terry herself is an enthusiastic learner, a perpetual student with a voracious appetite to acquire knowledge — and to pass it on. “I am always taking a new class or getting some new certification. It’s a new skill I can’t wait to share.”
That passion for learning led her to the Entrepreneur Certificate Course at Startup Virginia, which used Coworks software to manage its own coworking rooms and resources. So when Terry opened her own space, Coworks was one of the platforms she knew that she would consider. “We ended up selecting Coworks based on the services it had and the functionality it offered our members.”
Some people may be concerned that joining a coworking space full of other notaries would be bad for competition. But Terry has a philosophy of abundance. “We all learn from each other. Why not take advantage of someone else's experience so you don't make the same mistakes? You want to be successful? Be around successful people.”
Terry and her team are on a mission to teach people about more than the service of notaries. It’s about financial freedom.
“Entrepreneurship is the key to building wealth and taking control of your time,” she said. And it certainly works for Terry. She has a robust vision for her business as it grows, and the team at Coworks is excited to be even a small part of it.