The Coven: Where creativity, collaboration and community converge

Matthew Day

Contributor

September 2, 2024

MARSHFIELD – As business models evolve, gig-based careers become more common and commercial real estate costs pose challenges to aspiring entrepreneurs, co-working spaces have emerged as a modern option for today’s workers and start-ups.

Marsha Bushman, community owner of The Coven, said though she has previously appreciated co-working in an otherwise empty space, the environment can often feel too empty – “just a brick-and-mortar place to sit and get your work done.”

The Coven, Bushman said, is so much more than that. 

“It’s really about – how we can work together collaboratively within our communities – to really grow and be part of an economic development engine?” she said.

The Coven franchise was founded in Minneapolis in 2017, since expanding to four total locations in Minnesota, another in Eau Claire and soon, its sixth in Marshfield. 

The Coven Marshfield is housed within the building at 209 South Central Avenue, which Bushman said is “affectionately known as the Moneywise Mortgage building.”

Bushman said she purchased the building and named the business entity Vault 209.

The Coven Marshfield is set to open this October, with open houses starting this month, Bushman said.

She said the space will feature small conference rooms, one large conference room, offices, telephone pods, general workspaces and secure desks.

Bushman said members will have 24-hour access via key code, with Coven staff present during regular business hours.

Various levels of paid memberships are offered and being pre-sold, she said, including:

• Individual memberships for freelance or remote workers
• Team memberships for groups of three or more collaborators
• Dedicated desks reserved for individuals or small teams
• Private offices, which provide an opportunity for businesses to use The Coven as their business’ address
• Day passes

Bushman said memberships give access to the network, resources, training and seminars The Coven provides, helping to grow not only the businesses of its members – but also the connections within the communities. 

“Individuals who are looking to expand their business, grow their business or even just start a business or a side-bar business – how do you get them connected to like-minded people?” she said. “How do you get them community resources, and how do you make them feel a part of something larger – when you’re trying to create something all by yourself?”

Bushman said that’s where The Coven comes in.

Growing together

The Coven’s four female founders, Bushman said, bonded around what they considered unfortunately common deficiencies across their respective work environments.

“They all had a very extensive marketing background and very unique experiences in terms of agencies who they had worked with or clients they had had, and felt they were experiencing what they felt were gaps in services in certain spaces,” she said.

Bushman said they began developing programs to address what they felt was a lack of representation, specifically in marketing agencies.

“And after talking with hundreds of local people, what they felt was needed was a space to honor lived experiences and support all individuals regardless of who they were, what their backgrounds were and what they were looking to accomplish with their lives,” she said. “What they felt after doing a lot of community awareness assessments and creation was that there were people who felt like they didn’t have a place for belonging.”

Co-working space is certainly part of what The Coven offers across its locations, Bushman said, but the business model focuses just as much on fostering creativity and welcoming positivity – right down to the “invigorating” décor.

“It’s very much about vibrancy and energy and inclusiveness,” she said about The Coven’s atmosphere. “One of the things that you’ll see on the wall in every Coven location is ‘do the most good.’ Being a Coven member is about doing the most good for each other, for society – how do we make great things happen, and how do we do them in such a way that we are really making a positive change?”

Bushman said between her extensive travel and networking throughout her career, and as a member of the board for Main Street Marshfield – the nonprofit organized to strengthen the city’s downtown – she is always looking to bring vital ideas to bolster the community.

She said when she heard about The Coven from Eau Claire, she was enamored by its ethos.

“I’ve always had this notion of wanting to bring resources back to our community because we have so many amazing people here that are so smart and have such great ideas,” she said. “But we don’t necessarily always have the resources to make that happen because we’re smaller.”

Bushman also said she felt the region’s resources have been too disconnected, in part from lacking a true entrepreneurial center – something she hopes to address via The Coven.

“We really do need something that can actually work with our different economic development leaders throughout the community that’ll bring all these pieces together – where we can really do some robust things,” she said. “I am notorious for saying, ‘we all rise together.’”

Not only does she anticipate the co-working environment will be stimulating and social, but Bushman said it will ideally lead to valuable networking and knowledge sharing.

“Entrepreneurs – whether they’re already in town, or they’re looking to come into the town and try something new – there are so many details,” she said of the support system The Coven offers. “The average person probably doesn’t have that extensive of a network, and they probably don’t have all of those skill sets in their background to draw from. The best case scenario for somebody who is really passionate about wanting to branch off and do something new – I think it’s being able to provide them with the right people to connect with depending upon what they’re looking for – to a group who can help them build their business plan, or who can look at different types of funding (for example).”

Though Marshfield is a smaller city than those of the other Coven locations, Bushman said she hopes it will serve as a successful example as others consider the approach.

“Communities our size do sometimes tend to get overlooked because we don’t have the population, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have the ideas or the people or the need,” she said. “It just means we need certain leaders to stand up. We think this could be the start of something really amazing for other communities this size – to see this really resonate and take off.”

More for Marshfield

As someone who has worked from home for several years and has utilized co-working spaces in other communities, Bushman said there is a sense of belonging that places like The Coven offers.

“Being able to have an office to go to when you are sitting on Zoom all day or only have telephone conversations all day long – we need people around us,” she said. “We need those shared voices to lend some creativity to what we’re doing day in and day out. It feels good to have those people around us and to be able to do it in an environment where you feel supported and you’ve got additional services you can tap into.”

Bushman said she chose The Coven because of the built-in front- and back-end support – from furniture, Wi-Fi, copy machine, coffee, security and staff – to a structure and training suited for its network of over 1,000 members.

The Coven also offers members optional access to Nice Healthcare, providing virtual care for primary, mental health and physical therapy, Bushman said – particularly useful for independent workers and entrepreneurs.

Some members, she said, may particularly appreciate the space for after-hours work, study or brainstorming sessions after the library has closed or simply seeking a quieter space than they can access elsewhere.

“If you ever tend to go to work from a coffee shop, the coffee is great – but the acoustics aren’t wonderful,” she said. “And if you want to meet with potential clients and you’re looking for a conference room space or an office to do that, you can have access to that space.”

Because of the siloed nature of independent workers, Bushman said, it can be tough to identify ideal candidates for Coven memberships.

“The goal is to try to reach out to as many different groups as possible to find those pockets of people because it isn’t easy to find them – especially if they’re freelancers where they’re not tapped into a specific network,” she said. “If they’re freelancers or it’s a side gig, they might not even be tapped into the chamber (of commerce) – because typically chambers are your CEOs and senior leadership.”

Bushman said she knows it’s going to take a lot of effort and communication to make sure that “we are really blanketing the community with an understanding as to why this is a great place to be.”

From individuals to small groups, whether their seeking single desks or full offices, Bushman said she’s inspired by all the different reasons people seek out The Coven and grateful to those who’ve helped bring it to life.

Oddly enough, though, she said, as much as she’s excited about getting people into The Coven, the goal will be for them to outgrow it.

“If we had someone come in and we could help them not only get started but help them grow to a point where they needed an office or a storefront and eventually they came to me and said, ‘we’re too big for your space – we’re moving out’ – that, in my mind, would be the perfect scenario,” she said. “I want people to come here, find the resources they need, hopefully give back – given what they’ve learned through the process –share it with others and carry that forward – and that they’ll become so big that they don’t need this resource any more and now are employing others.”

Between the entrepreneurial aspirations from the surrounding area and the support from The Coven franchise, the Marshfield business community and her loving family and friends, Bushman said she is excited about the opportunity and potential for the space.

“Together,” she said, “we can do some really neat things here.”

Visit thecoven.com/marshfield to learn more.