2024 - A Year in Review

It’s the time of year for reflection, and we wanted to take a look back at 2024 to see all of the ways that Stoke brought together business owners and supported entrepreneurs in our community. 

The 2023-2024 AccelerateHER Denton cohort.

In January, we wrapped the fourth cohort of AccelerateHER, the incubator program for female founders that we run in partnership with Texas Woman’s University Center for Women Entrepreneurs. The cohort was made up of 7 women working to start, validate, and grow their businesses who participate in a 5 months program that includes weekly workshops and 1:1 mentorship. The 23-24 AccelerateHER cohort wrapped up with a virtual showcase where each entrepreneur had the chance to share about their business and a call to action. We then met up in person to celebrate the end of an incredible five months of the program.

Happy Hour at Harvest House with supporters after the AccelerateHER Denton virtual showcase.

In March, we held our first Spark Creative Mixer of 2024. These events are designed to bring together individuals that are a part of the creative economy of Denton and support their creative work through helping to strengthen their business foundations. Through the three Spark Mixers we held in 2024, dozens of folks in video production, graphic design, music, art, retail, content creation, and more gathered with the intention of connecting with and learning from other creative entrepreneurs in Denton. 

May brought our sixth annual FlintConf year and for the first time ever we held a kickoff event, First Strike, the evening before. This free event featured a panel discussion with three creative entrepreneurs followed by a community conversation where people shared events, resources, and opportunities for creative businesses in Denton.

This year FlintConf was held at Patterson Appleton Arts Center. The day featured 6 speaker sessions, one hands-on workshop, and a happy hour at the end of the day. We had lunch provided by Chestnut Tree and Triptych Coffee Co was onsite all day to keep the attendees caffeinated. Speakers included Amber Briggle from Soma Massage Therapy, Michelle Williams from Mass Challenge, and two local lawyers from HBWV. 

Pictures from FlintConf 2024 at the Patterson Appleton Arts Center. Photo credit to Will Milne.

Summer is a quieter time at Stoke which gives our team time to rest and plan for our busy fall program season. We open applications for the fall AccelerateHER cohort and the Denton Pitch Competition during the summer, and prepare for the launch of both programs. In September, the fifth cohort of AccelerateHER started their weekly workshops and the Denton Pitch Competition held a kickoff meeting with all of the semifinalists who made it to the coaching round. 

November holds our busiest week of the year with our annual participation in Global Entrepreneurship Week. GEW is a celebration of entrepreneurship around the world and since 2018, Stoke has hosted events in Denton that connect, educate, and support the entrepreneurs in our ecosystem. Throughout the week Stoke hosted 5 events; a Lunch & Learn about Google Ads, a Coffee + Convo on business finances, a Big Ideas Creative Mixer, Denton Pitch Competition + Entrepreneur Expo, and a day of free coworking with a coffee pop up from Triptych Coffee Co. 

Denton Pitch Competition is always a highlight of the week and this year was no different. 10 entrepreneurs pitched in front of a panel of judges and an audience of over 100 people for their chance to win cash prizes to support their business growth. This year, we handed out big checks to four female entrepreneurs who had a clear idea of how to use the funds to grow their business. 

The 2024 Denton Pitch Competition Winners. The Brown Thumb (first), Brite Smiles by Heather (second), Azul Therapies (third), and Directing my Life (community choice).

As we reflect back on 2024, we are so grateful for the work that we get to do. We supported over 125 entrepreneurs, freelancers, and remote workers through membership in our coworking community. Additionally we provided education, mentorship, and support to over 600 business owners and creatives through the over 40 events that we held throughout the year. Through this work, we are able to live out our goal of having a positive impact on the culture and economy of Denton and we look forward to continuing this work in 2025 and beyond. 

Money Matters: The Small Business Owner's End-of-the-Year Financial Checklist

You might have to work, but you don’t have to work alone. At Stoke, we not only provide work space, but also offer resources to support our community of small business owners, entrepreneurs, creatives, and remote workers. If you’re part of the small business owner and solopreneur crowd, running your own business means being in control of and monitoring many moving parts, and one of the most important parts is managing your business finances. Without having a firm understanding of your business finances and keeping a consistent and critical eye on your revenue and expenses, you could find yourself in a difficult situation. Here’s an end-of-the-year financial checklist to work through to keep yourself and your business on track as we close out 2024. 

Cover Your Bases

Do you know where your business stands financially compared to last year at this time? Take a look at your financial report (income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement) to understand your profits and losses. Using this information, you’ll be able to evaluate your business spending and strategize for the year ahead.

Know your cash flow to identify and evaluate trends throughout the year. Your cash flow statement gives you a clear view of how operating (revenue and expenses), investing (assets purchased and assets sold), and financial (loans and repayments) activities affect your cash balance.

Reconcile accounts receivable: collect funds for invoices that haven’t been paid. This bolsters the accuracy of your cash flow statement for the current year and allows you to have a fresh start. Though sending payment reminders isn’t the most exciting of tasks, doing so will help set you up for a strong start in 2025.

Prepare to Handle Taxes

Know and gather the forms and information you’ll need to file taxes. It’s also a good idea to evaluate what counts as tax deductions and credit opportunities. Typically, these deductions include general business expenses, legal services, advertising, rent and insurance, and employee salaries and benefits.

These are the most common tax forms for small business owners: 

• Schedule C: Reports income as a sole proprietor together with Form 1040. 

• Schedule K-1: Reports income if you’re an S corporation or partnership owner.

• 1099-NEC: Reports nonemployee compensation

• 1099-MISC: Reports rental income or gross proceeds. 

• Form 1120: Reports income if you’re a C corporation

• 1099-K: Reports card payments and third-party network transactions. 

You’ll also want to gather income statements, expense receipts, and your tax returns from the last year to get ready to file. 

Take Inventory

-of your tech stack, website, contacts, your physical products, count everything!

Update vendor information or confirm that it is correct. This should include contact information but also relationship notes (whether they are active or inactive, or if you want to negotiate different deals in the coming year).

Inventory includes intangible things like your business goals too. After looking at your cash flow and accounts receivable, take time to think back on what you set out to do this past year. Did you achieve your financial, management, and client goals? Create an action plan for new goals to help you achieve them.

Other intangible items include important data that you should back up on hard drives or other storage systems in case your current systems discontinue, glitch, or ultimately fail. Download files and reports that are crucial to your business. Write down information for your contacts as well. Not only will this be helpful in the event of technology issues, it will also be helpful in case of natural disasters or cyber threats. Log this task in your schedule for each quarter if you haven’t already. 

Evaluate Your Operations

Celebrate your team (or just you!) for any major accomplishments this past year. Think about whether you might need to hire anyone in the coming year as well. When you evaluate your time and effort, you might budget for outsourcing work or bring work inhouse if needed. If there are bottlenecks in your processes, consider automation through tools like Zapier. Identify pain points that arose through the year in terms of issues or delays.

Experience your website as if you were a new user or as a returning client. Check links to make sure they take people where they need to go or allow them to download PDFs or other files. Make sure that people can contact you or submit forms correctly. Assess your website for its ROI and look at your site analytics.

Review your marketing efforts alongside reviewing your website - what’s working and what isn’t landing? Take a look at your key performance indicators to measure success and also determine if they’re still what you should be tracking for your business.

Get Ready for 2025

If you’re looking for help with handling your end-of-the-year finances, know that you don’t have to do this work alone! You can find assistance with bookkeeping, accounting, preparing taxes, and more, including the nitty gritty of tasks such as website audits and marketing efforts.

Design, Art, and Dentonite Highlights at Stoke

Stoke, Denton’s coworking space, has gone through many transformations: from more gentle changes after consulting with designers, Hollingsworth and Co., to dramatic evolution through renovation in 2021 and adding 12 offices (completely shifting where the original coworking and dedicated desk areas were located). Throughout all of this and the continued improvement of the design and functionality of the space available, one thing has remained the same: Stoke strives to serve the people of Denton and build community.

How Stoke Builds Up Denton’s Community of Creatives and Small Business Entrepreneurs

Serving Stoke Members

Stoke’s first order of business is to support its member community, which is made up of 43% remote workers and 43% small business owners, working in tech, marketing, advertising, media buying, and content creation. Some members have been part of Stoke since day one, which was in August of 2016, and have witnessed all of the changes in management as well as expansion in program and event offerings. All members, no matter their start date, are welcomed equally and treated with the same community guidelines and values thoughtfully established by Stoke and staff.

Stoke has refined an efficient onboarding process to make it easy for new members to access all of the amenities (high speed WiFi, meeting rooms, coffee and tea, printing/scanning, business address and mail receiving, and more) that come with working from the space on day one of their membership. Additionally, different membership levels have been developed and added through evaluating member needs and space use over the years to ensure that people can choose exactly what they need in terms of access to Stoke and services. Initially, membership levels included the more typical types offered by coworking spaces: virtual membership for people mostly needing a business address, regular day use in coworking, more committed space at dedicated desks, and private offices. Eventually, Stoke added memberships like community access and coworking 24/7 as it became apparent that some people needed to use Stoke at times and frequencies outside of the original levels.

By offering this multi-functional, multi-use supportive space and thoughtfully growing options and opportunities, Stoke enables people to live, work, and enjoy their time in Denton, rather than staying confined to their home office, struggling to focus in a public setting, or driving to the office or a further coworking space for a more productive working environment. 

Stoke also actively makes efforts to connect its members to opportunities happening within the space and outside of it in Denton. Staff and program administrators get to know members, their professions and careers, their needs and wants for growth, and are able to suggest resources and contacts from within Stoke’s directory of members as well as externally through Denton’s network of small business owners in the Denton Chamber of Commerce, Denton Main Street Association, and more. 

Inviting All Dentonites To Be Part of the Stoke Community

Practicing its values of connection and inclusivity, Stoke has established itself as a Denton institution. You don’t have to be a Stoke member to benefit from what Stoke has to offer. If you need a place temporarily, Stoke offers day passes. If you need informative resources, Stoke has curated those for your use (link to blog, infographic downloads). And, non-Stoke members are encouraged to apply to participate in AccelerateHER, apply for the Denton Pitch Competition, or attend any of the events that Stoke hosts that are open to the public (Coffee + Convo monthly, FlintConf annually, Global Entrepreneurship Week events annually). 

Stoke started out as an idea dreamed up by local remote workers, startup owners, and engineers who used to gather at long-gone coffee shop and music venue Banter (now the spot of 940’s Kitchen and Cocktails) to work. Its origin story epitomizes what Stoke has become: a place where people choose to work together, collaborate, and make great things happen. 

Art, Machines, and Dentonites You May Know Who Have a Presence at Stoke

Stoke actively chooses to support locals in as many ways as possible. Not only providing a productive workplace for the population of Dentonites who are remote workers, small business owners, creatives, and entrepreneurs, Stoke is the patron of these businesses too.

Private offices on the left, dedicated desks on the right under the Tate Hollingsworth mural.

Hollingsworth & Co Design, Art, and Mural Many Make the Whole

Kicking off the start of Stoke’s space refresh before the pandemic, Hollingsworth and Co. collaborated with Heather to brighten and warm up the space with ways as simple as paint and as grand as a mural-sized painting, titled “Many Make A Whole.” This painting occupies one of the dedicated desk areas and represents Stoke’s members who individually make up a remarkable community. In total, the design team added color to the electrical columns, curated functional and sleek furniture, and brought in art for the walls and nooks of Stoke.

Artlab 3000 Mural

Denton duo Melanie Little Gomez Smith and Des Smith, also known as ArtLab 3000, were commissioned to paint a mural that graces two walls leading into the coworking area at Stoke! From the sparkle horse to the multi-headed deer and double bear silhouette, the piece delights members and visitors alike. You find a new detail every time you look! During one evening of Global Entrepreneurship Week in 2021, Stoke hosted a mural reception party, which included an interactive video project by Colectivo Creative Media and a Lao cuisine cooking demo by Good and Golden.

Artlab 3000 Mural inside of the coworking area at Stoke.

Lisa the Risograph, Spiderweb Salon, Delaney Smith Studio

New machine member, Lisa the Risograph Duplicator, was recently serviced and tested by Delaney Smith Studio. Stoke is proud to be Lisa’s new home! Lisa dwells in the printer/scanner nook that is also where Stoke mailboxes are located. Follow Spiderweb Salon for future news about a riso workshop for beginners who are interested in this screen printing process for zines, fliers, art prints, programs, and more. 

Snack Town Vending, Mayor Stefanie Lazcano

Stoke provides coffee and tea, and the mayor of Snack Town, Stefanie Lazcano, provides the salty, sweet, and savory goods through her vending machine business. Treats are crucial to keeping you going during the work day, and on the rare occasion there aren’t leftover breakfast tacos from a weekly team meeting or homemade cinnamon rolls from a Stoke member on the kitchen counter, the Snack Town vending machine has you covered. You may have seen Snack Town machines at other Denton establishments, like Harvest House and Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, where Lazcano also stocks whimsical items like star-shaped sunglasses and tarot cards. 

Denton County Brewing Beer & Goldenroot Sparkling WaterON TAP!

After years of lobbying for a kegerator, Stoke members succeeded. Several partnerships and iterations of what this looked like later, Denton County Brewing now stocks a pony keg of a beer of the month, to be inaugurated and enjoyed by the monthly member happy hour. (As if there weren’t enough treats to go on at Stoke.) For those who enjoy a no-alc beverage, Goldenroot Gingerbeer supplies sparkling water on tap too!

Triptych-supplied Coffee Grinds

Perhaps the most important beverage at a coworking space, the coffee is carefully chosen and delivered by the owners of Triptych Coffee Co. Triptych Coffee Co. is a mobile, specialty coffee cart founded in 2023. They started out by serving at weekly markets at local plant shop, True Leaf Studio. Triptych also participated in the Denton Pitch Competition (hosted by Stoke!) and won a grant of $3,000. They now serve full time at True Leaf Studio!

Stoke lives out its values, and this is visible through the people and the amenities that you can find there. Stoke welcomes ideas and conversations about community partnerships. Email [heather@stokedenton.com] with ideas!

You’re Invited to Stoke Events Out in Denton

Want to become part of the Stoke community? Visit during a Freebie Friday, attend a virtual event like Coffee + Convo, or join us next month for even more events during Global Entrepreneurship Week. Some events will be hosted at Stoke as well as around town at other venues.

A General History of Coworking: The Evolution of the Third Space

Chances are, you know someone who works remotely, since nearly one-fifth of the workforce population has the option of entirely remote or hybrid work, and by 2025, this will rise to approximately 22%, about 32.6 million Americans. So where are they working from? You might assume that they’ve set up home offices and occasionally go to a coffee shop a few days a week, or the company’s headquarters if it’s required and nearby, and that is often the case. Many people, however, choose to work in a different setting that is designed for productivity when given the opportunity: coworking spaces.

A coworking space is an office space that offers many of the amenities of a typical office workplace—desks, collaborative and quiet spaces, an area for eating and socializing, and a structured environment. Both individuals and organizations can sign up for membership. (Society for Human Resource Management)

Sometimes referred to as a “third space,” coworking spaces are a break from tradition, or the typical (1) home and (2) office spaces with which we are familiar. Following in Europe’s footsteps by a little under a decade, the first coworking space in the states is considered to be the San Francisco Coworking space, started by software engineer Brad Neuberg in 2005. Originally hosted in a building shared with a feminist collective, Spiral Muse, the demand for the coworking space portion grew, and Neuberg relocated and launched a fulltime operation at the Hat Factory. Coworking as an industry and business model took off in the years following, and now there are thousands of spaces in the United States and even more across the world. 

Coworking Spaces Offer Essential Office Amenities and More

Some coworking spaces boast particularly unique factors: out-of-the-box architecture (stacked shipping containers), beautiful views and locations (on the water), and fun activities (climbing wall-oriented member community), but the essentials remain a common thread across the board. 

Different areas in coworking spaces are thoughtfully designed to meet varying workday needs: desks to work individually, conference rooms to collaborate with team members or meet with clients, health-conscious options like adjustable standing desks, and more lounge-like areas with couches and softer seating. Equipped with reliable and high speed WiFi, coworking spaces are the perfect place to work as to avoid dropping an important call or dealing with frustrations around spotty internet. Additional tech services often include printing and scanning capabilities and flat screen tvs for presentations and meetings. 

Not necessarily always emphasized when promoting coworking space amenities, one of the most valuable assets to a coworking space is the staff and the occupants of the space itself. Managing a coworking space and taking care of the members is truly people-centered work; the staff work hard to offer a a space, service, and support for a productive work experience for everyone.  Members themselves have varied professional backgrounds and experience that can contribute to support that naturally occurs amongst them, in interactions in the shared kitchen space or during more organized activities, like member-only lunches or happy hours. Mentors, seasoned professionals, entrepreneurs, and local businesses all make up the community in a coworking space like Stoke, which results in a supportive network hard to find elsewhere. 

In action, this looks like: 

• Coworking space staff support members through planned and organic introductions in the coworking space and hosting purposeful events. 

• Member Huddle

• Happy Hours / Socials

• Coworking space staff developing external community-facing programs and events that provide connection and education.

• Coffee and Convo

• AccelerateHER, an incubator program for women entrepreneurs

• Denton Pitch Competition

• Networking events that don’t feel like networking events, some are member exclusive, some are open to public.

• Creative mixers

All of these efforts help to combat loneliness and improve social wellbeing, another benefit that coworking spaces offer but don’t necessarily list out as a specific item on their amenities page. "Coworking spaces facilitate social connections, offer employees more flexibility to work in an environment that best suits their unique needs and preferences, and may offer employees a more convenient location for a shared workspace that reduces their commute time and cost,” states Caitlin Duffy, research director in Human Resources practice at Gartner. Designating space outside the home helps many people maintain balance between their professional and personal lives as well. 

From a survey of over 800 people conducted in 2022: 

"Results showed that people are creatively solving their loneliness issues by finding a pseudo-office in third spaces, which include coworking sites. These third spaces are more socially fulfilling than working from the office or from home. Respondents found they could get a sense of relaxed but welcoming community from going to these sites." (Constance Hadley, organizational psychologist at the Boston University Questrom School of Business and founder of the Institute for Life at Work)

As noted above, not only do coworking spaces serve their communities as a space to work and gather, and often, they also serve as a resource, providing engaging events and programs that benefit members and the general public alike. Some independent coworking spaces (those that are not within the network of Industrious, Impact Hub, Regus or WeWork) even have partnerships with the city’s economic development departments, like the Nest Coworking in Peoria and Stoke! These partnerships are investments from the cities to support coworking space efforts to bolster the growth and success of small business owners, entrepreneurs, and creatives in the town.

Community Members Within Stoke & Making Use of Stoke Space

Over the years, Stoke has witnessed many different groups and organizations making use of the conference rooms, the former event space (renovated in 2021!), and coworking and dedicated desk areas. 

The coworking and dedicated desks make great collaborative spaces for a few or several people to work in proximity to one another on the regular. For more private or robust meetings, conference rooms are a great option, set up with tables and chairs and a flat screen tv for viewing slide decks, metrics, and the like. For remote teams, Stoke’s largest conference room (seats 10 around the table, but even more seats can be rolled in!) serves every now and then as a retreat space. Formerly the event space and now the coworking area, the comfortable seating arrangements give people room to work productively through the day and a place to hold larger group activities or events in the evening. 

One of Stoke’s longest-term members, Heather Steele, shared how she has utilized the space’s offerings over the years: 

• Team meetings, weekly, and one-offs like roadmapping workshops, stating “the big whiteboards are a huge part of why we like in person meetings in the conference rooms”

• Conference rooms for webinars and livestreams

• Farewell parties for employees moving on to new roles

• Monthly women's group, brown bag, lunch meetups

• Galentine’s Day taco bar potluck

Heather expertly juggles a few different roles, and Stoke is glad to be able to play a part in her workflow!

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Denton community organizations that use this space range from monthly meetings, Denton Town Makers, in partnership with Stronger Denton, a semi-monthly Writer’s Workshop, DTX Writers to nonprofits like Friends With Benefits for event planning and the occasional book launch party.  

For a look at more stories from members themselves, read a collection of Member Spotlight interviews and AccelerateHER Cohort stories on the Stoke blog!

Stoke continues to evaluate space use and programming and events to provide the best coworking experience in Denton. To stay in the loop, sign up for Stoke’s email list for information on upcoming events, programs, the ever-coved office spaces that occasionally become available, and more!