You ’ re going to carry forth with some other entity that ’ s going to enact some of those contracts ? Yes . So I ’ m looking at a much smaller space in Oak Park on Boardway — about one third of the current size . I ’ ll be working with entrepreneurs one on one or as a community , talking about business and life and creating these connections . This is how I started . Unfortunately , it will be a very micro team . I just have to reset , have some creative time and create something new .
What will the new location or thing be called ? Fab . It ’ s linked to the MIT Fab Lab program . It stands for fabrication , it stands for fabulous , and it stands for Fourth and Broadway . ( Hacker Lab was ) already part of the Fab network ( a global affiliation of fabrication laboratories supported by Massachusetts Institute of Technology ).
I ’ m eager to explore this previously built , but underutilized resource . It ’ s basically a small business incubator very highly focused on that curation of small business and having success . There ’ ll be a very small tool area , some woodworking , but none of the ( large format cutting tools ) and unfortunately no welding . ( Note : Since this interview took place , the working name of the new location has become “ Made ” by Hacker Lab .)
You did mention that it ’ s going to be a third of the size . Do you have any idea how many members will migrate with you ? I ’ ve been telling members and they ’ re like , keep me posted and if you have room for me . So I don ’ t know how many . Anybody who feels that they would want to move are welcome . All of our members will have what we honored out there . Our current members will be honored at their current rate because they are our members and we ’ ll have some slightly higher rates , but we ’ ll have an additional rate for people who are students and lower income .
I know you ’ re still processing this in real time now , but if you were standing before young business leaders , what would you tell them about the lessons here ? My lesson is to pay attention because I had a partnership and I was like , OK , I ’ m the fundraiser , I ’ m the community developer and I ’ m going to respect each other ’ s lanes .
I really hold myself accountable for not being aware of everything that was happening and not that I ’ m not putting blame on anybody , but I should have been way more aware and should have probably given myself more credit that once you give me the information , I can see it very clearly . One should really know everything that ’ s going on in your business . I don ’ t even care if you ’ re buying , you know , a roll of toilet paper . You need to know who bought that roll of toilet paper .
I think that ’ s probably the most important thing is knowing everything that ’ s going on . Pay attention to your books and look at them . If you ’ re not looking at them every day , you ’ re looking at them every week . And just so you understand where your money is going , you know what you ’ re paying for .
Be very keen on your finances and ask questions . Asking questions is really important . I look back in hindsight , but I should have done a much better job and I think really honestly it ’ s knowing when to say “ no .” That ’ s what entrepreneurs do : We just run with scissors . We jump off cliffs and take chances and we just go for it .
I know you say you ’ ve been in much worse situations , but are you taking care of yourself ? I don ’ t know the answer to that yet . I ’ m doing the best I can , you know what I mean ? I ’ m working on being kind and forgiving myself , like allowing myself to go on a little road trip with my daughter and grandson . I was like , “ I need to get out of here .”
I ’ m doing the best I can considering that there ’ s so many moving parts . Like , we have to empty our whole building . We have to get rid of 10 years of stuff . My poor team , they ’ re going through this transition emptying out a building , something that means so much to them . There are also people that left full-time jobs to make their dreams happen by working out of our space .
Is there anything else you wanted to add ? Yeah . I just want to say thank you to everyone . I ’ m going to transition into something else . But this is definitely the end of an era . Our space was very different in a sense that so many people helped build it . That space was definitely not done by me . It wasn ’ t created by Eric . It wasn ’ t created by ( co-founder ) Charles Blas . Hundreds of people made that space .
Hundreds of people put their hands on it and built in there and donated stuff and gave money and classes . And if it ’ s not hundreds , it could even be thousands . I mean , there ’ s a lot of people over 10 years coming and going and not just being members , but really contributing to that place . And I just want to say to our entire institutions and our partners , like we ’ ve had some really great partners . I ’ m thankful to our partners and I ’ m thankful to the city and just thank you . I thank you so much .
Edited for length and clarity . See the longer transcript at comstocksmag . com / hackerlab .
Ed Fletcher is a multimedia journalist , filmmaker and community leader who was born and raised in the Sacramento region .
September 2022 | comstocksmag . com 37