19: Hospitality and Community with Alex Mondau

<img src='https://folkstories.org/images/alex_mondau.jpg' class='profile'/><p>Alex Mondau is the Community Ambassador at the Collective. The collective is a co-working space located in Seattle's South Lake Union, and is described by its founders as an urban basecamp for the mind, body + soul. Alex started The Collective Seattle one and a half years ago with business partners Tommy Trause and Scott Barber in order to create a diverse community where people can build genuine relationships as well as find refuge from life outside the walls.</p> <p>Prior to founding The Collective, some of Alex's former roles included selling sustainable real estate and working tables at the Agua Verde Cafe. As a kid, Alex wanted to be an adventurer and spent time in the mountains of Nepal trying to be a mountain guide in the Himalaya.</p> <p>In today's episode, we talk about hospitality and its tight feedback loops, we talk about The Collective and its origins, and we talk about community and ways of fostering it.</p> <h3 id="quote">Quote</h3> <blockquote> <p>I fell in love with hospitality industry. You could succeed or fail every five minutes…for hours in a row and your feedback loop was so tight that you really get to know whether you were meeting that customer's expectations.</p> </blockquote> <p>– Alex Mondau</p> <h3 id="notes">Notes</h3> <ul> <li>childhood growing up in Olympia and wanting to be an adventurer</li> <li>selling sustainable housing and green real estate</li> <li>feedback and the hospitality industry</li> <li>The Collective Seattle and its origin</li> <li>building community at The Collective Seattle</li> <li>lessons and challenges of community building</li> <li>next steps for The Collective Seattle</li> </ul> <h3 id="closing">Closing</h3> <ul> <li>inspiration <ul> <li>spontaneously going paddle boating at night to appreciate nature</li> </ul> </li> <li>surprising fact <ul> <li>good plumber</li> </ul> </li> <li>principle <ul> <li>look for opportunities to be generous</li> </ul> </li> <li>closing notes <ul> <li>recognize Native American tribes and communities that stewarded this place</li> <li>figure out to be good stewards of this place</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3 id="links">Links</h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://aguaverdecafe.com/">Agua Verde</a>: Don’t miss out on the new Rockfish Tacos with Mango salsa and the Carnitas now served on house made tortillas</li> <li><a href="https://www.collectiveseattle.com/">The Collective</a>: An urban basecamp for the mind, body and soul</li> <li><a href="https://wework.com">wework</a>: Starbucks of co-working spaces</li> </ul> <hr /><p>These shownotes are also available at&nbsp;<a href="https://folkstories.org/19">http://folkstories.org/19</a></p><ul><li><a href="http://folkstories.org">folkstories.org</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/kevins8">@kevins8</a></li></ul>