The Station provides co-working space for Lebanon entrepreneurs
May 6—In recent years, co-working spaces have popped up all around the country and more and more workers go remote or are on hybrid schedules.
Sarah Burns plans to open The Station in Lebanon's Northfield Plaza to offer local entrepreneurs a place to work. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, with a potential change once Burns figures out what works best for her customers.
"It's Boone County's depot for collaboration and innovation," Burns said.
She said she knows many small business owners that want to have somewhere to go and work other than their homes.
"There are so many people that are starting their own businesses now," Burns said. "COVID really just hit a reset button on a lot of people. So many people quit their jobs and started their own thing."
Burns herself works from home and doesn't always want to work in her house. She thinks others in Lebanon and around Boone County feel the same way.
"It's a place where they can do and work and have that separation of home and work," Burns said. "That's something I really struggled with."
The Station will be a place for professionals of all kinds to come and work, she explained. It's more than a conference center. There are two meeting rooms, along with an audio and video space with a green wall for video call backgrounds. If you need a quiet place to take an important phone call, Burns has a special room dubbed "the phone booth room" that is extra insulated to make the sound quality better and block out other noise.
"I'm hoping it will start to develop based on the needs of the community," Burns said.
She said she hopes it will also be a place for small business owners and other professionals to collaborate on their projects to grow the small business community in Boone County.
In the center of the space, Burns has a large table which can serve as a space for larger events. Surrounding a countertop are various work stations for individuals or teams. Burns said she wants to utilize the kitchen in the space for food entrepreneurs.
"The people that have food trucks or caterers or want to produce something like barbecue sauce, it all has do be done in what the health department calls a clean kitchen," Burns explained.
Burns used to be an events coordinator for The Town of Whitestown, where she said she worked a lot with the local farmers' market and met so many people that wanted to sell their food products but couldn't because they didn't have that "clean" kitchen. Now, she's looking for a corporate sponsor for that part of the space to get it up and running.
Right now, Burns is a one-woman show. She's done everything for The Station from creating the business plan, social media, marketing, networking and managing construction. She said the whole process has been a great learning experience for her.
The name of the co-working space is a nod to Boone County's ties to railroads, specifically the Big 4, which is now a popular trail in the county. Burns said the name also ties into how train stations were hubs of communication and transportation with people coming and going back when railroads were more popular around the country.
"Communities were built around them because they brought so much growth," Burns said.
Burns said she wants to start hosing networking events and classes geared toward small business owners.
Membership to The Station is $100 per month. Private access to various spaces will cost additional, but members will get discounts.
The Station is at 2360 N. Lebanon St., Lebanon. To reach Burns, email to sarah@stationedinboone.com.
