Mike White started with a mailbox and continued to build his business at THRIVE | Coworking, connecting and collaborating with everyone from a video producer to a dog-sitter. He shares how THRIVE can help grow your business.
It all started with a mailbox.
Mike White was pivoting his way out of agency work as a graphic designer and art director to commit to his own freelance business. And things were progressing nicely.
“I started freelancing full time from my home in 2013 because I wanted to have a little more flexibility and creative control,” White says. “At first I was freelancing for ad agencies because I had worked at many of them, but eventually I focused on building up my own client base.”
He soon found himself signing up for a mailbox at THRIVE | Alpharetta in the metro Atlanta area so he could have a professional mailing address. As his freelancing gig began to grow, though, White followed the advice of a wise friend who told him “nobody is going to take you seriously if you’re still working from your home.” He needed more than a mailbox, and THRIVE was there to help him flex.
Following the mailbox, White began renting a coworking space on occasion. “I would come just to get out of my house, be around other people, and catch up on administrative stuff,” he says. Soon though, he would be pulled into the THRIVE orbit of networking, good snacks, hot coffee, and other creative minds. In 2021, White secured a private office and his business, Mr. White Creative, continued to grow. Shortly after renting a private office, he started adding employees.
“We moved from one corner office, to a slightly larger corner office, and then eventually to a larger room,” says White. “We just kept hopping around as we grew.” He had researched other shared workspaces and business-park locations, but when it came down to it, he says, THRIVE was simply “different.”
“I didn’t want a cookie-cutter corporate office space. THRIVE really checked all the boxes without me needing to commit to some big, giant, overpriced office space that I didn’t need. I could use it as a place to grow on my own terms.”
Most importantly, White found a community that he describes as a “hometown, personable kind of vibe.” THRIVE’s emphasis on locations in smaller, vibrant cities and suburbs (with easy access to dining, shopping and transportation), plus a regular schedule of networking events like monthly breakfasts, lunches and happy hours, are perks White wrote about in a salute to THRIVE on his website.
“It’s been a great place to come, not just for work but also to be part of the local downtown Alpharetta community. From what I understand, that’s something THRIVE wants to stay true to when they go to some of these other places like Greenville and Bozeman and Charleston — that’s one of the key differentiators between them and some of the other players out there,” he says.
The connections he’s made at THRIVE have been both professional and personal, bonding with other startups in the space, as well as meeting new clients and collaborators, including everyone from a video producer to a dog-sitter. “I think the community at THRIVE is amazing — we’ve met and made some really, really great friends and clients here,” says White.
His advice to others looking for professional workspace? “Anybody that’s looking for a cool, hip, friendly place to plant your flag and grow your business, THRIVE is the place.”
