This May, The Lodge Coworking Space in Stara Zagora is celebrating its third birthday – three years of inspiration, shared ideas, new businesses, events, meetings, and casual coffee chats. During this time, The Lodge has grown into more than just a coworking space – it’s become a vibrant community of creative, entrepreneurial, and proactive individuals who believe that work can be a pleasure when done in the right environment.
To mark the occasion, The Lodge is inviting everyone – current, future, and potential members – to join our “Work Birthday” celebration, happening throughout the entire month of May!
🎁 What’s in store?
For Everyone – The chance to book a FREE coworking day in May! If you haven’t yet experienced what it’s like to work in a coworking environment, this is the perfect opportunity. No commitment, total freedom, and a cozy atmosphere – just come and see for yourself.
For Our Members – A surprise gift: a Guest Pass Voucher to share with a friend. Invite someone you’d love to spend a productive day with – it’s a great way to expand our community and share the vibe!
Over the past three years, The Lodge has become a favorite workspace for dozens of freelancers, entrepreneurs, startup teams, and professionals from various industries. We’ve hosted events, workshops, trainings, and meetings, and built new partnerships and friendships. This celebration is all about them – the people who make this place so special.
🎉 Reserve your free coworking day today – click here to choose your date: [LINK]
Let’s celebrate 3 years of The Lodge together – with inspiration, like-minded people, and lots of positive energy. We can’t wait to see you at our “Work Birthday”!
This week our space was filled with the incredible energy of young enthusiasts who started their exciting journey into the world of digital marketing.
As the official hosts of the training, organised by IT Academy Stara Zagora, we are extremely excited to see how many locals are interested in developing their digital skills. The course lays the foundations of digital marketing and is also practically oriented with real case studies, direct examples from the business environment and opportunities for immediate application of the acquired knowledge.
Special thanks to IT Academy Stara Zagora for trusting us to hold this training right in our shared space The Lodge! Every course that takes place with us is an opportunity to support local talent, expand horizons and contribute to the digital transformation of our city.
Would you like to host an event too? If you’re looking for the perfect venue for a course, training, workshop or other event, check out our rental options HERE.
Provoked by the interest in the program and the success of the first edition in the city, the organizers from the IT Stara Zagora Association will organize a second BASE cohort in October this year.
BASE program main goal is to encourage people with business ideas and start-ups to develop their concepts and turn them into successful ventures. Participation in the program is free. Everyone can become part of it without any age limit – from teenagers to adults. High motivation and an idea or started small business are the only requirements.
In the first edition of BASE in Stara Zagora, there were numerous great ideas: creating a workshop for the production of herbal cosmetics, developing consulting services in the field of financial and organizational management, a shop for personalized gifts, building a summer STEM camp for students and others.
BASE is sponsored by the “America for Bulgaria” Foundation and the Association of Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE), and so far a total of 36 editions have been realized in various settlements in Bulgaria. In Stara Zagora, BASE is organized by “IT Stara Zagora” – an association focused on the development of the digital and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the city and the region.
The autumn edition of BASE in Stara Zagora will start on October, 26th and will last for the next 12 weeks. There will be lectures led by an entrepreneur or expert, who will share some of his personal experience. The topics are important for every start-up entrepreneur – finance, sales, marketing, human resources, legal norms, presentation skills.
At the end of the training, future entrepreneurs will have to prepare and present a business plan for their project. The winners will receive a financial incentive from the intended prize fund.
Do you want to be part of the second edition of BASE in Stara Zagora – apply by filling out the form HERE until October 24th, 2023.
Additional information can be found on the website of the Business Academy for start-up entrepreneurs – www.baseprogram.bg.
Follow the news on our website, as well as our profiles on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) to be the first to learn about upcoming initiatives that we are happy to partner with and with which we contribute to the development of the city.
The first edition of the Business Academy for Starting Entrepreneurs BASE in Stara Zagora, which we hosted, ended successfully. It was attended by 32 participants, and 21 projects competed for the prize fund of 10,000 leva.
Within 12 weeks 32 participants from Stara Zagora, Kazanlak, Veliko Tarnovo, Razgrad and Sliven with ideas for their own businesses were mentored byexperienced entrepreneurs, who shared their knowledge in different areas – finance, sales, marketing, human resources, legal norms, presentation skills.
At the end of the training the participants had to prepare a detailed business plan for their project or business. At a special closing ceremony the finalists presented their ideas in front of a jury.
The projects were in various areas. Among them were a workshop for the production of herbal cosmetics, a company for consulting services in the field of financial and organizational management, a tea shop, a centralized software system that supports the work of car services, a summer STEM camp for students and others.
The big winner in the first edition of BASE in Stara Zagora was the project Conestoo by Rositsa Albenova. Conestoo is a workshop for textile products for babies, children and adults from natural materials with main filling of Bulgarian wool.
Second place was taken by Dimitrina Zhelyazkova, who received support for developing her project – U-gift – a store for personalized gifts. Third place was shared by Miroslava Doseva for her business idea for educational culinary workshops for children and Dian Dankov with his project for Mickey Mouse Children’s Club. Another project was supported as well – Maria Koleva, who makes macrame decorations with her Macrame atelier.
For us at The Lodge Coworking Space it was a pleasure to host the lectures from the programme and to watch how the ideas of the participants developed. We wish good luck and successful implementation of the projects to all participants!
For the first time in Stara Zagora, a big technology festival will be held – Zara Tech Spring, which we have the pleasure to be partners of. Its main goal is to promote and popularize technologies and to focus on the development of the IT sector as a key factor for the local community and economy.
Within almost two months, various lectures, discussions and workshops in the field of digitalization and entrepreneurship will take place. They are free and open to everyone with an interest in these spheres. They are aimed at students, young people and adults who are about to choose a career, as well as specialists from other sectors who want to retrain, teachers in information technologies, business people and others.
We are happy that such an initiative will take place in Stara Zagora and that we will host two of the events – the first edition of the workshop that targets women with little to no experience in the field of programming and technology Rails Girls Stara Zagora and the two-day entrepreneurial training for people aged between 19 and 35 years ABLE Weekend Activator.
Rails Girls Stara Zagora will take place on May 19th and 20th. The goal of the workshop is to encourage women to take their first steps in technology, by providing them with basic knowledge of programming and showing them that it is an exciting, interesting and very useful skill. During the event, the participants will learn more about the work of programmers and will receive valuable guidance on how to continue to develop in the sector.
From June 2nd to 4th at The Lodge Coworking Space will also host the ABLE Weekend Activator. Within 48 hours future entrepreneurs with ideas for social projects or their own business will work on different cases and ideas and with the help of experienced mentors they will have the opportunity to improve them to a real working version. More information can be found HERE.
Details about Zara Tech Spring, as well as the whole programme of the festival and the participants in it can be found at www.zaratech.bg.
On March 26, 2023, The Lodge Coworking Space turned into a real arena of clash of strategic thinking of chess players. For the first time, together with An Passan Chess Club, we held a Chess Tournament The Lodge. It was attended by over 70 participants from Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, Kazanlak, Yambol, Sliven, Radnevo and other cities, who demonstrated enviable skills. Participants were divided into two separate groups – adults and children born after 31.12.2010. The requirement for both Bulgarian and foreign chess players, was to have a maximum ELO for classical and rapid chess not greater than 2200. There were clear rules and regulations for organizing the competition.
The competition was really intense and provoked the thinking and skills of young and old. First place in the tournament for adults was for Martin Peev from Stara Zagora. There were cash prizes for him and the other seven best performing chess players from the prize fund of the tournament, provided by our partners from eDynamix.
The best chess player among the children turned out to be 11-year-old Alexander Atanasov from Yambol. He won with maximum points and received a special cup and prize, which were handed out by another partner of the tournament – Rotary Club Stara Zagora.
The first three prizewinners in each age category received medals and material prizes. All children who participated in the Chess Tournament The Lodge were presented with encouraging gifts, provided by eDynamix.
We would like to thank all the participants who became part of this great event, filled with many positive emotions! We hope it will be the first of many more successful chess tournaments organized by us. If you are interested in chess or have friends who want to become part of the community – follow us on social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) and look forward to the upcoming events of the local chess community.
In the last few years remote work has become more and more popular around the world. Various entrepreneurs, freelancers and digital nomads choose to perform their work duties remotely every day. Some employers also introduced this way of working as the only option during the COVID-19 pandemic, but seeing the benefits it provides, many of them decided to keep it long-term.
Working from home is a very tempting option for anyone who works remotely, but it also has its drawbacks in the long run. That is why many of those working remotely choose to spend their time from 9 to 6 in coworking spaces. Which one, however, is really worth choosing? To perform work tasks with the cat around or to prefer a shared workspace? Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of both ways of working.
Advantages of working from home
Working from the comfort of our own home undoubtedly has its advantages. We don’t have to spend time traveling to a specific workplace, we don’t become part of the busy traffic and we don’t think about the means we have to allocate for transport or fuel. The familiar environment at home can give us a sense of calmness and security and, thus, accomplish even the most challenging tasks with minimal amounts of stress.
At the same time, performing work tasks from home, we don’t need to spend extra time thinking about what to wear or how to put on our makeup for work.
Working from home allows greater flexibility in choosing when to work, when to take breaks and when to eat. This can be very useful for parents with young children, students or anyone else who has to juggle multiple commitments.
Disadvantages of working from home
There is no denying that performing work tasks in pajamas can be a very tempting idea. Unfortunately, however, this way of working has disadvantages that are not to be overlooked.
Despite the comfort, balancing our personal and professional life can be challenging. The lack of a clearly fixed working time leads to blurring the boundaries of when we work and when it is our time for rest. Performing household chores during working hours, on the other hand, extends the working day duration and at the end of the day it is quite possible to have the feeling that we have seriously overloaded ourselves working for at least eighteen hours instead of eight.
Another disadvantage of working from home is that not all homes are suitable for being used as a workplace. Usually at home there are many factors that can easily distract us and lead to lack of concentration or inability to focus our attention entirely on the project we have been working on for a long time.
In addition, working from home can also be a very lonely activity. The lack of live contact with colleagues often leads to a drop in our motivation. Working with our teammates promotes a positive work environment and reduces the pressure that someone working alone may feel.
Of course, we cannot ignore the fact that at home we may not have a printer, a representative place for meetings or a secure and stable internet connection at our disposal, which can also lead to unexpected problems and negative emotions.
Advantages of working from coworking
If you work remotely, you have definitely heard of the existence of shared workspaces. They have been growing in popularity in recent years and this is due to the advantages they offer over working from home.
You may find it surprising, but studies show that working from coworking often makes us much more productive than performing tasks at home. This may be partly explained by the fact that at home we can be easily distract by other things. Turning on the TV to work in the background, washing the dishes “quickly” or to collecting the clothes and turning on the washing machine are activities that can look harmless at first glance. The fact is, however, that they distract us and can make us lose focus for a long time.
When working in a coworking our focus remains only on the specific task, and watching how others perform their professional duties, we are additionally motivated to do ours effectively and competently. The atmosphere in the shared workspaces greatly resembles the one in the offices and this additionally helps us to be tuned in to the work process.
Another advantage of working from coworking space is the opportunity to make new acquaintances. Meeting new people from working in the same area or finding potential clients is a great asset! Enriching our network of professional contacts is always welcome, and socializing with other people is extremely important for us to feel good within the working day and after it.
In most such spaces, various events and initiatives are also organized. Attending significant professional events not only makes us feel part of a community, but also give us new ideas and perspectives for development.
Working from a coworking space can also have a direct positive impact on our physical health. Usually, the desks there are adapted for work, and the chairs are ergonomic and save us possible back and waist pain. While working from a shared workspace, it is more likely that we will remember to take more frequent short breaks and walks – something that we certainly miss at home, and the refrigerator is not to be open when we are not hungry.
Coworking spaces can help in unforeseen circumstances. We need to print a document urgently, but we don’t have a device at home! We need to have a meeting with an important client, but the restaurants and cafes in town are not the most suitable place! The internet suddenly stops and the deadlines are approaching! It is almost certain that in coworking spaces we can easily handle these challenging situations. They have quality office equipment and special meeting rooms where we can meet even the most demanding potential clients.
Among the advantages of working from a shared workspace are also the reduced costs. Most coworking spaces have different plans for renting a place. The costs are usually much lower than renting your own office. The package price includes everything and there is no need to deal with anything else, except our own work commitments.
Disadvantages of working from coworking
Like most things in our lives, working from shared workspaces can also have its disadvantages.
For some people, having to spend time traveling from home to coworking may not be a good option. When working from home we can start with tasks as soon as we wake up and have breakfast, as well as finish what’s left after the kids are already in bed.
We can’t deny either that in shared workspaces it can sometimes be a bit noisy. Although they provide favourable conditions for everyone to concentrate fully, the presence of many working people in one place can be distracting. However, those working from coworking spaces share that they usually get used to minimal noise. Others advise using headphones, with which we can even enjoy our favorite music while working.
Of course, there is always a risk that someone else has taken over the meeting room exactly at the moment when we need to use it. This problem, however, can easily be solved if we book the rooms in advance for the hours when we need to use them.
What to choose?
There is hardly a definitive answer as to whether working from home or from a shared workspace would be the best option for us, as everyone has their own personal preferences. However, we cannot ignore the fact that by nature humans are social beings and isolation and lack of contact with others can definitely affect us negatively in the long term. Coworking spaces combine the flexibility and comfort of home with the practicality and opportunities for social contact of traditional offices and are a great place to do our work duties.
Whether you still prefer to stay at home or want to try something new and become part of a community of remote workers like you – you can always personally test the benefits of coworking. Come and visit us at The Lodge Coworking Space!
We have all the amenities of a regular office environment and more! You can easily choose a subscription plan according to your needs or try it out for a day first. In addition to a comfortable workplace, we have meeting rooms available, free coffee and drinks and great members you can meet and exchange ideas and experience with.
If you’re ready to move from the couch at home to The Lodge – book your spot now! If you have any questions – don’t hesitate to call us at 087 042 6222 or write to us at .
Motivation is one of the key factors that help us achieve our goals. The crucial question is how to keep it on the way to achieving them?
In the first part of our article we gave some valuable ideas for that. Here are some more tips that will help you stay motivated throughout the year.
Make a plan
Very often the secret of success in both personal and professional life lies in good planning. Whether you want to take time out of work to improve your qualifications, or start practising a new hobby – they both require a precise and clear strategy of how and when this can happen. Regularly filling out a planner for the week is a great start that will help you fit in all the goals you want to achieve and give you the focus and time for each of them.
Don’t neglect your health care
In the last few years, in the context of the COVID pandemic, we have repeatedly reminded ourselves that whatever we do our health should always be priority number 1. No matter what plans for the future we have, if we are not physically healthy, there is no way to fulfill almost any of them.
We are currently in the midst of another flu wave, but there are some basic things we can do to at least slightly boost our immunity and try to resist diseases. Experts advise us to reduce the intake of harmful food and increase nutritious meals, which contain beneficial vitamins and minerals. Regular physical activity can also help you stay healthy. If you are not fans of fitness halls, you can always go for a nice walk outside. Don’t forget to sleep enough hours and drink the necessary amount of water. This way you will feel in shape and be even more motivated in performing your tasks.
Be consistent. Results come gradually
Have you ever set yourself very clear goals at the beginning of the year, and by the middle of it your good intentions for fulfilling them have evaporated? Often the reason for this lies in the fact that you have not seen quick results.
Every new good habit takes time to assimilate. Be consistent in building it and don’t give up. Gradually you will achieve your desired goals and see that no effort has been in vain.
Balance between work and personal life
To be mentally healthy and happy it is important to be able to balance successfully between work and personal life. If you focus only on one of them, the other will inevitably suffer. Those working remotely often face this challenge – in the comfort of their own home they can be tempted to take on household chores or vice versa – buried in work to neglect their loved one.
That’s why working from shared workspaces is becoming more and more popular and preferred around the world. When we see how others like us are motivated to work, it gives us even more inspiration to cope with our work duties. Performing them from a coworking space, balancing between personal and business life is easier, and the time for performing tasks passes unnoticed. Want to see for yourself? Come visit us at The Lodge! Here you will have all the amenities of office space at your disposal, as well as a corner for rest when you want to relax between different tasks.
More information about our plans can be found HERE. If you have any questions – do not hesitate to contact us at 087 042 6222 or .
At the beginning of every year, we usually make our resolutions – we will start exercising regularly, eat healthier, and change our current job in search of a new challenge. And we imagine the next 12 months will be spent chasing them.
Is that how it goes in real life?
February comes and it turns out that some promises may not be fulfilled. Then comes June, September, and we get to the end of the year and it turns out that we have actually achieved a very small number of the things we wanted. Don`t worry, it’s perfectly normal.
The reasons are usually varied and complex. It is very likely that the loss of motivation during the year is the main culprit. Here are some tips on how to stay focused during all these 365 days and how to pursue your personal and professional goals to the end.
Start with small steps
One of the most important things when you decide to take on a new challenge is to plan small steps on the way to achieving your goal. However, after the first steps, you may encounter difficulties and think about giving up. To prevent this from happening, it is a good idea to set clear goals from the very beginning and give yourself a realistic time for their implementation. Even with just two hours of work a day, you can gradually learn a new skill or even a foreign language. The important thing is to be persistent and not set unrealistic deadlines. So motivation will always be there.
Avoid jumping into too many commitments at once and give yourself time to rest
Taking on too many tasks in a limited amount of time can often be demotivating. Realizing how much work you have to do and your potential inability to finish it in the time frame you want can make it easy to give up.That is why it is extremely important to be able to balance between making efforts in a given direction and getting a full rest. Creating a harmonious work-life balance can not only improve your physical, emotional and mental well-being, but it is important for your career.
Monitor your progress regularly and focus on achievements
To stay motivated in the pursuit of goals, it is also good to track your progress. If you often find out that everything is going according to your plan or even better – this will definitely make you happy and inspire you to keep going. If you see that you are falling behind, this could also motivate you to be even more persistent. Allocate tasks correctly and regularly monitor the results you achievе. Experts say that monitoring progress and reporting small achiеvements will also help you stick to the goal and not give up, even when it gets tough and the work is a lot.
Surround yourself with role models
This advice may seem as old as the world, but it turns out that we often forget about it. One of the most powerful tools for staying motivated in the pursuit of our goals is to surround ourself with people who have already achieved theirs. You have a small business and want to promote it, but don’t know how to do it? Meet people who have already succeeded. You want to start working as a freelancer but you don’t have the courage? Look for someone who is already doing this. Attending lectures and events related to the topics you are interested in can also be an opportunity to meet new inspiring people.
Limit distractions
You have just started a programming course and you are highly motivated to take the first steps in your IT career. You tackle a task, but when it gets challenging, you grabyour phone and suddenly 30 minutes pass aimlessly scrolling through social media. Don`t worry, it’s normal. The mass concentration time of people is getting shorter and shorter, and the things that distract us – more and more. If you want to stay motivated and focused on what you are doing – limit all factors that can distract you from work. This way you will be more productive and you will be able to complete many more tasks in the time given.
Stay tuned for part two of this article with more ideas on how to stay motivated and achieve your goals throughout the year.
In March, Stara Zagora launched an on-site course on one of the most popular programming languages in the modern IT world – Python.It is organized by IT Academy Stara Zagora and will take place within 4 months at The Lodge Coworking Space.
The training is aimed at people without any programming experience. The language is suitable for complete beginners because it is extremely accessible and has an easy syntax, rich libraries and a well-developed community.
During the course, participants will master the basics of Python and will be able to take their first steps towards a possible future professional career by learning to create all kinds of applications, information systems and software products.
The lectures will be held twice a week and will be led by Nikolay Komitov and Lyudmil Bonev. They both have years of experience in programming and teaching various courses for IT beginners.
Nikolay has been a developer for more than 10 years. He is currently part of the leading IT company in Stara Zagora – eDynamix, upgrading his knowledge and working in PHP and Front-end.
Lyudmil has been actively working with various programming languages for 30 years – Java, Python, JavaScript, Visual Basic, SQL, PHP, C++, C#, etc. He is also the co-author of over 10 textbooks on IT and computer modeling. He is currently an Information and Communication Technology teacher at “Prof. Minko Balkanski” Professional High School of Computer Science and Mathematical Analysis “Prof. Minko Balkanski” and at the Trakia University in Stara Zagora.
Those wishing to apply for the course can fill in the form at itacademysz.com and send their CV by February 26. Detailed information about the training and its implementation can also be found on the website of the Academy.
As a partner, we will do our best for its successful implementation and for the participants to calmly and confidently take their first steps in the IT world.
Good luck to all who will join this adventure! Can not wait to see you!
