Benefits of Using a Coworking Space
For some businesses, the idea of sharing an office space with other people and companies may seem completely bizarre at first. Despite this, the coworking movement is continuing to grow and is proving its worth for one-man bands, as well as small- and medium-sized companies, too. Why and how are so many benefiting from the use of a coworking space? What’s the key to its popularity?
1. Coworking Fosters Networking
The first big benefit enjoyed by users of coworking space is the chance to network with other local businesses and fellow entrepreneurs. If networking is a big part of success in business, then coworking is a smart way to combine working time and networking time. Every day at the water cooler, at lunch, in the common spaces of the office one can connect with other local businesspeople.
Connections and casual lunches may be how it starts, but soon enough it can turn into real business; from drinks and meals to contracts and deals!
2. Real Workspace is Better than Home
Many of us may think we’re better off working at home but it just isn’t the case. Our homes are full of distractions: other family members or housemates, video games, TV, bed, kitchens full of snacks, and maybe a swimming pool in the backyard if you’re lucky. No matter how well you kit out your home office, the power of these distractions to pull you away from work-related matters is significant.
A coworking space is an affordable and flexible working space where you can be fully immersed in the right kind of productive environment. It’s easier to remain in a diligent mindset when you are in that kind of space. What’s more, just engaging in that simple routine of getting up, getting ready and going out to work carries more of a sense of accomplishment than the alternative.
3. Coworking Spaces are Flexible
You might start with a single desk, but when you’re in a coworking space, the provider is always ready to help you expand to meet your needs. Renting a full office space applies the pressure to expand and fill it, but working from home limits you to that home workspace and nothing more. A coworking office space means you can start at 1 desk, expand to 2 or 3 within a year, perhaps to a small contained area within 2 years, but always with room to “fall back” to fewer if things go awry down the road. That flexibility can mean the difference between businesses staying alive or dying off.
4. Bring Balance Back to Your Life
A coworking space helps you to better demarcate different areas of your working, social and family life. This in turn gives you back a sense of balance and proportion, which helps you stay more active and centred. What’s more, when this is combined with the greater flexibility that a coworking space offers, it means you can still take time away from work if and when you need to to focus on other areas of your life.
5. Bring New Ideas to the Table
Finally, as an extension of the benefit of networking and meeting fellow entrepreneurs and business owners, you can always expect to be exposed to many new ideas and ways of thinking when making use of a coworking space. As you talk to others, bounce ideas off them, get feedback and discuss things, you will find new and better thoughts coming your way. This helps you avoid a kind of mental stagnation that can be the bane of so many businesses.