Chances are that if you’re a bold solo entrepreneur or just a start-up with a small team, you don’t have a lot of dough to spare. Many solo entrepreneurs might simply choose to turn their bedroom into an office. And it’s understandable because getting a traditional office space, especially in the central parts of the city can be really draining on your resources.
You might just make yourself believe that working remotely is just as well, that this is the tech age and you don’t need to be physically present together to work. While that may be true in essence, I’m sure you’ll soon realize that the fatigue of working alone is catching up on you, and maybe on your team as well, and that it’s getting increasingly difficult for you to keep them motivated through the inevitable rough patches. That is why co-working spaces have become such an attractive alternative. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.
If you’re someone who puts a lot of stock on research, how is this statistic — startups that use a co-working space are four times more likely to succeed, and earn a higher income as a result of that change. There are a ton of benefits available through co-working spaces that effectively marry the best of both worlds and offer itself as a foolproof solution to your business.
Reasonable Office Spaces
Co-working spaces work based on per-person membership fee. So depending on the size of your team you could significantly cut down on your operational costs while also availing an office space. Other savings? Printers, free WiFi and other office supplies, which come along with the space.
Flexibility
Co-working spaces are ideal for startups because you don’t have to jump into long committed relationships — that bane of every millennial’s life — immediately, you can opt for a daily or monthly rental as it suits you. You don’t have to get locked down for several years to a space when you haven’t even completely realized where your business is moving, or how much it’s going to grow or contract. The month-to-month lease gives you the flexibility to upgrade or downgrade your space as you need, when you need.
Networks
This is a benefit unique to co-working spaces, one which you can’t avail of in any other setting. Since co-working spaces are usually full of professionals from different industries and skill sets working together, you have a chance to network to achieve a vast set of goals — maybe you would like an impromptu focus group for your new product; maybe you’d like an outsider opinion on your app design; maybe you discover a freelancer with the exact skill sets you’ve been looking for; or maybe you find an investor for your company.
A lot of co-working spaces offer a variety of recreational activities in a separate zone or other events to help foster a community. Though if you’re not into that, you have the complete right and authority to simply not participate, without fear of a backlash as in an office.
Happiness
A happy employee is a productive employee. Grilling employees like in traditional office setups to maximize output might work in the short term, but most likely it will shut down all forms of creativity and lower morale to a barely functional level. But co-working spaces offer an environment which seems relatively free of hierarchy, thus allowing people to simply let their shoulders down. But don’t take our word for it, here’s some select verifiable Deskmag statistics for you:
- 71% people who co-work are more creative
- 74% people are more productive
- 70% feel healthier than they working in traditional office spaces
- 80% reported having grown their business network
In case you aren’t familiar with what constitutes a good statistic rating, let us tell you those are phenomenally high by any standards. So what’s stopping you now?
