As a sole proprietorship business, there’s a lot of different resources that can be taken advantage of such as a coworking space. The benefits are surprising. Read further.
Entrepreneurs, freelancers, and sole proprietors are once again on the rise, and as much as 60 percent of the US workforce is expected to consist of self-employed individuals by 2027. Yet as these numbers are expected to rise, so too do the costs for owning and running your very own commercial office space.
Few companies can afford to get a space of their own right out the gate, especially with the convenience and cost-effectiveness of being remote. But there are still significant downsides to running a completely remote setup, downsides that have only become more apparent as the COVID pandemic drags on.
Coworking spaces seem to be pulling ahead among the alternatives currently available to freelancers and entrepreneurs. A coworking space provides you with the necessary space to host your team, continue to offer the option to work remotely, and benefit from useful amenities and the newest lineup of critical office equipment without the usual high investment required to outright own the same resources under your company name. And that is only scratching the surface of the benefits.
High Class Location at Affordable Rates
Even in today’s world, there’s still a heavy premium placed upon location, location, location. Having the right address can change a client’s perception of your business and can give you a leg up over the competition in terms of authoritativeness.
Running a company from the middle of a business hub also gives you the benefit of access to a vast number of professional resources and eager talent looking to work in a specific part of town.
So-called prime locations can help you attract more business, expand your network, and boost your clout. This will be especially important when you’re looking to woo clients with face-to-face meetings.
Coworking spaces might sound like professional frat houses to the uninitiated, but they aren’t. In a coworking space, companies and freelancers are given a common area to work together in but can also access and make exclusive use of multiple isolated rooms, while benefitting from top-of-the-line amenities and a work environment designed to improve productivity and creativity, often set in a prime location amid other potential meeting venues, including high-class restaurants.
Let us not ignore the main selling point for most companies – the fact that all of this is available at a much lower initial investment, with nowhere near the same kind of financial commitment and baggage associated with a commercial lease or property loan. Companies that don’t want to be tied to any given location for a whole year or two, or aren’t sure if they can shoulder the financial responsibilities of having a high-class commercial property in a prime location, can still benefit from working in a prime location with affordable monthly rates, and a quit-whenever-you-want-to-policy.
Untold Networking Opportunities
Networking and collaboration are often at the heart of what makes a coworking space so attractive to many freelancers and self-employed contractors. While start-ups and entrepreneurs are usually sold on lowered costs and the benefits of certain amenities at no additional investment, they too can profit from the collaborative opportunities made available through the coworking model, by being able to meet and interact with professionals from different industries, each specializing in a different service.
Coworking spaces effectively double as an informal job market, wherein companies and freelancers can network and collaborate on projects together.
Note that coworking spaces are not typically built to promote this. It’s often a natural by-product of hosting different organizations and professionals in the same space but joining a coworking space explicitly to advertise your skills or pick up talent will often be seen as counterproductive to the community, and potentially invasive.
The focus remains on offering a collaborative workspace where anyone can come and spend time working on their projects while benefiting from the available amenities and affordable rates.
Top-Of-The-Line Amenities
One of the ways coworking spaces differentiates one another is through their amenities. Anyone can throw together an office space – but to take a coworking space to the next level, it needs to be an inviting workplace. This means:
- Snack bars.
- High-quality caffeinated and non-caffeinated beverages.
- High-speed wired and wireless connectivity.
- Isolated (and potentially sound proof) meeting and phone rooms.
- High quality printing services.
- Wellness rooms (yoga, nap rooms, recreational areas).
- Gym
A Fully Staffed Crew
A coworking space isn’t complete without the right staff needed to run it. From receptionists to management to roving cleaning crews, technicians, and more, every coworking space relies on a welcoming and experienced staff to tend to each tenant’s professional needs, help address day-to-day issues, answer questions, receive and relay feedback, facilitate communication between the owners and the tenants, and organize community events, gauge interest and participation in events, and foster a cohesive coworking culture that tenants can identify with (and gravitate towards).
Yes, coworking spaces can have their own kind of team culture. By catering to a specific crowd, coworking spaces can help professionals in these industries feel welcomed and comfortable, and help create a sense of community both among current and former tenants, thereby prolonging and extending the collaborative spirit of the workplace to outside spaces, and throughout sponsored events.
Keeping Up Morale
Never underestimate the importance of morale in a start-up, or when working alone. A coworking space can help a company that would otherwise be mostly remote leverage the benefits of working together in an amicable and productive environment, without anywhere near the same initial costs.
Because the costs of the space are being shared between teams and freelancers, the cumulative costs are often lower than financing an office space in the same location, while providing most of the same benefits, including private meeting spaces.
Remote teams can still find ways to share in teambuilding activities online and foster a unique company culture. But it’s much easier to do so in person, by working face-to-face, even with masks or appropriate distancing.