The popularity of coworking spaces has exploded, with growth set to continue in the coming years. Are coworking spaces for you? Here are the pros and cons.
Anyone who has been paying much attention to the world of business over the last few years cannot have failed to notice the buzz about coworking spaces. With a business sphere that becomes more decentralized with every passing day and a growing number of people looking to set up in business without the capital (or the need) for a full-time office, the popularity of shared office spaces has exploded, with growth set to continue in the coming years.
It’s easy to see the attraction of coworking spaces for a sole trader or solopreneur. The cost of setting up a dedicated office is generally prohibitive for a small business which might take over a year to return a profit even in the best-case scenario. It’s certainly worth considering such a space for your own efforts, but before you do it is also a good idea to ask: do the pros outweigh the cons?
PRO: Coworking offers networking opportunities
Along with the obvious benefits laid out above, a major advantage of setting up in a coworking space is the opportunity for networking. If you’re a solopreneur, then the chances are that delivering your best work relies on having a reliable set of contacts who may themselves be sole traders. What better place to meet those people than in the places solopreneurs go to work?
CON: You may not just be paying for the time you use the space
If you’re lucky, you may be able to get the use of a coworking space when you need it and pay for it only during that time. As often as not, however, you’ll need to rent the space for a block of time, no matter how long you need it. This doesn’t fit very well with the principles of keeping a lean business – but you could always make the most of the time by fitting in work you had planned to leave for later.
PRO: You can move your business as and when you wish
The expansion of the coworking boom has meant that there are offices available in cities across America, and even overseas. A smart small business can quickly get to growth areas without needing to move a lot of infrastructure. You don’t need a desk and a computer, just your laptop; you can swap dedicated servers for the likes of CDS cloud computing, and you can even set yourself up with a virtual mailing address.
CON: You’re still commuting
Coworking spaces at present tend to exist mostly in bigger cities – where there is naturally more demand for them. It’s up to you whether you feel that traveling to a coworking space, paying parking rates and buying lunch at the often-inflated prices you’ll find in dedicated business areas is worth it for the opportunities offered by a coworking space; that may well be the case if you have a lot of meetings, or need to be at a workstation for most of your day. If you just need somewhere to sit for an hour or so while you read and write emails or upload documents, then you might reasonably wonder whether a friendly cafe isn’t a better idea.
All in all, there are definite benefits to setting up in a coworking space – the question for you is whether you will get the most out of this way of working.
