Coworking spaces are shared offices where freelancers, teleworkers, and businessmen meet to work, and where space managers try to connect and create professional and personal opportunities between and for their members.
For the most part, they are professionals who do not need more than a laptop, a telephone, and a good internet connection to be able to carry out their work: programmers, designers, online community managers, journalists, and consultants, among others.
What is the difference between coworking spaces and rented offices?
The big difference of this singular space with respect to the business and rented centers and the classic shared offices is the figure of the manager, the person who works full time so that the members know each other better and generate a climate of trust and the dynamics of collaboration. They will allow you to accelerate job opportunities and help with any other aspects of the shared environment.
Working in a coworking space is like working in a company, but instead of having colleagues in different departments (with the usual challenges of climbing the ladder and knives in the back) you are surrounded by professionals with different capacities, interests, and networks of contacts.
They are like coworkers, only instead of belonging to another department, they are from another company. In a coworking space, nobody is obliged to share; each person works on our own tasks, but you are not alone. Each person shares what they want and with whom they want. For an example of a coworking space, check here!
What does this small size budget office offer you?
– The flexibility of use: Coworking spaces offer different plans depending on the hours you need and, in addition, they do not usually require long contracts (in most cases, you can use space for only one month if you want).
– Own space: They provide a professional workspace that motivates you and makes you more productive. They have meeting rooms to receive customers and make presentations.
– No interference: It is easier to achieve a professional work routine.
– More relationships: Coworking space managers actively work to create relationships between coworkers and external contacts, and thus discover opportunities.
– Better networks: You increase your contact networks effortlessly, just by talking with the other coworkers during lunch, coffee, or any event.
– At the time: The reconciliation between work and family and personal life improves.
Is it affordable to get into the business of providing coworking spaces?
Opening a coworking space is the same as setting up any other business: you have to be able to generate more income than expenses. This depends on the ability of entrepreneurs to achieve customers, their ability to adjust the rental price of the space, and the value they give to their coworkers. In short, it’s an expertise to maintain the loyalty of its customers for a long time by providing a good environment that allows them to be successful, thereby making you successful.
A coworking space is a small business that can pay fair wages and benefits. When you start thinking about it, calculate some numbers beforehand to make sure that the location you have in mind and the investment required by the necessary conditions that arise allow you to make it sustainable. In my opinion, it requires at least 30 people/jobs to make it an interesting business.
Contrary to what some may think, it is not a real estate business. Physical space is not the only factor to consider. The community of members is key and for it to work it is necessary that each person does their share of the work, although not everyone is willing to do it. You can visit dozens of coworking spaces which have tech cities and each one of them is physically different, but they are all similar in terms of relationships and collaboration between the members.
Things to remember before starting a business in coworking spaces:
Before launching to open a space, it is best to start creating the user community from which, over time, customers will end up leaving. Get a workspace that they can lend you (an open place, a cafe, an empty office) and launch periodic events to get to know your potential clients.
Take advantage of coworking conferences to know the best practices and talk with other coworking owners and managers. From their experience, you will learn a lot in a very short time.
Sign up for existing space and live the experience as a client to better understand coworking. The coworking community, both managers and members, is very open and willing to collaborate. It is quite useful for filtering leeches and smoke sellers. Take the opportunity to share and grow as a professional and, of course, also as a person.
So this will ultimately give you an idea about how much you need to invest in this set-up. Surely it can be said and proved that the investment needed in the rented offices is way more than what you need for coworking spaces. Do not worry about the investment to be made, just focus on what returns you are going to get with this new trend.
