Have you heard about coworking? For entrepreneurs and solo service professionals, coworking is a great way to emulate the best parts of working in an office while still keeping your flexibility and freedom as an independent business owner. Using a shared office space to cowork with other professionals can bring you more opportunities, cost savings and a legitimate conference space to meet with clients.
Here are five unique benefits that you can get from coworking in a shared office space.
1. Instant networking.
Working with others in a shared office space environment can bring you connections you would have never even thought of. Just the simple act of going to work in this shared space will help you meet other business owners and connect with them. This is instant networking that you don’t have to go out of your way to do. You may be sharing space with your ideal client or an important contact who can lead to more business for your company.
2. Group problem solving.
If you’re hitting your head against the wall with a problem, the entrepreneur next door may have just the solution you’re looking for. Coworking offers you the opportunity to informally collaborate on business problems. Need a new payment processor to handle credit card transactions? Someone in your office space may work with one that they love. Want to try out a new online marketing method? Your office neighbor may have unique insight into the method.
3. The water cooler experience
The other individuals in your coworking space can be great business contacts or potential clients – but beyond that, can just be great people with whom to talk. Entrepreneurs and start-ups are a unique breed. It’s important to spend time with other people who know what you’re going through and can offer a word of encouragement or provide an outlet to let off steam. Coworking brings that water cooler experience which exists in traditional office environments but is impossible to replicate in a home office or working from a public location.
4. Professional meeting space.
Coworking facilities normally offer a conference room or meeting space that you can use to meet with clients. This will set your company head and shoulders above other competitors who may be using their home office to work, and a coffee shop or other public location for meetings. Using a shared office space gives you the perfect place to meet with potential clients in a professional setting.
5. Get the kind of work environment where you thrive best.
If you’ve been holed up in a home office and are feeling less than inspired, coworking could be the perfect solution. You can isolate yourself as much as need be but also have access to connections and collaborations with the rest of the small business owners in your shared office. Alternatively, if you’ve been working at a coffee shop or public space and find all of the comings and goings of strangers distracting, you’ll appreciate the relative isolation that a coworking space can bring.
Shared office space can bring you these coworking benefits and many more! So get out of that coffee shop and run your business from a more beneficial location.