Are the walls from home closing in you? Do you need an office, but you don’t have time to deal with a leasing agreement, cleaning services, electricity, internet, bills and unexpected issues and costs? Do you need to keep your personal life separate from professional life?
Today we will discover the 10 main advantages from working in a coworking space versus frente a una traditional office, or working from home or a coffee place with wifi.
Before continuing reading, do you know what coworking is? If the reply is NO, we welcome you to read our following blog article “Qué es un coworking y su historia”. If the reply is YES, but you are still unsure what are the reasons that make it a better option for many professionals and the reason why it’s becoming so popular, keep reading because we are going to list the 10 key factors:
1. Goodbye to loneliness
How many times did you feel lonely at work, whether that be in your private office or in your house? Or in a coffee places surrounded by strangers? In that moment the motivations falls down and the feeling of loneliness shadows your thoughts. You might be eager to share something that happened at work, or ask for advise, or just talk loud about it to clarify your own thoughts. Or sometimes you just need to take a break to refresh your brain, think about something else and go back with a clearer mind. Instead, silence or strangers surround you.
In a coworking space you are surrounded by like minded professionals. There will be always someone friendly or familiar to share that coffee with, to ask advise have a laugh with. Either other solo coworkers or any of the start ups residents at the space. Or even the coworking community managers. You will always feel company, the right company.
2. Location
Location is part of the brand of any business. Good location relates to a consolidated and successful professional (or business). However, how many want to invest and commit to real state in the most expensive areas of the city? Specially if your business started recently; is that where you need to focus your investments? Maybe you can’t afford it now, but you will in the near future.
Coworking spaces are aware of this, and for that reason they tend to locate the space in relevant areas, being location one of the key selling points of their own brand. Working in the city centre, in key business strategic areas or by the beach, in the most trendy neighbourhood has now became possible for freelancers or any newborn start up with coworking. For that reason at Vortex Coworking we have strategically selected our two locations in Valencia, with Vortex Centro in calle Sorni – Valencia city center and the financial and commercial heart – and Vortex Playa in calle Reina in Cabanyal, the trendy historic neighbourhood by the beach and the Marina in Valencia. Two vibrant locations in two iconic streets.
3. Services included
You need an office, electricity, water, cleaning services, heating, aircon, internet, coffee and drinking water… and many other additional services such as meeting rooms, relax area to take air and a coffee area to socialise and take a break. In a coworking space you can forget about dealing with each one of these because these are being taken care of by the coworking management: lease agreement, services, maintenance and all the unexpected issues (and costs) that arise from office management, contract issues and payment of invoices. The time and money that you save in a coworking is huge. A laptop is all you need, you can focus on your business and forget about the rest, just in one single invoice a month.
4. Flexibility
First of all, flexibility with the lease agreement; in a traditional office, the agreement is (generally) above one year, and you need to commit for a period of time that may not be the best option to you. In a coworking space it is (generally) a monthly comittment, giving the business the flexibility needed to adapt to their needs.
Also, flexibility with your working schedule; in a traditional office you will probably have fixed hours out of which the office might be closed. If you work from home, your schedule might be disturb by the schedule of the rest of the family.
Some spaces may have a fixed opening schedule, however most of them (like us) allow full access 24 hours any day of the week. Thanks to this you can work whenever it feels more efficient to you, have meetings at any time when your clients or your time are at the other side of the world. You choose when you start or finish the work of the day, and what days.
5. Without conflict of interest
Some people say that in some traditional offices or corporations it exists a feeling of rivalry between colleagues, conflict of interest when making decisions, a controller boss that always tells you what (and how) to do things. Goals and Bonuses are sometimes the drivers of the environment at work, generating conflicts and making professional relationships a challenge.
In a coworking space you have “colleagues” or “coworkers” but nothing of the above. Coworkers work in different companies, businesses and projects. No coworkers will try ti impose their own ideas or criteria. Collaboration is 100% altruist, you can either take or not the advice, agree or not with others. The environment is relaxed and honest. And that enhances productivity.
6. Love what you do
When you are working on your own everyday, be that at home or in your private office, your job may become something ordinary to you. And it may look something less exciting to you, or less valuable. You might be the best developer or the best sales person, but since you do it everyday and you are used to it, you may think that what you do is not so special. But every job has value and every day is challenging and worth it.
Joining a coworking space will help you to love (more) what you do. As you share square metres with other professionals, either from the same background or not, you share what you do, your experience, your passion. And by doing so you become aware of its importance, why you are doing it and the value inherent to it. Not everyone can do what you do, at least not the same way. You will feel better about your job, love what you do. Coworking often brings awareness to its coworkers.
7. Flexible growth
One of the key aspects to look at when looking for an office for your business is size, which depends on the number of employees. Nowadays that is a very dynamic aspect of a business; you may grow very quickly, you may need to relocate people elsewhere, you may need freelancers for a short period of time…. how can you choose the right size of an office, and commit to it yearly? Your business may not grow as expected, and what you had orginally plan to be 6 people became 2. Or we have the 6 employees, but you need to relocate 5 of them to another city, What do you do with the oversized investment (and comittment) of your office? And the costs that you could hace saved and used somewhere else?
Office size is flexible in a coworking space. If you employ more people, book more desks. If you need to relocate your employees to another city, cancel those desks. If you have temporary employees, book a desk for the period of time you need them. You don’t need to change office to adapt to the growth, you can adjust that cost as required by your growth thanks to coworking.
8. Professional Image
When you are a freelancer or a solo entrepreneur you do not need to much metres squares yourself. However, what can you do if you have a meeting with a client or a partner or a provider? Or you going to book a meeting room in a different location every time? Or have it in a coffee place? Or… at home? You can, of course; however, a space such as a coworking, with good location, a reception and all the services you need, looks (and sounds) more professional. And that is part of you brand, right?
In a coworking space you can host your clients; you may have the option to book meeting rooms at a cost, and some may offer it within the memebership, together with other additional sercices. Sometimes they also give you the option to exhibit your products and organise a worshop related to your business. Some have a modern, innovative and inspiring design, at the same time as professional. Together with a perfect location…. the image you express will impress.
9. Culture of Solidarity
In a traditional office each one has a goal to accomplish. In a coffee place you don’t necessarily surround yourself by consolidated professionals. In a coworking space a rule non written is to help each other and create community. Coworkers always (or most commonly) want to help and collaborate each other. During the day there will be many opportunities to connect and provide (or receive) advise, ideas or a different point of view, since there will be people with different professions and backgrounds.
10. Life Balance
One of the key issues to most of freelancers and solo entrepreneurs if how to balance your professional and personal life. We all know that it is healthy to put a wall in between the two, for one side and the other. At least sometimes. A coworking space will help you to do that; it will push you to have a daily schedule and build a routine. The change of space (home / office / streets) makes it natural to focus more in one thing than the other. Achieving balance in life becomes easier with coworking.
The coworking community is more than a shared office. It is a philosophy with a clear mission: help each other in their own professional adventure. And to surround yourself by other like minded professionals is the best why the start your adventure: to share, collaborate and grow together. Now you know that all you need is your laptop and find your space; and if Vortex Coworking is the one for you, we wait for you with our arms open.