Competition is fierce! Do not let anyone tell you otherwise! But on the other hand, there is this new option of starting a business in a coworking space that did not exist a few years ago. Yes, in the not-so-much-distant past, the major obstacle to kicking off a new business was getting premises.

The financial burden and the responsibility of keeping an “office” up and running were what took up most of the time and energy that otherwise could be spent on more important issues. These days, thankfully, there is an option, an option that might not have occurred to many startup runners. In this article, we are going to examine the merits of choosing to run your startup in a coworking space.

Money Money Money

Let’s be honest it takes a lot out of a business to buy or lease a place and fill it with all the equipment the team needs. In comparison, most coworking spaces offer shared offices for 8 to 10 people so that the whole team can work in the same room with everything they need at their disposal. The cost of renting an office in a coworking space is far less than an independent office with all the equipment. What’s more, a coworking space comes with a certain set of advantages that we will know about in the following paragraphs.

The sense of community

Have you heard the expression that it takes a village to raise a child? Well, getting a business off the ground is the same. It cannot be run by one person or a group working remotely in different locations. You need a group working together at least in the initial months and years to get a good grip of the responsibilities and challenges and be able to work on your own.

The whole team coming together in one place can have wonderful business and morale benefits. First, the sense of community and working towards the same goals is much stronger when all the team members are working under the same roof. Second, the meetings and brainstorming sessions do not need to be so difficult to arrange when everybody can come together in the blink of an eye. Third, collaboration and teamwork always go much more smoothly when you are sitting next to the person you are working with. And finally, by imitating the other, more experienced startups that operate in the coworking space, you can raise your team with the right culture you want them to operate in from the very first days.

Connections

Nothing can help a newborn startup take off like valuable and powerful connections. The people you get to meet in the coworking space come from all wakes of life and have all kinds of different specialties. Making friends with these people can first and foremost give you the opportunity to use their experiences in areas that are uncharted waters for you.

But cultivating such friendships also means that these people are able to refer your first clients to you. Or help give you the recognition you need to kickstart your social media. Just mentioning your business in their already successful social media pages can go a long way in the path of your social media marketing strategies.

Of course, a one-way friendship never has and will never work out. You should be able to give as much as you get. By keeping this balance, you can make sure that your friendship is equally valuable and satisfactory to both parties.

Location matters too

Leasing or buying an office with startup money means that you will probably be able to afford a place far from the hub of all the activity in the city. The physical distance can cause two problems: first, it can cause some dissatisfaction among your team members to have to endure a long commute to work every day. Also, it’s a little more difficult for your new company to get the relationships and collaborations they need when they are miles away from all the important names in their industry.

On the other hand, coworking spaces are usually located conveniently in the center of the city where everyone can get to conveniently. What’s more, coworking spaces usually come with conference rooms with state-of-the-art communication and presentation equipment. Usually, these conference rooms can make a powerful first impression on your investors and convey the message that they are working with a professional team.

Free advice

In a coworking space, you are under the same roof as people who have dealt with and overcome your current problems ages ago. In a healthy and positive community, these people are always happy to share their experiences and give you the secret to their success.

As you know, a healthy environment needs to be built with great care and sacrifice. Therefore, the more compliant you are with the written and unwritten rules of the coworking community, the easier it becomes to use your coworker’s advice and solve your problems.

Keep it cool

One of the best features of coworking spaces is that they have recreational facilities you can use for your team-building exercises. Working as a team is the single key for budding startups to thrive. So the more time and energy you spend on making a coherent team and creating a bond between your team members, the stronger their motivation becomes to move the business towards success.

So, devote some time to fun activities such as games and sports during the week. You can go about this business in two ways. First, you can ask the other members of the coworking community to join you and create a communal leisure time. This strategy will enable you to strengthen your connections along with the bond between team members. Second, you can arrange your leisure time in a way that does not interrupt other people’s workflow. You can start by apologizing to the community and asking for their feedback on the time you pick for your fun hour. This way, you can make sure not to disturb anybody and not to create any negative feelings towards your team and company. 

Work-life balance

Working at a coworking space means you can have flexible times to work during the day but leave work and go home at a particular time. Keeping a work-life balance can be really challenging if you and your team do all the work remotely. Working in a coworking space gives everybody the impression that it’s teamwork and that everybody is on the same ship.

Going to a workplace at a particular time every day and leaving later in the day gives your team to plan the rest of their day at their own leisure and put some mental and physical space between themselves and the work.

Final thoughts

Working in a coworking space as an individual is one thing. But working there as a team is an entirely different experience. According to this article, there are a lot of advantages to taking your team to a shared office in a coworking space. But it does not come without its challenges.

As a team leader, you must keep your team members focused and motivated. You can encourage friendly relationships with the other members of the coworking space, but you also need to protect the secrets and the critical data of your business.

You can keep the working hours flexible, but you need to make sure that your team members are at the office for shared experiences, brainstorming sessions, and meetings. On the other hand, if you are a new manager, these are some of the challenges you might face with your team in any kind of environment. So if you have a business idea, you’d like to take off the ground, and if you are hindered only by finding a suitable place to set up shop, do not hesitate and call your local coworking space. It might just be the best thing that has happened in your career.