by Anita Campbell
December 12, 2008 at 1:46 am
· Filed under Collaboration
Kare Anderson writes about the trend toward co-working spaces:
“Even people who are antisocial feel a need to be around other people for at least part of the day while they’re working,” says researcher Laura Forlano. That’s why soloists bootstrapped into being a co-working space in Austin called Conjunctured. Working elbow to elbow around a table or in separate offices often means you are more likely to help each other than those who work alone, they found. Each space has its own personality and rules. Co-work space is now a burgeoning trend in a bad economy.
Co-working basically means shared office space. Some professions, such as lawyers, have been working in shared office space for decades. It’s actually been a common thing among attorneys. They share individual offices within a suite. Each lawyer contributes toward the overhead, including a receptionist, law books, a telephone system, conference room space and so on.
But now coworking has hit the ranks of entrepreneurs, who are sharing work space cost effectively.
Kare’s post lists a variety of resources for co-working spaces. She points out a wiki and a directory. There’s even a matching service called SuiteMatch to find your match for office space.
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Amanda wrote @ December 12th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I can see how sharing office space has its perks. Not everyone wants to work from their home with all the distractions involved and no space to meet with clients. Having to physically go to the office would make you more productive and help you look more professional too.
Anita
I think these co-work places are going to sprout up as the economy slides down. And some savvy building owners will become more niche in their thinking about how to serve co-workers. For example, certain kinds of professional service providers need certain office amenities (equipment, meeting space, hours available) etc. that are different than , say those who may want to make prototypes of products.
Whoever becomes an expert at planning and launching the use of such spaces will have a flourishing business, consulting with building owners who need the revenue stream that such semi-permanent, convivial feeling and sufficiently tech-supportive spaces can attract.
Whoever has started one can focus on learning what’s involve for renovation, codes, pricing, promotion, rules etc.
That expert can create templates to follow,
• then coach her/his clients through the business launch
• (then stay on retainer) ,
• then form a network of the clients to leverage value and visibility for them –
• and for this newly-minted specialist- as the go-to expert
Just as Jake turned his wine bar ownership into an expertise to offer other would-be wine bar owners, this person could help those who own buildings or who are stuck with a master lease of more space than they now need in this downturn.
http://www.movingfrommetowe.com/2008/11/03/got-expertise-want-a-livelihood-sharing-it-with-others/
Karthik wrote @ December 13th, 2008 at 1:29 am
hi,
“Co-working” has a lot of benefits, i agree with you. it creates a sense of belonging among the people who work nearer / next cabins and a very good “Stress buster” sometimes.
The Concierge Level in Chattanooga, TN is looking to dovetail our executive office center into coworking. We’re in the development stage and welcome suggestions and wish lists from prospective coworkers. http://www.theconciergelevel.com // 423.266.6388
Susan Jewell
Chattanooga, TN
who work nearer / next cabins and a very good “Stress buster” sometimes. –> definitely, Karthik! But sometimes they do give us some manageable stress too.
I am interested in learning more about this concept. It looks at first sight to be compatible with our business idea of a meeting place for small business entrepreneurs and business minded individuals. We had an open office area at Blue Chip Café & Business Center in Gothenburg, Sweden, there different small businesses sat close to each other. They had their own “cubicle” and private area of some kind, but it was an open atmosphere with access to copier machine, conference area, espresso bar with free wi-fi, etc.
Where should I go if I want to visit some co-working spaces in action?
I want to meet other entrepreneurs, potential business partners, and investors and discuss this idea.
SuiteMatch to find your match for office space –> Sounds interesting. How does this work, Anita?
Martin, you asked
“Where should I go if I want to visit some co-working spaces in action?”:
You could go to the blog post to which Anita referred where we wrote
about several places including links to a directory of coworking places.
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