Awesomeness of Co-working Communities

Today's post goes out to all home office and coffee shop business warriors out there.

Let me set a scene for you. It's Monday morning. You had a pretty decent weekend overall but the best part was when you thought of some new stuff to implement for your small/young/new business. You get to your desk and there's already a buzz in the office. A few other entrepreneurs had a similar weekend. You plug in and get to work, but right off the bat you have some legal questions and a question about making a change to your website. So, you head over to the coffee pot, that's always fresh, grab a cup and peak over your cubicle wall to ask a web-developer your question and he's happy to help. At lunch you have a similar experience with a new attorney. Now the day's not even over and you have two new contacts and friends. Where are you, you might be wondering. You are in a new co-working community. A place that offers space to entrepreneurs at a discount and creates an environment of innovation.

I think these places can be tremendously leveraged to help entrepreneurs find earlier success. It's a place where showing up to work, networking groups, and usability test centers all interact.

Ok, let me take a step back. Physically a co-working community is a place that houses several businesses. It provides desk/office space, conference space, Internet connections, utilities, group space, mail service, and fresh coffee to lots of entrepreneurs. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and can house from a few businesses to hundreds. This one in Rochester, NY seems to have gotten it right http://www.coworkingrochester.com/.

Aside from the very easy to handle price tag for office space there are lots of benefits. One of my favorites is the environment they create. These spaces become spawning pools for ideas. There's no limit to the kind of businesses that would be able to benefit. Do you have a need for a test group? Are you looking for advice? What about just being able to vent about development issues with other professionals that might be in a similar situation regardless of industry.

After that another powerful benefit becomes the strategic partnerships. Everyone shows up to work on their own endeavors at their own speeds. There's going to be a point in every business that you'll need some extra help. Whether you need a freelance book keeper or your looking for a new colleague to help with the heavier lifting odds are you'll find that in the place you already set up shop. Some industries are more symbiotic like legal professionals and realtors, or financial professionals and CPA's but whatever the business you'll need support to grow. Being in close quarters with upwards of a few hundred possible new clients or consumers isn't half bad either.

Other benefits include a physical mailing address. If you've been working out of your home or a PO Box it might be nice to finally have a meeting space to call your own. If you're like me and you struggle to keep your work life and your home life separate then a place that you actually have to commute to might be necessary to find some balance. There are some instances where the facility even comes with a shared office admin that adds another level of professionalism to your fledgling endeavor. One of my last favorites is that you can choose your level of participation, at most places. If you are looking for a closed door office, it'll cost more probably, but you can find it. Looking for a cubicle space to call your own, it's there. Looking for a desk or work space that's shared, they can oblige. And if you just need a mail box and a place to entertain clients or prospects you can subscribe to a discounted rent for use of space. I love this because, on top of being discounted already, you choose your level of interaction and price. The less you need or want, the less you pay. With all the flexibility a space that might conventionally only be able to hold a few people can hold many, many more.

It's easy to deduce why I get excited about these kinds of spaces. I also think that they are incredibly important tools in the life cycle of a new business on top of my Top 7 list . Professionally, if you were a new client of mine looking to take another serious step I'd look into what your current work space looks like and how we could better make it more of a functioning tool instead of place that you just store your stuff (that's probably collecting dust).

I may also happen to have some inside info on a new space opening up in Western Mass. If you're interested on learning a little more about it just shoot me an email - nunz(dot)bruno(at)gmail(dot)com. 

Comments

[Val Nelson]

Collaboration and co-working is the new buzz word for business. I think these kinds of spaces will be taking off very soon and I hope to be part of one one day.

Thanks for keeping this important dialogue going.

I tried to create a space like this with a group and the landlords got very confused about what was up. They'll catch on soon enough. And they'll start rolling out the red carpet for collaborator types if they're smart.

[Thu Nguyen]

Wow! This is new to me. I think I might consider one as I get more into the blogging business later. For some reason, home is becoming more of a distraction. So thanks Nunzio much for clueing me into what I'm clueless about. I didn't know such a thing exists. :P

PS - Your post should be up this week. Looking forward to it.

Talk soon!
Thu