When I started my business 4 years ago, I’ve spent a lot of my time in Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Old Town White Coffee, not because I loved their coffee but it was probably the easiest place for me to sit down quietly and get my work done (besides meeting people). Obviously, I’m not the only one because there are many other young people who were busy with their laptop. Some were busy doing their presentation, and some were on their headset doing video conferencing. Is this common? yes, it’s pretty common to the extend where these cafes had even upgraded their WIFI and arranged their tables to allow everyone to have access to their own power plugs (yes, WIFI and power supply are the most important criteria for me to decide which cafe to go to).
This seemed to be a perfect office for me as I didn’t have to pay for rental; yet i get a decent environment, easy access to food and beverages, and most importantly, I look just like the young startups around me.
But slowly I find this arrangement is slightly inconvenient. First of all, I will be drinking lots of coffee (I usually cannot resist the temptations!), and I find it awkward to ask someone to help take care of my laptop while I go to washroom. The worst part is that I have to carry more and more stuff in my bag when i move around. I’m sure you’ve experienced it. You have some documents that are quite important which you don’t want to leave at home, but you have no place to keep it, thus you chuck it into your bag and move around with it.
Then it had come to my knowledge that there are these ‘co-working space’ concepts that are designed to house startups and small businesses like mine. The co-working space is quite a good concept, whereby they have built an environment that allow these startups and small businesses to co-share the working space, with the basic facilities needed by most businesses (such as photocopy machine, meeting room, WIFI, pantry, event hall etc). I’m sure you would’ve always wanted an office where you have the above mentioned facilities, but are you using it regularly? And comparing it to the costs of maintenance, is it worth the spending? With co-working space, you pay when you use it and you safe your cash-flow, so why not?
Usually, the co-working space have two types of space for rent: whether you want to have a fixed cubicle (room) or you don’t mind sitting in a common area together with others. Besides the costs, I guess the factor to decide whether you want a fix cubicle/room or common area lies within your working style and the size of your business. if you are a startup, most of your time is with regards to planning and meeting people, you probably don’t need a fix cubicle/room; but when you are in the operation stage, you start to keep lots of paperwork, and that’s where you will need some extra space. Although some may argue that we can scan and store our paperwork in the cloud to avoid massive filing, trust  me, you will still keep some hard copies. In addition to that, we love to have our own territory, some people may not like the idea of shifting everyday, so if you can pay a little extra and secure a fixed cubicle, why not?
Besides the facilities, co-working spaces are filled up with entrepreneurs where everybody are in their working mode, unlike cafe where there’re more for social and dining purpose. This will give you the right environment to focus on your work. Some co-working spaces are giving added value by organising talks and networking sessions where young startups are able to learn from other experienced entrepreneurs and experts.
Perhaps here are some tips and criteria for you, if you are a startup or small business, to decide what type of co-working space you should chose:
- Convenience – Chose a co-working space which is near a MRT/LRT station. With a reliable public transportation, you don’t need to drive all the way there, be stuck in traffic and be required to pay expensive parking which will spoil your mood before you start your day. It’s okay to be in city center, but bare in mind that the rentals are usually not too much of an issue, it’s the time you spent on the road that kills you.
- Activities – Chose a co-working space that run meaningful programs which will help develop you or your business. some co-working spaces run talks, host networking sessions from time to time. As a “tenant”, you have the privilege to attend these for free.
- Environment – Some of these co-working spaces are promoting the “fun in office” style (eg. Google Office). Honestly, I’m not a big fan to this. If you are a young startup, you will be easily carried away with all these fun ‘stuff’, so it’s better to stay serious in work place.
You should go around and visit these offices to feel it yourself. It’s no so much of rental as most of these co-working space are very competitive in pricing. Most importantly, you must love the work place as this will be like your second home.
#entrepreneurship #workingspace #startups #smallbusiness #sme #icfosolutions #icommunity #captainamerigan
Article can be found in Entrepreneurs Insight magazine, June 2018