Why the Growth of Home Businesses Makes Coworking Spaces so Important

We’re currently approaching 18 months since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that time has seen the business world undergo some major changes. The initial rush to operate online was a panic move, no doubt: with their offices out of action due to lockdowns, companies were simply desperate to survive. But as restrictions have lessened and office life has become viable once again, that move has led to lasting change in how we work.

People today understand the advantages of getting away from that old 9-to-5 office model. You can work when you want, how you want, and where you want looking for a dream position through services like job search in the UK even if you don't live in England and are not planning to relocate.

If you’ve an irritating colleague, you can steer clear of them — and if your misophonia ensures that your productivity takes a nosedive whenever someone eats lunch at their desk, you can escape that nightmare.

But we must be careful not to go from one extreme to another. Being stuck in a regular office wasn’t great, but being stuck in a home office may not be that much better. And if home businesses are going to remain prominent for years to come, those who run them will need to understand the role that coworking spaces have to play.

As the owner of a coworking space, then, the onus is on you to explain it to them when they’re receptive to new ideas and new possibilities. To that end, this post is going to set out some of the core reasons why the growth of home businesses is making coworking spaces so important. You can use this information to direct the growth of your business and to improve your marketing towards possible customers. Let’s get started.

 

1. Solopreneurs Need Professional Networking

While it’s true that anyone can now start a business from their home, that doesn’t mean that they can realize its potential while remaining secluded in their kitchen. Even the most skilled and driven solopreneur needs assistance along the way: they need employees, mentors, supporters, and of course friends to help them overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.

In the eCommerce world (which is my main focus), there’s a platform called Volusion that’s extremely simple and accessible but is highly reliant upon paid third-party services when used for anything complex. It’ll get you quite far in a cost-effective way, but if you want to keep going then you’ll need to venture outside that bubble. That’s how business is in general. You’ll never grow if you don’t get out and experience the industry as a whole.

In a coworking space, solopreneurs can have fantastic opportunities to spark conversations with like-minded professionals — and one such conversation can snowball into a business partnership that benefits both parties involved. Can you talk to other professionals online? Sure, it’s doable, but the internet is full of distractions. In-person conversation will always be orders of magnitude more impactful and affecting than online chat.

 

2. Companionship Is Vital For Creativity

Some people are introverted: they like to keep to themselves, even for weeks, months, or years at a time. That’s perfectly fine and may be good for their productivity, but it won’t be good for their creativity. They can read books and have video chats, yes, but — as noted — it won’t be the same as having lengthy conversations with people in-person. And that’s without factoring in the value of companionship for the extroverts who’ve struggled so much during the lockdowns.

Spending some time each week at coworking spaces can revitalize their creative juices (Format has a good piece on this), helping them to see what their next moves should be. They can share ideas with the people around them if they feel so inclined, or just absorb anecdotes. It bears noting that they don’t actually need to speak to the people around them. It can be enough to simply have them there. In itself, being in a busy environment is great for cultivating energy.

It’s important, of course, for them to find the right coworking spaces with the right people around them, which is why you need to think carefully about the professionals you’re targeting with your space (or spaces). Don’t just cater to their basic practical needs. Make an effort to build a community with a shared ethos, and you’ll fare much better.

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3. Work/Life Balance Has to Be Maintained

Not having to commute has given a lot of people significantly more free time, allowing them to enjoy their lives more. This is clearly a great thing. There’s simply no need to be chained to a desk for hours at a time when you can get just as much done working elsewhere in a more sporadic fashion. What they’re increasingly seeing, though, is that working from home also poses substantial obstacles that add back some of the difficulty.

When you’re working and living in the same area, most notably, the line between working hours and free hours inevitably becomes rather blurred. This can lead to employees (particularly those who don’t feel very confident) to spend much more time working than they would have had they still been working in an office. The 9-to-5 at least concluded fairly decisively at 5. Today’s flexible schedules can end up dragging out in a concerning fashion.

This is why the coworking model is so advantageous. It allows a professional to rebuild the line between their personal and professional lives, all without losing that fundamental freedom. Due to this, you should emphasize this aspect of the coworking model. Frame it as presenting all the advantages of the office without the bad parts that previously came with them.

 

Conclusion

You obviously know how useful coworking space is, but you also need to know why it’s already become such a valuable option for owners of home businesses. We’ve been through the three core reasons here, but there are of course more reasons, with the demand for space being one of them: not everyone has the space for a home office, so being able to get away from the clutter on occasion can be highly refreshing.

Think about the points we’ve looked at, and consider how you can better present your business to expand its growth. Despite the challenges, this is a time of great potential, and you can turn it to your benefit if you get your approach right.

The article was written by Rodney Laws. Rodney is an ecommerce expert with over a decade of experience in building online businesses. Check out his reviews on EcommercePlatforms.io and you’ll find practical tips that you can use to build the best online store for your business. Connect with him on Twitter @EcomPlatformsio.

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