Some years ago I had never heard of a co-working. Though I am sure it was a thing already, I wasn’t looking for it, simply because I was working as a fixed employee at an office in Cali, Colombia. But when I started going ´solo´ in March 2016, all of a sudden co-working became a concept to me.The main reason in the beginning was that, back in Colombia (and other places in the world such as Indonesia and Kenia) I started working in coffee places, but was often annoyed by the instability of everything from working WiFi, having a skype call in a very quiet corner where all of a sudden about 15 young girls come in to celebrate a birthday, etc.
A coworking comes with the promise of (relatively) stable WiFi and a quiet place to put my laptop. And even though WiFi cuttings are a lot less in coffee places in Europe, I now found out that it’s also a great way to beat the loneliness and missing out on colleagues when working remote and/or freelance from home.
So now, when I am in a city for a bit longer than just 2 days or really want to make sure I can get some work done I try to find a co-working, or a shared office. But what is it about this concept? And what are the pros and cons for me?
I have a perfectly fine little office that I made in my little house in Spain, it involves pictures from field trips, a comfortable chair, views to trees and off course some fluffy cats being around me and asking for snuggles every once in a while. But I noticed it’s a lot of being alone during the day, which is ok for a day every once in a while, but spending the majority of your day, every day, by yourself, it didn´t motivate me too much. And then there is the risk that there is always laundry, dishes, plant watering, whatever to be done, and this will always find its way to the top of the priority list.
So when I moved to southern Spain in June I started looking for a co-working. In Granada, the closest by city, I found a bunch. So then what makes me decide which one to choose?
The price
Not to start right away with the con, but this is a very big point for me to take into consideration. Because, let’s be honest. If I have a fine office at home, I am not willing to pay hundreds of euros a month for an office. In the co-working I work at every once in a while in Granada, Errant coworking, we share a big space with about 25 people, here I pay 6 euros if I stay just from 9am to 3pm, or 12,- if I stay later than 3pm. Often if you go more than 2 days a week it’s cheaper to get a monthly subscription.
This is what I did in Copenhagen. Here the cheapest coworking I could find was 150,- euros a month, Republikken. Which did include unlimited coffee and tea though, and considering that a coffee in a coffee bar in Copenhagen costs around 5,-, it’s not too bad of a deal.
Also, don´t forget you will get the taxes back when formally subscribed as a freelancer in your respective country. But, when things are a bit low on the project side and my income a bit more unstable, a coworking payment is something that quite quickly disappears from the priority, despite the fact that I know I should always keep investing in this, as it makes me happier.
Often this price varies depending on what you want. In Copenhagen I got a ´hotseat´, which means I can sit wherever there is space that morning, the cheapest option. You can also choose for a fixed seat, in more of an office style. You pay of course more for this. And finally you can choose to have a fixed office that you share with your team. So this is basically an office in a building with other shared offices.Finally, I am going to work at a coworking in Prague for a week in December where they charge me 10,- a day (will let you know how it was).
Specific kinds of coworking spaces
There are coworkings for all types and tases. A popular one throughout the world are the ´Impacthubs´. I´ve visited the one in Amsterdam, my Sivin Communications business partner Dave Kramer works at the ImpactHub in Austin, Texas and there is one in Copenhagen, as in many other places in the world. The cool thing about ImpactHub is that it´s all about entrepreneurs adding a social impact to the world, and thus I have a lot in common and enough to share with the other freelancers working there.
In Amsterdam there is a co-working, Hasthtag Workmode, which I hope to check out next month, which is all about women entrepreneurs. I am already looking forward to share the challenges and opportunities we have as women freelancers.
Some co-workings are entirely targeted at a specific area of work, such as IT, or graphic design. And while finding my co working in Copenhagen I also found out that quite some really try to create a community and thus do not allow people to work there ´every once in a while´. In my case, this doesn’t´t work. As I am living in between a lot of different places, I cannot commit for multiple month (financially as well) to one co-working. But I understand their concept.
A reason to get going
Another reason for me is to have a reason to get dressed, to get on your bike and get going. It definitely has happened over the summer that I would just get dressed from the waist up for any Skype calls, and stay in bathing suit otherwise. Which is nice, but day after day? It’s nice to have a reason to take a shower in the morning and get on your bike.
Sharing is caring, and being happy
Sharing I also get inspired by listening to other people’s stories, the things that they do. And we can help each other. Is your computer doing everything you don´t want it to do, there will always be an IT guy close. Anyone else needs some insights on social media strategies, I can give them my advice. And to work this in the hand, often co-working spaces provide lectures, workshops or presentations in the evening.
Opening hours
This is a good one. My working hours tend to be somewhere between 8 and 6, with sporadic inspiration in the evening or weekends, but I can do that at home, that is fine.
In Motril, a city about 8km away from me, I found a co working, but only opened from 9am to 3pm. This means that both in the morning and in the afternoon I have to switch from home to the coworking. And this just doesn’t do it for me. In Copenhagen the coworking closed at 5, which helped me not get tempted to work long hours. But in general I prefer that the opening hours are wide, in the end, I choose to be a freelancer so that my working hours can be flexible.
So in conclusion, I love to have the option to go to a coworking. Because it provides me with a space, to continue having the same flexibility that I wanted when I chose to work remote and/or freelance, but I can also be social if I want, share with other people. And those days when I just realllyyy don’t want to get out of my pajamas and really just want to stay from work, I can just do that as well!
