Co-Working 101: What Is It, How To Find Co-Working Spaces, and Is It for You
By Spicer Matthews
As more and more people are working remotely, co-working and co-working spaces are becoming more and more popular. Today we’re going to take a closer look at exactly what co-working is, how to find co-working spaces, and how to decide if it’s for you.
What Exactly IS Co-Working?
Co-working in a nutshell is a shared workspace where everyone pays a fee to help cover overall costs. In turn, the workspace offers desks, an internet connection, and usually things like a printer and fax machine. People can “rent” a desk, at the workspace, see and meet other new people, and have a different 4 walls than the one’s their used to. It offers more privacy and quiet than a coffee shop, but less than a private office. In turn, it’s more expensive than a coffee shop, but much cheaper than a private office.
How to Find Co-Working Spaces
You can always try Google, but there are a few different places that make it a bit easier to find a co-working space.
The Co-Working Wiki
The Co-Working Wiki is your one-stop shop for all information related to co-working, including a directory of co-working spaces across the world. In addition to the directory, they have information on co-working for all levels-whether you’re just investigating, have co-worked before, or are interested in starting your own co-working space. It also includes a information on how to get involved, media coverage of co-working, and links to other resources. Definitely start here.
DeskWanted
DeskWanted allows you to search for co-working spaces both by location and lease terms, such as Daily, Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly. It list spaces from all over the world, but has more of a focus on Europe.
Loosecubes
Similar to DeskWanted, Loosecubes allows you to search for co-working spaces by location and minimum stay. One of the nice things about Loosecubes is it lets you find and reserve desks for as little as one day-and you can make the reservation straight through Loosecubes. Loosecubes also lists spaces from all over the world, but has more of a focus on the United States.
Is It For You?
Well, if never hurts to try. And some co-working spaces let you rent for the day, so you can test it out and see how you like it.
However, if you’re on the fence about trying and any of the below statements ring true, it might be worthwhile to look into:
While you enjoy working remotely-and/or working for yourself-you find yourself lonely and missing co-workers.
You find yourself easily distracted at home and miss having a designated workplace.
You have a hard time separating work-time and home-time. Leaving and going to an office space might help you distinguish and create work-boundaries.
Although you prefer to work from home regularly, you think it might be nice to get out and try something new.
Have you tried co-working before? What did you think of it? Is it something you’d do again?