Coffee shops have been around for decades now. Back in the 70’s they usually looked more like diners, with full menus and waitresses that walked around refilling mugs. In the 90’s they became more popular for casual hangs with friends, and french style pastries. In the 2010’s, they’ve become something different. Crowded, loud places that most people are trying to get in and out of as quickly as possible. In the early 2000’s, it might’ve been a great option to work from a coffee shop, because they were free, quiet, and had plenty of areas for you to sit. However, that has changed as we near 2020.
Coffee shops aren’t an ideal place for anyone to get work done. Plain and simple. They’re just not designed for you to focus on any type of work that needs your focus. Coworking spaces are. The sole purpose of a coworking space is to provide a place where you can get your work done. Here are a few reasons why working from a coworking space will make your work much easier.
Supplies and Amenities
For one, coworking spaces will provide everything you might need to make every day a productive work day. From supplies to printers, scanner, fax machines, and especially fast wifi networks, you can just walk in with your laptop, ready to work and know that everything will be provided. They even provide unlimited coffee so that you don’t have to get up and leave the space every time you need a boost of energy.
On top of your day to day needs, coworking space provide several resources that you might only use a few times, for specialized projects. There are phone booths that you can use to make any important phone or video calls and even conference rooms available to rent when you need to make a presentation. Make sure you ask about all the amenities available when you take a tour of any coworking space.
Rules In Place
Another great thing about coworking spaces is that everyone there is there to work. You won’t run into anyone laughing loudly at a youtube video, or a frappuccino being blended in an industrial sized blender. Since everyone in a coworking space is there to get work done, you can rest assured that they will be respectful of the environment.
Designated Spaces
One of the most frustrating parts of working from a cafe is going in, looking around and not being able to find a spot. Even if you do find a chair, you might not be near an outlet. That never happens in a coworking space. We made sure there are plenty of seating areas, each designed for specific purposes, so you’ll always have a place to work, whether you need a quiet zone, or feel like networking in an open seating area. You’ll also never have to worry about finding an outlet to plug your phone or laptop charger into, because we made sure to put an outlet just about anywhere you might choose to sit.
Anyone who works remotely or owns a business knows one thing: saving money is important. Even if you like to spend on little luxuries in your personal life, spending money in regards to business needs to be more well thought out. Instead of just opting into things right away, you probably take a while to think about whether or not this investment is worth the money you’re about to spend.
One of the questions we often get about coworking is “Why would I spend money on a coworking space if working from home costs me nothing at all?”. From an outsider's perspective, this might seem like a tough question to answer. However, we’ve worked with many remote workers over the years who can tell you exactly why paying for a coworking space has paid off in many different ways.
Supplies ON Demand
The first reason coworking beats working from home is pretty logical. Coworking spaces aren’t just empty spaces with a whole bunch of loose office chairs lying around. They’re fully equipped office spaces with staff members, cleaning crews, and basically anything that you could expect from an office environment. That means we have fast wifi networks, printers, supplies, and even unlimited coffee for when you hit that 2pm wall. All of these things are definitely available for you to purchase for your own home, but any good coworking space comes with all of them, hooked up and ready to use. You won’t have to think about transforming your personal space into a makeshift office. Which brings us to our second point…
Your Home is Your Home
For anyone who’s never worked from home, you might think it’s a dreamy world of working in sweatpants, with netflix in the background and snacks galore. However, this isn’t exactly an accurate depiction. One of the worst parts of working from home is that you’re forced to give up that feeling of relief when you come in the door of your home at the end of a long day of work. Often it can be difficult for remote workers to destress or even stop working at the end of their work day. Since you don’t make any physical transition, you might feel obligated to continue working, or even keep thinking about work when you should be spending time with family or relaxing. Coworking provides some separation between your home life and your work life.
What’s My Motivation?
On the other end of that point, creating a space that is dedicated to work can help you get more work done. When you’re at home, there are many distractions and comforts that can pull you out of a working mindset. It just happens. You remember that your favorite series dropped a new season today, or the ingredients in the fridge start calling to you. When you leave the house and enter a coworking space, your mind knows it’s time to work. There are no distractions, and you can get straight into that project you’ve been working on.
