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Over the past few years, the coworking business has been experiencing tremendous growth around the globe. It has become one of the most happening trends that enable start-ups, freelancers, entrepreneurs, and established businesses to break the mundane office routine and leverage the immense opportunity offered by coworking spaces.
From an investor’s point of view, becoming a coworking space provider translates into making good profits and owning a sustainable business. However, opening a profitable coworking space today is not as easy as it was a decade ago. You need to follow some sure-fire coworking spaces tips to rise above the competition.
In this post, we’re going to share nine invaluable tips for coworking spaces to help you succeed in your endeavour.
1) Define your goal to start the coworking space
Before anything else, you need to identify what motivates you to open the coworking space. You may solely want to make profits or you may wish to leverage the creative environment and the community engagement. Remember even if your goal is aligned with the latter, you’ve to make some profits to keep going. Regardless of your vision, your focus needs to be aligned with your goals.
2) Ensure there’s a market for your coworking space
Perhaps this is the most important one among all the coworking spaces tips we mention here. No matter where you plan to open the coworking space, you must ensure that people will come to your place. Find out where your target clientele usually gathers, talk to them, and let them know of your space. You can also consider creating a social media group and conducting some events to spread the word about your venture. A robust community is the backbone of any coworking space. Therefore, your initial focus needs to be on building your community and learning about your community members such as their professions, their preferred working hours, etc.
3) Location is of utmost importance
To run a successful coworking space, you must find a strategic location that’s safe, which people can conveniently reach either by public transportation or personal vehicles, and is easy to find. Try to choose a location with other commercial facilities such as stores and restaurants in the vicinity. It’ll add value to your coworking space as your members will be able to access those facilities easily. You also need to consider your neighbourhood because starting a coworking space amidst the bustle of the city may not be a wise decision.
4) Choose the right business model
Since a coworking space can be started using different means, choosing the appropriate business model is one of the key tips for coworking spaces. First, if you already have a business with unused space, you can start a coworking space using that space. Not only it’ll help you offset all or some of your office set up costs and maintenance overheads but you’ll have a pool of talented people who might help with your projects and vice versa. Secondly, you can join hands with a property or cafe owner to start your coworking space.
It’ll help you to start your venture and the owner to get an additional income stream. Finally, you can look for an underutilized and older building and rent some space there. However, since it’s a new venture it isn’t always advisable to spend excessively on rent by occupying a premium space in the heart of the city.
5) Create a motivating work environment
Typically, coworking spaces are widely acclaimed for being stylish and highly contemporary, which are the backbones of the creative and inspiring working environments they offer. Therefore, you need to figure out what kind of coworking spaces you’re looking to start. You can choose to go for a boho, a mid-range one, or an absolutely upscale facility. However, regardless of the type you choose, it’s a must to stick to your budget.
6) Offer top-notch services
Of course, an inspiring and creative working environment is one of the key elements of a successful coworking space but above all, people come here to work. So, you must provide them with the right services such as high-speed Internet, printing services, and access to meeting rooms. You may also consider offering additional services like catered meals, reception services, etc. If you cannot provide a fully-equipped cafeteria, be sure to offer at least a kitchenette with a tea and coffee machine, a refrigerator, and an oven.
7) Offer different membership plans
Once you’ve taken care of the above, it’s time to decide on the membership plans. People make use of a coworking space for many different purposes. Some people use it for months, others a few weeks, and some may need it only for a few days. Some people may also need only a meeting room for a few hours. Based on your research on your target clientele, figure out competitive pricing plans so that you can break even comfortably and grow.
8) Consider hiring a community manager
Creating and running a coworking space is no less than running your own business. Therefore, you’ll need people who’ll help to keep everything running smoothly. You can always try to do everything yourself to save money but it often leads to mismanagement, which will damage the reputation of your space. Therefore, hire a community manager who’ll take care of everything – from welcoming new members to troubleshooting the issues that may arise in your space.
9) Seek advice from industry experts
If you still find it difficult to overcome some issues regarding your coworking space, it’s always advisable to consult other coworking space owners. Try to find founders who cater to a target market similar to yours. Being a community-focused industry, people are willing to help each other here. You can also find a lot of resources and useful information online, which might help you sail through the issues.
If you can apply the above tips for coworking spaces properly, creating and running a successful and profitable coworking space shouldn’t be a problem. Just try to create something different or offer something unique as that would help you outshine the competition.
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