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Writer's pictureMason Inc.

Knoll takes a look at Co-Working Spaces


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Co-working Spaces are blossoming in creative communities

There is a growing trend in today’s workplace. Stable full-time jobs at companies are slowly eroding and being replaced with contracted self-employed specialists or freelance workers. These mini-entrepreneurs sometimes work in the office of the firms using them, but usually don’t. They often work from home offices or coffee shops. However, there is a third option for freelancers to use as their workplace, co-working spaces.

Knoll recently hired freelancer Wesley Verhoeve to take a look at the growing phenomenon of co-working spaces. It is most prevalent in creative communities across the country. You can see the entire article here.

He also works from a co-working space and says this about it:

For a fraction of the trouble, and a small chunk of my previous office rent, I now had a work home again. Surrounded by other creatives to collaborate and commiserate with, the quality of my work slowly returned to form, as did my level of happiness. It made all the difference to combine the good parts of having an office, with the good parts of not having an office: the flexibility, the inspiration, the friendship and sense of community, the lower financial burden, and most of all the peace of mind of having somewhere to go for work that doesn’t also have your bed.

He adds:

Being around like-minded creatives creates a synergy that’s equal parts inspiring and stimulating. Large open spaces with small teams and individuals working on projects allow for an environment where one can easily pull in an unaffiliated office mate to gain a fresh perspective on a problem.

In this interesting article, Wesley interviewed four people taking advantage of the benefits of co-working spaces. He spoke with a young writer with children, an experienced startup veteran enhancing his surrounding community, a newly graduated designer, and a woodworker making products that will outlive him and his customers.

The benefits of co-working spaces

The interviewees note these advantages of co-working spaces:

  • At first, I saw it as a distracting mix of transient people. Now, I see co-working as a daily opportunity to meet creative people doing interesting things.

  • Entrepreneurship can be lonely and hard. Our community … build(s) … businesses in and amongst other technology entrepreneurs that face (and have faced) similar challenges and issues. As a result, the pace of learning and iterating can be accelerated.

  • I love co-working spaces because, honestly, I get bored easily. It’s really motivating and inspiring to be around people doing their own thing. I can feed off their energy when I get into a creative rut, and maybe even start to look at my own work through the angle of someone else’s process or craft. And it’s always good to have a second (and third, and fourth) pair of eyes to review your work.

  • Being part of a supportive community of like-minded creatives helps make it all a little more fun, and a little less stressful.

Co-working spaces look to become a permanent aspect of our fragmented, disruptive and rapidly changing economy. If there is one in your city be sure to check it out.

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