Coworking Spaces: More Than Just The Corner Coffee Shop

Posted by Jennifer Truong on November 19th, 2019

Millennials are taking a different route when it comes to making a living. They are either starting companies of their own, working by themselves, or freelancing for a bunch of companies. This has opened up a new business platform opportunity for coworking spaces and start-up incubators.

There are coworking spaces that operate internationally and university supported start-up incubators. But not everyone with a brilliant idea can get access to either of these platforms.

This is where your business opportunity comes in. You can easily start a coworking space in your community. Let's go through all that it needs to have:

  • Infrastructure:

A coworking space will need to be structurally sound needless of its size. Whether you are operating from a building or a house, the place should have proper electricity, and water supply. It should be clean, have a kitchen and adequate sanitary facilities. You can have different types of spaces like individual desks, conference rooms, phone booths, group desks, etc. People can choose their space as per their needs.

  • Equipment:

While you don't have to provide a computer to each person, you do have to outfit the space with power strips, lamps, perhaps a printer and copier and even speakers. You can also provide extra phone chargers. Additionally, there should be kitchen appliances, certain food items, water, basic medical supplies, etc. 

  • Internet:

One of the biggest perks of a coworking space is that it provides unlimited internet. But for this, you have to make sure that you get the fastest, most secure internet service possible. Cat6 cable bulk would be a great option for space's wiring. Plant Wi-Fi nodes all over the space to get an optimal connection and limit dead zones. You can also have Ethernet ports wherever possible and provide an Ethernet cable for each port. When the Wi-Fi is slow, this can come in handy for heavy bandwidth tasks like video uploading.

  • Development opportunities:

Having decent networking opportunities with industry leaders, talks by experts and skill development modules can sweeten the pot of such a coworking space. Freelancers and new entrepreneurs can benefit greatly from this. 

  • Services:

You can provide certain services for these customers like content writing, IT support, legal help, etc. Either you can include these services in the overall package, or it can be a subscription package for those who want to use it.

Coworking spaces are booming because people don't want to work the usual 9 to 5. But it can get dull to simply work from home all day. A place like this providing most facilities that offices do with the flexibility of time is ideal for them. Apart from that, co-working spaces are also for start-ups that don't want to get a dedicated office space because of expenses or other reasons.

When you start such an endeavor, you can partner with other businesses that can give you discounts for equipment, food, and beverages. If you just look up 'cat6 cable bulk', or 'power strips', you will get local electronic shops. You can partner with them for all your cabling needs. Similarly, for food and beverages, you can partner with a local departmental store. This can help you cut down on operational costs. You can also extend this discount as a part of the signup package.

Such a coworking space can be beneficial at the community level because it encourages start-up culture, and provides access to growth events for the people who work there and even the overall community.

Empower your community with a coworking space that has all the basic requirements, from Ethernet cables to conference rooms and a steady supply of coffee.

Coworking spaces need to be more than just the corner coffee shop. Take a look at this article to know what all you need to start one.

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Jennifer Truong

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Jennifer Truong
Joined: June 29th, 2018
Articles Posted: 80

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