Making the Choice between a Shared Office and a Home Office
Perhaps you’re starting your own business and you’re not quite at the stage to rent your own office, or perhaps you’re a freelance or contract worker who needs a dedicated space to work on your various professional projects. But the question is, where do you set up your work station? Do you save money by setting up shop in your home, or do you go the extra mile and pay for access to a co-working space? Working from home may seem like a tempting opportunity to cut your costs down to a minimum, but co-working offers a lot of great benefits at very affordable rates.
The Home Office Conundrum
The greatest benefit to working from home is also its greatest detriment: that you are in an environment that is entirely your own. On the one hand, this offers you tremendous flexibility in regards to your hours, your workspace, and even your dress code (pajamas are a totally acceptable uniform when you work at home). However, people who work from home often tend to overwork. This is because it becomes difficult to “switch off” when you are nearly constantly in your place of work—it really puts a new spin on the phrase “taking the job home with you.”
How a Shared Office Compares
The co-working model has often been mistaken for a trend, but many experts predict that it will be a lasting paradigm for how the self-employed work. While you do sacrifice some of the freedom and privacy of working at home (don’t wear your pajamas to a co-working space, please), you gain a lot in exchange. You become part of a community, it becomes easier to separate work from personal time, and you have a more professional setting to meet with clients—particularly if the shared office has private meeting rooms.
Which Is Best for Your Business?
The truth is, only you can decide what the best solution for your business is. If you are apprehensive about investing money to join a co-working space full-time, then try it out on a day pass, or even just sign up for occasional use. Perhaps you want to keep the freedom of working from home while occasionally getting a change of scenery and the chance to build your professional network. The great thing about the co-working model is you can do as much or as little as you like—you have absolute freedom to either use it completely or mix different models of working to suit your needs.
