Even if your business may only be in its very early days, it’s always a good idea to look ahead and plan for growth. This is one of the reasons why an increasing number of businesses are now choosing to work from coworking spaces, yet skeptics are still dismissive of how impactful a coworking space can be on the growth of a business.
If you’re on the fence line about whether or not a coworking space would be right for your business, read on as Circle Hub explores exactly how a coworking space could help your business grow.
Coworking Spaces Aren’t Just for Individuals
When coworking spaces were first launched, they were predominantly used by individuals. Be it freelancers, remote workers, or anyone else, these shared workspaces were primarily designed with individuals in mind.
However, like with everything else in life, coworking spaces have evolved over the years. Yes, some coworking spaces are still geared toward individual professionals, but there are plenty of others that have a more business-heavy clientele. They offer the various amenities that a business would need. At Circle Hub, for instance, although businesses are more than welcome to use our Hot Spots/shared workspaces, we also have conference rooms that can be hired by the hour. This way, a business can host meetings, brainstorming sessions, and more in privacy, while still enjoying all of the perks that come from working at a coworking space.
More and more businesses are recognizing this and, as a result, have been singing the praises of the coworking spaces that have helped to fuel their successes. Some of the most recognizable business names around today, from Uber to Instagram to Spotify, attribute their rapid growth to their humble beginnings at a coworking space. Yes, a coworking space may seem like an unconventional business base, but in today’s world, it’s often exactly what a business needs to flourish.
Rapidly Expanding Your Business Network
Networking needs to be an integral part of every business’s growth strategy. The stronger your business network is, the more likely you’ll be to succeed.
How, exactly, does networking influence growth and success? To start with, you’ll be able to use it to generate leads and new clients. This can be difficult for a new business or for a company that has gone a bit stagnant, but a good network will turn things around in no time. Those same relationships could also lead to new business partners or collaboration opportunities.
Of course, a solid professional network also gives you access to industry insights. Use these to your advantage – if you have knowledge that the majority don’t know, this gives you a huge competitive edge.
Unfortunately, many businesses struggle with networking, which is why a coworking space can be such a game-changer. Here, you’ll be surrounded by other professionals at all times. Networking becomes second-nature – a quick chat with whoever happens to be standing nearby at the coffee machine or printer could lead to a contact that transforms the future of your business. At Circle Hub, we facilitate this even further with informal events that our members can network at. They take the stress out of networking, to the point where even avid networking haters end up enjoying the process!
Complete Flexibility
If you’re hoping to grow your business, you’ll be all too familiar with how necessary it is to be as flexible as possible in every way. With every decision you make, you need to account for the fact that things could change for your business literally overnight. Your business needs to be able to seize every available opportunity and seamlessly adapt to the changes that come with them.
Coworking spaces give businesses the flexibility to do exactly that. There usually aren’t any long-term commitments required at all. Instead, businesses pay a monthly membership fee per person. Each membership can be stopped and started as needed, so if you’re going to be working elsewhere or traveling for a month, you won’t need to worry about wasting money on a workspace that isn’t going to be used.
Coworking itself is also very flexible too. Your team can choose where they work, switching desks throughout the day if a different environment is more conducive to what they’re working on. If you need everyone to sit together for a while, some coworking spaces allow you to reserve specific desks in advance. At Circle Hub, this is known as our Designated Desk service – it’s a feature that’s very popular with businesses.
Making the Most of Your Reduced Overheads
In order for your business to really grow, you’ll need to keep costs as low as possible. This then frees up working capital that can be put toward other things, like product development, marketing campaigns, and more. You’ll be able to invest more in the areas of your business that directly contribute to growth. This can exponentially speed up how quickly a business grows.
Cutting costs without compromising the quality of the goods/services you’re selling can be tricky. However, this is something else that makes coworking spaces so attractive to businesses. You’ll no longer have to worry about the majority of those overheads.
From electricity to WiFi, all of those bills that were once chipping away at your business’s budget will be no more. Instead, they’ll all be covered by your coworking space, making that monthly membership fee seem like a real bargain!
It’s not just overheads that you won’t need to pay for either. With coworking spaces being fully furnished, you won’t need to deal with decking out a bare-bones office space or shelling out for motivational decor. Your coworking space will take care of all of that. Pick one that works with the vibe of your business, and you and your team will immediately feel at home.
Stress-Free Scalability
Growing your business means physically scaling up. If no advanced planning has taken place, this can be difficult for a business to do. Sure, you’ve maybe considered scalability when it comes to diversification, manufacturing, team expansion, and more, but where are you actually going to site your growing business?
Scaling up at a coworking space is a breeze. You can grow your business and your team as much as you need to, without having to worry about finding the office space to accommodate them. Simply sign them up to your coworking space, and they can easily join the team. With the infrastructure of a coworking space designed for a large volume of professionals, your business isn’t likely to outgrow that space anytime soon.
Professionalism and Credibility
If you want your business to grow, you need people to trust you. However, this trust can be difficult for a new business to build. With so many new businesses entering the market all the time, trust is harder than ever to earn.
Coworking spaces give businesses a certain credibility that’s hard to find elsewhere. It immediately shows a sense of professionalism, which both customers and clients will appreciate. Working from a coworking space shows that you take your business seriously, meaning that others will take you seriously too.
As we mentioned earlier, some coworking spaces offer business-centric services that can further enhance your reputation. Our Virtual Office service at Circle Hub is a great example. With this, you’ll be able to use our prestigious California street address as your business’s own address. It will give your business a high-end touch without eating away at your finances. You’ll gain respect from others much faster than if you were working from home or a dingy office in a dodgy part of town.
Boosting Productivity
It goes without saying that the more productive you are, the better your business will do. Coworking spaces are renowned for boosting productivity, which will have a knock-on effect on the rest of your business.
How do they do this? In a few ways. Firstly, although you may have lots of people around you, coworking spaces usually have very few distractions. They’re designed in a way that encourages people to focus on work, and they mostly tend to be successful at doing this.
The social nature of a coworking space can help with productivity too. Isolation can really take a toll, but this is almost impossible to feel at a coworking space. Your team will regularly be interacting with other professionals from different backgrounds. This will also expose everyone to new perspectives and ideas, enhancing productivity even further.
The Perks of Having a Happy Team
Did you know that the happier your business team is, the better they’ll be at critical thinking, problem solving, and many other aspects that will help your business grow? Research shows that happy team members are also 12% more productive – they make fewer mistakes and work to a higher standard.
How does this relate to coworking spaces? It’s much easier to keep your team happy in the type of environment that they offer. This isn’t just because of the socialization benefits that we mentioned earlier, although this does help too. Coworking spaces usually have various amenities available that are geared toward improving mental health, such as the fitness center and gaming room at Circle Hub. So long as your team takes full advantage of this, your business will end up benefiting. Your growth goals will suddenly become so much more attainable and sustainable.
Coworking at Circle Hub
If you’re thinking about moving your business to a coworking space, it’s vital that you choose the right one. Certain coworking spaces, like Circle Hub, are better suited to businesses than others. With a variety of amenities and services available that can help a business thrive and grow, you’ll quickly appreciate all that our coworking space has to offer.
Want to learn more about coworking at Circle Hub? There’s nothing quite like experiencing things for yourself, so click here to book a tour today!