“If you want to be successful in life, do not seek to become successful, seek to become a person of value.”

This statement got me thinking about what is the value to you to choose a shared or co-working space, as opposed to some of the many other alternatives you have, such as working from home, working in a coffee shop, having your own office or maybe working for a company that has its own offices. 

The Real Value of Co-Working Spaces

I would like to use some of the real feedback that we have received from our members over the past four months since our Co.Unity shared workspace has been operational. I believe putting some facts to an opinion always adds a bit of credibility. In the below content, I will touch on a few of the most popular feedback statements we have received about our co-working spaces.

Distraction-free space:

This seems to be one of the main reasons why our members choose our workspaces. People using our space are wanting their own distraction-free time to get on and get important things done. Sometimes this is having a bit of “me time” to complete a project, focus on an important presentation or do a video call without interruptions or worrying about other people over-hearing a confidential conversation. Working from home doesn’t always allow distraction-free time. There are kids to look after and household chores to be attended to on a daily basis. Running a household and a business are two completely separate functions, and our members say when they are sitting at home, certain distractions just don’t go away and they take priority because they are reminded of them all the time while working in a home space. 

Coffee shops are great, however, these have been built around socialising over a cup of coffee and maybe a meal. Our members are users of coffee shops for meetings, and generally to catch up on e-mails, but usually, these are for shorter periods. What we are finding is that more members in our shared space were regular users of coffee shop space, but just find less distractions when sitting in a more structured type environment like a co-working space.

Flexible payment structure and quick setup:

Also popular with our members, is the fact that you only pay for the time that suits you, when you want to have access to the co-working space. This is budget-friendly, and there are no commitments. The package would generally include everything that you need to get what you need to do. Basically, once our members decide they want to use our space, from the time of arrival until they are fully set up and functional, it will never take longer than a few minutes. In fact, it would probably take you just as long to log in at your office as it would in our shared working space. The real kicker is you don’t need to sign up for any long term lease. Instead, you get full access to business fibre, clean desks, printing services, temperature-controlled offices with back up power all on tap, as and when you need it.

Connection and community:

A couple of months ago, just when we were looking at opening our Co.Unity shared spaces, the country went into Level 5 lockdown. The outlook was that we would never be going back to the office and that social gatherings were going to be events of the past. These were scary times for anyone looking at adding value through collaboration or those offering space for people to work in groups. Over the past month, we have had many new members joining us, saying that they want to feel like a part of a community, and in our case, a community geared towards expanding businesses and sharing ideas. We have had a few examples where our members have leaned on each other for advice to solve certain problems, or they are now collaborating and doing business together. Sometimes it just helps for a member to give another some encouragement when things are not going as planned. 

What is really good, is that because of the flexibility of the space we get many different types of people with different skills coming through our space, and you can learn a lot from other peoples experience. When you go to the same place and talk to the same people consistently, you keep getting the same answers. Some members have said this is the issue with going to an office and talking to employees or the same coffee shop day in and day out.

Business features:

Ironically, this is one of the lowest reasons, but obviously essential to why our members use our space. The basics such as different spaces to conduct meetings like a boardroom, or “Zoom Rooms” where members can have an hour or two for confidential video calls, business-class fibre internet connectivity that is on a UPS, printing services, backup generator power, private offices, and a temperature-controlled environment always facilitate the decision.

In closing…

We have experienced that in smaller towns, such as Hermanus, the co-working concept is new. However, with more people joining and using our space, we are finding that word of mouth is educating more people on what the concept is all about, and we have had a steady increase in members. We are going to focus our attention on promoting certain workshops on lifestyle and certain business topics, which we believe will further grow the Co.Unity family. With some positive news coming from our President this last week around COVID restrictions, we should start appealing to a larger audience, so there are interesting times ahead.

For any queries and bookings on our co-working spaces, contact us or follow us on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.