What Are the Alternatives to Coworking?
Many people find co-working is an ideal set up for their working practices. However, as with anything in life, it doesn’t suit everyone. To help you determine what’s best for your current situation, this post looks at the alternatives to coworking.
Which Office Space Will Work Best for You?
Looking at the different types of set up in turn, let’s start with the simplest choice through to full services offices.
1. A Registered Office
The most basic package is to opt for a registered office. This gives you an address to put on your website giving you the appearance of working from a business park, raising the image of your company. It also has the advantage of peace of mind, in that your private home address is not advertised as your place of work on the internet.
2. Virtual Office Space for the Home Worker
Working from home has its advantages and disadvantages, many of which were discussed in more depth in a previous post.
On balance, you might feel you are a person who is more productive without the presence of others around you. You can get a better insight into whether working at home suits your personality from this article in Business News Daily.
However, there will be times when meetings with clients in professional surroundings are essential. A virtual hub gives you access to hiring private meeting rooms by the hour, where you can project a proficient image undisturbed, when required.
Other additional facilities are available, such as receiving post and taking messages by phone. Ask your office provider which of their services will help you run your business more smoothly.
3. Virtual Office Space for Larger Companies
Some larger companies have leased offices to carry out their daily business but need a prestigious address and place to hold meetings.
Take the law firm who prefer their solicitors to hold sensitive client phone calls behind closed doors, at their leased offices. There, they also have their own space which they need to archive a lot of material. For this firm, an additional virtual office provides essential services they can dip into – mainly the address and hire of meeting rooms – whilst maintaining costs by running a physical office elsewhere.
4. Co-Working Desks
In terms of a company’s progression, the option of co-working often follows renting a virtual desk. So this point has been mentioned for you to see where it fit in with the alternatives. For an overview of what co-working entails, download your free copy of The Co-working Starter Pack.
If you are looking for co-working space in Leeds, Carrwood Park is one place which offers a range of flexible packages which can be tailored to suit your needs.
One person who has found co-working to be advantageous is Terry Horne, MD of Avalon Media Services. He says:
“The business outgrew the previous premises. There’s everything we need here – reception, private meeting rooms and relaxed areas. Potential clients are really impressed and don’t know it’s not yours!”
5. Serviced Offices
The next step up is renting a serviced office. Once a company reaches a certain size and has a number of personnel, it would be fair to say that it has outgrown the co-working model. As there is now a critical mass of people working in it, the desire to be around other professionals is fulfilled internally.
A serviced office, as opposed to leasing one, still provides you with a range of facilities, such as a reception service and ongoing maintenance. Bear in mind that these will save you time and aggravation, as well as cost.
If you have two employees, including yourself, you may be at an interim stage.
That covers a progressive range of alternatives to co-working, so hopefully you will have a clearer idea of what your organisation needs. If you’re still not sure, come in to Carrwood Park for a chat. We’ll talk through your situation and help you work out what is going to be the right option for you.