This is a true story of how coworking moved my home office?
What are the issues with Home Office?
You don’t have to be successful to start, but you have to start to be successful – that was my mantra when I opted out of full-time employment and switched to full-time freelancing a few years back. Working from the comforts of my home office, I was able to juggle work life and home life in an effective manner, or so I thought. Slowly my clientele grew, and that was when the issues related to my home office also started growing.
Even though I had a well-appointed home office situated in a separate room in my home, the line between my professional and personal life was often a thin (and sometimes, a non-existing one too!). Moreover, I started to miss my colleagues at the office and often felt lonely while working from the confines of my home office. Finding motivation on my own was another key issue; there were times when I started my day with an overflowing to-do list but ended up doing none of it. Working from home – which, I must say, is the dream of my generation – was doing me more harm than good.
Getting Introduced to coworking
And that was when a friend suggested becoming a member of a neighborhood coworking space. I decided to give the idea a short try for a fortnight or so to see how things went. After that initial phase, “coworking replaced my home office and I have never looked back since then“. So, how did coworking moved my home office? Here are five solid reasons:
Benefits of a coworking space over home office
- It gave me a distraction-free work environment
- It helped me connect with people
- It helped me look more professional
- It didn’t burn a hole in my pocket
- It gave me many facilities which you miss at home
It gave me a distraction-free work environment
You can argue that a coworking space isn’t always free from distractions. There can be more chatter and noise there than in a home office. If you look at it from my perspective, you will get my point. The biggest distraction in my home office was that I could take a break from work at any time and start watching the TV or indulge in a quick nap. There was no one to give me a rap on the shoulder.
However, in my coworking space in Gurgaon, I was surrounded by people who were doing their work in a diligent manner. This inspired me to be productive at my work as well. I wasn’t tempted to take a break every now and then. In other words, even if I had to put up with a few distractions, I actually ended up being more productive than in my home office.
It helped me connect with people
For some people, networking is an easy thing to do. For others, it is a dreadful proposition. However, one can’t ignore that networking is essential for the growth of a business. But to network, you have to meet people, which is not possible when you are working all day long from a home office. To be honest, I was never a pro at networking. Until I became a member of a shared workspace, I wasn’t even sure how to build my network.
Coworkers interacting informally @ The Office Pass, Gurgaon
All that changed when I shifted to coworking. I won’t say my network started to grow overnight – it never happens this way. Also, it’s not necessary that you like every person working in your shared office. However, regular interactions with some of those people with whom I liked talking helped me to meet more like-minded people and my network started to form in an effortless manner.
It helped me look more professional
For all the pros of working from a home office, one glaring con was that I wasn’t able to meet my clients there. So, every time I had to meet a client, I selected a neighborhood café for the same. This always left me wondering about what impression my clients got regarding such an arrangement. But when I started working at the coworking space in Gurgaon near my home, this issue got resolved effectively. I now had a professional place where I could meet my clients.
Also Read: Grow Your Business Fast with Coworking Spaces
It didn’t burn a hole in my pocket
As it is, coworking spaces are a highly cost-effective option in comparison to regular offices taken on rent. On top of that, many coworking spaces have various membership options that cater to clients of all pockets. For instance, TheOfficePass is one high-quality shared office that offers long and short-term membership options. They also offer flexible membership options for less frequent users.
It gave me many facilities which you miss at home
My well-equipped home office had almost everything that I required to get my work done efficiently. But this also meant that I was responsible for keeping everything in a functional mode. If anything in my home office broke down or needed maintenance, I was required to take time out of my busy schedule and solve the issue. But the scenario was very different in the coworking space for freelancers from where I carried out my work. The plug and play mode of the shared office meant that I didn’t have to bother about either setting up the office or maintaining it. All I needed to do was walk into the place and get on fulfilling my professional commitments.
Community event at The Office Pass, Coworking space in Gurgaon 
Some Coworking facilities:
Apart from the regular facilities like Wi-Fi, printer, meeting rooms, lockers, coffee machines, etc. coworking also offers other perks that are essential for a growing business. For instance, my coworking office regularly organizes community events for its members. Such events are a great place to exchange ideas, find investors, and learn new things. Long story short, coworking changed the way I work!
