What Freelancers Need to Know About Coworking Spaces

While the number of coworking spaces slowed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, experts predict the exponential growth the industry was experiencing prior to the pandemic will resume shortly. As larger swaths of the population are vaccinated, more and more freelancers and businesses are returning to some form of office arrangement. This year alone, the Instant Group forecasts that the number of flexible workspaces will grow 21%. Coworking space, as a percentage of total office space, shows that coworking space comprises nearly 5% in some locations in the U.S.

Freelancers Continue to Grow in Importance Post-Pandemic

In today’s global and digital economy, freelancers will play an increasingly bigger role. Organizations are shifting from a mentality of headcount to skill count. It is not a big surprise that a recent study found that nearly 4 in 10 companies indicate they plan to use freelance talent pools more often and that over three-quarters of CEOs say freelancers will play a bigger role in helping them to address skill gaps in their organizations. 

Before the pandemic, growing numbers of freelancers were embracing coworking spaces. Some freelancers worked from a coworking space every day of the week, while others employed a hybrid work approach, where they worked from a coworking space some of the time and from their home office on other days. 

Reasons Freelancers Should Look to Coworking Space

With businesses reopening their offices and employees working—at least some of the time—from an assigned workspace, freelancers are also looking to move beyond their home offices. Of workers planning to work outside of the home, slightly more than one-quarter cite coworking space as a preference. Certainly, for freelancers wanting to explore workspace alternatives outside of their home offices, coworking space is a viable option. Following are some of the reasons freelancers should consider coworking space.

Collaboration with Like-Minded Professionals

Professionals from varying industry segments and with varying skill sets are typically found in a coworking space. Working in close proximity to other professionals with differing perspectives and backgrounds affords freelancers with ideas and strategies they would not think of themselves. Freelancers can even learn new skills via these networking opportunities.

Improved Productivity

Coworking spaces offer freelancers more structure than working from a home office. Home distractions, such as kids who need attention, mail deliveries, neighbors who stop to visit unexpectedly, and house cleaning and maintenance, don’t exist in a coworking space. A lobby greeter like the ones who staff Davinci Meeting Rooms create a buffer between freelancers and visitors, deliveries, phone calls, and more. Thus, it makes sense that over two-thirds of freelancers who work from a coworking space say they concentrate better when working from the coworking space versus other locations. 

Increased Networking Opportunities

Coworking space offers freelancers a chance to meet other freelancers as well as employees from businesses of all sizes—from small businesses to enterprises. These networking opportunities can lead to new projects and business. They also can provide freelancers with new ideas and provide them with a sounding board of professionals with expertise in areas where the freelancer has minimal or no background.

Enhanced Creativity

These networking interactions offer freelancers with new ideas and innovation. Keeping pace with the speed of digital transformation is difficult for freelancers who often are heads down working on client projects. Other coworking space occupants possess different viewpoints and can collectively help each other remain ahead of business changes—from new technology to regulations. 

Reduced Office Costs

Freelancers who maintain their own office space must oversee time-consuming tasks such as stocking office supplies and managing equipment such as printer toner, desks, chairs, internet access, and phone systems. In addition, permanent office space is expensive, and many freelancers do not use that space five days a week. Coworking space comes with its own equipment and technology. It also comes with a lobby greeter who handles incoming calls, greets visitors, maintains equipment, and more. Finally, permanent office space is dramatically more expensive than coworking space. 

Professional Address 

Home addresses are a bad idea for a business. Davinci Meeting Rooms offer coworking spaces with virtual office address capabilities. Davinci Virtual Office provides freelancers with a professional address that comes with These virtual office addresses come with mail receipt and forwarding, a listing in the lobby directory, and an entity formation service. 

Geographical Work Flexibility

Freelancers have dramatically greater geographic flexibility with coworking space. Even in one metropolitan area, they typically have multiple locations from which to work. And in instances where travel is involved, coworking space gives freelancers a place where they can work—whether for a day or a couple months. 

Freelancers Move to the New Coworking Space Normal

None of us know exactly what the new work normal will look like once the pandemic recedes and becomes a negligible concern. With many professionals now vaccinated, organizations and freelancers are seeking to return to some semblance of in-person work. Coworking space for the above reasons—and others—are a great option. 

About Patrick Spencer

Patrick Spencer (Ph.D.) is the President and Founder of TIRO Communications that helps companies develop, build, and manage content, customer, advocacy, and demand-gen programs. Included in its offerings is TIRO Cognition Insights, a data analytics tool that enables B2C and B2B businesses to pinpoint what their customers and competitors’ customers are saying and to identify corresponding actionable product, services, competitive, sales, and marketing intelligence. LinkedIn Profile: LinkedIn Website: www.tirocommunications.com