CO:working Spaces and How To Explain Them

If you ask anyone at theCO what the hardest part of their job is, most would likely answer, “explaining theCO to people who have no idea what it is.” Even though that seems trivial, coworking spaces are relatively new, especially to the United States. It wasn’t until 2005 that Brad Neuberg named and created the San Francisco Coworking Space, and even then, the idea wasn’t popular. It took a few months for people to catch on and utilize the space. Now there are just shy of 4,600 coworking spaces in the United States, and still it can be a hard concept to explain.

Coworking spaces are different from a regular office set up. Often times the desks in coworking spaces are in close proximity to one another, in the effort to encourage a shared workspace. In addition, there are typically several businesses run out of the same coworking building, all holding their own set of employees or start-ups. theCO in Jackson Tennessee, functions as a space for entrepreneurs to run their business out of a place that is not their home, as well as offering services or connections to entrepreneurs who need some help with grant writing, branding, or marketing.

One of the most beneficial things that a business person can get out of a coworking space is the community. When there are large numbers of entrepreneurs working in a single vicinity, there is bound to be networking, allowing people to find fellow workers who may be more skilled in an area that is needed.

Usually coworking spaces are cheaper for small businesses to work out of rather than renting an office suite or space for a few employees. Coworking sites tend to offer memberships that run daily, monthly, or yearly, providing flexibility to small business owners.