By Bond Collective Staff

If you’re curious about coworking space benefits for your startup, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, the experts at Bond Collective show you why your business will thrive in a coworking environment.

16 Coworking Space Benefits That Will Help Your Startup Thrive

1) Low Overhead

The necessities of today’s modern office space make it one of the largest expenses your fledgling startup will face. Furniture, decor, technology, repairs and maintenance, cleaning — these costs add up quickly and can put a serious dent in your working capital.

But with coworking spaces, everything is taken care of. You and your team can walk in, find a place to gather, do your work, and leave. All for a low monthly fee that is considerably less than you would pay if you maintained your own office.

When you weigh the benefits of a space, like the coworking space in DC, against the benefits of owning and operating your own office, you’ll quickly see that a coworking space makes good sense (and cents).

2) Inspiration

When you work on one product or service hour after hour, day after day, you tend to form a tunnel vision of sorts. It’s necessary to focus on building your startup, but when you’ve repeatedly looked at the same problem, your creativity and drive can begin to suffer.

In a coworking space, there’s never any shortage of inspiration. You’re always surrounded by unique individuals with new and innovative ideas. Strike up a conversation in the kitchen or the lounge with a freelance coder, writer, or entrepreneur, and you’re likely to find ways of thinking that you hadn’t considered before.

3) Collaboration

Chances are, your startup could benefit from the insights of an expert in another field. Maybe your product or service is prime for an app. Or maybe your value statement could use a bit of tweaking. If your startup occupies its own office space, you have to go out and find someone with the skills you need.

A coworking space, on the other hand, puts you in close proximity — often side-by-side — with professionals from a wide variety of business types. This close proximity allows you to collaborate with CEOs, marketing reps, graphic designers, editors, photographers, and specialists of all sorts.

4) Infrastructure

What is infrastructure in an office environment? It’s all those little things that make work easier but aren’t obvious at first glance. Look around every office space and you’ll see the furniture, the decor, and the technology.

But who stocks the pantry? Who fills the water cooler? Where do team members store their gear (e.g., bikes, bags, coats, etc.)? Who cleans the kitchen and tidies the lounge after everyone’s gone home? Who controls the heating and cooling?

These unseen factors can have just as profound an effect on the quality of your work as the technology you use. And when you maintain your own office, this infrastructure is all on your shoulders.

At a coworking space, those infrastructure details are handled for you. At Bond Collective, for example, members enjoy amenities like daily on-site cleaning, bike storage, concession food market, complimentary spa water, and much more. It’s like having a concierge taking care of your needs every day.

5) Professional Image

As a startup, it’s crucial to dedicate as much of your capital toward product or service development as possible. That means your office space takes second place (or even third or fourth place) on your list of necessary expenses.

Because of those priorities, the appearance of your office may suffer at the beginning. That can seriously deter you from entertaining or meeting with clients at your office.

But with a coworking space, you get a professional image right from the start. At Bond Collective, all members benefit from guest reception and greeting, beautiful decor, luxurious workspaces, and 24-hour access to conference rooms and multiple locations. With a coworking space, you can keep your capital where it needs to be — focused on your product or service — without sacrificing the professional image you desire.

6) Comfort

The comfort of your office space is essential for helping your team members stay focused, engaged, and productive while they work. That same comfort can go a long way toward impressing the customers and clients who visit your office.

As a startup, can you afford plush settees, comfy sofas, adjustable-height desks, and ergonomic chairs? Probably not at first.

In a coworking space like one of Bond Collective’s six locations, comfort is built in. We decorate and appoint all of our coworking environments with the finest that luxury has to offer. That way, your team members and guests will be happy and productive all day long.

7) Productivity

If you’ve ever worked at home or by yourself in a rented space, you know the difficulty of staying motivated and productive. That’s because working alone (even if you’re in a coffee shop surrounded by others) means that you’re only accountable to yourself for your productivity, making it hard to complete necessary tasks.

When you work in a coworking space instead of at home alone or in a coffee shop, you’re more aware that you are indeed there to work. You now need to consider what you wear rather than staying in your pajamas or throwing on a pair of shorts and flip-flops.

This simple act of dressing professionally and walking into an office where others are working can greatly increase your focus, productivity, and efficiency.

8) Community

Startups usually begin with the efforts of one or two individuals. Some startups even stay that way — with only one or two workers — for quite some time, which can make developing your startup into a full-fledged business an extremely lonely endeavor.

That isolation can have a negative effect on your focus, your mental well-being, and, ultimately, your product or service.

Moving your operations to a coworking space opens the door to a vast community of like-minded individuals. This gives you the social interaction you need to keep yourself energized, engaged, and inspired to do your best work.

9) Networking

As a startup, you’re acutely aware of the importance of networking. You need those connections — those resources — to help your business prosper. But with all the time and energy you’re putting into getting your enterprise off the ground, who’s got time to attend networking events?

Imagine if you could network with other professionals while you work? Running your startup out of a coworking space makes that possible. Day in and day out, you’ll be surrounded by entrepreneurs, freelancers, business owners (and their teams), consultants, and experts of all sorts.

You can use those connections to improve, evolve, and refine your product or service. You won’t get that working out of your own office space.

10) Flexibility

Flexibility is essential for developing a successful startup. One day you’re running smoothly with 10 employees, and the next you suddenly need 20. A few months later, you’re ready for 30 employees (or to go back to 10). Packing 20 employees in an office meant for 10 (or vice versa) can put a serious damper on the productivity, creativity, and overall happiness of your team.

One of the many coworking space benefits is the ease with which you can expand and contract the amount of space you use. Start with space for 10 in May, then expand to space for 25 in June. Monthly membership options make upsizing or downsizing easier than ever.

11) Effectiveness

Energy and mindset are an essential part of working at a startup. Working in a coworking environment makes your team more effective — higher energy, better mindset — through a combination of interaction with others and accountability for their work.

You can’t get that by isolating your team in their own space.

When you translate effectiveness into dollars, you’ll quickly see that the financial costs of basing your startup in a coworking space are much lower than the financial benefits a coworking space creates. And when benefits exceed costs, your business will thrive.

12) Business Mindset

Taking your startup seriously can be difficult at first, when you’re doing most of the work at your kitchen table or a corner booth at the local coffee shop.

But when you make the trip to a coworking space, you and your team members create a business mindset that you can’t generate any other way.

A business mindset means better focus, improved creativity, and increased motivation to get the job done. For a startup that thrives on those qualities, business mindset is a coworking space benefit that many businesses can’t do without.

13) Reliability

Directing your startup’s activities from your favorite cafe is fine initially, but the uncertainty associated with working from public places — it’s too noisy, it’s too crowded, you can’t find a seat — is counterproductive to building your business.

To really grow your startup, you need reliability and stability. A coworking environment provides the space you need when you need it so that you don’t have to worry about noise, crowds, or where to sit.

14) A Professional Mailing Address

We’ve talked about the importance of a professional image and how a coworking space gives your business the look and feel you need to impress clients and customers. But a big part of that is having a mailing address separate from your home address.

Coworking spaces help you establish a professional mailing address so you never have to miss the delivery of your packages and letters again.

Overnighting the must-have equipment to your fourth-floor walkup is often hit or miss. Will you be there when the package arrives? Will the delivery service leave the package in the hall if you’re not?

And if you do miss the delivery, do you have to wait another day to get your hands on the merchandise?

When you base your startup in a coworking space, mail service is taken care of for you. Delivery services can drop off your letters and boxes with guest reception, who will store them until your arrival. No more worrying about missing the supplies you need to keep your project and your business moving forward.

15) Structure

Working from home has its own set of advantages. But the abundance of distractions that come with working in your house or apartment quickly outweigh the benefits.

TV, pets, your family, your bed — these distractions can pull your focus away from what you should be doing to build your startup into the business you know it can be. At a coworking space like Bond Collective, the distractions you find at home are nonexistent.

And while the temptation to take a nap can occur everywhere, you won’t have to contend with the impulse to binge-watch your favorite show because you’ll be “at work” and surrounded by other like-minded individuals.

Running your startup from a coworking space helps you keep your work life separate from your home life, lends your day structure, and gives you a reason to get out of the house.

16) Support

As an entrepreneur, it’s all too easy to begin doubting what you are doing is right. It can be frightening when you remove the safety net that comes with working for someone else and being a small part of a large machine.

This self-doubt can cripple your efforts to make your startup a success. It can be even worse if you isolate yourself by working from home or a public place. Even in a crowd, you can be by yourself.

At a coworking space, though, you are surrounded by fellow entrepreneurs, business owners, and teams who can provide support to help you push through your self-doubt.

Regardless of industry or niche, everyone encounters the same types of issues. Talking to someone about what you’re experiencing can get you out of your head and give you the opportunity to find out how someone else conquered their doubt and moved on to bigger and better things.

Find A Coworking Space Tailor-Made For Your Startup

Finding a coworking space for your startup doesn’t have to be a monumental task. Reach out to Bond Collective. Whether you’re a business of one or 100, we can help you find a space that is tailor-made for your brand.

The coworking spaces at Bond Collective give you the flexibility and affordability to work the way you want without the extra headache of a long-term commitment. This gives your startup the best chance for success.

Work from a dedicated desk in May and June; upgrade to a private office in July, August, and September; and then downgrade to a first-come-first-served desk in October.

This can help you deal with the ebb and flow of team members throughout the year and save your much-needed funds for building your business. You can’t do that with a conventional lease.

Plus, with a coworking space, you don’t have to skimp just to get ahead. A quality coworking space, like Bond Collective, gives you and your team everything you need so you can focus on the work rather than whose turn it is to clean the bathroom.

You’ll enjoy amenities such as:

• Conference rooms for 2 or 20+

• Private meeting and phone booths

• Guest reception and greeting

• Professional image

• Unlimited black-and-white printing

• Fast, reliable WiFi and ethernet

• Mail and package handling

• Porter service

• Nightly office cleaning

• Fresh fruit, snacks, and weekly breakfast

• Complimentary spa water, craft beer, and coffee

So don’t let office space destroy your dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Start your journey on the right foot by partnering with Bond Collective. We can help you reach your goals.

Visit any one of Bond Collective’s many locations in the United States, including workspaces in New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Illinois, Tennessee, and Texas. Or call us today to find out more about everything we have to offer.

Then become a member of Bond Collective and take advantage of our coworking spaces, dedicated desks, and private offices to suit all your business needs.

To get started or to learn more about coworking space benefits for digital nomads, startups, remote workers, and businesses of all sizes, visit BondCollective.com today.