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Home Running A Business Working Remotely: WFH, Coworking Space, or Hybrid Model?
Remember when work meant what you did professionally as well as where you worked? All employees for a business, of course, once primarily worked in the company’s office building. If you ran your own business, you probably rented office space—maybe only 1 room—in a commercial building.
Times have changed, and remote work is here to stay, which means you could be working from anywhere—in an office building, at a coffee shop, in your home office, or in a coworking space. (Despite social media posts, most of us won’t ever be working regularly from a chair on the beach.)
In a nutshell, working remotely means that you’re freed from the boundaries of a corporate office building. Workers with job location flexibility—knowledge workers, web designers, accountants, digital nomads, freelancers—can choose to work from a home office or from a coworking space.
So if you are lucky enough to choose where you work, what are the pros and cons of choosing a home office versus a coworking space? While there are ardent fans of both options, the reality is that the best fit will depend on your personality, your business, and maybe even the workday itself.
Ah, the dream come true—roll out of bed and into your home office with 30 seconds to spare before your first meeting. A “video off” meeting might even mean that you’re still sporting a case of bedhead.
Without a doubt, working remotely from home has several advantages:
But if you take off the rose-colored glasses, there can be some challenges to working remotely at home:
If working from home isn’t for you but you want to avoid leasing commercial office space for your business, a coworking space might be the solution.
Some of the advantages of using a coworking space include:
But alas, there are disadvantages of remotely working in a coworking space, too:
As an entrepreneur, you have the luxury of blending working from home and a coworking space to create a hybrid work model that best fits your business and personal needs.
Are you on kid duty today? Do you need to spread out those top-secret client files to create a presentation? Then work at your home office.
Are you meeting with a client to review your work product? Then sign up for on-demand space at a nearby coworking location to have a professional spot for your presentation. You could even rent professionally-maintained video conferencing rooms—no more “can you hear me now” collaboration meetings.
Do you usually work from home but need a more professional-facing front, such as a business mailing address or a virtual receptionist? Virtual memberships at a coworking space to the rescue!
As big businesses contemplate what “return to work” looks like post-COVID-19 pandemic, they’re beginning to recognize that:
As a result, many big businesses may opt out of some office space in favor of hybrid work models in the future. Company offices might be consolidated and replaced with space at coworking spaces to de-densify (hello, 6 feet apart!) and decentralize (goodbye long commute times!).
If you’re a small business owner who leases commercial office space, you could also downsize your office space and implement the hybrid model instead. Cut costs and boost employees’ morale? Sounds like a win-win situation.
Fortunately, choosing where you work isn’t a permanent decision. As an entrepreneur and small business owner, you have the flexibility to choose, whether you embrace the advantages of a home office or the perks of a coworking space.
Katherine O'Malley is a contributor to the Lendio blog. A technology geek at heart, she splits her time between traveling, freelance writing, database administration work, and implementing SEO on her travel blog. In her free time, she loves to research the challenges small-to-midsize tourist suppliers face and find ways that technology can help them out.
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