Is co-working the future?

More and more Britons are taking the plunge and launching their own businesses. Last year the number of new firms established topped 600,000, having risen by almost five per cent on 2014. The shape of the business world is changing too, with more than 1.5 million ‘one man bands’ across the country.

The biggest cost hurdle facing start-ups is with premises. This is why, as this article shows, many of those one man bands start off in someone’s home.

But starting a business from home isn’t for everyone. Some enterprises aren’t suited to operating from a home address and, importantly, some homes are unsuited to supporting a successful enterprise.

That’s where co-working can come in. This is the process in which small businesses come together under one shared environment. A bit like students beavering away independently on their assignments in the library, each desk is occupied by someone working away on their own enterprise.

These rooms and buildings become a melting pot of pioneering ideas and working practices, rattling along to the tapping of keyboards and the buzzing of smartphones.

It’s not a new concept, but it is proving increasingly popular. The latest facility for co-working in London – the Atrium – has just opened in Camden and is far smarter that the budget of any start-up or one man band business.

CoWorking London, which has a directory of such spaces, lists well over 100 such facilities in the capital alone according to Pace Ventures co-founder Mark Pace.

It’s easy to see the attraction. The facilities in such venues are usually fit for the demands of a modern digitally savvy operation. It also cures the loneliness that can come from beavering away on your own in the tough early days of a new business.

Although you’re there to work you’ll inevitably be networking with others who are coming up against the very same hurdles and challenges that your business faces. You might even make contacts who you can do business with.

Small businesses often find themselves merging and growing by teaming up with partners. Even businesses without a common ground that warrants a formal merged relationship could share resources. Small businesses do need HR, for example, but often can’t stump up the cash needed to do it properly. Nothing stops small operators teaming up to share a joint back office operation, using HR software to make it quick and easy to manage a small workforce’s needs effectively.

Co-working can help build communities of businesses that can get the advantages of going their own way, alongside the benefits of being part of ‘something bigger’ – making it much more than a cost-based decision.

You won’t be tied to a long lease, so can hop from one venue to another with ease, and won’t have the whacking great overheads that can starve start-ups of valuable funds.

As long as rents continue to be high, and as long as individuals look to forge a new path for themselves by starting new businesses, co-working will continue to be an attractive prospect.