Why are coworking spaces important?

Isn't it just an office or a desk, what is all of the fuss?

You may be scratching your head with all of the big coworking players really exploding the shared space industry and a few of the big players going public. But, with so many different options for coworking in any given city all over the country, why is coworking so important anyway?

When I think of coworking, I like to remind myself of where work started and it takes me back before 2000, when people often went to work in offices, worked in cubicles, private offices, or if they owned their own business they had to shoulder the sometimes very high cost of a commercial real estate property. A lot goes into this kind of arrangement including utilities, supplies, extra people to manage the space by the business themselves, furniture, and technology costs. When we think of a professionals or a businesses bottom line we will often think of their costs versus their revenues. Now at this point in time if a business had pricey overhead, then it would stand to reason that more costs would come out of their revenues. This raised the barriers of entry for smaller businesses and professionals.

Fast forward to today, not only has technology made it so businesses can operate relatively cheaply with less overhead for software, internet, and hardware the space industry has also changed. The barriers of entry have decreased with the introduction of coworking and shared office spaces. Coworking spaces provide opportunities to new and growing businesses to start and then succeed. This is important to our communities and for our economy. Think if we can help just a few more businesses start and be successful how many more jobs will we have to fill, how much more will our government make in taxes, and how much more will our communities benefit from the services provided.

While, yes it can look like coworking space is just space, it truly is much more than an office or a desk, it is a growth opportunity.

CoWorks @ Vita Therapia is a coworking space located in Westford, MA and specializes in providing space to service based businesses and professionals in and around our area. If you work remotely, are a company of one, need to escape your corporate office, or just want a different place to work reach out, we'd love to meet you.