Flexible Work Solutions: From Home Office to Coworking Community
Posted on 9th December 2024 at 09:53
Here at Square Feet, we see many businesses in transition.
For some, a desk in the spare room is no longer good enough - you need somewhere creative and productive to meet prospective clients and collaborate with other people. For others, restructuring and reprioritising may mean giving up the overheads of a property lease, allowing you to explore new flexible workspace options.
Once you’ve realised a change in your workspace is needed, how will you find the right space for you?
If you’re looking for an alternative to working from home, do you go for an informal option - hanging out in cafes, libraries, or hotel business centres? Do you check out leased offices for a permanent desk away from home? Or find a coworking space that bridges the gap with a professional environment, great amenities and more flexible terms?
While an informal space might work for an occasional change of scene, it often doesn’t suit the requirements for professional client meetings or focused study.
A leased office, on the other hand, gives you a place that’s yours, but they can be an expensive and inflexible option. We looked at this more in our previous post.
For many entrepreneurs and small business owners, coworking spaces offer a perfect middle-ground. Professional spaces you’ll be happy to invite people to, great facilities and productive working environments, with options to suit your needs.
The Benefits of Coworking Spaces
As you’d expect from the packages we offer here at Square Feet, the people who use this space want flexibility so we make sure we can provide it. Some coworkers only drop by occasionally, but most prefer the benefits of membership.
If you want to try the space out, an ideal time to drop by is the second Friday of the month when we run a Pay-What-You-Want day where your price for the day is donated to the fabulous Jam Helping Out team to support local Northampton charities.
So, what do you get for a coworking membership?
You’ll get a workspace away from the distractions of home, a dedicated area within the small business community. It’s a flexible alternative - no expensive lease or long-term commitment, find the package that suits you and we’ll work from there. We wrote about the benefits of coworking spaces in this post, Finding Your Community, where we looked at how to choose your perfect coworking workspace.
When someone says office, what do you think of? It’s often a sterile office block, all long empty corridors, bland spaces, the occasional fake plant and lots of grey walls? Well, we’re aiming for the opposite of that!
Here at Square Feet our spaces are light, bright and full of personality, we encourage gathering and chatting, sharing and collaborating, your coworking desk should be a place you want to spend time!
Our packages - which start from as little as two days a month - all include:
Unlimited super-fast Wi-Fi
Spacious working areas set up for effective working
Discounted rates for additional coworking days and meeting room bookings
Hot beverages, cold drinks, and biscuits - of course!
But what does that really mean when you’re using it, how does it feel to cowork with Square Feet? Our coworking space at Hazelrigg House accommodates a variety of workers, all looking for something different, we thought we’d look at why our coworkers use this space and share the story of one of our coworkers, Rebecca Parfitt qualified account and owner of Parfitt Taylor.
Case Study: Why Rebecca Chose Our Space
Let’s introduce Rebecca Parfitt, accountant and owner of Partiftt Taylor.
Starting her own accountancy practice over 10 years ago, Rebecca’s business has grown successfully, with team members joining her and the business expanding.To accommodate this Rebecca took on an office with a monthly lease, and then the pandemic hit. So many businesses changed because of the pandemic, and Parfitt Taylor was one of them.
The needs of Rebecca’s clients had changed, and the needs of her team changed, she no longer needed an office but didn’t want to lose all the benefits it brought. Rebecca didn’t want to have her personal address attached to the business and it was important to have a space she could meet clients when they wanted to come to her. When Rebecca visited us at Hazelrigg House, we were happy to show her how we could help with both these things - and more.
As well as making use of the coworking space, Rebecca has signed up for the Registered Office service so she doesn’t have to give out her home address and we manage the post which comes for her here. She has a comfortable, creative desk to work at, and can book meeting rooms if that’s needed for client privacy.
Coworking at Square Feet fits the way Rebecca works, it’s more professional than her home office and more homely and comfortable than her previous office space. She told us that she is particularly pleased to working here in such “a nice space, with rooms that feel good to work in.”
And, while networking and collaboration weren't part of Rebecca’s reason for joining the Square Feet community, she shared that she’s found the people at Hazelrigg House supportive, “a great community”.
Rebecca says she uses her time at the cowork space to focus on her business, doing the jobs which she used to put off because she’d prioritise client work. She says that being in a different space really helps with marketing and creative work, and means she doesn’t feel guilty about not doing her client work which she would if she was at home.
Rebecca describes her experience and time at Square Feet as ‘warm and welcoming, friendly and productive’.
For Rebecca, one of the most important elements was needing to have an address in the public domain and not wanting it to be her own. Since then, however, she says she’s also discovered that Hazelrigg House is a brilliant place to meet people, both clients and for networking - “It’s a lovely space in a beautiful building”.
Ready to Make the Switch?
Every business is different and each business will change over it’s lifetime. As your business grows and changes, you’ll need to make sure you have the right space to be productive, creative, and professional - the right space for you.
Whether you’re looking for space to collaborate or to focus, somewhere to meet new people or get away from distractions, we believe that a coworking space can give many small businesses the space they need for growth.
If you’re looking for a flexible work environment, a collaborative workspace, or somewhere to boost your productivity here in Northampton, why not check out what our coworking spaces have to offer - and get in touch on 01604 953730 or hello@squarefeetcowork.co.uk. Let’s find your perfect workspace together!
I’m Tom, Director at Square Feet
We provide serviced offices, meeting rooms, cowork spaces and virtual office solutions so you can grow your business by working your way.
Tagged as: coworking
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