5 Benefits of Coworking With Strangers

According to The Oxford Dictionary, coworking is “The use of an office or other working environment by people who are self-employed or working for different employers, typically so as to share equipment, ideas, and knowledge.”

For entrepreneurs and independent freelancers, coworking is a great way to get the best parts of working in an office, while maintaining your flexibility and freedom. Using a shared office space to cowork with other professionals has many benefits.

Research shows that coworking providers freelancers, entrepreneurs, and everyone in between an opportunity to grow their business. It also tends to bring about more opportunities! By working with like-minded individuals in a coworking space, many people become infused with new ideas, energy, and focus.

Here are five amazing benefits of coworking with strangers.

1. Networking and Collaborating

Coworking provides freelancers and remote workers an opportunity to form a valuable network of like-minded individuals. It also opens up the doors for a huge opportunity to collaborate with others. Coworking spaces bring people of all fields together. It can bring you connections you would have never thought of on your own.

Working in close proximity with others gives you the opportunity to bounce ideas off their heads, find ways to make your businesses grow and work together, and to even collaborate on jobs. It’s instant networking, with minimal effort. The stranger you share a space with may end up being one of the best business partners you accidentally meet!

1. Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone

Whether you’re working in an office full of people doing the exact same job as you, or trying to freelance from home, it becomes easy to get stuck in a work rut. Coworking with strangers forces you to bust out of your comfort zone!

When you find yourself sitting across the desk from someone in a completely different field or skillset, you’re automatically surrounded by an entirely new source of ideas and inspiration. Just simply seeing the way they work can be inspiring! Imagine the new source of energy and ideas you’ll have when you’re brave enough to engage them in conversation. When you break out of your comfort zone, your business benefits in incredible ways!

1. Working at Your Own Pace

Utilizing a coworking space allows you to work at your own pace. It also allows you to focus on your own projects, without devoting countless hours to typical office interruptions and distractions.

By working in a coworking environment, you can focus on the task at hand. The new people you’ll meet in a coworking space can be a great respite from the stressors of day-to-day life in a typical office. Without strict deadlines, clients trying to reach you at your primary location, and your boss looming over your shoulder, you’ll be able to get more work done, with less stress. This is not only beneficial for your business, but also for you. Reducing stress levels leads to more quality work!

1. Sense of Community

The other individuals in your coworking space can clearly be great business and networking contacts. Beyond that, they can also form a great community! Entrepreneurs, free-lancers, and other business-minded people need community.

You can isolate yourself as much as you need in order to get the job done, but you’ll also have access to other coworkers, connections, and collaborations in the rest of the shared space. Coworking spaces help combat the loneliness that many freelancers and remote workers feel.

By using a coworking space, you get the old school water cooler experience you’d receive at a typical office. You’ll see some of the same people every day. You’ll form friendships. You’ll share ideas. Over time, your coworking space will become a community.

1. Reducing Uncertainty

Most people who work remotely know all too well the struggle of finding the perfect coffee shop with free wifi and a comfortable chair. And once you’ve finally found this set up and made it your usual go-to work space, you show up one day and someone is in your spot. Your coveted, cozy, perfect wifi-zone of a spot. This is not only incredibly frustrating, but it creates a sense of uncertainty for you in your work day. Is the internet going to work? Will your spot be taken? Will it get too loud?

Coworking spaces provide you with a certain, functioning space to sit down and get to work. You don’t have to worry about whether the wifi will be bogged down, whether you can hear your client over the phone, etc. With a coworking space, you’ll no longer waste valuable minutes of your work day looking for the perfect space to set up shop. Your time is valuable, make the most of it by using a coworking space!

Are you looking for a coworking space while visiting the Big Apple? Check out Corporate Suites. They have flexible plans to fit the needs of any small business or company.