Is a desk in a coworking space worth it?
As a coworking space, are you selling a desk or something else?
Ok.
You ARE selling a desk, and when you run a coworking space, you can quickly think, I need to sell this many desks, and that's my business.
But as a member, what am I buying?
I've rented a desk in a coworking space for over ten years, paying for the chair and the desk.
It's where I do my work.
But the value, particularly for me, the value of my mental health, is off the charts.
Our mate, Mike LaRosa, wrote a book called "Coworking Save My Life," which felt so close to home that it felt like he had read my mind.
Sometimes, I pay for a coworking space to get out of the house, see people and stay sane.
Sitting at that desk, I blog, make videos, and create value.
The 200 - 300 per month costs nothing for the desk compared with the actual value.
And this is why affordable workspace is so important, particularly in big cities like London.
Even before the cost of living crisis and COVID, finding a space to work or start a business was expensive in a big city.
Hacker and pop-up spaces in cities quickly got taken over by developers,
Look at how coworking by Old Street Roundabout has changed in the last fifteen years.
Old Street was where artists, hackers, startups and makers converged for cheap space, craft beer, and good espresso.
Ten years ago, Central Working, run by Steve Pette in the basement of Google Campus, was THE secret place to be.
First thing in the morning, people would queue for a table in the Central Working cafe.
They were paying for a coffee.
But that coffee was buying their ticket to be part of something bigger: the community, the wave they were all making together.
That area comprises brand-name workspaces, offices, and enterprise-level software.
But even those places are giving people somewhere to go and belong.
