Coworking space industry grows rapidly. This new trend gains more popularity among freelancers, entrepreneurs, and other people who prefer to work online. 

This modern-day phenomenon hasn’t been ignored by smart businessmen. This new niche has become a new-born source of income around the world. 

Nevertheless, as any kind of business, this one has its own stumbling blocks. Therefore, it is strictly important to know the most common mistakes that you might stumble upon when opening your coworking space. 

In this post, you will get familiar with five mistakes you should avoid when starting a coworking space business. 

Let’s cut to the chase!

You Didn’t Build a Community Within Your Coworking Space 

Have you ever thought about the main difference between a standard old-fashioned office complex and a modern coworking space?

Standard offices are mainly used for work – nothing more in particular. While these ventures tend to create a healthy environment for the residents that is called community. 

Keep in mind, the first step you should take is to take care of the community aspect of your new business. It means you must host various events for your existing residents and new potential customers. 

Plus, don’t focus on the events that would be created for working purposes solely. Engage with a community by hosting the events that would be dedicated to some holidays or fests. 

You Don’t Think Creatively 

Even though a coworking suggests comfortable spaces where people work, a community that unites the residents, there is still a shade of a standard office cast on this type of facility. 

To make your business unique, you must think out of the box and take a whole different approach to this business. For example, there are coworking spaces that are focused on some specific design or direction of a coworking culture:

• pet-friendly coworking spaces
• women-oriented coworking spaces
• child-friendly coworking spaces
• gym coworking spaces
• etc

By focusing on creating a specific coworking space, you will attract your potential residents with the same issues that you might solve. 

Let’s say there are lots of young mothers who work online and have to watch over their kids. As a result, these women don’t have much time for their work. Likely, when they come to one of the child-friendly coworking spaces, they get lots of benefits right off the bat. Moms can concentrate on their work while the nurses devote their time to the kids. 

To sum up, you should think creatively when opening your coworking space. Make sure it has something extraordinary to offer your residents. 

You Didn’t Take Care of an Interior Design 

When you are thinking about creating a comfortable environment in your coworking space, you should never forget that interior design plays a significant role in this question. 

Coworking space design should follow the residents’ physical needs. First of all, your coworking must be light and airy. Hence, make sure there are enough open spaces and windows in your workspace. If the building where your coworking is located allows you to fill it with some greenery that would be perfect. 

The last but not the least thing you must take into account is the visual aspect of coworking space design. Before you make a final decision, you must think about your branding and the types of clients you’re going to convert. 

For example, if your venture is oriented to people who come to work with their pets, you must think about creating separate rooms that would be organized and designed specifically for dogs or cats. 

Design is what attracts people and catches their attention. Think about this wisely. 

You Don’t Cooperate With Other Workspaces  

At first glance, cooperation with other coworking spaces might seem ridiculous. Why should you deal with your direct competitors?

Nevertheless, cooperation with other coworking spaces could bring you some benefits. Let’s say your coworking space can offer printing service, while your partner has a huge meeting room area. 

You can build your partnership on a win-win basis. You allow your partner’s residents to come to your coworking space and use a printing service. From your partner’s end, you get an opportunity to host some events using meeting rooms. 

In general, the mutual benefit should be your priority when you’re building such kind of cooperation. 

Appraise the Feasibility of Managing Your Coworking Space Critically 

Managing a coworking space reminds being an owner of some small factory. You are in charge of different processes that are happening in your workspace. Especially, if you have just opened up. 

You become a jack of all trades automatically. You will have to communicate with the residents, keep an eye on renting hours of meeting rooms and hot desks. Your duties will include controlling membership of the residents, thinking about adding some benefits that could be used by the people who are working within your coworking. Plus, other administrative work. 

When you see that your business is growing, you should think about getting some partners and full-time employees. This decision will allow you to delegate the entire working process in your coworking space. 

Remember if you try to manage everything on your own, your efforts might harm your business. Apprise the feasibility of managing a workspace critically. 

Conclusion 

As already have been mentioned, any business has hidden pitfalls that you might face. Such a business is not an exception. There are plenty of mistakes that you can experience when it comes to planning, designing, managing, and opening your workspace. 

You have just got familiar with five basic mistakes that you must avoid building a coworking business. 

If you are working in this industry, feel free to share your personal stories with the mistakes you had to overcome.