My coworking experience

Greetings to you, habrazhiteli!

One of our friends rents a workplace in the so-called instead of an office. coworking center and recently shared with us their experiences. Co - working is perhaps the most convenient format for freelancers, startups, start-up entrepreneurs, and all those who for one reason or another cannot or do not want to work at home, and are not ready to spend money on a full-fledged office. So, first-hand coworking experience:

- start of review -

“My name is Dmitry, I am a freelancer and aspiring entrepreneur, selling equipment from the USA via the Internet. My work tools are a computer and a desk. The absence of a rigid time frame, free schedule, the boss and the performer in one person - all this is about me ...

Like many freelancers, I can work from anywhere in the world, as long as there is Internet. As the simplest version of the workspace, I chose my own apartment. A place where there is communication with family, rest, sleep, entertainment and ... work. This has its advantages and disadvantages.
')
The advantages are that there is no need to spend money on renting an office, on travel, on the infrastructure of an office (Internet, furniture, office equipment) - because all this is already at home.

The downside is that there is no opportunity to share personal life and work. Sometimes it is simply impossible to find the strength to start working. The temptation to lie down on your favorite sofa, go to the kitchen and look in the fridge, chat with homework as a result leads to the fact that the work is interspersed with watching videos and chatting on social networks. I am sure many here recognize themselves :)

The setting and the surroundings greatly influence the working attitude. And if it comes to meeting with clients in real life, then one cannot do without a full-fledged working space. What to do? To rent an entire office, furnish it with appliances, hire a cleaning lady, set up security, investing a tidy sum at the initial stage and paying substantial monthly payments in the future? I, like most freelancers, simply have no money for it.



And if the office suddenly becomes unnecessary, the field of activity changes, there are temporary difficulties or vice versa, expansion of the company will be required when I am just starting and I do not know where my business will lead me?

Then the co-working center came to my aid . On Habré already wrote about coworking, in Russia they are just starting to appear, and I just found one of them in St. Petersburg.

This is a large office workspace where several independent freelancers, entrepreneurs, business start-ups and just creative people work. This is a joint room rental, which is much cheaper than renting the whole office alone in any business center.

The coworking in which I rent the workplace already has a ready infrastructure with its working spaces (tables, chairs, cabinets), fast and broadband internet, a kitchen, a bathroom, a coat rack, a meeting room, and a cleaning lady coming.

Speaking with modern and fashionable words, this is a complete outsourcing of my work environment - I just have to put the necessary documents in my personal locker, plug my laptop into any outlet and start working through the Wi-Fi network of the co-hosting center.



At the same time, I can freely use the landline telephone, kitchen, meeting room, large whiteboard for records, a projector, a printer, a scanner, a copier and a library with business and specialized literature. The 24-hour access to coworking allows me to flexibly plan my work schedule, building it up just as it is convenient for me.

What is especially nice is that I don’t have to worry about payments for Internet and electricity, monitor the availability of paper in the printer and the toilet, or run to the store for unexpectedly ended tea / coffee — the co-working administrators take on this headache, and I can safely concentrate on .

The working spirit of the team, united by common aspirations, does not allow "to score"
to work, relaxing for a toy or social networks. I liked the fact that the privacy issue of each member of the co-working center was also worked out quite well. No one will enter into projects without consent, "peep" or learn some confidential information. People who respect the privacy of every resident work here. Therefore, you can not worry about data security, which is important for me.



In addition to comfort in work , for me this center has also become a terrific communicative environment. Being surrounded by successful entrepreneurs, I had the opportunity to learn. In the evenings and on weekends, periodically various trainings, seminars and discussions take place, in which I, as a resident, can participate free of charge.

It is also a one-to-one conversation in which people help me on various issues, for whom this is a completed organizational stage. Here everyone is an expert in his field - lawyers and owners of online stores, representatives of the center for organizing trainings and an advertising and communications agency. All of them are residents, from whom you can learn and strive for the prosperity of your personal project - this is exactly what I'm working on.

After a busy working week, it is quite possible and necessary to rest. Another plus, which is hardly available at work at home or in your own office. This is watching movies on a big screen, these are regular games (Mafia, Monopoly and its analogs, Dixit, Alias ​​and others), these are creative gatherings with pizza and juice or tea and cookies, both in the co-working center and with guests by the guests.



Coworking gave me the opportunity to develop, find interesting and necessary people, expand my social circle, creatively implement, discover something new for myself, relax together and just work and work in a comfortable atmosphere in the city center. ”

- end of review--

Perhaps the review will seem to you too laudatory - well, we laid it out as it is, only slightly formatting and adding photos :) If someone has a different experience - write in the comments, it will be interesting to learn about the phenomenon of co-working from all sides .

The co-working center “Nevsky 132” in question is located in St. Petersburg, so we also visited it and, frankly, immediately fell in love with this place. If someone is interested, its founders are ready to share their experience of creating a coworking center from scratch. Now we are making plans to hold one of our events in SumIT.

By the way, every weekend in this coworking they play mafia and board games, as well as arrange movie screenings that anyone can get. You can learn more and sign up on their official VK page .

If you are looking for an office or you want to surround yourself with interesting people, then all the more you should look at the format of coworking. The following major SumIT event, which will be held from February 20 to March 13, will also feature free coworking.



Recall that SumIT is the first step towards creating your startup and in addition to fully equipped coworking, there will also be the help of iDealMachine start-up accelerator experts, daily seminars and workshops, the opportunity to present your project to investors.