Does coworking have the right to live in Russia?
- cross post from my blog
Coworking is good for those freelancers who are able to pay for co-working center services, but do not want to work at home. If we speak more simply and clearly, then this is an opportunity to get out of our four walls, in which the freelancer sits for days on end.
There are several reasons for not wanting to work at home:
However, these are only advantages; there are also disadvantages, which are often so subjective that it is no use to list them. However, I’ll tell you about some of them:
Then I decided not to suck the information out of my finger, but to turn to the creator of one of the co-working centers in St. Petersburg. We meet Alexey Found!
Hello, please introduce yourself.
Hey. My name is Alexey Found, I'm 21 years old. I used to work as a programmer, and now I’m developing a co-working center, freelancing and at the same time doing my own web projects.
')
What is your coworking center called?
It is called the New Level, that is, the "New Level". I wanted to emphasize that co-working is a new level of work for a freelancer.
Tell me about coworking center?
Initially, we conceived our coworking center as a haven for secured freelancers - and the tariffs, and the level of service were prepared just for this. We proceeded from the fact that in five million St. Petersburg to find 40 people who can afford to pay 8-10 thousand for renting a workplace in the co-working center is quite real. Practice has shown that this is not the case: the vast majority of freelancers either earn enough money to afford such “luxury” or earn enough, but save money for the development of their own companies, projects, etc.
As a result, after the first week of work, we received only a couple of clients and decided to urgently change the concept of work. Now co-working in New Level is available to almost everyone: the first month of work costs 1000 rubles, the second and the next from 2500. Of course, any mass service requires some sacrifices in terms of comfort, so now we can hardly provide the level of quality of service that we had before ( although we will try to do it).
In addition, I must say that New Level is now working in some kind of "beta mode" - firstly, not everything is still completely ready (for example, our furniture supplier 2 days before the opening said that he would not be able to bring all the chairs but only 10 pieces. As a result, we now have about 20 seats in the office - 10 chairs and 12 chairs, but soon they promise to deliver everything), and secondly, the beta mode means that we are happy to receive feedback and suggestions from visitors , customers and just interested people. So far, you can change a lot and we are ready to change it. How, however, and supplement :)
How many organizers of this center are in a team?
My wife and I are organizing. Sometimes friends and acquaintances help us :)
How was the idea to create such a center?
The idea was born in February-March after reading posts on Habrahabr. Before that, I had not heard of anything of the kind, but here I saw an interesting idea that was not implemented in our country. So born :)
Are you planning to make a profit from this?
I plan to first pay back my investments (somewhere in a year or two and a half), and then receive money, which should be enough so that I can afford to engage in my projects and wait until they become profitable. I do not see the coworking center as a business that will provide me a comfortable old age. Rather, it will help not to die of hunger :)
How to solve the issue with the laws? Legal entity registered?
Naturally registered. This moment caused a very strong delay in the opening of the co-working center. At first it was necessary to register New Level LLC, then open a bank account for it, and only then it was possible to order furniture, computers, the Internet, etc.
How are things with the staff? Cleaners, security, administrators?
The cleaning lady and the security we provide the owner of the premises. I found administrators among my acquaintances - we have 5 people who are on duty at the office around the clock. There is also a system administrator with whom I met on the same Habrahabr and, in fact, everything.
What problems have you encountered? What decided, what else is not?
There were a lot of problems. At first it was necessary to find a suitable room - we wanted an office that can be accessed around the clock, which is located in a more or less central part of the city, and so on. At the same time, each potential landlord had to explain for a long time what co-working was :) Some premises that were ideally suitable for us “broke down” precisely because in the end landlords said they were afraid to work with people who are engaged in things they don’t understand :)
Then, finding a suitable place, we had a long talk with the owners of the premises about the redevelopment, then we looked for furniture that could be placed with the greatest efficiency and at the same time spend an adequate amount of money. Problems remained until now - for example, we still can not spend an inexpensive Internet. We are considering options for WiMax, WiFi from the next room, etc., but so far have not found anything - we have to use the services of the expensive wired monopolist: (
Do you think coworking will be delayed in Russia, or will the fashion trend end?
The question is complicated. So far, co-working in Russia is mostly beautiful blog posts, links to foreign articles and announcements from the “we are opening soon” series. Therefore, it is difficult to say something definite now. In any case, I do not think that coworking, as an idea in its present understanding, will live longer than 3-5 years. Sooner or later, it is transformed into something else, close in meaning, but with important differences.
For example, I am very impressed with the idea of ​​a co-company, which has already appeared in the West. But at the moment, it seems to me, it is impossible with us. Co-company implies the absence of management, that is, the interaction of the customer directly with a group of freelancers. I am afraid that our reality of work does not allow us to abandon the manager “with a baton”, although gradually, with the development of a culture of business relationships, I am sure everything will be possible.
Alexey Nayden, coworkzone.ru
It is easy to see that the coworking movement in Russia has to overcome a lot of obstacles, starting with the legal framework and ending with suppliers. And this is not counting quite normal problems with the creation and organization of the center itself. As it seems to me, the coworking movement in Russia will not have time to become popular. However, this does not mean that it is not claimed.
In the States, employers often pay for coworking centers for their teleworkers. And not only in the field of IT.
In Russia, no one will ever do this. We also have serious, for example, publishing houses, which have no office at all, for lack of need (greetings, Mann, Ivanov and Ferber publishing house).
Perhaps it is precisely this direction that is the logical continuation of the movement of coworking. With the development of communications technologies, in the future, the need for offices, as in the workplace, will disappear. At least I want to hope so.
What is coworking for the end user?
Coworking is good for those freelancers who are able to pay for co-working center services, but do not want to work at home. If we speak more simply and clearly, then this is an opportunity to get out of our four walls, in which the freelancer sits for days on end.
There are several reasons for not wanting to work at home:
- Man is a social being, and he needs communication. It is difficult to sit and work all day alone, only in the evenings (or nights) getting out to the bar or to the disco. This coworking is very convenient. It is enough to take a freelance friend with you, and the atmosphere is created and it is more pleasant to work, you can always offer to go for coffee or smoke in the fresh air, discussing a couple of lines of code along the way that they don’t want to work as they should.
- Difficult situation at home. Perhaps the freelancer is renting a room in an apartment where the owner has five cats and thirteen guinea pigs. Well, or quite a true story - a small child simply does not allow to concentrate. Or one more - mother-in-law came to visit. In this case, the co-working center is a good decision, headphones are on your head, and no one will touch you with requests and errands.
- Communication problems. A freelancer can live in a new area, where the provider is essentially one, and the quality of communication is disgusting. And here the co-working center will help the freelancer, because the co-working center with a bad communication channel is doomed to death, not yet opened.
- Work in a coworking center motivates. In my experience as a freelancer, I can say that I could calmly take a break for a few hours during the day for some nonsense, catching up with the schedule at night. In the center, the atmosphere itself drives, without giving the number of temptations that are at home. However, nothing prevents to hammer to work and in the coking center. But then the question should be put differently - does the freelancer work for you at all?
- The opportunity to meet with the customer in neutral territory. Naturally, you can come to the customer to the office, meet in the park or go to the cafe. But the meeting room does not replace any of the above. The atmosphere of the hall (or room) for negotiations will help to hold a meeting more thoroughly and constructively. And just more civilized and solid.
- The presence of either a cafeteria or an inexpensive cafe near the coworking center reduces the time for cooking, washing dishes, etc. In the end, you ate for 250 rubles, spending half an hour. The house turns out more. The time saved, suppose at the end of the month, is formed in good hours, and therefore in your profit. At home, I can not do it - next to my house I have only one tavern, with not very reasonable prices.
However, these are only advantages; there are also disadvantages, which are often so subjective that it is no use to list them. However, I’ll tell you about some of them:
- Road. You may be lucky, and one of the few co-working centers will be not so far away from you. And it may be at the other end of the city.
- Security. You never know what will come to the head of any freelancers who work in the center for the third time.
- Attachment to the place. Suppose you paid for your workplace for a month, but you appear there less often, every other day. Paying with such a deal is irrational.
- Equipment. You probably don’t have a laptop (I don’t have it now), but working on someone else’s machine, installing the necessary software and so on can be beyond your strength. Especially in a car that you are given for rent, you will not be allowed to install pirated software.
- Guarantees. Where is the guarantee that the center will not be sealed tomorrow?
Features of co-working centers in Russia
Then I decided not to suck the information out of my finger, but to turn to the creator of one of the co-working centers in St. Petersburg. We meet Alexey Found!
Hello, please introduce yourself.
Hey. My name is Alexey Found, I'm 21 years old. I used to work as a programmer, and now I’m developing a co-working center, freelancing and at the same time doing my own web projects.
')
What is your coworking center called?
It is called the New Level, that is, the "New Level". I wanted to emphasize that co-working is a new level of work for a freelancer.
Tell me about coworking center?
Initially, we conceived our coworking center as a haven for secured freelancers - and the tariffs, and the level of service were prepared just for this. We proceeded from the fact that in five million St. Petersburg to find 40 people who can afford to pay 8-10 thousand for renting a workplace in the co-working center is quite real. Practice has shown that this is not the case: the vast majority of freelancers either earn enough money to afford such “luxury” or earn enough, but save money for the development of their own companies, projects, etc.
As a result, after the first week of work, we received only a couple of clients and decided to urgently change the concept of work. Now co-working in New Level is available to almost everyone: the first month of work costs 1000 rubles, the second and the next from 2500. Of course, any mass service requires some sacrifices in terms of comfort, so now we can hardly provide the level of quality of service that we had before ( although we will try to do it).
In addition, I must say that New Level is now working in some kind of "beta mode" - firstly, not everything is still completely ready (for example, our furniture supplier 2 days before the opening said that he would not be able to bring all the chairs but only 10 pieces. As a result, we now have about 20 seats in the office - 10 chairs and 12 chairs, but soon they promise to deliver everything), and secondly, the beta mode means that we are happy to receive feedback and suggestions from visitors , customers and just interested people. So far, you can change a lot and we are ready to change it. How, however, and supplement :)
How many organizers of this center are in a team?
My wife and I are organizing. Sometimes friends and acquaintances help us :)
How was the idea to create such a center?
The idea was born in February-March after reading posts on Habrahabr. Before that, I had not heard of anything of the kind, but here I saw an interesting idea that was not implemented in our country. So born :)
Are you planning to make a profit from this?
I plan to first pay back my investments (somewhere in a year or two and a half), and then receive money, which should be enough so that I can afford to engage in my projects and wait until they become profitable. I do not see the coworking center as a business that will provide me a comfortable old age. Rather, it will help not to die of hunger :)
How to solve the issue with the laws? Legal entity registered?
Naturally registered. This moment caused a very strong delay in the opening of the co-working center. At first it was necessary to register New Level LLC, then open a bank account for it, and only then it was possible to order furniture, computers, the Internet, etc.
How are things with the staff? Cleaners, security, administrators?
The cleaning lady and the security we provide the owner of the premises. I found administrators among my acquaintances - we have 5 people who are on duty at the office around the clock. There is also a system administrator with whom I met on the same Habrahabr and, in fact, everything.
What problems have you encountered? What decided, what else is not?
There were a lot of problems. At first it was necessary to find a suitable room - we wanted an office that can be accessed around the clock, which is located in a more or less central part of the city, and so on. At the same time, each potential landlord had to explain for a long time what co-working was :) Some premises that were ideally suitable for us “broke down” precisely because in the end landlords said they were afraid to work with people who are engaged in things they don’t understand :)
Then, finding a suitable place, we had a long talk with the owners of the premises about the redevelopment, then we looked for furniture that could be placed with the greatest efficiency and at the same time spend an adequate amount of money. Problems remained until now - for example, we still can not spend an inexpensive Internet. We are considering options for WiMax, WiFi from the next room, etc., but so far have not found anything - we have to use the services of the expensive wired monopolist: (
Do you think coworking will be delayed in Russia, or will the fashion trend end?
The question is complicated. So far, co-working in Russia is mostly beautiful blog posts, links to foreign articles and announcements from the “we are opening soon” series. Therefore, it is difficult to say something definite now. In any case, I do not think that coworking, as an idea in its present understanding, will live longer than 3-5 years. Sooner or later, it is transformed into something else, close in meaning, but with important differences.
For example, I am very impressed with the idea of ​​a co-company, which has already appeared in the West. But at the moment, it seems to me, it is impossible with us. Co-company implies the absence of management, that is, the interaction of the customer directly with a group of freelancers. I am afraid that our reality of work does not allow us to abandon the manager “with a baton”, although gradually, with the development of a culture of business relationships, I am sure everything will be possible.
Alexey Nayden, coworkzone.ru
It is easy to see that the coworking movement in Russia has to overcome a lot of obstacles, starting with the legal framework and ending with suppliers. And this is not counting quite normal problems with the creation and organization of the center itself. As it seems to me, the coworking movement in Russia will not have time to become popular. However, this does not mean that it is not claimed.
In the States, employers often pay for coworking centers for their teleworkers. And not only in the field of IT.
In Russia, no one will ever do this. We also have serious, for example, publishing houses, which have no office at all, for lack of need (greetings, Mann, Ivanov and Ferber publishing house).
Perhaps it is precisely this direction that is the logical continuation of the movement of coworking. With the development of communications technologies, in the future, the need for offices, as in the workplace, will disappear. At least I want to hope so.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/27081/
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