Are you looking for a change in the way you work this New Year?
Are you wanting a better home/work life balance?
Do you feel isolated and disconnected?
If this is you, have you considered Coworking?
Coworking can help you create a better routine and in turn, help with your work/life balance enabling you to be productive in your work, whilst meeting like-minded people. Collaboration with others from all areas of industry, who have a similar mindset of being hard working, enthusiastic, dedicated and goal orientated can only be beneficial. Working and communicating with others is one of the main reasons people choose to cowork and maintaining one’s own work identity is important.
Within a coworking office high achieving professionals are working in different business fields, with their own skills and goals, and as a result there is little direct competition or internal politics within a coworking office, but respect and a willingness to share information to help each other succeed. There will be many in the office with a wealth of information. What better way to network and collaborate?
That little piece of information from someone may just help your business move forward. Socialisation and interaction however, should never be forced, and some may interact less than others but just by having the opportunity to connect with others, enables everyone to feel part of the community. Chatting over a coffee or at dinner break is an ideal time for taking some time away from the workstation and for getting to know others and here at Cromford Creative we have a very comfortable Creative Lounge within which to ‘break out’ and relax or meet a guest. Tea and coffee is provided. Our popular on-site cafes produce beautiful home cooked food and the scones are a must! All this in beautiful historic surroundings and within the countryside.
The difficulties of working from home are well known.
Do you fall into the trap of working in pyjamus or your onesie, or is your workflow constantly disrupted as the need to load the dishwasher or hang the washing out takes priority? Are there too many distractions when the children come home from school or nursery, or maybe you are having to completely breaking off from work to do the school run? Pets as lovely as they are, can be a distraction too. How many have a cat that as soon as the laptop comes out they decide to walk across or sit on it, just to let you know that they are there and want your undivided attention!
Then there is that continual popping to the fridge for that extra snack. It is also well known that for so many working from home, the kitchen table is used as an office space. Not an ideal way to make you feel empowered and professional. Trying to work in the local coffee shop has disadvantages too. How can you create that professional image when your phone calls have the noises of the coffee shop in the background. Trying to concentrate and work in a small area and making that cup of coffee last, is all but ideal.
People value autonomy, however, too much can cause disruption in your working life if there is not enough structure in the working day. Being part of a coworking community creates discipline and a feeling of stability.
It is for these reasons that many business professional are looking for a different option and coworking may be the way forward. If you are requiring a well established, comfortable and warm office from which to work, with superfast broadband and you don’t want the expense and lease involved with an independent rented office then come and trial our coworking space at Cromford Creative. It could also be that financially it makes sense if you are heating your house just to enable you to work from home too?
How often and when you work is entirely up to you, which is beneficial to achieving your work/life balance. It could be on an ad hoc daily basis, 2 or 3 times a week for example, or full time.
You may wish to ‘hot desk‘ whereby you choose a desk from which to work each time you come in to work, or you may like a ‘fixed desk‘ whereby you rent the desk as your own and leave your equipment there, ready to use when next in. This desk is used only by yourself. We are very flexible and you can have access to the office 24/7 should you require. This enable you to work late to meet that deadline, or pop to the gym during lunchtime.
Each coworker community has it’s own vibe and since asking our coworkers what they would like to see within their coworking space, it was suggested by a few that we open up the space. Since this meeting the two coworking offices have been opened into one large space, allowing a nice communal feel. It is well known that the work environment is conducive to productivity and it is important that coworkers have a say in how they would like their space to feel. It is said that working in a coworking community can help individuals create a sense of structure and discipline that inspires them.
Perhaps this is the right time to give coworking a try. It may be one thing this year that you don’t look back on and you wish you had tried before.