As remote work has been so popular lately, so coworking spaces are also getting super popular. In the real estate industry, coworking space businesses have proven to be the fastest growing business.
In fact, the market for coworking space business in this sector is expected to grow to 30% by 2030. So if you are trying to come up with an innovative business idea, then you can consider starting a coworking space business.
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According to an article published by CNBC, more and more companies, even big name corporations like HSBC, Microsoft, and Dell are staffing their employees in coworking space hubs.
The reason? Coworking spaces allow individuals to grow their network, get innovative ideas, and feel more motivated at doing their job. Basically, a coworking space business allows employees from different companies (or freelancers from different backgrounds) to share an office space together. This allows them to cut down on rent costs, while also making new connections with people from different industries.
In this comprehensive guide, we are going to show you everything you need to know to get started. This might take a while, so grab yourself a cup of coffee and get ready to dive in.
The Post-Pandemic Future Of Coworking Space Businesses
While it is true that more and more professionals have switched to working remotely following the COVID-19 pandemic, experts believe that it is still possible for a coworking space business to succeed in the post-pandemic economy. After all, with so many employees and workplaces going remote, only large companies can afford to continue maintaining their headquarters and other branches.
For businesses that do not have the same financial resources, continuing to have a physical office while employees work from home is not feasible at all. And that’s where a coworking space business can succeed.
With a coworking space business, you can rent out meeting rooms on an hourly, monthly, or weekly basis to other small businesses. You can offer “hot desks” in locations that are closer to remote workers while following the mandatory cleaning and sanitizing protocols. For helping employees brainstorm and solve problems as a team, your coworking space business can offer “work labs” which others can rent on a monthly or weekly basis.
So if you are unsure if a coworking space business can thrive during a global pandemic, don’t worry. If you pick the right strategies and focus on the right groups, your coworking space business will succeed in the new normal world.
How To Start Your Coworking Space Business
Starting a coworking space business is a bit different from launching any other type of business. It helps if you remember the purpose of a coworking space. It is to create a space where people from different backgrounds can work on their own projects, interact and network together, and learn from each other. It is to help businesses become more mobilized and flexible.
So, when you are starting your coworking space business, it is important to come up with a proper first. Here’s a guideline to help you get started.
Focus On A Specific Community
The very first step when planning your coworking space business should be to decide which market you are going to target. Do you want to create a coworking space for freelancers from different industries? Or would rather focus on early startup businesses? Once you have decided which market you want to focus on, you will be able to figure out how to prepare the budget, determine locations, and other details.
Test The Waters First Before Expanding
Starting your own coworking space business does not necessarily have to be a big budget venture. You can follow Office Depot’s lead and test the waters first by offering a limited number of hot desks and see how much response you get. Once you receive a sufficient number of bookings or subscriptions, you can decide whether or not to expand your coworking space business.
Pick A Convenient Location
As mentioned earlier, once you know which market you want to focus on, you will be able to pick a location for your coworking space business. The right location should be a place that is convenient for your target market and easy to find. This does not necessarily mean you have to pick a spot in the city. For instance, if your targeted clients are NGOs who want to operate in remote areas, then you can consider setting up a coworking space in such locations if you have the right resources for it.
Scope Out The Competition & Research Your Rivals
The market for coworking space is one of the fastest and most dynamic in the commercial real estate industry. So you should be prepared to face some serious competition. Research how companies like WeWork became industry leaders in the coworking space business. You will find valuable insights by learning about their success and failure stories.
Get All Necessary Licenses & Permits
All businesses, even those that are not incorporated, must have all the mandatory permits and licenses to continue their work in the industry. This goes for a coworking space business as well. Depending on your location, you may need different permits and licenses. Do your research and make sure to get these permits as soon as you can.
Build A Stunning Website For Your Coworking Space Business On WordPress
In today’s digitally connected world, creating a website for your business is absolutely necessary. It’s the best platform to communicate with clients and show them what you have to offer.
Don’t worry, creating your coworking space website is not as difficult as it sounds. Nor does it have to be expensive. But first, you need to do a bit of preparing.
➡️ Get Your Own Domain & Hosting Provider On WordPress
The first thing you should do when building your coworking space website is to get your own domain and a managed hosting provider. This will help you look more credible to potential customers and also make it easier for you to establish your web presence and also ensure that your website is running smoothly.
➡️ Choose A Ready Template To Build Your Coworking Space Website
Why waste time building your coworking space website from scratch when you can use ready templates instead? If you don’t want to spend a fortune on hiring website designers or waste time on coding, you can use the page builder Elementor to create your coworking space website on WordPress with a single click.
Elementor is one of the most popular WordPress page builders. It comes with tons of cool widgets that you can drag and drop anywhere on your page. You won’t have to worry about coding or hiring web designers. Just insert any Elementor template you like, modify the content, and you are good to go.
If you want to go a bit further and make your website truly stand out, then you can also check out Essential Addons for Elementor. With this addon, you will get extra 70+ unique elements for Elementor to design your websites. Find out more in our complete beginner’s guide on using Elementor.
The best place where you can get a beautiful coworking space website template for Elementor is Templately. This is the ultimate templates library for Elementor with more than 900 free and premium templates. Templately also comes with bonus features like seamless cloud collaboration and cloud storage
With Templately you can get access to Space Hub, a stunning free template with which you can instantly create your coworking space business website. It will take less than 10 minutes. Let’s dive in!
Step 1: Insert Coworking Space Elementor Template
First, create a new page in your WordPress dashboard by navigating to Pages→ Add New. Once your page has been created, click on the ‘Edit With Elementor’ button at the top. This will load the Elementor Editor for you.
Once the Elementor Editor is done loading, all you have to do is click on the blue Templately icon. You should see a pop-up window open up from where you can search for the Space Hub template. Choose any of the premade pages you like and simply insert them into your site.
For this tutorial, we are going to start with the Space Hub Home Page. When the page template has been inserted, it will show up in the Elementor editor like this.
Keep adding more pages until you are happy with your coworking space business website. Once you are done adding the pages you want, it’s time to add your personal touch.
Step 2: Customize The Template Design
You can customize each of the pages in your coworking space business website and add your own style to them. To do this, simply use the Elementor Editor on your left-hand side and play around with the options in the ‘Content’ and ‘Style’ tabs.
Change the background color, images, typography, and more until you are happy with the look.
Step 3: Preview Your Coworking Space Business Website
One of the best features of Templately is that it lets you save your website design on its own cloud storage known as MyCloud. This is a great option that’s very useful in case you want a backup of your website design or reuse them again.
To save your coworking space website design to Templately, right-click on anywhere on the page and click on ‘Save Page To Templately’.
Just like that, you have created your coworking space business website. Amazing, isn’t it? If you want, you can preview your design to see how your coworking space website will look when it is finally published.
Choose The Right Pricing Structure
Now comes the part where you decide how to charge your customers. Remember, a coworking space business is ultimately a hospitality business. You are not only offering shared office space, you are offering benefits and values.
Keeping this in mind, you need to choose the right pricing structure for your coworking space business. Think of your target market’s defining characteristics, the location of your coworking space, and the amenities you will be providing. Then, you can offer club memberships on a monthly or annual basis. Membership for a fixed period of time will help you cover your costs and earn profits even when your amenities are not in use.
It’s always a good idea to offer different membership prices for different types of customers. This way you can target a wider range of potential customers and while also up-selling to clients who need more space, time, and extra amenities.
Skyrocket Revenues With These Tips & Tricks
So you have your paperwork ready, you have created a website for your coworking space business, and you have decided on a membership plan. What’s next?
Well, if you want to earn more revenues, then you need to go the extra mile to get the word out. The more people know about your business, the higher chances you have for getting and retaining clients. Here are some of our tips and tricks that might help you boost revenues for your coworking space business.
Participate In The Community & Grow Your Network
We’ve mentioned this before, but for any coworking space, community means everything. The whole point of getting a coworking space is to cut down on office rent costs and networking with people outside your organization. This could include Slack Workspaces, Facebook groups, Reddit threads, and more.
Leverage Social Proof To Gain More Clients
Another way to get more revenues for your coworking space business is by using social proof marketing. This is a strategy where you show your website visitors that other people are recommending your coworking space business. Since it is human nature to do what other people are doing, you can use social proof to convince potential clients to try your coworking space memberships.
With the help of NotificationX, you can leverage social proof by displaying stunning pop alerts on your website every time someone visits, recommends, or rates your coworking space business. You can even display sales notifications, review teasers, and Twitter tweets too.
With these simple tips and tricks, you can go a long way to help grow your coworking space business.
Wrapping Up
So now you have learned everything you need to know to start your own coworking space business. Now get out there, and create your coworking space business website.
We would love to hear your feedback. If you have found this guide helpful, let us know in the comments below, or subscribe to our blog for tutorials, news, and updates.
