What are the benefits of coworking spaces? Well, many small business owners are able to significantly cut costs by starting their businesses out of their homes. This often makes the difference between dreaming of starting a business and making it a reality. But while there are a lot of perks that come with working from home, it’s not without compromise. Working from home can be isolating; it can be boring and uninspiring to face the same four walls everyday; and it can be challenging to find work/life balance when you live and work in the same environment.

One way to make the most of a work-from-home arrangement is to look for coworking spaces you can use on a regular basis. If you haven’t explored coworking, learn more below.

The Benefits of Coworking Spaces

The Watercooler Effect

Coworking offers up a chance to create your own water cooler where you can add a social element to your day. Having opportunities for some downtime and a connection to others can do wonders for your productivity and your psyche. Not to mention it can help you keep your people skills sharp, even if you work alone.

Reduced Overhead Expenses

The fees incurred for using a space in a coworking facility are more cost-efficient that what it would cost to rent an office space. In fact, in many cases, coworking can even keep your home office expenses to a minimum. It may be financially worth it to give your home office a break a few days a week.

Inspiration

One of the best benefits of coworking spaces is that they merges together people from different companies with different background and experiences, all working on different projects. Having this vast breadth of experience lays the foundation for learning, growth and inspiration.

Networking Opportunities

Coworking spaces are culturally collaborative, so even though you may not be there to share work with your office mates, there may be opportunities to create future projects. You may find that you can create networking opportunities with those you work with, resulting in referrals, customer leads, and even new job opportunities.

Where to Find Coworking Spaces

The benefits of coworking sound pretty good, don’t they? To find a coworking space near you, here are seven resources to check out as you start your search:

WeWork – 90 physical locations in 28 cities
ShareDesk – A network of over 4500 venues all over the world
Regus – 550 U.S. locations as well as 3,000 other locations worldwide
LiquidSpace – Workspaces and meeting rooms available in over 500 cities across the U.S., Australia, and Canada
Coworkrs – Coworking locations in New York City
NextSpace – A coworking community with locations in California
Desktime – 30 coworking spaces in Chicago