New business idea - What do you think?

[Statsanddata]

I'm thinking of setting up a new business.

If you are a remote worker or a freelancer...or basically anyone who works from home, would you work in a coworking space?

Whether it was every day, once week or a few times a month, or even sporadically, would it be something you would consider?

I'm thinking of somewhere with free tea and coffee, good internet, proper desks, good location, meeting rooms etc.

I've done some research and I think I can see more pros than cons, but wanted to ask people directly what they think about it.

Is there anything specific that would attract you to working in one or anything that would put you off?

Have you run the numbers? This isn't viable. It also isn't original. No.

Wouldn’t be keen in my field. Waaaaay
too many confidential conversations and meetings in HR to be done around strangers. I won’t even put my teams in rooms with other teams because it causes issues.

I think in order to make it stack up financially you’d have to either be at a price-point that would rule out a lot of one-person-band/freelancers, or you’d have to charge for coffee and meeting room hire in which case you’d have no differentiation over the dozens of other places that already do this, from dedicated office space companies to bigger coffee shops and even hotels.

There’s a reason why most businesses who get into this space are well-capitalised commercial property organisations.

On the other hand. In my other 50% work life I’m a personal trainer. What there is a shortage of — at least in my city — is studio space that can be rented out by the hour by PTs for client sessions. Because usually we’re not allowed in commercial gyms because they have their own PTs. For clients who don’t want to train outside, and don’t want the PT to come to their home, there should be well equipped places to go and train. Set something like that up, especially if there are a lot of freelance personal trainers in your area, and you might have a viable business.

It clearly can be a workable business - WeWork and others like it have been around for a while - but it doesn't appeal to me. I wfh because I enjoy working from my home, seeing my pets, greeting my daughter when she gets home from school, etc. Plus my work is confidential (lawyer).

Where did they say £10 a day?

A lot of companies do this near me but most do not include any parking and that puts me off. There is one with parking charging £25 per day and I tried it for a while however I was only the one ever in so I stopped doing it, it was no different than being home alone.

Thank you everyone so far.

Okay so don't worry about the setup costs because I have those covered. The numbers aren't the issue. It's more about what people would want.

I've looked into the local area and there aren't that many coworking spaces nearby. The ones there are have low google ratings or are Regus.

I'm interested in hearing what would help attract people to these sorts of spaces and what would be off putting.

The privacy issue is a concern, but I was thinking about offering lockable drawers with each desk so people can lock paperwork away throughout the day. Would that be useful? Headsets that can be rented? Phone booths for private calls?

If there was no parking available but it was in a location with strong transport links, would that be better?

Such places already exist but they aren't cheap to book a desk. I can't see it appealing to hybrid workers as they already have an office option (unless it was much more convenient to get to but personally I wouldn't pay to use a desk when my company provides them for free). The only person I know who uses such a space is self-employed and lived in a 1 bed flat so used it as an opportunity to get out of the house. Also, part of the reason for going into the office is networking / project opportunities / informal training and learning.....maybe if you could develop some of those sort of opportunities for self employed folk you might get more interest.

If the numbers aren’t the issue and making money isn’t your concern then surely it doesn’t really matter whether lots of people will use it or what they want? You’re just proposing a hobby business to occupy yourself with and if anyone comes to play at your hobby it’s a bonus on top.

You can’t seriously be proposing a business idea and then airily say “oh, the numbers aren’t an issue”, as if the brand of naice tea and parking are the main issues.

I personally love the idea, social aspect, good set up minus a huge commute. Good networking opportunity too potentially

It's not that at all. I'm just not prepared to discuss the financial aspect online. It is not a hobby business and it is important to attract people to use the space, hence me asking what would attract people to these spaces.

I just don't wish to discuss or disclose the financials of the business. These are in hand.

The ones without parking did have transport links but I didn’t want to log my laptop and everything on public transport.

The one I used (I did use it for a year) had a little coffee shop, more of a counter open 4 hours a day, but it was great because it had communal seating.

They also did events such as charity raffles, bake sales, also networking events which was really useful, I did use an IT chap who was also based in the building for things I needed on my website.

They also used to bring in local small business funding advisors for anyone who wanted to book a 1 on 1 once a quarter. The owners worked hard to get people on board, but not all really participated sadly.

I stopped using it because as it grew the internet connection couldn’t keep up and the phone signal got increasingly poor. Plus I used it once or twice a week and it seemed to be days many others didn’t. It ended up not worth the money.

We had the use of a locker which was useful.

Just a thought there is a dog friendly one but it has a waiting list!

I was using one in London for a bit pre-pandemic that was styled after a kind of greenhouse. Huge glass ceiling, loads of huge palms and musa plants etc. It was nice — very premium feeling, very airy, very green. Everything was recycled/recyclable and sustainable. Chair fabric made from reclaimed ocean plastics, that kind of thing.

Something like that would appeal to me.

Stonking fast wifi is a must. Even at peak load. Nothing would put me off faster than if the wifi was unstable, weak in certain parts of the building, or indeed slower than I’ve got at home.

Ah that's really interesting! Thank you!

I did, but I was talking about pubs and bars who are already open in the day and already have the amenities - so no set up costs for them, just extending the times out to 9/10am and paying a member of staff for those extra hours.

Someone sitting in a huge pub which has piles of empty tables (like my local - has in excess of 60 tables across 5 areas of the pub) by day could easily look to use this as a money maker. People will want lunch, upgraded coffees, cakes, snacks, a pint, packet of crisps etc. £10 for the basic package would get people in the door.

I didn't say I'd costed up the business model 😂

Ah I had thought about this but was worried about isolating some of the potential customers. People with allergies or non-dog lovers.

What about if it was dog friendly a couple days a week? Deep cleaned after the fact to remove all traces of dog hairs etc

Oh and I'm not in London. I'm in Cornwall. Lots of our local pubs are empty for most of the 9-5 day. Not everyone lives in St Ives with the tourist trade available to keep the pubs going. Lots of the more rural / non touristy locations are seeing their pubs go bust and IMO this kind of thing is an easy option for places like that.

I suspect the liklihood of this model working is actually reducing anyway as people like me have our models for WFH, so an additional cost now wouldn't be as appealing.

Sounds like you need to do some market research, but finding your target customers to do a survey on in the first place, might be tricky.
Where are these people currently working - home? If they already have the option to go into their office (at no cost to them) , why would they pay to use your space?
I can see it might appeal to the self-employed, freelancers etc.
Have you any idea how big the potential pool of customers is locally?
You've had some ideas of what might attract or repel people from this thread as a starting point. Good luck.

Sustainability is definitely important to us. I really like the idea about the chair fabric!

I agree re internet speed. Has to be able to be super fast and reliable even when building at capacity.

Would you be open to sharing the name of the one you used in London? The aesthetic sounds lovely!

My (global)!company has outsourced space in a local place like this so we can get together in a collaborative place when it suits us rather than always working from home remotely
Am essential feature as well as the pleasant environment and free teas, coffees, fridge, dishwasher, cleaner is the desk booking software.

I work hybrid and the main reason I have WFH days is to save money on commute/coffees etc. so I wouldn’t be interested in this, but perhaps self employed people might be

The one near me has parking and is right next to the train station/bus route. It does free tea/coffee and printing of a couple of pages (after that there is a charge). There are soundproof phone booths if you need a confidential phone call
I really like it but it a only just launched so we'll see if it lasts
Charges £20/day for one-offs, assume a membership works out cheaper if you use it regularly

As @OnceRuralNowUrbanbliss my company used a space like this in another part of the country where we don't have an office nearby but there are lots of remote workers. They meet up in it once a month, always get a high turnout. So I think that might be more of a market worth targeting than individuals?