When picking a location for your business, you can either go with traditional office or coworking spaces.  Each of these workstations has its share of pros and cons but the right space is based on the type of business that you are conducting, your production goals, and how you want your business perceived by your clients. If you are in the process of deciding what location is ideal for your business, here are the things that you need to know.

Traditional space versus coworking spaces

1. Layout and resources

Traditional office spaces are designed for productivity and will serve as the private headquarters of your company. Often, they may have a closed layout in the form of cubicles where your staff work without interference. They also have separate conference rooms where you can hold group meetings. Although, you have the liberty to open the space up to mimic coworking spaces. With traditional office spaces, you have total control over the resources used such as technology but you have to invest in them.

If you just moved to Colorado, you can easily find coworking space in Denver since they have become popular among remote workers in recent times. Compared to traditional office spaces, they are designed to have an open concept and the space available is shared by anyone hence no privacy. Resources such as printers and Wi-Fi are readily available and are meant to be shared among the space members meaning no one has control over them.

2. Networking

The beauty of traditional office spaces is that they provide fewer distractions and promote a professional work environment. Also, given that you rarely interact with people, it helps you keep off potential conflicts that may arise in the workplace and lower your output. These spaces encourage individual production in that there are no opportunities for collaboration and networking.

Coworking spaces on the other hand are built to promote collaboration, communication, and productivity. In such spaces, there is room for you to form a variety of networks that can open up a ton of opportunities for you. Unlike the traditional office, these spaces eliminate the urgency to make an impression and allow professionals to forge real relationships. Lastly, when you encounter a problem in your work, it is easy for you to find a professional with the expertise that you need to help you in a coworking space which eliminates the need to hire a consultant.

3. Branding

Branding is one of the strongholds of the traditional office space. From the moment you walk into the office, it encapsulates your brand which makes it easy for clients to distinguish you from other service providers. Branding also helps you create a lasting impression on consumers in that they will know what to expect from your company. These offices also present a professional client-facing environment where you can maintain the privacy and confidentiality of clients during meetings. Coworking spaces lack branding and are also not the best places for you to hold a meeting with potential clients especially when you want to present a professional image. This means that you will have to incur additional costs to hold a meeting with your clients elsewhere.

4. Office management

Traditional office spaces require that you hire a management team to oversee operations in the office. For small businesses that lack the resources to hire multiple staff, they may wind up having fewer staff who are expected to oversee projects while running and managing office matters. This may cause burnout and take away the focus from the core operations of your company.

Coworking spaces come with built-in management which means that you do not need to worry about hiring office staff to manage, clean the space, or troubleshoot tech issues. You also do not have to incur any costs to recruit and maintain the management team. This makes coworking a less expensive option compared to the traditional office space but it is still more expensive compared to working from home because you have to pay a fee to belong to this community.

Conclusion

When you are running a small-scale business or work as a lone freelancer, coworking spaces may be ideal for you. This is because you will save money, meet new people, and enhance your productivity. However, when you have a larger team that often meets with clients, you should opt for a private traditional work environment because they offer fewer distractions. Thus, depending on what your business model looks like, you will benefit from any of these spaces!

Martha Payne is a Personal Growth Coach with 10 years of experience working as a business development professional. She is truly passionate about nurturing talent and ideas that evoke transformative change in individuals, teams, and organizations. Her focus is to help organizations develop leaders for the future – unleashing the full talent, passion, and potential of individuals (in particular Millennials) through tailored leadership development and coaching programs.