Coworking online: An introduction

What are these virtual havens for entrepreneurs, business and freelancers? How do they work and why should you consider joining them? In this article we’ll take a look at the history and definition of coworking, how coworking online works and what its benefits could be to your business.

In short, a coworking space offers physical office space, with all the benefits thereof, but rentable on a desk-by-desk basis and shared with other freelancers, entrepreneurs and small businesses.

This development put office working within reach for many people who could not maintain premises of their own. Since then the model has become established and many coworking businesses have emerged, some growing to the size of unicorn tech companies.

The first official coworking space  was set up by Brad Neuberg in the Mission district of San Francisco in 2005. Straightforwardly named the San Francisco Coworking Space, it cemented the use of the term and associated it firmly with this type of physical space. The offering was intended “to maintain the freedom of working independently whilst providing the structure and community of working with others.”

Online coworking is an evolution of this model which allows individuals and businesses around the world to share a virtual space designed to offer the benefits of coworking to remote users.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several in-person coworking businesses transitioned towards or expanded to include this type of virtual coworking in an effort to continue supporting their client base despite the lockdowns most countries were enforcing.

A 2020 survey conducted by the UK government found that in April of that year 46.6% of people in employment were doing at least some of their work from home. It also found that of those people, 86% were doing so as a result of the pandemic. It is reasonable to assume, then, that in the lockdown there was a genuine need for this approach.

Now that workers are returning to offices, we are in the process of finding what the relevance of remote working will be in the future. Our attitudes to working from home have changed dramatically over the last two years, it seems that for many people it is an approach that is here to stay, either full- or part-time.

If that’s true, then online coworking is likely to stick around, too.

Much of the benefit afforded by traditional coworking spaces lies in their physical space and location. It is useful of course to have a place to go and work, which is equipped for that purpose and not full of the distractions of a living space. The delineation this offers can be beneficial to our mental health, too.

It is generally accepted that it’s unhealthy to allow work to invade the non-work aspects of our lives too much – having a place you can leave is a very simple and effective solution to this problem.

But there are softer benefits to coworking which also impact greatly on productivity, focus and mental health. These include community, networking, accountability, opportunity, learning and structure.

Coworking online can offer these benefits without a physical space, and comes with added flexibility of being able to join from anywhere in the world.

Online coworking spaces will usually address this through creative use of online resources and communication tools, such as messaging platforms, video calls, masterclasses and web apps.

Together these tools can keep an active community connected in a remarkably effective way, leading to valuable connections as well as increased productivity.

It may be important here to understand some of the common issues faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Freshbooks’ third annual Self-Employment in America Report suggest that the top skills required for small business or self-employment success (as perceived by the self-employed professionals and small business owners who responded to the survey) are:

• Communication
• Problem Solving
• Time Management

All aspects of the particular set of circumstances outlined above and aimed to be addressed by coworking, but these are very practical considerations.

Clear lines of communication – not to mention opportunities to communicate – can help with meaningful dialogue in the workplace and offer opportunities for problem solving through consultation and the comparison of experience.

Structured working and learning sessions can likewise offer solutions to time management issues. There are softer issues though which may well be just as important but do not feature so regularly in the language surrounding entrepreneurship as they might.

Isolation is an imposing aspect of working from home.

Even if you don’t live alone, we often need to detach ourselves to be able to focus, and can easily spend a whole day without interacting with anyone.

When there are no external cues from others it can be hard to intuit when to start or stop working, when to take breaks, and even whether we are working effectively. A well-managed virtual coworking space is set up to provide enough structure to alleviate this whilst also helping you filter out distractions and focus on priority tasks for healthy measures of time.

Virtual coworking spaces also often provide learning and networking opportunities, introducing members to one another and to guest experts, all of whom can provide context, inspiration and insight, and opportunities to socialize and relax together.

Open lines of communication can alleviate isolation, structured activity helps recreate the boundaries between work and non-work even in a home environment.

Having a strong and connected network allows for efficient problem solving. Namely in cases where your personal experience or skill set does not align with the issue you are currently facing.

Finally, working around others who share your experience of remote or home working provides accountability.

We start working together, we stop working together. It is much easier to focus and work productively if you know others are doing the same, and a conversation about what you’ve been doing is coming up.

If you are considering joining a virtual coworking space yourself, a list like this can be a good way to weigh up the benefits and offset them against cost and commitment. What follows here is a start, but your list is likely to be different, depending on where you are in your journey as an entrepreneur, and what you need the most support with.

• Network growth can result in an increase in sales.
• Encouragement and support to succeed as an SME.
• Flexibility to join online from any location.
• Accountability with regard to regular and productive working practices.
• Community and connection with other people going through similar things.

• You may need to bring a more proactive attitude to a virtual coworking space to get the most from it.
• You will still be working remotely, even if this is mitigated by virtual coworking.
• It will be easier to opt out and/or not show up. You will need to be disciplined.
• Virtual workspaces do not offer you a space in which to meet with clients and other professionals.
• A global online coworking space may operate in a timezone that is not the same as yours.

As with most things, there are benefits and drawbacks to opting for a virtual coworking space as a solution for your business, and ultimately whether it is the right decision or not will depend on your business, values and preferred working methods.

However, if you’re looking for a way to strengthen your network, hold yourself accountable, increase your productivity and fight the isolation and self-doubt associated with working remotely then signing up to a virtual coworking space may prove an effective and relatively simple solution.

A well-managed online workspace will be welcoming, and have a community of like-minded professionals ready and waiting for you to join.

This alone should be worth the membership fee, but most will offer plenty beyond this, including masterclasses, activities and socials. You’ll find that when you have a question there’ll be people to ask, and when you need a professional to help deliver something for one of your clients there will be people on hand to take those jobs on, as you will be for them too.

Allowing others into our process can help us feel more confident, more supported and more normal, even in our less successful moments.

A huge part of growth in business is the acquisition of experience and knowledge, and time spent with fellow professionals who are all on similar journeys really can offer learning opportunities we may not even know we needed.

It may be that online coworking is one way for you to achieve exactly that.