
Living the lonely solopreneur life? Why not try co-working? - Brajeshwar
https://medium.com/im-a-freelancer/25ba8109839b
======
mixmixmix
Is it me, or is there absolutely no "depth" in these medium articles?

This content isn't any more thought provoking than the content you find in any
mainstream magazine at an airport kiosk.

~~~
Udo
That stupid, unrelated supermodel picture on top was the first signal, and to
be honest I stopped reading about halfway through. Reminds me of this piece:

 _The Problem With Medium: A Shiny Content Farm is Still a Content Farm_

[https://medium.com/writers-on-
writing/336300490cbb](https://medium.com/writers-on-writing/336300490cbb)

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moron4hire
I would, if'n all of the places in my area were more interested in helping
people in the long run rather than extracting every last dollar out of them in
the short run. I can't really justify taking on the equivalent of an
_expensive car_ payment, when I'm in need of taking on an _actual_ car
payment.

ME: "How do you justify these rates, for packing 50 people in this space, when
I could just get 5 of my friends together to split the rent on the same size
of place for this much?"

THEM: "Well, we plan on eventually offering billing and front-desk phone
services."

ME: "So you don't offer them now?"

THEM: "No."

ME: "And yet you're still charging for it?"

THEM: "No, it would be free."

ME: "TANSTAAFL".

Note that I actually am in the processing of getting said 5 friends together
to split a place. I'm just going to make a community "workshop" style place,
let people use it as they see fit, charge a nominal fee to keep the bills
paid, and have myself an office in the process.

~~~
mercer
I'm considering a similar thing. Do you know of any resources on do's and
don'ts when setting something like that up?

~~~
roel_v
Do's: forget about it. Don't: actually go through with it.

Running a co-working office is not just leasing an apartment, giving 5 people
a key to it and ping them once a month to deposit 200$ in your account or the
cookie jar on the kitchen table. I've watched this happen from fairly close
twice now, and here is a selection of what is involved:

\- Internet/telephony. One residential internet point with a wireless router
isn't that big a deal, granted, especially when the people working there are
tech-savvy. But you very quickly get to the point where somebody needs a fax
(government contracts yay!), a reliable line to Skype while that other guy is
pulling in a new Redhat iso ('DD-WRT can do that!' sure, if your time is
free), needs a way to have phone calls go to an answering machine, or if you
need to decide on a system who will answer whose phone when people have
varying work schedules. Everybody cell phone only, no-guarantee internet - it
probably works in some circumstances, sure, but you hit the limit sooner than
you think.

\- Rent is not the only cost - you need to divide electricity, water,
municipal taxes, garbage costs. Can easily add a double-digit percentage to
the base rent.

\- Who's going to do the cleaning? Put out the garbage? Call the land lord
when the toilet is clogged? Answer the door for that client that you thought
was coming at 9h30 but came at 9h (happened to me this morning)? You can pay
somebody for all of this, but it'll add to the cost. Some people will want to
do it themselves, others will want to pay somebody - now what? Resentment
creeps in easily.

\- One person decides to get a regular job, or to go on holidays for 3 months,
or doesn't make enough to pay rent. Now you have to scramble to fill that
spot, or jack up the price of the rest. If you're connected enough that
sending out one email will provide you with enough reliable candidates, great
- otherwise enjoy spending an afternoon posting ads online, showing people
around, interviewing them to at least have the impression that they won't rob
you or leave you high and dry with the bill after 3 months.

\- Or somebody wants to hire a secretary or other staff. Now what? Labor law
rules, higher and more insurance, parking issues, and no more 'I can just
leave my wallet and 2000$ laptop here cause I know and trust everybody',
that's what.

All in all, what you can save over a commercial co-working arrangement (which,
yes, are expensive) is in using hobby-level equipment (no Cisco switches and
IP phones, only the cheapest from Newegg, and Ikea over Aeron); and the profit
they make. That profit isn't all that huge, although in a small team you do
have the advantage of being at full capacity as long as you have tight
arrangements. Co-working spaces go bust all the time, not because they're so
expensive, but because doing enough business for economies of scale to kick in
is hard in a space that doesn't require much except capital to get into. So in
my experience, you can bring the cost down from 500-700/month to 300-400/month
plus depreciation of the chair and desk.

~~~
moron4hire
This is true if you make it a business. If you make it a cooperative non-
profit, I think it makes a lot more sense. The rule of the land should be "for
the members, by the members". I, being one of the members, want it for office
space to do other things. It's important to still do those other things and
not let management of the space take over.

Standing something up is always going to be hard, but given my experiences
with cooperative workshops, it's worth the effort on its own.

------
7Figures2Commas
> As a freelancer, it is possible that you could stay cooped in your bedroom
> for days in your pajamas, staring at your laptop screen, trying to finish
> that oh-so-important project for your irate client. You could go for days
> without meeting a human soul or even talking to anyone.

> A life of such isolation is detrimental to mental health and well-being, and
> eventually leads to serious health problems like depression and anxiety.

As an employee, it is possible that you could stay cooped in the office until
11:00 pm every night, staring at your laptop screen, trying to get everything
done for that oh-so-important release. You could go for days without
meaningful interaction with a human soul or even talking about something other
than code.

A life of such isolation would be detrimental to mental health and well-
being...if it wasn't for the fully-stocked fridge, ping pong table and
knowledge that your stock options will one day be worth millions.

------
mindcrime
We're a self-funded, boot-strapping startup, so conserving cash is pretty
important to us. I could pay to use a co-working space, but the value just
doesn't seem to be there for me. When I want to be around other people, I go
work at the cafe at Barnes & Noble near my apartment, or at SplatSpace
(hackerspace in Durham), or Beyu Cafe (a popular restaurant in Durham, which
is popular with the startup set here), or something of that nature.

When co-working space would be valuable to me, would be when we start needing
a private space for meetings (ie, a conference room) on a relatively frequent
basis. And even then, I'm not sure we couldn't come up with a better
arrangement. Depends on how much the local co-working place is charging and
what kinds of models/plans they have in place.

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mkrecny
I dealt with the loneliness by holding my own mini-incubator inside a co-
working space. It ran for one month as an experiment and I have mixed feelings
about it. Post about the experience here:

[http://edu.mkrecny.com/thoughts/not-having-a-real-
job](http://edu.mkrecny.com/thoughts/not-having-a-real-job)

------
frankdenbow
Co-working spaces don't solve this on their own, as its just as easy to be
lonely when you're in an office and everyone around you is caught up in
running their own business. Its more about how the space can facilitate
conversations between people.

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cafard
Solopreneur? I remember 'entre' from French class, but most have slept through
the session in which they covered the preposition 'solo'. Or is it a solocism?

