What is Co-working Space?

Co-working space, is essentially a shared office environment where professionals and freelancers (often, but not always, in related industries) work together in the same space, swap ideas and resources, enjoy social interaction, and all at a price that is generally much more affordable that the alternatives.

The co-working concept has proved to be particularly appealing for creative based professionals, such as web and graphic designers, PR consultants, copy writers, and marketing freelancers.

Co-working is ideal for freelancers and self-employed who have found that the realities of working from home aren’t quite what they had expected. Home based workers can face issues such as isolation, lack of networking and fewer opportunities for collaboration. It can also be very difficult for solo workers to find office space for just one person at a price they can afford, while traditional serviced office facilities may be too expensive and impersonal.

One significant advantage of co-working over traditional office space lease arrangements is that a long-term commercial lease or full-serviced office rental arrangements are not normally required, so the shared office space may be available for as long (or short) as you need.

Co-working in the USA

Co-working is alive and well in the US, with a variety of different shared spaces available – including the well known co-working spaces Citizen Space and the Hat Factory in San Francisco and various other shared office services in other US cities. Co-working in the US has been described as “offering a techie twist on the age-old practice of artists or writers teaming up to rent studio space“.

Co-working catches on in Australia

Co-working is now also catching on in Australia.  As a direct result of a growing demand from self-employed creatives and freelancers to have an affordable workspace away from home, spaces are opening in many capitals, including Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane.

Some shared office spaces, like Melbourne co-working space OpenHub (www.openhub.com.au), were started by companies looking to share the cost of office space.  OpenHub offers a variety of different services – from a one off use of a meeting room (@$120) to a Full-time dedicated desk space (@$600).  OpenHub even offer a Free service for Co-workers associated with charity based projects.

Water Street Studio (www.waterstreetstudio.com.au) in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, provides desk space in an airconditioned office, with internet, electricity and access to a meeting room / boardroom included. They offer shared office space from just $150 per week  for a minimum 3 month term, with no bond or formal lease required.

Shared Office Listings

Online services such as SpaceOut (www.spaceout.com.au) also provide information about office space for rent, and regularly have listings for shared office space in many areas throughout Australia.

Whether you are searching for shared office space or would like to make a little extra income by renting out your spare office space , the co-working concept seems destined to be a trend that will continue to grow.

If you’ve not yet heard of Pitch Club – it is an organisation that runs events Australia wide – where Entrepreneurs, Startup Businesses and Ventures (many looking for investment) have an opportunity to “pitch” their business idea.

At the event  9 ventures (and 1 ‘Lucky pitch’ drawn on the night) get an opportunity to step into a miniature boxing ring where they have 90 seconds to ‘pitch’ the concept of their business to a crowd of investors, business angels, VCs and other entrepreneur enthusiasts. Then 3 or 4 finalists (selected through group voting) have 5 more minutes with the audience before the winner is chosen by all.

This was Brisbane’s second Pitch Club event (the first was held in March this year) and the evening was a great success.  I had the opportunity to present the “SpaceOut concept” to a focused group of approximately 100 of South East Queensland’s entrepreneurs, investors and business advisers, and had a chance to chat and network with many of them as well.

Whilst 90 seconds is very little time to get the concept across, – I found it to be a very worthwhile exercise having to reduce the 5 minutes of things that I simply” had” to say down to a mere minute and a half.

I was not completely happy with my pitch on the night – fumbled and bumbled a little, and didn’t quite get to say everything that I wanted to, but I did manage to get the overall concept across, and had a lot of very interesting discussions with a wide range of people later in the evening.

My pitch can’t have been all bad, because I was  awarded a “prize”  to attend a business development seminar to be run by QUT Creative Enterprises, and provided with an opportunity for a couple of hours face to face consulting.  As a direct result of this pitch -and subsequent networking, I’ve also managed to schedule a few other meetings over the next few weeks and feel so much more informed about some of the great opportunities for developing innovation and small business in Qld.

All in all a great night, resulting in lots of fabulous opportunities and outcomes for the future development ands growth of SpaceOut.

Watermelons are big and bulky and the round shape makes them awkward to store, ship, and keep in your fridge. More than 20 years ago, a clever Japanese farmer took a lateral look at this problem and came up with a unique solution.

By growing the watermelons in square, tempered glass cases, they naturally adopt the cube shape as they grow.  Perhaps this has reduced shipping and storage costs, but these melons sell for 3 or 4 times the price of a normal melon in Japan, so you would definitely be paying a premium for the novelty value.

If you’ve got a melon patch out the backyard, and would like to give this a try yourself, here is a step by step guide to growing your own square watermelon.