Coworking is booming, and the demand for coworking spaces are at all-time highs as corporations, particularly those in the tech industry, adopt the innovative practice.
Coworking in a Nutshell
Coworking is a practice where individuals or corporations rent workspaces in a shared office setting. There are no cubicles or partitions, and coworking spaces have more free-flowing and informal settings. Coworkers are free to work in their own pace or take as many breaks as they want as long as they finish their allocated duties for the day.
Surprisingly, this unsupervised model increased the efficiency of coworkers. Coworkers performed better and were much happier than their counterparts stuck in the usual standard office settings. Corporations soon took notice, creating a boom in the coworking industry. From just around 2,000 in 2012, the number of coworking spaces around the world has now reached 20,000 — 5,000 of which are in the USA. Big tech giants like Google, Apple, Facebook, Verizon, and Microsoft now allocate part of their staff in established coworking spaces, and other large corporations are expected to follow their lead.
Reeling in Big Fish
If you want to invest in coworking, you need to reel in those corporate clients. Corporations will give you a steady source of coworking members as long as you can handle their numbers. Corporate clients will usually want to house their teams in a single coworking space, so you’ll need a suitably large location. You’ll need to invest in an area large enough to accommodate 50 or more people, and you should probably partner up with an established coworking brand.
A coworking franchise is a turnkey investment because once you join with a coworking brand, they do all the work for you. The brand takes a small cut of your profits, but this covers all of the operational expenses of your coworking space. You can go about your everyday life and receive your monthly dividends. Corporate clients are also more inclined to use the services of established coworking companies, as this gives them access to a whole network of coworking spaces around the world. Expect to invest around $30,000 to $50,000 in your coworking franchise — money you’ll probably earn back in 1-2 years.
Coworking Futures
Corporate clients take around 40 percent of coworking memberships; half of all companies in the USA are expected to use some form of coworking by 2020. Coworking spaces that cater to more than 50 members have proven to be quite successful, and more than 90 percent of such establishments have already turned generous profits. By next year, the number of people working in coworking spaces will reach 4 million. By 2022, that number will reach 5 million, and 1 million of them will be U.S. workers. The demand for coworking spaces is continually growing as more and more companies and corporations adopt the practice.
With access to corporate clients, a coworking franchise is a good investment. It provides a high return of investment while demanding little of your time and effort.