Are you a start-up deciding where to base your operations? Or has your existing business outgrown its current location?
You’ll have a lot of questions as you look for a new workplace. What can you afford? What’s the best location for your customers to find you? What about your commute? But there’s another important question you must remember to ask yourself: Who do I want as my neighbors?
It’s tempting to think of your business as a self-contained unit, but no man (or woman, or company) is an island. The organizations you surround yourself with can have more of an effect than you think on your business, your staff, your productivity and your chance of success. Read on for just five of the reasons you should locate your workplace close to other successful businesses.
#1 You can share resources and cut costs
Sharing space with other businesses – whether that’s through a co-working arrangement or simply an office complex – almost certainly means you’ll be able to afford more, higher-quality, and better-located accommodation than you would on your own.
Not only will you be able to save on rent and other overheads like energy bills, maintenance, service fees and insurance, but depending on the space and the arrangement you have with them you may also be able to share printing facilities, broadband costs, physically space (eg through hot-desking) and even administrative staff.
This saving on start-up costs can open up a whole world of opportunities you’d never be able to consider alone, particularly if your business is just starting out or if you’re making the difficult transition away from your home office.
#2 All the networking opportunities you can handle
Being in close proximity to other companies can lead, quickly and efficiently, to professional partnerships. Your next client could be sharing your elevator every morning, or queuing behind you for coffee!
Even if the other businesses around you are in completely different industries, you can benefit from the connections and unique skill sets of their staff – how often do you wish you could pick the brains of a successful lawyer for five minutes or an accountant? Working amongst other businesses provides you with a microcosm of a busy city with whom you can network in your lunch hour.
#3 You can avoid the pitfalls of lone working
If you’re growing a business, or freelancing, it’s easy to feel lonely when working behind a computer all day, especially in a home office. When you’re the only person in the office every day, with no one to chat to even when you break for coffee, the hours can drag. Studies have shown that many people work more productively and more happily in the company of others. Moving into a shared working space, even if it’s just a co-working office with other small business owners, can help you feel like part of the workforce again and encourage you to work harder, better and faster.
At the same time, being around other businesses can avoid the disadvantages of a traditional office environment: swap workplace stress for a self-motivated atmosphere in which every member of staff feels that they are working on their own personal mission.
#4 You can refine your ideas and generate more
Working around successful professionals from a variety of other industries introduces you to new perspectives you may have never considered. These collaborations often lead to project or business expansions that would not have been possible had your business not reached out to others.
Don’t underestimate the lessons you can learn from professionals and businesses who work outside your area of expertise. Often the most creative insight can come from an unexpected angle.
#5 Success breeds success
A neglected, but important aspect of connecting with other businesses is positivity. Enthusiasm is catching!
If you’re a startup business, you can find reassurance and motivation from other enterprises at the same stage. But don’t forget the importance of ambition, if you’re aiming to be successful on a bigger scale than locally, you can benefit from advice from companies bigger than yours on how they got to where they are.
The resource-sharing opportunities of being around other businesses can give you a great financial head start, but don’t overlook all the other advantages: all the people you can meet, the expertise from which you can benefit, and the general atmosphere of drive and creativity which can help motivate you to reach your goals. Together with other successful organizations, your business can achieve more than it could alone.