7 Benefits Of Using Creative Co-Working Space in Edinburgh

As a digital marketing agency in Edinburgh, our team love taking advantage of open, flexible co—working spaces to get our creative juices flowing. We want to share with you all the great benefits we think you’ll love about this type of working environment, as well as suggesting some of our favourite creative hubs.

What is a Co-working Space?

It’s often presumed that co-working spaces are only used by creative and extroverted individuals. When in fact, co-working spaces can be utilised by everyone. The phrase co-working space simply refers to a style of working environment where the location is shared amongst a group of individuals, allowing them to work in collaboration.

Freelancers, students, entrepreneurial start-ups and growing teams can all reap the benefits of working in an open space. Co-working spaces can be used for a whole range of different working needs including storage, meetings, fitness, resource access, planning and office bases. Typically, a co-working environment consist of the following features:

– Shared office facilities and space including desks, printers, computers, resources etc.

– 24-hour availability

– Open Wi-Fi access

– Meeting rooms that can be booked out for private use

– Shared kitchens and lounge areas (and often great coffee on tap)

– Open plan study and work spaces

Who Uses Co-working Spaces?

You may be asking yourself, should I be hot-desking? Is this co-working space right for me?

With the rise in start-up ventures and freelancing work, the demand for hot-desk space is increasing in Edinburgh. In 2018, we have seen a diversifying range of open working spaces, catering towards truly collaborative needs and offering the latest high-tech resources.

As a digital marketing agency in Edinburgh, our team at Digital Ethos utilise an open planned co-working environment on a day-to-day basis. This means we all bounce off each other’s ideas and brain power, speaking freely amongst our team mates.

If your using the space individually and don’t plan on interacting with others around you, an open co-working environment can help tackle isolation. It’s not just creative entrepreneurs that thrive in this environment, you can use a flexible office space to support your direct needs, allowing the mind to work at ease.

Co-working spaces in Edinburgh are great for flexible ad hock business transition needs. It can be a short-term resolution when working towards a long-term business move. Alternatively, an open office space can be used as a regular meeting spot to invite your clients.

7 Benefits of Co-Working Offices in Edinburgh

Edinburgh offers some of the best co-working spaces in the UK. As an Edinburgh-based digital marketing agency, we have dabbled in a few and here’s how we think you can thrive in a co-working space environment.

Economic Advantages: In general, co-working spaces require less financial commitment. Regular large office spaces often require a long-term fixed contract, whereas co-working spaces allow you to rent a table or an area for a time period that suites you. As a freelancer, student or business founder this low level of commitment can be a great solution to lowering your financial risk.

Networking: Immersing yourself in a co-working space allows you to work alongside like-minded people. It can often mean you are in situations that can bring in more business for yourself, grow your knowledge or skill set. Don’t be afraid to dive into conversation or make controversial suggestions. We’ve met some great people and learnt some valuable skills when we visited The Loft; a fantastic, chilled co-working space in Edinburgh.

Flexibility: A great advantage of adopting an open working space means your commitments are more flexible. Your business may rely on multiple locations, or use the space as a meeting point for you and a long-distant client. One of the spots we love in Edinburgh in ‘The Melting Pot, Inspiration at Work’. They offer high-quality co-working spaces in the hubbub of Edinburgh city centre. Their flexible contracts allow you individuals to hot desk, monthly business rent, or collaborative work space contracts. Their flexible membership options make it easier than ever to find a space when you need it most.

Emotional Support: It’s nice to be surrounded by other people who care about what you’re doing. Making connections in a co-working environment allows you to feel as if you’re part of a community. Different co-working environments eject their own personalities, some more welcoming than others. But being part of a community can bring you emotional support when you’re at your most stressed breaking point.

Idea Bouncing: With a diverse range of established brands and start-up businesses in Edinburgh, you will not be short of idea sharing in co-working spaces. Nexus is situated in the heart of Edinburgh, offering flexible, friendly and vibrant working spaces. This is the perfect space for creative minds to collaborate and produce the most innovative ideas for your project.

Personal Control: Adopting a co-working space in Edinburgh puts the power into your hands (no likey, no lighty). Not only does it give you 24.7 accessibility to your working environment, it means you can choose when to use it as freely as you like. If you have hard deadlines to hit, or want to take an afternoon Yoga class, your working space gives you control over your time.

Inspirational: Not just in terms of work flow, but you are constantly surrounding yourself with individuals working on completely different projects, and often work for different businesses. This type of regular, diverse interaction can be inspirational in terms of culture, activities, creative ideas, career aspirations, knowledge sharing… the possibilities are endless. The new inspirations are reinforced every day, allowing your mind to grow freely into any direction.

 

At Digital Ethos we work with a broad range of clients and cherish our relationship with each one. We recently worked with a local Edinburgh-based client, supporting their business needs with responsive website design.  If you’ve seen a creative spot you think we’ve missed, tweet us @DigitalEthosUK.