Day by day, more people are becoming interested in co-working spaces. According to Hong Kong Business, we have 202 co-working spaces in our country (compared to 330 in New York City and 1,136 in London). When most people think of “co-working”, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and digital nomads generally come to mind. However, the co-working space is a growing market, not just for freelancers but also for an increasing number of small businesses.

The concept of co-working was first introduced by an iconic programmer called Brad Neuberg. He launched his first co-working space in San Francisco to replace the less productive home offices of “small businesses”. In Hong Kong, co-working offices have become a real trend over the last few years and the co-working market has grown exponentially since its inception. Now, there are over a hundred co-working spaces in Hong Kong. According to Savills, a global real estate company, co-working space operators currently occupy about 2.16 million square feet across the city and have doubled in size since the end of 2017”. In Hong Kong, the demand for co-working spaces led to the rapid establishment of many co-working space operators such as The Hive, The Desk, Servcorp and more. However, this rapid expansion has, in turn, led to a crowded and highly competitive market, with industry analysts predicting that some operators will eventually withdraw from the business.

Many freelancers working from home sometimes find it difficult to concentrate due to external interference, like construction work or having children running around. The availability of co-working spaces helps to overcome these home-workplace frustrations and also acts as a creativity boost.

Co-working offices tend to unite entrepreneurs so they can operate and interact as a community. They share WiFi, servers, boardrooms, bathrooms and cafes. This soon extends to sharing ideas, advice and even business networks.

Inevitably, this trend has strengthened the connection between people using the co-working spaces and helped them to expand their networks. You never know who you are going to meet in these co-working hubs. If you are a freelancer working from home, it is maybe time to join the trend!