Next Steps for Location Independent Workers: Co-living & Coworking?
By: Mariana Camacho
More and more people are becoming location independent and working remotely both part-time and full time. With this trend, coworking spaces have began to pop-up in every corner of the world, specially in cities with a big startup scene. The need for flexible housing options is becoming more prevalent as well.
It’s no secret that millennials are a great force pushing for increased flexibility in the way we work. Making work an enjoyable and enriching experience is one of the top priorities for young professionals and those entering the workforce. Working a 9-to-5 job in a cubicle is no longer appealing, and businesses are catching up allowing employees to work remotely in a way that works for each individual. Internet and advanced communication technologies make this easy — if you have access to reliable internet and have the will to work on your own time, you can actually work from anywhere.
From coworking to co-living: It’s all about community!
For the past years, the sharing economy has been revolutionizing how we consume products and services and more importantly how we interact with each other and with our surroundings. As more people become location independent workers, coworking spaces around the world continue to pop up with great success. We like to be social, and being a remote worker can get lonely pretty fast. Searching for wifi in every cafe around you is exhausting and not quite productive — so appointing a place designated for work can get you in the right mindset to actually get things done. Coworking spaces are a great solution for the modern professional with a fixed location.
Now, what if you are a location independent employee who is living life on the road? Meet co-living. As more people migrate and move around the world, how can we rethink our living arrangements? How will real estate and architects adjust to the transient global citizen? If people are now more open to share their houses on Airbnb, get rides with strangers on Uber or Lyft , and work from coworking places, then why not live in a shared communal space? Take kitchens for example. Instead of putting 50 tiny, identical and uncomfortable kitchens inside a residence building, why not build a really big kitchen with all the latest gadgets and share it with your neighbors?
Bruno Haid, co-founder of Roam explains it in his very thorough manifesto on the future of housing:
If done right, the kitchen is only one example of a superior communal experience. Better than the current approach of cramping a fifty unit building with the same stuff fifty times over. The money for fifty toolboxes gives you a 3D printing workshop dream come true. Fifty cheap audio gadgets get you a small music studio. What about an in-house yoga studio or movie theater?
Again, this isn’t just a question of convenience. It’s an existential one. Because the only proven correlating factor leading to a longer life isn’t butter vs olive oil. It’s how social we organize our lives.
Roam is the newest global co-living subscription in Bali and is opening in Miami soon. A single lease that gives you month-to-month access to incredible co-living spaces and local communities around the world.
And it makes sense. When people begin to work remotely for a company or themselves as freelancers, the idea of a fixed home-base for those who want to move around sounds more like a burden than a blessing. Long term leases don’t consider people who need/want a place to live in for a couple of months at a time wherever in the world they may be working from. Airbnb is great but it can get lonely if you’re in a new city and want to meet people and it doesn’t offer a setup where you can work from.
Taking co-living on a whole other level is the New York based coworking company WeWork. Last month they opened a new residential space with flexible leasing called WeLive at 110 Wall Street in Manhattan. Included with the rent are activities and amenities like fitness classes, potluck dinners, cleaning and laundry services and a digital social network — all accessed through an app. The space has a communal kitchen and common areas with private rooms as well as access to the WeWork amenities.
Where co-living meets coworking
Now picture co-living and coworking together. What if you could live in a place with like minded people, and work from that same place as well? You could have everything you need to live and work comfortably, a community of people just like you to interact with and could also save money.
Look no further. Startup Basecamp in San Francisco is the perfect landing pad for startup professionals in Silicon Valley being uniquely positioned at the center of the tech startup ecosystem. They offer various living facilities and shared working spaces for entrepreneurs from around the world. Their vibrant community host weekly tech events including pitch nights with VC’s and inspiring entrepreneurs as well as some typical California outdoor activities.
surfoffice in Gran Canaria and Lisbon is the perfect cowork/colive destination for surf lovers. Live, work and surf in some of the world’s top urban beaches. A great hub to meet like-minded professionals from all over the world, and besides work, enjoy the numerous outdoor activities.
Bedndesk is another oasis for digital nomads or any independent location workers who are seeking the next workation. One block away from a 5 km white sandy beach in Mallorca, they are the perfect spot to enjoy your business and leisure stay!
Location-Independent Lifestyle
For the increasing number of remote workers and digital nomads the idea of co-living/coworking is a great way to find housing and office space in new locations without many complications. If you are traveling to a new city and you want to work, a hostel environment may not be the most convenient or comfortable for you. Apartment rentals and Airbnb can get lonely fast and hotels make the experience of being in a new place less authentic (not to mention very expensive). If the idea of sharing a living room, kitchen and working areas with others sounds reasonable then why not give it a chance? You each still have a private room so you can always count on having a space to call your own. You can have a place to sleep in, a place to work from and a community of like-minded people surrounding you all in one. Packing a bag and taking off to a new place while working never sounded easier and more accommodating. Location independent will soon be applicable not only to the way we work, but also to the way we live. It’s the future and we think it looks pretty exciting.
Nomad Pass is selecting the best places in the world for professionals to live and work from. Have you stayed in a cowork/co-live environment and want to share your experience or recommend your spot? Want to get involved with our community of forward thinking individuals looking to revolutionize the way we work and live? Don’t agree with us? Let us know, share your comments below or e-mail us at info@nomadpass.com!
