We have lots of anecdotal proof and some quantitative evidence that coworking helps freelancers and small business owners become more profitable.
Coworking provides an instant referral network, motivation, cost-free feedback, and an overall magical environment in which people tend to come up with money-making ideas (ok maybe it’s not “magical” but it’s definitely more special than a coffee shop).
Lots of freelancers claim that they can’t afford to try coworking, but I would argue that you can’t afford not to. So while chatting with a fairly new Cohere member the other day, I decided to see if this legend of “profitability” holds true in our own community. Here’s how the conversation panned out. (Names have been removed to protect the now slightly more wealthy).
Angel: Do you have an estimate of how many $$ of work Cohere has brought your way since joining?
Member: Give me a sec…its pretty convoluted since connections lead to connections.
Angel: isn’t that how everything works?
Member: okay, this is kind of awesome. When I account for jobs for coherians, and jobs that came about as referrals from them and referrals from those referrals, its over $5000!
Angel: holy sh*t. pardon my french. how long have you been a member?
Member: 4 or 5 months.
Angel: damns. that’s freeaking awesome!
Member: It is…kinda shocking to me to actually figure that out!
Angel: I’m beaming right now. Cohere works. Period.
Member: I was thinking to myself that ALMOST every time I am in there I make a connection that leads to work.
Angel: This is like an early xmas present to me and my fledgling little business!
Member: talk about a strong ROI..
Angel: It also helps that you’re a gifted person and super awesome to work with!
Member: looks like we need to give each other some testimonials for our respective sites!
Angel: Yes.
Member: you can tell prospective members that within about a week of joining I got a quick and simple job straight from you that effectively covered 3 months of membership. I met Nick thru an event at Cohere and that resulted in numerous jobs…and that is an arrangement that continues to be beneficial…Referrals from him got me additional clients that then referred me to other people (some in CA) who now use me as a referral for THEIR clients. It is an interconnected web of awesome. I now have had clients on both coasts…that can trace back to Cohere. Its like 6 degrees of Cohere Magic.
This conversation has been reproduced in its original entirety. This is really what it’s like to exist in the Cohere coworking community. All the exclamation points and reciprocity are genuine.
Now, I’m not guaranteeing that 4 months of membership will put $5k of pure profit in your pocket, but there’s a darn good chance that you WILL get new clients as a result of working here. All it takes is an open mind, a sharing personality, and the desire to build your business.
Oh yeah, and a free day pass to check it out in person doesn’t hurt either.
Image Credit: Flickr – Nina Matthews Photography