With shared office spaces increasingly dominating the commercial real estate scene, it’s no secret that the coworking life works for lots and lots of people. Step into any coworking space and you’ll find a wide range of professions, like graphic designers, accountants, counselors, writers, analysts, photographers, and more.
These groups are all attracted to different aspects of coworking, but from our experience managing a creative coworking space, we’ve found coworking to be a particularly good fit for graphic designers. Here’s why:
Find New Clients
You’ve surely heard the saying, “it’s all about who you know”. This is especially true when it comes to hiring freelancers. People will reach out to the designers they know for input or a quote before doing the legwork to research an alternative. The more people you know (or, ahem, meet in your coworking space), the more business gets sent your way.
Coworking spaces are stuffed full of companies that need design help: entrepreneurs and startups need to establish their brand identity, and established companies need help adapting their brand for various events (like new merch for a conference) and platforms (like templates for their Instagram stories).
If they know you personally and they like your work, the deal’s as much as closed.
Impress Current Clients
Most of the designers who are members here used to work from their homes before coming to FireWorks. This made it tricky for them to meet with clients, since home living rooms are too casual and coffee shops are often too noisy. Both also lack any sort of presentation ability, besides huddling around a laptop screen.
Meeting clients in a professional setting, where they’ll be greeted in the lobby and offered a cup of coffee or tea, then ushered back to an inspiring meeting room. adds so much legitimacy to a growing business. It also spares you from driving all over the city to meet clients at their offices because you don’t have your own, saving you so much time and gas money.
Access Tools and Resources
If you have to run to a print shop every time you want to see a layout IRL, we’re truly so sorry. Having easy, cheap access to full bleed printing is a game changer. This is something to keep in mind when you’re touring coworking spaces; ask about pricing, sizes of paper offered, and the quality of the printer included in their memberships.
It’s very likely that you’ll meet other people in your field when you join a coworking space. Think of these people as resources and collaborators, rather than your competition. This spirit of “we create better together” makes coworking spaces safe spaces for their members. You’ll be able to get an easy second option (rather than dealing with that awful “echo chamber” feeling when you work alone) and can commiserate over tough clients with fellow members you actually get it.
Freelance graphic designers are often a lonely bunch, so perhaps the best value that coworking spaces can offer is their community. If you’re to expand your graphic design business this year, we’d love to hear from you. You can schedule a tour at the link here.
