It’s the Catch-22 of being an independent worker: The home office comes bundled with the distractions of tossing in another load of laundry and the dog that needs just one more walk, but the small business isn’t quite strong enough to afford high commercial rents.
Today’s professional services worker is increasingly mobile and on the move, relying on the ubiquity of wi-fi in public spaces to get things done. Here in Central Pennsylvania, “co-working” is alive and well. First coined as a term by game designer and theorist Bernie DeKoven in 1999 as a way to describe computer-assisted collaborative work, co-working offers solutions to the problems that are common to many freelancers. This office culture combats the isolation problem of working from home while also providing an escape from routine home office distractions. You come for the wi-fi and the coffee, but it’s the community that makes you want to stay.
As part of a global movement that keeps collaboration, accessibility, sustainability and community as organizing principles, co-working is helping to redefine the nature of work as more professionals are leaving behind the traditional office environment and becoming nomad workers who carry their office in their backpacks and messenger bags. It’s a simple and powerful idea: Create better ways to work by creating better places to work.
When The Candy Factory (www.candyissweet.com) opened its doors in 2010 in the Keppel Building on North Queen Street in Lancaster, 15 independent workers joined from the start. Anne Kirby runs the venture. “I started the Creative House of Lancaster in 2007 as a networking group for creative people, and I always wanted to get a co-working space going in Lancaster,” she says. “[I knew] the creative community here in the city would support it.”
And support it they have. The Candy Factory operates two locations in the city, the 4,800-square-foot space on the 300 block of North Queen Street and Groundworks, a 2,800-square-foot space just adjacent to the Lancaster Central Market and the Convention Center. “We also just opened Commonwealth on Queen, a sort of incubator and co-working space for food services professionals,” says Kirby.
“Community comes first,” echoes Adam Porter, co-founder of startup hbg (www.startuphbg.com). Porter and his co-founder Adam Brackbill first met at a Harrisburg Young Professionals mixer and the idea of a co-working space began almost immediately. “‘What if’ turned into another ‘what if’ and [then] we were signing paperwork,” Porter relates. “The logo was sketched out on a cocktail napkin and we started talking with real estate agents to find the perfect place.” startup opened its doors in March of this year in the heart of midtown Harrisburg.
The 1,800 - square - foot space formerly housed a post office and the Midtown Scholar bookstore. “We want startup to be a hub of ideas that makes every member able to achieve more personally and professionally just because they’re here,” says Porter. Located at 1519 N. Third St., startup has taken up the charge to bring organizations and entrepreneurs together in creative ways and emphasize collaboration and innovation, true to the core mission values of co-working. Co-working creates opportunities for people to interact day in and day out and makes them better collaborators, Porter says. “The open floor plan makes these conversations possible. We’re building community here that allows for really great work to happen.”
There’s already plans for growth to accommodate the needs of the community and the membership. “This is a political city,” notes Porter. “We’re trying to help people realize that there’s a better way to work, and semi-private offices on the second floor might be great for consultants in town for six months.”
Communities have personality, and when you get like-minded talented people working from the same space, the possibilities for social serendipity are exciting. People in proximity form deep bonds; relationship formation is whattakes a group of people occupying the same physical space from co-inhabitants to actual community members.
When J.J. Sheffer and Randy Byrnes first connected through Leadership York in 2011, little did they know that it would eventually turn into the creation and launch of the co-working space CoWork155 (www.cowork155.com). “When Randy first approached me with his idea and said he wanted me to run it, I agreed that I’d help him vet the project. Within the first week after visiting The Candy Factory, I knew that I wanted to move my business in and help manage the operations here in York.” Sheffer runs New Muse Entertainment, an event-planning company that focuses on the nonprofit sector.
“The people who are coming forward as members and coming to the table are the ones that subscribe to the general philosophy behind coworking, that it’s not just shared office space. We’re trying to serve the broader community in everything we do.”
In the spirit of community collaboration, Sheffer notes that other regional co-working spaces have been incredibly forthcoming about what works and what hasn’t. “We’re a highly adaptable group of people and committed to making this project self-sustaining,” she says. “Everyday is different based on who’s here, or who’s not. I love that part of it.”
A gathering of people facing the same challenges and working in close contact is a recipe for brainstorming innovation. Serendipity happens. Working in these flexible workspaces allows members to find the best cultural fit and become part of a community that connects, shares and creates new experiences-together.
