6 Steps To Avoid The Pitfalls Of Your Co-Working Office Experience

It seems like they’re popping up all over the place: Co-working locations where you can rent some office space month-to-month. They provide the furniture, music, coffee and snacks and you show up with your laptop and — well, just work. It’s kind of like having a private room at Starbucks. (They also offer a non-private, out-in-the-common-area option, which is pretty much exactly like having a reserved-but-unassigned seat at Starbucks.)

There’s no question that these arrangements offer some benefits over working at home, the library or local coffee shop. You’ve got a designated workspace away from where you live, you can store your stuff, they have meeting rooms, etc. But you are making a commitment to a new work arrangement and shelling out some money so you’ll need to build some new habits to avoid pitfalls and get the most from your work day:

1. Manage your work and your time. You’re on your own so nobody’s paying attention to whether you’re really working. Like any place where there are people, there are potential distractions, and it’s up to you to devise your own techniques to stay on task. It’s more important than ever to keep a log of how you’re spending your time and the progress you’re making: drafting proposals, preparing presentations, writing code, planning or summarizing meetings, updating project plans. There are several tools to help you do this, or you can create your own right in your calendar.
2. Don’t let networking get out of hand. One of the advantages of these arrangements is that you’ll have the opportunity to meet other people working on their own businesses. But unlike a two-hour networking event, those folks will be right there, all the time. It’s easy to fall into conversations that go beyond who-I-am and what-I’m-doing and here’s-my-card. That’s ok, but keep in mind that the excess time beyond the basics moves from networking time to something else. When it does, make sure it’s elevated to deliberate and intentional business development and not degraded to just shooting the breeze.
3. Don’t share the “secret sauce.” When every company had its own building, it was easy to keep rules like “what goes on here stays here.” But the glass walls and open spaces of co-working arrangements make it harder to protect your trade secrets — your differentiators that promise a competitive advantage. You don’t really know who you’re talking with, what they’re working on or who they know that might be a potential competitor. As you get to know your “work neighbors,” your conversations will naturally get more detailed. Make it a practice not to share important aspects of your business model and your product. In private conversations — live and on the phone — speak quietly. If you want to invite folks to participate in a focus group, remember that focus groups have their own set of rules and formalities that should be observed. Don’t try to wing it. If you’re going to be sharing confidential valuable proprietary information, make sure to observe those practices, including getting everyone to sign non-disclosure agreements.
4. Keep peer advice in perspective. Tips on “how-I-made-it-big” from an office-sharing pal isn’t necessarily expert advice or a roadmap you can follow. It has become the style now, more than at any time in recent memory, for entrepreneurs to prefer and value the advice of other entrepreneurs over paid consultants. Look who’s featured in podcasts, AMAs, TedX presentations: Guys in tee-shirts and jeans, wearing headset mics, pacing the platform, barking confidently about how they did it. You’ll hear lots of wanna-be “Ted, Jr.’s” in your shared office location at lunch-and-learns and after-work presentations. DO listen to what’s being put out there. But keep in mind this is a person who may be only about three paces ahead of you and that he or she is sharing one person’s experience — really, his perception of his experience, which may be different from what really happened, and is very likely to leave out considerations of luck and coincidence. It also might be that his “success story” is actually just Chapter One of a longer narrative, the last page of which has his company doing a half-gainer into oblivion. DO make your own meaning from what’s being said. DON’T try to emulate it in an attempt to replicate the speaker’s success.
5. Formalize joint work arrangements. One of the touted benefits of shared space arrangements is that you’ll meet people you can partner with on projects. Just because you meet someone informally doesn’t mean your evolving arrangement of working together should be informal. Make sure you memorialize your discussions in a real joint venture agreement that spells out the expectations of the parties and their rights and responsibilities in the event of various contingencies.
6. Lay off the craft beer. Somebody thought it was a good idea to offer unlimited beer at all times at some of these places. Folks, working and drinking don’t mix. Being under the influence of even a small amount of alcohol leads people to say and do things they wouldn’t do when sober. Don’t imbibe during work time. And exercise some caution with after-work drinking too. In the not-so-old days, the distinction was clear whether you were at a company function or an industry function. You knew who was there and that dictated what you could say. In a shared office location, you have to assume everyone you meet is a potential customer, joint-venture partner or competitor. Be on guard about what you say. At after-work functions, enjoy a beer and then switch to seltzer if you’re planning on staying awhile.

A co-working, shared office space arrangement offers a lot of flexibility and benefits. Make sure you show up with the tools and attitude to make the most of it.