Have you ever dreamed about working from home?  Wouldn’t it be nice to sit out on endless meetings that drone on and on.  You don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn just to make your three-hour train ride into the city.  You even get to sit in your home office in your Charlie Brown pajamas, with your stylish bedhead hair.  Well, I hate to admit it, but the reality is much different than the fantasy.  Being on maternity leave for the past two months, I actually miss the 9 to 5 (or 6) routine and the social interaction with my co-workers.  Being able to bounce ideas off of others at work is an oft-overlooked benefit of going to the office.  It’s also sad to say, but going to work and wanting to leave work on time motivated me to accomplish more while I was at work.  At home, there are simply too many distracting nonwork-related tasks.  Nonetheless, the situation is only temporary - I return to work in about a month.  But what if you are a one woman startup who can’t afford fancy office digs or any office for that matter?  Ahh, one solution might be coworking.

What is coworking?  Dan Fost of the New York Times defines it as a community workplace for solo entrepreneurs.  Fost’s recent article on coworking discusses the recent increase in coworking sites, where someone sets up an office and rents out desks and conference rooms to other people.  The setup can be very casual or quite formal, depending on the place.  You could drop in and take a place at a large table or have your very own temporary desk/cubicle space reserved just for you.  What are the benefits?  For one, it’s cheaper than setting up your own office, particularly when you are just starting out and cash is tight.  But, as Fost points out, the ability to connect socially and share ideas with others is the key benefit for those who hate toiling away at home alone.

Fost also profiled Ingoodcompany, a business consulting and community workplace specifically targeted towards female entrepreneurs.  Recently opened in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, Ingoodcompany combines workplace, community, and learning.  Members who signup and pay an annual fee can rent a conference room to meet clients or a lease a desk for their daily work routine.  Ingoodcompany also holds workshop seminars and networking events and offers opportunities for members to consult with the company’s founders, Amy Abrams and Adelaide Fives.  Because it’s more than a mere office space to park yourself during the day, Ingoodcompany sounds like a business incubator of sorts, where you can testdrive ideas with other “coworkers” as well as business experts like Abrams and Fives.  Fost’s article, however, smartly recommends out that you should only sign up if you are truly interested in growing your business, not just if you merely want a place to hang out or people to chit chat with during the workday.  I agree - it’s probably cheaper just to go to Starbucks.