May 2, 2022 BY WorkSocial Press and Editorial
The origin story of coworking spaces began in Germany in the 1990s when the first hackerspace was founded. Hackerspaces are not-for-profit community-operated spaces where like-minded people with common interests in science, art, and tech can get together and work. The hackerspace or makerspace are considered the precursors of today’s coworking spaces.
Now, while coworking and shared spaces have come a long way since the first hackerspace in Berlin, the guiding force that has brought them so far remains unchanged. Coworking spaces today function as centers for collaboration, knowledge sharing, community-building, and peer learning – factors that play a critical role for both new businesses and businesses looking to regain their footing in 2022.
Choosing the right coworking and shared space can exponentially help your business take off, but that’s just one of many considerations when setting up a business in the U.S.
Let’s look at six essential steps for starting a business in 2022.
Recent studies by Pew Research Centre have shown that the self-employed represent about 10% of the working population in the United States. The workers they hire account for another 20% of the national workforce. These numbers reflect the role entrepreneurs play in the American economy, their increasing demand for cost-effective spaces to work out of, and the potential for success in starting a business you can call your own.
Keeping all this in mind, here’s a 6-step process you must follow to set up your business in 2022. We’ve covered everything from researching the market and figuring out finances to finding the right business address.
1. Market research
Understanding the market helps you gauge whether your business idea has legs. You can then kick-start your research by identifying your target audience and gaining insight into what drives their decision-making through secondary research (government data on income, population, and location-based trends).
2. Business plan & structure
There are two main reasons you need a business plan in place – (i) to roadmap your business, finances, strategy, and future planning, and (ii) to draft a finished description of your brand vision that includes realistic projections and exact numbers.
Once your business plan is in place, choosing the correct legal structure to register your business is the next step. Whether you choose a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, LLC, or non-profit, it’s essential to mention the legal structure along with an executive summary, company profile, marketing plan, team hierarchy, and finances when you draw up your final business plan.
3. Finances
Securing enough capital to get your business off the ground is your focus – and there are several ways to go about it, including dipping into your savings, applying for business loans, or using your credit lines.
4. Registration & license
Your business name embodies your brand vision and mission, and your next step should be registering that name officially. Registering your business makes you compliant with the laws around registration. It also means no other company can register a business under the same name. Once you’ve registered your venture, it’s also necessary to secure the proper licenses to operate your business.
5. Decide your workspace
Based on your business type, structure, and licenses, the next step is deciding where to work. While you will need licenses to open a storefront, you can also choose alternatives like coworking and shared spaces that allow you to work from well-designed spaces, private office spaces for rent, and fully-equipped conference rooms.
6. Build, promote, grow
Finding the right talent plays a vital role in the success of your business, and coworking and shared workspaces help with just that – assisting companies to network across global markets without heavily investing in real estate. A shared or coworking space is also a great environment to test, promote, sell, and grow your product or service, depending upon your industry.
Starting up is exciting – and there’s an extreme amount of work involved. Getting your paperwork in order is only the beginning of a challenging journey. But that first leap to starting up is half the job done – the other half is where a creative coworking workspace like Worksocial can help.
How can this 6-step process ensure my company’s future growth?
Right from coming up with a business idea through every future stage, you will constantly be tweaking your strategy to give your business a chance to succeed. Taking into account this 6-step process to ensure the most appropriate way forward for your business is critical for future growth. These considerations can help turn your start-up into a success and prove that shared workspaces like Worksocial help in the journey.
Why does a coworking or shared workspace make sense for small businesses?
One of the essential steps for starting a company is having a registered office, and a coworking or shared workspace where resources are shared at a fair cost is the most cost-effective way to go about it. Also, coworking spaces are an excellent environment for testing and onboarding potential customers, networking with future collaborators, and gaining access to various resources designed to accelerate growth.
Do shared workspaces help with recruitment?
There are several ways organizations can attract talent, and one such way to do so is by adapting flexible workspaces. Flexible, coworking, shared spaces as Worksocial help organizations recruit from a vast pool of expert talent due to their expanding network of locations.
Sources
Three-in-Ten U.S. Jobs Are Held by the Self-Employed and the Workers They Hire
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