In 2010 I quit my job and started my own digital agency, with the hopes of fame and fortune. Boy was I in for hell of a ride. When you are in the corporate world you hide behind the shell of a big company, whatever you do is just trying to get through the day, and it doesn’t matter if things don’t work out, nobody (well at least minimal) gets hurt, the company still survives. When you come out of that shell, you just feel like Superman and kyptonite, you suddenly lost all your super powers and become … powerless. You have to learn everything and anything and you have learn it FAST. You become an “outcast” among you friends and family members who work their 9 to 5 jobs, and wondering why are you always so busy and not earning money. It doesn’t work that way. An hour spent does not mean an hour’s pay in the world of entrepreneurship. And then you start to wonder if there are people out there like you.
So we seek each other out. My Uni-mate and now partner was just starting his own company as well, and we clicked. We have goals for ourselves, and a vision of our company’s growth, and we shared, we discussed and we collaborated. He referred me to an accountant he had and I referred him a print shop that did my business cards. Together, we became more efficient and productive in our own roles. There is indeed something to be said for having like-minded individuals coming together. When we left our fellow coworkers from our big offices, we left a big part of social life that we do not have the luxury of having – the lunch kakis, the talking about personal issues, about what you did last weekend, all these are gone.
Working independently does not mean working alone. We need that support system in our newly found flexible schedule to keep us from going crazy.
That is the number 1 reason why Daniel and I started Cowork@SG. We wanted to bring back that social setting, that office environment to independent workers who either work alone or are part of teams less than 5. We want to make our spaces function like a real office, but without the boss. You can come and go anytime, when inspiration hits you, or when you just need to rant about that unreasonable client of yours. We bring you the social, and you just take care of your business.
Come try this experience for yourself. Get out of your house, get out of that cafe, come have coffee (or tea or milo) with us.