A career is a very different thing today in comparison to a career 10 years ago. In the past, you could get a job for a big company, work your way into a more senior position, and spend the rest of your working life with the company until you retire. These days, there are very few industries that can promise a disruptive free career. Companies are constantly making cutbacks, closing departments and laying off workers. It is for this reason we are seeing more and more individuals starting their own business. Paul B. Brown writes in his Blog, Action Trumps Everything: Succeeding in the New Workplace (and life):

…You’d better be prepared to create something on the side, no matter what you are currently doing for a living. This is true if you’re 18 or 58.  Even if you currently work for the world’s best company, someone could acquire the firm tomorrow, or a new invention could render your entire industry obsolete (rent many movies from a freestanding store lately; buy any maps, or a new set of encyclopedias?) Your work life is not completely within your control.

Brown’s point is that both recent college graduates and seasoned business professionals alike are turning to entrepreneurship as a way to regain some semblance of control over their professional lives.

In today’s digital age, it is simple to create, grow, and maintain a company on a shoestring budget. Between simple web design tools, web payment services, and virtual meeting software, one can start a business out of his or her home office or bedroom, and many entrepreneurs are doing just that. There are however some issues inherent with working out of the home. Home = distractions. Between your TV, pets, kids, etc., working out of the home can be an extraordinarily unproductive experience. If you are in a business where you are regularly meeting with clients, using your home office or a Starbucks as a meeting place is less than professional. In addition, the solitude of working at home is counterintuitive with entrepreneurship. Creating a business requires a lot of discussion and sharing of ideas between creative people. Ideas flourish when 3rd parties can offer their feedback on ideas, marketing strategies etc. The entrepreneur is faced with a dilemma in 21st century: Where do you go to work that’s outside of your home but doesn’t require the overhead costs of a rented office? Coworking was created to resolve this issue.

Founded on the values of collaboration, openness, community, accessibility, and sustainability, coworking provides the ideal place for entrepreneurs and creative people to work and interact with other professionals. The idea behind a coworking space is simple. Individuals come to a creative and productive workspace to work on their projects side by side with other people working on their own projects. In other words, people come to a coworking space to work around other people working. Memberships costs are low, keeping overhead down, and entrepreneurs and freelancers can work along sirde other entrepreneurs & freelancers, creating a collective work environment where coworkers organically network and share ideas.

Jeremy Goldman, Entreprenuer & Author of “Going Social,” wrote in his article “Why (most) Social Media is Here to Stay,”

I happened to write Going Social in various Starbucks all over Manhattan. Could I have written it primarily at home? Absolutely. But just because I needed to be alone, doesn’t mean I wanted to be alone. I remember once sitting in a Starbucks on 75th Street and 1st Avenue on a Sunday night, and I counted 18 people inside. Each and every one of them was sitting alone, largely working on laptops or reading newspapers. But they weren’t at home. Most had coffee next to them, and most weren’t really drinking it. The coffee serves as an admissions pass that entitles them to a small degree of human companionship.

A coworking space would have provided exactly what Jeremy was looking for in a place to work. He would have been able to work on his book around other people working on their own projects, providing his desired social environment without the need to buy coffee to keep the Starbucks staff at bay.

Home Base is focused on providing an ultra-low cost workspace solution for creative professionals. Our list of amenities include the usual print/scan/fax, complimentary coffee, and access to conference rooms, but we also offer amenities unique to Home Base. Our facility boasts a professional recording studio, photo/video studio, computer labs equipped with state of the art iMacs loaded with Adobe CS6 and other pro software. Members have priority access to the studios at a discounted rate, and free access to the computer labs. Also, members will receive discounts on in-house creative services including graphic & web design, video production, and more, and have free access to meet ups and workshops at The Digital Arts Experience, which range in topic from using social media for business to 3D animation & web design.

Whether you are starting your own company, developing a product, or you are a freelance video editor or graphic designer, Home Base aims to provide the ideal workspace for creative professionals in Westchester. Between our low cost membership plans, flexible and creative facility, and unique amenities, Home Base offers and ideal workplace solution in the 21st century.

Links:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/actiontrumpseverything/2012/11/03/why-everyone-will-have-to-become-an-entrepreneur-crowd-sourced-version/

http://upstart.bizjournals.com/resources/author/2013/02/07/why-social-media-is-here-to-stay.html?page=2