Co-working Spaces for the Self-employed

With a rising popularity in self-employment and freelancing, co-working spaces have become a popular phenomenon that has been embraced by those who work independently, but crave a sense of community in response to working in relative isolation.

Co-working spaces are essentially communal open-space offices and are an affordable solution to having a working environment outside of your home that is not a private office. They are popular among freelancers, entrepreneurs, start-ups and independent contractors.  A simple Google search will show that there are a wide range of co-working opportunities in most major cities in North America.

Besides being an affordable alternative to a private office, a co-working environment can provide many other advantages.

Escaping Isolation

Working in a home or private office can leave one craving face-to-face interaction from others during the day – especially those who aren’t clients! Self-employment can be isolating when your day to day activities are individual ventures. Co-working spaces provide the opportunity to work independently while being surrounded by others. Taking regular coffee breaks or having engaging in some water cooler gossip can help break up the day, create new friendships, and give you a chance to clear your mind from the daily grind of self-employment.

Creating a Community

Those who work in co-working spaces generally have the same values and influences, as they are usually made up of entrepreneurs and freelancers who are working hard to develop and build their business.  As the co-working environment is usually an open concept, it aids in developing relationships and finding inspiration from those around you. As friendships form, the community will naturally rally around each other and help each other out, building a mutual bonding through independent work that one can’t experience when working alone.

Networking

With a sense of community in the co-working space, networking opportunities will naturally follow. It’s great to find contacts that may be able to help you out in the future and for you to offer your services as well. Looking for a copywriter? Chances are someone in your co-working space has a recommendation. It’s much easier to go with a trusted referral rather than searching online and hoping for the best. Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals can help your business grow and can build some strong and lasting relationships.  

How to Deal With Freelance Employee Contracts

Today, every online business has the potential for global reach. On top of selling products to customers around the world, we can also hire people to work for us, regardless of their location!

Freelance employees can fill the gaps needed by a company who require to have temporary or short contract work completed within a specified timeframe. Even though a freelancer can work for your company for several years, it doesn't make them a full-time employee that gets all the perks. The freelance worker is typically someone who might be working offsite and easily reachable online. That means the company doesn't have to expand their office space to assimilate more workers.

It's a win/win all around.

Types of Freelance Workers

Before you consider hiring a freelance employee, you'll need to understand the different types of workers and the contracts required. The different categories of freelancers are:

Independent Contractors: The United States Internal Revenue Service describes independent contractors as someone that you as the employer, "have the right to control or direct only the result of the work done by an independent contractor, and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result." In other words, you assign an independent contractor a task and how they accomplish that task it up to them. They could work on it at midnight or 3:00 p.m.

On-Call Workers: These types of freelancers are called upon only as needed. When a company has an overflow of work that won't require a lot of training, they will use an on-call worker.

Temporary Help Agency Workers: These would be workers hired and paid by a temp agency. As the employer you would pay the temp agency to handle all the screening and interviewing. Basically, you tell the temp agency what you need and they send the employee to you.

Contract Firm Workers: These are workers who are provided by a company contracted specifically for that task. For instance, there could be contract workers as SEO contractors, customer service agents or even social media consultants. For the most part these workers will already be trained in the job. Often contract workers are hired in groups as opposed to the single temp agency worker.

Contract Stipulations

It is vitally important that every type of freelance worker you hire sign a contract. Included in this contract are the specific duties you will require from them, their compensation and deadlines.

Most importantly, you also have to spell out ownership of the actual work. If you hire a freelance graphic designer to rebuild your website, you will own what they create. It can't be used by another company. There are also confidentiality agreements and delivery terms that should be spelled out in the contract. No work should begin without a contract being signed by that freelancer.