About ten years ago, I was looking for a little space to start up my own business. I found a number of groups that shared office space, copiers, secretaries, and costs, but it all seemed kind of sterile and miserable -- like a bunch of misfits had been forced to band together to create the appearance of legitimacy by using air conditioners, cherry furniture, and florescent glare.
About the same time, underground artistic and renegade dotcom types were colonizing old warehouses, creating places like The Werepad (RIP) where likeminded souls came together to make the next big, wierd, loud, or obscure thing.
Freelancing and job hunting from home has had me pining for a productive place to go, and I'm delighted to discover (via Chris Hitchins' swell Laid Off Camp) the existence of cool coworking spaces that unite the utility of shared office space with the laissez-faire attitude of warehouse dwellers and the forced vernacular of dotcommers.
Drop in and use wifi for free; rent a conference room for a meeting; have your own private office in a funky sea of bean bag chairs -- it can all be yours for zero to $500 each month, depending on whether you need things like 24 hour access or a door that shuts. I'm not ready to take the plunge just yet, but it's good to know that paces like Citizen Space and The Sandbox Suites are more or less in my back yard.
Here's a good way to find your local coworking spot.
A word of warning, though.
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