Top 5 Coworking Articles/Blogs/Pros for September

As the coworking movement grows I want to capture the best and most moving writings of coworking in any given month. Here are the insights of coworking that September left us.

Three in One Hundred Freelancers Cowork – Deskmag
In celebration of International Freelancer Day, the Freelancer Association released their annual report providing insight into the freelancer mind and their economy. The report had a lot of positive signs about the freelancer, including; they love their independence, they are wethering the recession well, and many feel secure in their profession. However, my bias opinion just saw one glaring data point – 3% of freelancers cowork!

The report shows that many freelancers are working for their home and that the coworking movement has a lot of potential growth. It also means that coworking communities have a lot of work ahead of them to build awareness and design spaces and cultues that fit their needs.

How to Attract Women to Coworking – Cohere
Cohere tackles the problem of attracting women to their coworking spaces. Yes, it helps to have women staff or own the space but many men want to have a equal of balance and the article provides other tid-bits on how to cater to women. Liz from Link, Suszan of Office Nomads, Shelly of Conjunctured, and Rayanne of WorkSpot offer some practical advice boiled down to specifics.

Here ya go – Think bright and clean in space design, reach out to women groups, and host Meetups that cater to go beyond hacking and grunting out technology terms.

How to Get a Job in America – Fast Company
The recession is over but unemployment among the bright and talented is still hovering in the uncomfortable zone so Fast Company offered some good advice on how to get a job in A-merica. One of their suggestions was to join a coworking community (rock on!) and start working on a project. The person looking for work will be more intimately connected to a close group of people and be able to find jobs that best fit their skills.

I thought it was a good suggestion and shows the power of being part of a caring community.

The Serendipity of Coworking – Shareable

This is a great post on how Neal of Shareable.com loves his coworking community because of the informal encounters and knowledge that ‘just happens’ while working in a coworking space.  Neal goes on to describe that in just a walk through the facility he learns about current city events, was able to get briefed about a recent conference, recieved a gift, and organized a car-share for a hike some ‘coworkers’ where doing that that evenning.

The serendipitous moments of coworking might not happen every day, but they can and they will.

Desiging Workspaces for Collboration – Shareable
The design of a space is only second to the people inside when creating a coworking culture. This Shareable article highlights key elements in designing a collborative coworking space in order for it be flexible, fun, and productive. My favorite takeaways are; make it people centric, luminous with natural light, randomize the items and uses, keep the space fluid, and make it open-ended.