What if I can’t afford to pay for coworking?
If you’re a newly established freelancer, you might believe that you can’t afford to pay for coworking. You have a budget and you probably don’t know where your next check is coming from, so why would you add more to your overhead? I’d like to argue that coworking is not a luxury, but an essential expense for you as a freelancer. Why?
Coworking could be the catalyst that takes you from scarcity to abundance.
Here’s how:
Spending the money to join a coworking space will help you to up your game.
That’s right. You want to up your game as a freelancer? Get the training. Get the software. And get into a professional office environment. This probably means spending some money. But if you believe 100% in your ability to build a successful freelancing career, it’s time to invest. It’s time to expose yourself to a little risk. It gets the adrenaline pumping. It gets you sending a couple extra emails or making a couple more sales calls. Or maybe you finally increase your rates and start charging what you deserve.
It may seem scary, but stretching your budget can be a great way to light a little fire under your butt.
Besides, scary is good. It means you’re growing.
You’ll get better positioning.
One thing I’ve learned in my years of freelancing is that positioning is huge. By positioning, I mean who you’re talking to and who is referring you. When I started out as a freelancer I got a ton of referrals right off the bat. They were great starting gigs but they were friends of friends, the budgets were tight, and the pay was terrible. In order to elevate myself out of the crappy “referrals to people who have no money” cycle, I had to make a change.
In my case, the change was opening my own coworking space. Frankly, I was sick of chasing after clients. But then a funny thing happened:
My association with Groundwork scored me a new level of positioning. Suddenly I had way better freelancing gigs in the pipeline. In fact, Groundwork has been such a powerful lead generator for me that I still do some gigs on the side.
So consider your coworking space payment a small and worthwhile investment towards making more money in the long run.
There’s a plan for your budget.
If all else fails, most coworking spaces will offer a plan for your budget. At Groundwork, we offer a pay what you can membership for folks who are just starting out. It gets you access to all of our community events and networking platforms, so you can get your foot in the door and start working on your positioning. When you’re ready to graduate, you can find a plan for coworking space access that fits your unique needs and budget.
It’s time to throw the “can’t afford to pay for coworking” belief out the window. Join your local coworking space today and UP YOUR GAME as a freelancer. At Groundwork, we truly believe that we all grow stronger when we work together.
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