How Much Would You Pay For A Space of Your Own?

Are co-working spaces worth the money?

In October 2016, a women’s-only co-working space called The Wing opened its doors for the first time. With walls washed in soothing Millennial pink and amenities provided by DryBar and Glossier, the Wing purported to be a co-working/networking/recharging station for busy women(and only women) on the go, who needed space to sit down and send some emails or take a shower or change their shoes before heading for the next thing. Despite the $215 monthly membership fee, a month after it opened, there was a 1,300-person strong waitlist.

The formula has proven to be a success: less than a year after they opened, founder Audrey Gelman has secured $8 million in funding and is planning to expand to three more locations, in Soho, Brooklyn and Washington D.C.

Women’s Club The Wing Raises $8 Million Series A, Adds 3 Locations

When The Wing first opened, I was intrigued. I work from home and while I do have the option of using the Billfold’s office, the thought of going to a place with plants and amenities and a built-in network of women to mingle with seemed appealing — I am nothing if not a sucker for packaging. But, $215 for that privilege felt egregious. A brief perusal of WeWork’s membership offerings showed that while $185 is expensive, it’s slightly cheaper than the going rate. The “Hot Desk” plan at WeWork affords you the privilege of sitting at any desk in the common space for $220 a month — technically $200 more than you’d pay to do the same thing at a coffeeshop, or your kitchen table, if you count the cost of snacks and coffee and whatever else.

Hot Desk Plan & Pricing | WeWork

For a person without a dedicated workspace who spends most of their time hunched over their computer at home, the Wing and its ilk could be a viable option if your finances allow. But one of the driving tenets of co-working spaces is that they’re meant to encourage collaboration, enable networking and increase socialization for people whose work could benefit from those stimulations. Of course it costs money to run these places and to pay for the mid-century Modern sofas and pour-over coffee in the shared kitchen, but the price of a co-working space like WeWork or the Wing is just high enough to prohibit entry to a big swath of the population.

Maybe that’s okay — maybe these places aren’t for people who are just starting out, but for those who hover in that liminal space between working out of your garage and overseeing a staff of 25 in an office with big windows. Regardless, it’d be nice if they were somewhat affordable.

Would you pay for a co-working space if you needed it? Would you be interested in the perceived or actual benefits that come from rubbing shoulders with like-minded entrepreneurs? Is this something that feels worth it to you?

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