We are a start-up generation – a generation of independent freelance service providers, ambitious entrepreneurs, geniuses and visionaries. Gone are the days when dreams were doused by the requirement of a secure job and sustainable income. Today we are breaking the ceiling and it’s all thanks to ecosystems shaping up to support the dreamers. Co-working spaces are one of the greatest new age support systems, providing us with the necessary tools to work on the ideas.
What I find even more exciting about co-working is that they are silently also environmentally sustainable.
For example, imagine co-workers as people carpooling instead of driving separately. You pay for a quarter of expenses, reduce fuel consumption to one car consecutively reducing air pollution by the same amount and still making it to your destination. For me, co-working works the same way.
Instead of 4 entrepreneurs using 4 different spaces – you use one, share the same amenities and control your carbon footprint to that one space.
When I began my journey as an entrepreneur, I used spaces from many wonderful co-working spaces. After a few months I realized, as start-up life goes, it is not easy to get your business going immediately. The struggle was moving to my pockets. With savings disappearing, I began stressing out at the month-end, dreading the next month’s payment for the co-working space. I may have gained the environmental quotient of sustainability but I was losing out on the economic side of it.
But as luck would have it, a new start-up put me out of my misery. They say when you really want something; the universe conspires together for you to get it. This new start-up was myHQ workspaces. They offered memberships that did not require a monthly rental, lock-in period or security deposit. I received credits for F&B and amenities like WIFI, printing and stationery.
So this was an economic option but was it an environmentally sustainable option as well?
To begin with, myHQ spaces consisted of only cafes initially. Cafes open and close at a certain time every day whether there are any customers or not. Meaning, even if there are only two people in the café, all lights, and air conditioning systems will be working all day long.
With the introduction of a co-working facility at these cafes, the same space is used by many more people, dividing the electricity consumption, reducing everyone’s carbon footprint to a very small amount.
I am a serious coffee addict and I drink coffee every day. Even though I carry my own mug, most of my friends and people I meet at these spaces do not. When they choose to have their coffee at the café instead, they completely cut down on their disposable plastic cup consumption.
Third very important aspect of myHQ is the availability of working with all their café partners spread across the city. Earlier, work meant traveling to and fro from office, for meetings all over the city. Now I finish my meetings and find the nearest myHQ space to work from. This has cut down my travel footprint by half and hence, helped reduce the fuel consumption.
Working from a co-working office could be a great choice for people, unsure if working from a cafe can yield any results. I have been working from myHQ spaces since 2017 till date. From a struggling wannabe to now featured in 10 Lesser Known Women Entrepreneurs of India list, guess it worked for me just fine. ☺
Not many realize the undertones of environmental sustainability of co-working, but now you do. I hope this helped you give an insight of this burgeoning trend and its much larger impact than probably we could have imagined.