We all know the story: star crossed lovers caught up in a whirlwind romance, making commitments way too soon – and finding themselves trapped in an unhappy marriage a few years down the line. Then someone starts to look for affection elsewhere…
Cynical?
All joking aside, when it comes to relationships with humans, ‘having your cake and eating it’ rarely works. It’s a path wrought with pain, leading only to jealousy, deceit and a whole load of heartache. But when it comes to your relationship with your workspace, you can have both.
Yes, you heard it right – both.
You can flirt with properties in Pimlico, cohabit in Camden, date in Dalston and bed down in Barbican. 100% guilt free.
That’s one mighty fine-looking cake!
The curse of the lease
For decades, centuries even, the conventional thing for a business to do when they needed an office was to sign a lease lasting five years or more. Quite often, these leases didn’t have the business’ best interests at heart. Some were overbearing manipulators, trapping them into committing before they were really ready.
As these businesses grew, they’d have to think of creative ways to squeeze in new employees without upsetting Dave from accounts who ‘needs his space’. And when they did finally build up the courage to leave, they only had one option: enacting the break clause.
This sounds serious – and it was. Break clauses had (and still have) all sorts of conditions attached, and businesses would end up having to foot the bill. Thus ensued a lengthy battle between tenant and landlord.
To cut a long story short, the flexible workspace (or coworking) industry was set up by some pioneering property people to save us all.
The allure of the coworking membership
So what do we mean when we say a coworking membership is like having your cake and eating it? To put it simply, it means you can enjoy stability and flexibility at the same time.
A coworking space provides your business with security and support; a happy home containing all the services you need to get up and running from day one. That means desk space plus high-speed internet connection, access to meeting rooms, invitations to networking events and a whole host of other benefits.
Sounds great, but do I have to commit?
No, not really. Coworking memberships are incredibly flexible by nature – you can sign up for as little as one month at a time. Coworking providers like us also allow you to try out different locations to see which fits best. For instance, it might be that you need to be based in the City but meet clients regularly in the West End. Our coworking memberships allow you to work from multiple spaces.
How can Halkin help?
Things happen fast in the world of business which is why, with Halkin, you’ll always have the option to scale up or down as your team changes shape. As a one man band, you might start with a single desk, then acquire three more a few months later as your business begins to blossom.
Coworking is perfect for individuals, small teams and project teams from larger companies.
We call our coworking memberships ‘Smart Working Memberships’ because they offer more than just a desk and a square metre in which to swizzle your chair. A membership with us enables you to make use of our state-of-the-art AV, showers, bike racks, delicious blended coffee, generous break-out spaces, talks, events….and plenty of room to breathe.
A little more commitment
Don’t get us wrong, a few years down the line when your business is a little bit older and wiser, you might feel ready to commit to a longer-term arrangement. We get it.
When you get to that point, it’ll be time to consider one of our serviced offices. But don’t worry, you’ll still have the option to chop and change your mind at short notice. No long-term commitments, no strings attached.
Unlike the political situation at present, our offices really are strong, stable and they look nice too.
We’ve got flexible private offices in all our locations. Experience has taught us that every businesses relationship with their workspace is different, which is why each one is designed to fit with the resident’s style, ethos and taste in art.
Each office is completely furnished and contains all the communications infrastructure you’ll need. As with our coworking memberships, you’ll have access to all the shared areas including breakout, meeting and event space. You never know, you might find your next web developer lurking in the shadows of our coworking area in Monument!
So there you have it: a metaphorical cake for you keep and devour simultaneously. For real life cakes, check out the cafe in our Paris Gardens office – they’re delicious.
Sound good to you?
For a relationship with no strings attached, get in touch today.