Things you have to know before you start your coworking marketplace

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | Coworking Marketplace | Entrepreneurship | Things you have to know before you start your coworking marketplaceCoworking is a new concept of an open working environment that allows several unrelated companies to share office space and work together. According to Statista, there were around 22,4000 coworking spaces worldwide by the end of 2019. With the rising popularity of shared workspaces, more and more businesses are launching coworking marketplaces. In other words, they are just like Airbnb.

When Airbnb offers vacation rentals with homely amenities, a coworking space marketplace offers office spaces with unique amenities for individuals and businesses. The coworking marketplace efficiently connects coworking space owners looking to rent out their unused office space with individuals and businesses looking for vacant shared work spaces.

In the coming years, we will be seeing tremendous innovation in the field of building and running coworking rental marketplaces. There is no better time to launch your coworking space business. Before we start, let me establish this- There are no easy ways to launch a coworking marketplace and make it successful. Following a sound business strategy and understanding, best practices are important.

Things to consider before starting an Airbnb for coworking

The whole world has been taken aback by the potential of coworking space marketplaces and you are on the right track with launching a coworking rental platform. But running a successful Airbnb for coworking requires a lot of planning and effort. Here are some of the core things to consider before starting your own coworking marketplace that helps you to take your business to new heights.

Research your target market

Whether you are creating a coworking space platform from scratch or using a white label solution, there is no way around doing thorough market research. According to studies, lack of market research is one of the major reasons why startups fail.

To build a viable coworking space rental marketplace, you need to have a clear understanding of the market, how the industry looks like, your target users, their requirement, and the solution they are looking for. Pay attention to market trends as well to spot any big changes like technology breakthroughs so that you can use it for your business advantage.

Choose the right business model

It is a great idea to design a viable business model even before starting your coworking marketplace. Now, the exact way your coworking space rental platform makes money will depend on a lot of factors. However, there are some common business models to consider.

Service fee

It’s a great monetization strategy of any peer-peer marketplaces to charge service providers a service fee each time they receive and process a new booking on your platform. The more transactions your marketplace makes-the more revenue you get. The host service fee can be 3% or more and can vary with different countries. You can also incur service free from guests which can range up to 20% of the booking subtotal. For example, Airbnb takes a 20% service fee from guests and a 3$ from the hosts.

Listing fee

Your coworking marketplace can collect listing fees from coworking space owners when they list their space on your platform. It can be a flat fee or vary based on the total reservation made or any other parameters. To reduce friction, you can consider collecting the fee once the transaction is completed instead of doing it at the time of listing. Airbnb charges a 14% host-fee from property owners according to its new policies.

While these are the common business models- You can add more than that including the following.

  • Adding premium subscriptions
  • Collect payment processing fee
  • Promote sponsored listings
  • Setting your own ad system

Carefully plan your operations

Creating a coworking space management tool is one thing and successfully running is something completely different. As you have to manage two user types, bookings and scheduling, payment processing, and a lot of other functions together, the operations can get a bit complex. Hence, it is important for your rental marketplace to have all essential features that support the operations carried out on your platform.

You will need specialized marketplace payment gateways that allow users to book coworking spaces and pay effortlessly. Implementing an in-app communication system is also essential to set a channel for all your users to communicate regarding scheduling, booking, and cancellation.

Optimize your platform’s search to deliver high performance

Search is one of the most critical interfaces of your coworking office space rental marketplace users leverage these features to interact with your platform. Significant engineering goes behind a smart and intuitive search that performs well. If you take the example of Airbnb, the smart search is one of the most powerful features of this peer-peer vacation rental marketplace.

A typical search for any coworking marketplace should support the following search features.

  • Location
  • Coworking space type
  • Price range
  • Availability
  • Amenities
  • Capacity
  • Meeting rooms
  • And more

Improve the booking flow and experience

To deliver a great user experience to all user groups, your coworking space platform must have a seamless booking feature. When a coworking space owner registers in your platform and activates his listings, the people who are looking for rental office spaces must be able to view and book the space.

Consider instant booking as opposed to normal booking feature as it is the preferred way for hosts to rent out their properties. With proper identification verification services, you can allow service providers to reliably list their coworking space for instant booking option so that users can make instant bookings.

Dealing with Last minute cancellations

Building and running a successful peer-peer coworking management software requires you to think from a user perspective. For example, Airbnb allows hosts to cancel the booking at the 11th hour. When thinking from a host’s perspective, this is an absolutely great feature, but if you think from a guest perspective, this might not be a pleasing feature. Hence, your marketplace must have smart ways to deal with last-minute cancellations considering the interests of both user groups. To reduce last-minute cancellations, you can add a cancelation fee and block booking dates. Another great alternative would be to reallocate another similar coworking space to the user in case a service provider cancels the last minute.

Conclusion

Building an Airbnb for coworking is a different thing and scaling it to millions of users like the real Airbnb does is another thing. Implementing the above-discussed things will help you to run your peer-peer coworking marketplace successfully and gain a competitive advantage in the industry. Happy Coworking!

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Shirley C. StewartShirley C. Stewart is Business Consultant and Marketing Head at RentCubo. She helps brands to build their web products that people love using. Shirley has a passion for growth hacking and startups.

How to Raise Revenue for an Entrepreneurial Start-Up

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleThe first step in raising revenue for an entrepreneurial start-up is to outline a detailed marketing strategy. It is important for start-up entrepreneurs to test their assumptions as soon as they can. A big reason for the success of established companies is that they never invest large capital or significant time on any project unless they have determined that it has an overwhelming probability of success. The corporate world taught me that most ideas fail in the marketplace. When this happens, it should fail quickly and cheaply. You just want to make sure that you are not overwhelmingly hurt when you experience this inevitable fact.

Complete the following exercise carefully before you launch your marketing campaign. Accuracy in this exercise will be crucial to your future business success:

1. Decide who is your ideal customer – Most entrepreneurs start with a great product or service idea, but fail in correctly identifying their ideal customer and instead will sell to anyone who buys from them. This is probably one of the biggest mistakes I still see today, especially in the online world.

There are two main reasons you want to determine who these ideal or dream customers are: first, your ideal customers will appreciate your offers and will pay for it based on your value, not price; and second, they are more likely to refer more business your way.

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About the Author

Ajay PrasadAjay Prasad owns GMR Web Team, a digital marketing agency dedicated to helping businesses maximize revenue from internet. He also invests in web-based start-ups. Ajay also operates a seven-figure web based business, GMR Transcription, which he built from scratch and grew it by using strategies that he uses for his digital marketing clients.

Mindset, Motivation and Marketing: The Three Keys to Your Business Success

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Mindset|Mindset, Motivation and Marketing: The Three Keys to Your Business SuccessFinding the courage and enthusiasm to finally start your own business will be a huge stepping stone in your life. Whether you’ve got a passion for a particular industry or you’re looking to leave your dead end 9-5, there are so many advantages to becoming an entrepreneur. However, before you get too excited about being an overnight millionaire, you need to think realistically. Your great business idea won’t be enough to get it off the ground; you will need a whole load of motivation, marketing techniques and a strong mindset. Once you have mastered these key elements you will have the confidence to launch your business and keep it running for years to come. Before you jump into the deep end, consider some of the following ideas and implement them into your business plan.

Quality over Quantity

In business you simply cannot run before you can walk. If you try to do too many things at once, you’re going to get overwhelmed and frustrated. Let’s say you’re working in the medical equipment manufacturing. It’s better to supply one or two excellent and innovative products than sell every item under the sun. You will also want to make sure your products are high quality and suited to your target demographic. Nowadays every supplier needs to think about medical equipment coating. As medical devices become smaller and more compact, the use of Parylene coatings finds increasing value due to its molecular level deposition. Overall, you need to make sure you do thorough research into your particular industry, so that you can create the best quality products in your market. Having a “quick fix” mindset just won’t work if you’re in it for the long haul.

Solving Your Target Audience’s Problems

When you start a business, your initial goal should be to solve a problem that your target audience has. Try not to think too far ahead and focus on your specific reasoning. Perhaps you’re an accountant who can help other businesses save time or maybe you sell an innovative product for the home that can solve people’s issues right away. You need to have your target person in mind and use them as a way of channelling your business goals.

Your Business Isn’t About You

If you’re starting a business because you want to make a quick buck, then you’re doing it for all the wrong reasons. The truth is, your business is more about your consumer than you. Although you might have a special passion or interest, building a business isn’t going to be easy. Of course you want to be passionate about the industry you’re entering, but you can’t think about yourself too much. Put yourself in the shoes of your target market and think about what they want rather than what you want.

Forget Imposter Syndrome

When you’re just starting out in the business world, it can be very easy to feel like an imposter. If you don’t have a huge amount of experience you can definitely feel like a fraud too! Be assured that you aren’t the first person to feel like that. You are most certainly worthy of being a business owner, so you need to believe that too. Have faith in your own abilities and forget the voice in your head that’s telling you you’re not good enough.

Your Competitors Aren’t That Important

Stop focusing on your competitors for a change and think about your own pathway. Yes, you need to use other businesses to model your own, but you shouldn’t be too focused on what they’re doing. You will start to feel overwhelmed about where they are if you think too much about what they’re doing. Laser focus on your own goals and you will be much more productive.

Giving Up Isn’t an Option

It is much easier said than done when you’re not seeing any improvements, but you simply have to stay motivated when it comes to your business. If you’re truly passionate about what you do, you should never want to give up. You’re going to have tough days that feel like a hard slog, but every entrepreneur goes through this. Sticking to it is the sign of a true pro and you will get there in the end.

You Have to Invest Before You See Results

Don’t forget that you need to spend money to earn money; you won’t be making millions overnight if you don’t have a good amount of start up capital. Depending on your business type, you will probably find that most of your money is spent on advertising in the initial months. This is because you need to spread the word of your business and get your target audience to start noticing your products and services.

Professional Marketing Goes A Long Way

Don’t be afraid to pay an expert to help you out with marketing. Yes, there is a lot you can do on your own, but this will only get you so far. Save yourself the time and stress by hiring a digital marketing agency to help you reach your business goals.

Patience and Persistence Pays Off

Once you have established a good sense of motivation and an entrepreneurial mindset, you just need to be patient. Your success won’t necessarily happen overnight, in fact it definitely won’t. Finding your feet in your target market will take time, as your ideal consumer needs to learn to trust you. If you’re in this for the long haul you will easily be able to stick to your goals with a patient and persistent attitude.

So now you will see how important your mindset and motivation is when starting a new business. Obviously marketing is very important too once you have the foundations of your business laid out. Along the way, all you need to remember is that you should only focus on one thing at a time. Creating less overwhelm for yourself in the initial months will keep your mindset on track for a thriving business in the future.

How to Start a Business with Little to no Capital

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Start a Business|How to Start a Business with Little to no CapitalYou have a great idea for starting your own business, but you’ve got little or no savings. While starting a business when you’re strapped for cash is a challenge, know that this doesn’t mean you can’t go into business. Nor does this mean that people will think less of your new business. There are many firms famous for starting with a few hundred pounds in someone’s garage, and you could be one of them if you take advantage of the resources that are available to you. Let’s look at a few ways you could start your business with little to no capital.

Use Sweat Equity

Don’t buy things when you could rent, and don’t buy new if you can make do with used. The main source of capital will be you and your efforts. Do everything you can yourself before you hire others.

This route isn’t an option if you don’t have the time to work for the business for free or the cost of entering the field is more than you have saved. But, if you are able to start the business on effort alone, recognise that you’ll have a lot of competition and will have to hire people to scale it up.

Leverage Your Day Job for Capital

A common criticism of artists and entrepreneurs is ‘don’t quit your day job’. There are several good reasons to keep your day job while building your small business, too.

First, you can live frugally off your income and funnel the rest of your money into the business. This does mean you’re pressed for time, but you can often build your business if you carefully budget your time outside of work. Your job also improves your credit. You’re eligible for no guarantor loans based on your current income. You don’t have to ask anyone else to co-sign the loan or ask family to loan you money for your business.

A side benefit of starting your business as a side business is that you have margin for error. If you need to tweak the design or change your business model, it won’t hurt the business. You can get feedback from friends, family and referrals.

Find Ways to Generate More Revenue from Your Business Idea

You may have to find new ways to generate revenue from your business. Find ways to generate cash flow from services while designing and selling a product.

Product-based businesses are capital intensive. Try to find ways to make money servicing current owners of the product, such as repairing or appraising the item. If you want to build an app, get started building websites and apps for others. Provide tech support for customers while you’re designing hardware. This will not just generate cash flow you can live on, but it will connect you to potential customers.

You can start a business with little to no cash, and it doesn’t have to involve a ton of debt. Understand your options so that you can find the best solution for funding your start-up.