Space Sharing

So… you need a space. You’re either going to want something on a regular basis or for casual, never-see-you-again, once-off hire. Whether it’s for business training, a kids birthday party or a place to rehearse, it turns out that finding space, for a short or medium amount of time, is tough! It takes ages and you’ll need the patience of a saint to work through booking forms, payment details etc….. And often it turns out that even for one day a week hire, you’re probably faced with needing to pay rent… ugh, we know….! 😩 However there are now platforms that allow you to rent ultra short term and by the hour. (Check out SpacetoCo.com if you want to save time and book spaces online). If you’re a regular hirer of space, this is especially great news. Committing to 24/7 rent is great for landlords, but it can be a financial burden for any start-up business or individual working on their side-hustle…

So what else is so good about using shared space?

I like to move it move it. Why stay put in one place? You can reach different audiences, access different facilities or simply have a change of scene… all by moving your activities around the place. Having access to different shared spaces means you can even switch your events to a different area of town from one year to the next. Don’t like the space owner? Move. Don’t like the smell of a building? Move. Want a space with a view? Move. It’s much easier if you can access shared spaces.

Every day I’m hustling. The research tells us that the gig economy is a thing. People are side hustling at an astonishing rate. According to Upwork, ⅓ of the Australian workforce freelance 🤯 and it’s on the increase… If you want to launch your pop-up shop, new yoga practice or business consultancy, it’s waaaaay safer if you just share space and hire what you need when you need it. After all, if you’re gonna hustle some cashola, best it goes into your pocket and not the landlord!

Cos I’m free to do what I want. It’s fair to say that in the past, many people had to either commit to renting or even building then furnishing the space they needed. The sharing economy has demonstrated the freedom that comes with sharing existing stuff. Space hire is no different. Imagine you’re a designer – you need to impress some prospective clients but you don’t have access to an impressive boardroom for your pitch…. Well, you do now… with space sharing you’ve got access to a marketplace of spaces in all sorts of places to impress your clients wherever they are.

All the people. It’s said that we live in times of great connectedness but increasing loneliness. When you share space with others, you inherently connect with other people. According to the Guardian, it’s estimated that ½ million older people in the UK go without seeing or touching another human being for at least 5 days each week. Sharing space naturally brings the Host and Guest together and when that occurs, connections are sparked.

Spaces are everywhere and when they’re shared, the benefits are not insignificant. Freedom, flexibility, cost-saving and human connection are the winners.

So you have a space and you’re keen to share it with others. In this section we’ll focus on pointers that lead to space sharing success. There are spaces for all types of activity, be they spaces for work, fitness, the creative arts, cultural ceremonies, meetups, kids birthday parties and more. Some of the more quirky sharing examples we’ve seen include: flash mob practice, bogan bingo quiz night (as pictured) and even a panel for curly-haired girls (true). So with all this in mind what are the top tips for sharing spaces:

1. Fit-for-purpose – be really clear about what your space offers. Can it be used for many activities or is it a specialist, purpose-built room suitable for one or two things. For example, most warehouse spaces can hold nearly any activity. The yoga study with parquetry flooring is likely only suitable for yoga or meditation. It’s also important to show off the facilities and accurately put these up front in any written description. Great wifi, high ceilings or a modern kitchenette should all be explained.
2. Feels – how a space feels to people is extremely important. If you don’t know, ask five people their opinion. If all five say it’s musty, damp, cluttered and cold, you should try to fix it with a clean out, better ventilation, air conditioning or maybe even some maintenance. Warm, fresh, clean spaces will win your guests over. You can make a difference to how a space feels with last minute small touches like: fresh filtered water, fresh hand towels, fragrant candles, fresh fruit, flowers or a personalised welcome sign. These things are of course optional and you may do just one of them, but they go a long way with people. Creating a  memorable space sharing experience will likely lead to positive reviews, the likelihood of repeat bookings and word-of-mouth sharing.
3. Fantastic lighting – following on from the above point, the ability to light up a space to match the activity is important to people. Whether it is natural light, manual lighting or even high-tech lighting, it’s good to think about and mention lighting in your space. Often your guest will photograph and share images of your space in action. Good or poor lighting affects these photos and it’s something to consider when sharing your spaces with the community.
4. Fotos, fotos, fotos – Quality photos of your space help your guests understand and imagine their activity in your space. Whether it’s a wedding or workshop space, show off the best features of your space with clear, high resolution images. Most people will be looking for a sense of the floor space, the amenities and the area for seating, standing, dancing, yoga (whichever applies). One tip for enticing photos is to show images of your space in use. That means, have images of people enjoying themselves and with the space dressed up according to the activities it is best suited for.
5. Fineprint – the devil is in the detail and so if you do one thing in sharing your space, be extremely clear about your space description. Clear rules about what activities you won’t accept are as important as those you want to encourage. Whilst good photos will entice people to hire your space, your guests will want to know as much as they can before hiring so be generous in your descriptions. Being truthful and transparent sets the right expectations with people. It also helps to explain any additional charges that may apply when hiring your space. A helpful tip is to ask a couple of friends to sanity-check your descriptions for understanding.
6. Fine tooth comb – in other words, be clean. Anytime we see a negative review for a space it typically comes down to cleanliness. No one wants to spend the first fifteen minutes of their space hire cleaning and wiping down surfaces. If the space is prone to dirt and grime for various reasons, then supply readily available cleaning equipment that is safe to use and clearly understood. Going over your space with a fine tooth comb also means ensuring the bins are emptied, the temperature feels cosy and that weird smells are eliminated.  
7. Financials – how much are you charging for your space and how did you arrive at that figure? As we demonstrated above in the schools example, it is possible to calculate the amount of hours a space is typically used. For a cafe, this is 7am to 3pm (on average)… which is 8 hours. What does the commercial rent work out to be per day for that cafe? Divide the figure by 8 to see what the rent return should be. Some space hosts will also factor in lighting as well as heating/cooling costs. For some spaces this might be $25 per hour… You also need to consider what is fair and reasonable. For many space owners, space sharing represents bonus income. For others, it is the source of income. With all this in mind, try to use space sharing as a way to bring people in. Do this by considering what will be a win for your guests but a bonus for you. The cafe courtyard charging $500 per hour will likely get no bookings. The secret second floor dance studio space for $40 is likely to be very popular and we used by a range of people on a range of budgets.

The purpose of a space should match the activity that happens there, but no longer do we need to accept that one group only should benefit. All spaces have downtimes and by opening your mind to Space Sharing, we can encourage a more sustainable world.

Space is pretty much essential to us humans. It seemed to be that in our past, spaces were shared pretty effectively. Any visit to an ancient city ruin shows this well. But that was easy when we had populations of tens of thousands. Now we have cars, suburbia and populations of millions. We do like to share our freeways in the mornings and afternoons, but we’re not together… we’re separated by the glass and metal that makes up our cars. Now, instead of the village, we talk of society… even though we often hear of that yearning to ‘bring the village back’ and ‘make the city more vibrant’. How do we create more “ village” in our sprawled cities amongst the millions of us? Why do we build more and more, when it’s likely that we might have more than enough physical space…. Are we just terrible at sharing it… or knowing where it is.

We love the idea of space and it shows in the urban sprawl that shows little sign of slowing down. Can we get better access to space and reduce city sprawl at the same time? It is possible. Where suburbia lives – we have silo’d our lives quite a lot. Fences, garage doors, alarm systems, fear of germs, stranger danger and car culture have closed us off from each other. And the internet doesn’t exactly help. We know it, acknowledge it… and accept it.

But this story isn’t all bad…There is change in the air and tech has been enabling the solution. According to Canstar, 68% of Australians now spend and earn money through the sharing economy. If you’re thinking this translates to Airbnb and Uber, it likely does, but it’s extending now to other things like Airtasker and Mad Paws. Aside from convenience and value for money, all these sharing economy models have one thing in common – they connect people. A recent Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre report last month highlighted the recent increase in WA Airbnb listings, which is up 50% in WA over the past year… People in WA are keen to connect – and they’re making some spare cash in the process.

Imagine then if there was a sharing economy for spaces? We could connect spaces to people and people to spaces. What would that mean in our cities of millions? If everyone shared spaces, could it mean less commuting on our freeways and less traffic congestion? Could it mean that normally deserted buildings, rooms, studios….etc are used more often? Could it challenge and disrupt certain industries? Could it turn the idea of a city centre on its head? Could it mean less landlords and more money for local area economies? Most importantly, could it allow more people to connect and experience more village again?

Our suburbs are mostly silent during business hours… and outside of these hours where the tall buildings rise… also quiet… doesn’t it seem like we could do this better? The great thing about living in this age is our work can happen anywhere… armed with a laptop and reasonable internet access, it’s never been easier to conduct our business. People don’t need the CBD like they once did. The thing is, some days all you need a quiet room, other days you need a meeting space and from time-to-time, a training venue. Few workplaces offer all of these things and neither does the local cafe… unless it offers decent work spaces. By sharing more, we get to live in ways that past generations could have only imagined given our growing population. Sharing really is the way forward for all of us.