An increasing number of people are leaving the traditional 9-5 work routine to embark on lifestyles that allow them to work remotely, often from coliving and coworking spaces around the world. They are the so-called ‘digital nomads‘, people that travel while working online.
Coworking + Coliving: Fast Forward Personal And Professional Relationships
One key motivator for this change in lifestyle is the feelings of lacking purpose or freedom in traditional working environments. As we pursue paths of following our dreams, making money doing what we love or contributing to a better world, it is sometimes easy to forget some of our most essential needs. A sense of community and belonging for example, the feeling of being accepted, respected and loved by those around us.
So as we reinvent the old idea of communities, we don’t need to become lone wolves taking on the world all alone. We just need to find the right people, those who share our values and ‘just get us’.
The rise of remote work also means that more and more people are becoming free from the ‘office politics’, hence free to choose potential colleagues, business partners and collaborators. And of course, people like to be surrounded by people they like; so they tend to do business with people they consider friends, or at least friendly.
When the first coworking spaces appeared, they finally offered a place for the first remote workers to work from, without the stress of having to always find cafes, hotels, AirBnbs etc. with good wifi. Coworking spaces also started to break down those traditional work-relationships barriers, encouraging a more personal way to do business. But the truth is, coworking spaces often lack a real sense of community.
Coworking vs Coliving
In a coworking space people go, first and foremost, to work. Socializing is also a ‘nice to have’ in a coworking space, but it’s not the main focus. That means that interactions within people at coworking spaces are limited. You can go there, be productive, meet other professionals, share a cuppa, attend an event, learn new skills… but after a workday everyone goes their separate ways home. In most cases, it takes a good month to start learning other members’ names, three months to start hanging out together, and maybe a year to start potential business collaborations with them. If you are lucky! This is not good or bad; it’s just the rhythm of it.
From our experience, however, real communities are born outside of work. It is not enough to give a space for people to sit next to each other, while everyone is mostly glued to their laptop screens, and call that a community.
Communities are born in the moments when people decide to cook together, watch a movie, have a picnic outside or stay up late sharing intimate life stories and exploring life’s big philosophical questions. It is one thing to share our entrepreneurial visions, work histories and new business ideas with each other; but it is completely another thing to really have the time and the space to be able to learn about each other on a deeper level.
At a coworking space it is easy to keep our formal ‘masks’ on, showing others only the sides of ourselves which we feel comfortable with. But when you are coliving together, the masks quickly dissolve and everyone sees each other in much more authentic and meaningful ways. That’s when real intimacy and connection happens, and that is why location independent workers need coliving spaces.
What Is Coliving?
And that’s why coliving spaces are very different from coworking spaces.
Coworking is a new way of working. Coliving is a new way of living, where work is also involved.
Everything is more intense than in a coworking space, and again, it’s not good or bad; it’s just the rhythm of it. The moments you find to interact with other guests are limitless. You work when you need to, but you do plenty of other things with fascinating people who come from all over the world. If you’ve ever experienced coliving, chances are you have been surprised by how quickly you developed deep connections with people in such a short period of time. Over the years, we have witnessed people at Sun and Co. going from strangers to friends, to business and life partners! Sometimes in just as little as one or two weeks.
Coliving Is The Future of Remote Working
Over the years, we’ve found that many people join us at Sun and Co. when they are in search of a sense of clarity or change in their lives: transitioning to new business fields, looking for new job opportunities, working on side projects… The list goes on, but we’ve heard over and over again from colivers that once they leave Sun and Co., they have a sense of clarity that wasn’t there before.
And the good news is, from clarity and knowing what one wants, both personal and professional growth will follow.
We’ve already touched on how coliving can fast forward personal growth, so it’s now time to dive into what we believe are the three main ways coliving can also lead to professional growth.
Learning From The Expertise Of Others
Our weekly skillshare sessions are amongst some of the most impactful things that happen at Sun and Co.on a weekly basis. At the beginning of each week, we share what everyone in the house wants to learn and who can provide meaningful content on those topics. It’s an amazing opportunity to learn from others and then apply it to your own situation and professional experience. With a wide range of topics like Facebook ad funnels, email marketing, blogging, SEO and even things like risk-taking probabilities… you’re constantly able to get out of your professional comfort zone and learn from those who specialize in different topics.
Here are a few examples of previous skillshares:
Meeting Your New Business Partner
When most people think about professional networking, they envision swanky lunches or meeting people at conferences. You rarely think about your new business partner or colleague being someone you wake up and have breakfast with for two weeks. That’s the beauty about coliving: you’re not just sharing a workspace where you go in and out at the end of each day. You’re also living together and getting to know one another on a deeper level. This way you can skip the resume and boring interview process and get right to the good stuff when it comes to working together or hiring someone new because you were able to connect on a deeper level from day one.
Time and time again, we see people who have met at Sun and Co. end up hiring each other later on, freelancing for another coliver’s companies and even leading joint ventures together.
Staying Inspired By Your Surroundings
Let’s take a moment and think about why people long for vacations, or “workations” in remote working terms.
Why do we look to explore new places and have a change of scenery? More often than not, we escape to find clarity and gain a new understanding of how we see the world and our place in it. The beauty of being location independent is that you can choose to be based in a place like Javea, where you’re constantly surrounded by inspiration. And if you choose coliving at Sun and Co., you will also find endless inspiration in the house itself.
With sleek architecture and a minimalist, homey vibe, it’s easy to be productive and get meaningful work done. That’s what we had in mind when renovating this 19th-century house. An inspiring space. Tall glass windows. Open workspace. Closed office spaces. Tons of natural light. Outdoor patios. And lots of plants!
Time to think about if you’re ready to take the next step in your life and career!
Are you ready to be in a new environment, connect with other like-minded people and spend your days inspired by where you are and what you’re doing? If so, we’re here to welcome you with open arms!
