A new, trendy downtown office is giving Regina entrepreneurs a place to kick-start operations.
“Cowork Regina is a collaborative work space for startups, freelancers, entrepreneurs and existing businesses,” said Derek Wu, co-founder of Cowork Regina.
Wu and his partners launched the idea back in January. But the concept of renting office space to independent entrepreneurs was not in the initial plan.
“This was kind of on a whim. It was an accident that went good, I guess. We bought the building with intentions of putting the lounge in here, said ‘Hey we have this space upstairs here, why don’t we do something with it?’” said Wu.
And so they solved a problem many at-home business owners face.
“I have four kids and I love playing Lego. And if I were to work from my office at home I’d be playing Lego rather than getting the work done,” said Aaron Jones, a web application developer.
The space also offers an opportunity to network.
“We have a lot of multimedia people in this, so when we need a logo designed or a video created, or if we need just creative expertise, I can run over to Living Skies and they can let them know what’s going on,” said Robbie Sahlu, a Regina-based songwriter.
Just like their tenants, Cowork Regina is a small business too. While they’re not breaking even yet, they say their passion is their payoff.
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“That is the only compensation that we’re getting, on top of the gratitude of owning another small business,” said Wu.
Depending on the space, rent prices range from $325 to $750.
“Moving into Cowork was low-risk for us, having the ability to sign a month-to-month lease,” said Adam Burwell, Vice President of Living Sky Media Group.
That’s something that the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses agrees with.
“When you start a business, it’s pretty exciting but it’s also terrifying – there are lots of challenges. Lots of good ideas start at a kitchen table or the basement or the garage, but this concept would provide shared resources, and also the ability for a start-up to grow without those major overhead costs,” said Marilyn Braun-Pollon of the CFIB.
For the tenants at Cowork, growth is a team effort.
“That’s kind of the whole idea of Cowork – we’re not really competing with eachother, we’re supporting eachother,” said Matt Kopeck of Creative Metric.
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