Do you work from home? If you do and are feeling isolated or like you want an alternative, Redding CoWorking may have the answer for you.

More and more people, no matter where they live, are able to work virtually anywhere in the world with the versatility of laptops and cell phones. How many entrepreneurs and freelancers do you know who work from home and go to a coffee shop for a change of scenery or meetings with clients?

Gone are the days when everyone is tied to a landline at a particular desk in an office outside the home. While there are perks to working independently, it can also lack stimulation which is often sparked by working with and bouncing ideas off others. However, the reality is the overhead of an office outside the home cannot always be justified.

People working from home are the niche market Redding CoWorking is aimed at helping. Connie and Bob Batesole are the founders of Redding CoWorking which opened its doors in the Mission Shopping Center on the east side of Bechelli Lane between Cypress and Hartnell at the start of 2014.

The Batesole’s became familiar with co-working spaces in the San Francisco Bay Area where they lived until five years ago. Bob was a systems administrator for Cisco and was able to telecommute from anywhere. This allowed them flexibility in where they could live.

Shasta County had a quality of life that reached out to the Batesole’s. They contemplated the move north, had the sense it was a good decision when they sold their home in one day, and then made it happen.

Bob continued to work remotely for Cisco after the move to Redding for the next ten months. Then he took an early retirement. As it turned out, Bob wasn’t ready for retirement from work and, like many, the Batesole’s looked for an opportunity that would be stimulating and also add something to their new community.

Batesoles Meet RADD

Looking for the next adventure, Bob joined RADD (Redding Area Designers and Developers) to meet others with similar interests. He found RADD to be a growing group of impressive Shasta County designers and developers. Many work from home and were not meeting each other prior to RADD forming. Now they meet monthly giving them a great avenue to get to know one another and become familiar with each other’s areas of expertise.

Having been exposed to co-working situations plus being introduced to more entrepreneurs and freelancers in the Redding area, it became clear that a co-working environment in Redding would be good to cultivate – with emphasis on facilitating collaboration, openness, community, and serendipity so that startups can be born, nurtured and launched.

Redding CoWorking Launched

Thus, Redding CoWorking was born. The Batesole’s have created a very inviting co-working space with several rooms – including a good size conference room. Its doors officially opened the first part of January, 2014. They are in the process now of spreading the word to those who desire a work space outside the home – encouraging them to drop in and see what they offer. The cost structure includes affordable WiFi leasing and free coffee. Connie enjoys baking and occasionally brings in these goodies to share with everyone.

Redding CoWorking Spaces

Below are a couple work spaces. Art work will rotate, desks can be brought in. The spaces can be made to fit to a large degree. There is flexibility.

Redding CoWorking Hosted Successful ‘Beer & Bytes’

Redding CoWorking jumped right in to host Shasta EDC’s January ‘Beer & Bytes’ to help spread the word they are open for business. Beer & Bytes is the EDC’s tech and entrepreneur mixer held approximately every six weeks. The photo below was taken at that mixer. There was a great turnout as seen in the photo below. All who were there in that moment gathered in the conference room for a snapshot of the successful event.

A quieter perspective of conference room is shown below.

Find out more about Redding CoWorking

The best way to find out more about whether Redding CoWorking is a good option for you or someone you know is to contact Bob or Connie at 530.378.4356. They invite you to visit them during the day at 2747 Bechelli Lane.

Be sure to find Redding CoWorking on Facebook and give them a LIKE.

We invite you to check out Shasta EDC on Facebook. Please show your virtual support by LIKING the page. Here you will be able to follow along as we shed light on more Shasta County companies and other economic development. Thank you.

February 2014