Leveraging coworking, online and home workspaces as an entrepreneur

Are you hearing a whisper in the back of your head that keeps getting louder? Is there a burning desire to do something else? Make a positive impact on society? Something you've been thinking about doing that's not your current job?

I had those questions answered a few years ago, when I became a second-career author of The Musical Adventures of Grace children's book series.

My entrepreneurial story started with a question: “How can I make the pediatric patients' office visit be extended beyond the 10 minutes in my daily office schedule?”

During the intense clinical training as a physician assistant, one of the important skills we learn is how to use health literacy and patient education as adjunctive tools for patient empowerment.

Sometimes, however, those important parental instructions failed to have meaning to the littlest patient in the examination room. Sometimes, those important messages were not adequately translated, a second time, by a concerned and attentive adult. There had to be a better way.

What if I could create an engaging children's story and find a way for a publisher to notice it? In that way I could provide characters who could speak to a pediatric patient about a health issue in a way that was fun and made sense to them. Enter The Musical Adventures of Grace.

So, what's next? Do you use your answer for personal fulfillment or do you nurture that answer and plant it as the seed of a new venture? Many writers/authors have a story they feel they must tell — a cathartic emotional release, or as a way to communicate new information. If you choose the gardening approach, an entire (sometimes foreign) business world will open up for you.

The time of your life (and career status) should feel right. Serendipity can be a good stimulus to begin. However, you cannot do it alone. It's expensive to establish and maintain, and you have to be comfortable with the notion that you will not make any money from your efforts for a while.

It is also important to learn what resources are available. Once you've self-invested with all your credit cards, your local bank can support additional commercial expenses, and the Small Business Association gives excellent advice and wisdom through its SCORE program. And, of course, your mental health is bolstered by your (family) fans and early customers.

One advantage of the current business environment is that sometimes all you need is a website with an e-commerce feature to be a success. I decided that a brick-n-mortar business presence was important for me and my nascent business. And I achieved this by investing in the use of a coworking space.

Co-op work spaces or coworking spaces are an arrangement in which workers of different companies share an office space, allowing cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructure, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services. Some offer refreshments and parcel acceptance services, as well. It is attractive to independent contractors, independent business owners and staff, telecommuting and work-at-home professionals, and people who travel frequently.

Additionally, coworking helps workers avoid the feeling of isolation they may experience while telecommuting, traveling or working at home alone, and eliminate distractions.

This option allows you to have an online e-commerce service and have an office space to conduct client meetings at the same time. However, this business feature is not so critical, nowadays. The pandemic business model of three days in the office, two days working from home, and two days off is slowly taking hold in this brave new world.

• Based in Arlington Heights, Kenneth E. Korber is the founder of the nonprofit Center for Functional Learning and is a published children's author, with more than 30 years of experience in the health care field as a physician assistant.