You’ve finally taken that step in life – no longer can you handle sitting in an office from 7am to 8pm – and you’re going to start your own ‘thing’. Whatever it is, good luck to you. We need more entrepreneurs out there, sharing their genius ideas and making our lives funner and easier and generally more enjoyable.

Because you live in Cape Town though, the chances of you having a garage to start your start-up in are slim. Not everyone is as lucky as Steve Jobs was, which means you’re going to have to find a space to get your creativity flowing.

Enter The Bureaux at The Woodstock Exchange.

A central work location, low cost rentals and simple lease arrangements combined with the ability to network with people in allied industries, sets a small business up for success. The concept of cohabitant or collaborative workspace is taking hold in cities across the world, and is translating into office rentals that share space and have flexible lease terms. In Cape Town, The Bureaux, which offers shared workspace, is tapping directly into this trend.

Greg Beadle, who founded The Bureaux (hang on, if he founded this amazing workspace, where did he do his work?!) says that supply for space is so high they opened two more Bureaux’s – there’s now one in Sea Point and one in the Cape Town CBD, with more set to open up soon.

Greg recounts how entrepreneurs or small business owners usually start off working from home and/or coffee shops. Working from home might be beneficial and cost effective during the start-up phase; however the daily distractions of being at home tend to get in the way running a business productively.

Don’t forget that global tech leaders Google and Apple are known for promoting open-office design, believing that innovation is at its best when employees are working together. Steve Jobs even planned for the PIXAR toilets to be in one central location so that creatives would bump into each other more often, consistently sparking new ideas.

And what if you outgrow your first desk?

The Bureaux makes expansion easy – businesses simply rent extra desks as they take on more staff and there is the option to migrate to dedicated office spaces in the building, once their businesses outgrow the shared space.

“We definitely don’t have a one size fits all approach,” says Beadle. “Our spaces are designed to suit the quirks and needs of different businesses and personalities – whether you are quiet or in need of a stimulation to work effectively.”

Go on. Take those first steps to starting your new business and your new life. The Bureaux is honestly going to help you make it happen.