During my recent trip to San Francisco, there came a time when I had a bunch of work to get done, and sitting in the hotel room just didn’t cut it. I needed to find a place where I could work independently, but still have access to resources such as a wireless internet connect, a kitchen, and somebody to grab lunch with. Following the recommendation of Chris Messina, I decided to spend the day at The Hat Factory.

The Hat Factory is a coworking (more on that later) location in San Francisco where people in a variety of creative fields can come together and work both independently and in collaboration. With a huge kitchen, great meeting spaces, ample work space, and a very comfortable lounge area, The Hat Factory is the perfect locale for a self-employed worker who doesn’t quite want to be working from home. The daily space-usage rate of $10 (or $170 monthly) helps offset the costs for the space and resources (like the internet connection) and ensures everyone is fully vested in the proper upkeep of the facility.

I later learned that The Hat Factory is but one example of the coworking phenomenon spreading across the continent. As more and more people work remotely from their place of employment, the need for good workspaces is at a premium — after all, working out of a Starbucks is not for everyone. Websites like Om Malik’s Web Worker Daily, which distribute indispensable information for the new remote worker, have proliferated because of the trend to work at home, but even they acknowledge that working from home is not always the most productive of settings. And this is where coworking shines. Essentially acting as office space for the office-less, a coworking location allows workers to enjoy the benefits of office space without all the hassles and added costs. It’s a genius idea, and I wholeheartedly support it.

For more information about The Hat Factory, visit its website, as well as the Coworking wiki. In Toronto, David Crow seems to be doing some good stuff in supporting the coworking scene and is creating the Innovation Commons.