A friend ran a co-working space near me and I participated quite a lot. He had to shut it down after 2 years.
1. Your rent will make or break you. His was too high to sustain during leaner periods e.g. rains
2. Make sure you have enough local interest from potential paying members
3. Local = Less than 30 minutes drive. In India, very few will drive through traffic to work remotely.
4. Ideal location would be close to IT hubs or some picturesque spot away from the city frequented by people going for hikes, camping, etc.
5. Do you want a co-working space or a makerspace/hackerspace? Be clear about your offering. A co-working space is basically a cheap desk in a shared office. We had a real-estate agent as a co-worker who was on calls all day long trying to sell flats. It got annoying very quickly. π
6. Get the best wired internet you can get and back it up with a 4G router so your connection automatically switches. Nothing kills a co-working space faster than bad/slow internet connections.
7. If you're away from main hubs, consider bringing in fresh food (sandwiches, tiffin lunches, coffee, tea, etc.) every morning so visitors don't need to worry about it.
8. Also consider whether you're catering to the local crowd or nomads coming to your town for a week/month etc. Nomads have different needs since they are away from home (laundry, lodging, sightseeing tours, local guides, package forwarding service, local SIM, etc.)