Alternative Places to Work or Create

I have always had this fantasy of taking my lap top to a café and working. Working from home can be very isolating especially now that my kids are adults and I no longer work around their schedules.

The grass is always greener so this week I had some errands to do with a long break between appointments. Instead of returning to my office I packed my messenger with my computer and some books and decided to tryout the local café office scene.

The location has to have wifi so I went to a bakery/coffee café and bought a drink and a pastry. The pastry was fabulous, especially since I have been trying to diet for the past 8 weeks. Now I have spent $5.00 and I am up 500 calories. Next I hunt for the best seat or table. The one I pick is wobbly so I have one foot on the leg to keep it steady and the tabletop is greasy, I can get past this. As I am trying to connect to the wifi it is determined it needs to be rebooted which the café employees happily take care of. Now it is time to get down to work and focus, between the music, workers talking and patrons I am not getting much done. My goal was to write a blog post, and it ends up I am writing a blog post about sitting in a café working. Most of all I miss my dog. The hour ends and I gather my things up and go to my next appointment.

This can now be checked off my list of things I need to try. Decidedly café working is not for me. I now appreciate even more the comforts of my home office, the quiet environment with my radio station, music and dog sleeping in the corner. Occasionally I meet clients at café’s and that works well I prefer not to meet at my home. But on a daily basis for productivity I will stick to my home office and once in awhile venture out for an afternoon snack break. I love meeting for lunch.

Do you frequent café’s for working? What do you like about it? Why does it work for you? Do you think cafe working is more of a social scene? Where are you the most productive and creative?

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4 Responses to Alternative Places to Work or Create

  1. maria June 1, 2012 at 10:48 PM #

    I used to have the same fantasy about working in a cafe — and I actually gave it several brave tries, only to come away with pretty shoddy work. I do love my home office as well. I am looking for a compromise between home and cafe, a possible space that is neither, but dedicated to work. I’ve actually had the opportunity to try something like it today in a studio space with others and got some serious work done … while also socializing a bit. And yes, after some morning hours of work, I love to meet for lunch, or coffee … or happy hour 🙂

    • Toni June 2, 2012 at 7:39 AM #

      The studio space sounds pretty interesting. I think cafe’s are more for social networking with your iPad, tablet or cell phone. One time when there was a power outage I went to the library and worked. That was not to bad.

    • Rose June 18, 2012 at 8:18 AM #

      How can I find more info on how to find a studio space w/ others that you wrote about? I’d really like to find a place like that.

    • Toni June 18, 2012 at 8:55 AM #

      Hi Maria, Do you want to share more about the studio space you mention in your post. I think others are interested.