Head to your local café and you’ll surely find several people with their phones and laptops running, taking care of work while relaxing and having a coffee. Most think they’re just freeloaders who are too cheap to have their own Internet connection installed at home (well, that may be partly the reason), but doing work at a coffee shop or café is actually a fantastic way to get a lot done.
Café, coffee, work— it’s a great combination for productivity. A café is a great place to get work done because it presents a conducive environment for brain activity. Normally, there’s jazz instrumental music softly playing in the background, and that can help neutralise brain activity and let those creative juices flow. In addition to that, there’s always that smell of coffee in the air; do you know that the smell of coffee is usually enough to keep you wide awake and alert? Of course, you’ll be able to fight drowsiness better with a cup of joe (especially in the early afternoon when your body naturally slows down). Coffee will fuel you throughout the workday so you can accomplish what you need to.
Likewise, it’s worth noting that doing work in a café is quite convenient. You don’t have to worry about preparing your meals because cafés usually have a wide selection of sandwiches, soups, salads, pasta and other appetisers. If you work at home, the task of meal preparation can consume a lot of time; meanwhile, at a café, you really just need to give your order and in a matter of minutes, your meal is ready—hot and delicious. It’s the same thing with those much-needed coffee breaks—no more lingering in the pantry or kitchen just to prepare coffee.
Coffee millionaires also mention that working at a café makes meetings with potential partners or clients easier. Cafés are easier to find and people naturally like the relaxing environment of these places—even if there’s always a whirl of activities in cafés, people observe the unwritten rule of speaking in a hushed manner so as not to disturb other customers. Conducting one-on-one meetings here is very convenient. Also, working in cafés creates mobility for the job; no matter where you go in the world, you can expect to find a café where you can connect to the Internet and get work done.
And lastly, you can meet new folks and establish profitable working relationships in these establishments. Of course, the conditions have to be just right for this, but who knows? Serendipity may work for you; the likelihood of making new connections is higher in a café than in the confines of your home or office cubicle.
We know that there are many other blogs out there on the negative sides of café culture, but if you take on the “remote working” ethos, you don’t always have to stay where the noisy people, screaming babies or grumpy baristas are. I love the luxury of picking somewhere different each day, staying and working from home, or even finding a café somewhere new, even hundreds of miles away from home. As long as it’s good coffee and a nice sweet treat, I’m in.
Once you’ve tried a few different places, you’ll find which are welcoming of Café, Coffee, Work-ers, which play your favourite background music and which have good power sockets next to a nice comfy chair. But a word of positive vibes to you all, don’t be stingy and hog a table for four, three power sockets for all your devices and arrange a day of meetings in a café and only buy one coffee! Being nice to your servers, tipping accordingly, and buying a suitable number of items for the time you are there all goes towards keeping the atmosphere friendly and conductive to productivity. Remember you’re saving a load of money on your office overheads, and on average a chain-brand barista is earning only £6 an hour, so share the love to the café and people who work there! Check out Mashable’s Café Culture Eitquette guide.
If you also want to add in ethical choices of café, it’s worth doing your research and checking if the staff are treated well and the produce is sourced to your liking. There’s a great café in Minnesota, that swapped tips for a Living Wage for their staff. If you’re going to spend a lot of time in a Café, pick a great one 🙂
If you are joining in our “Café, Coffee, Work” movement, always remember if you’re using WiFi to make sure you secure your connection. We wrote a blog on Security in Coffee Shops and how to use VPNs that will help.
