8 rules to help you operate your small business from a café
Confession: I love doing work for my small business in a café.
And I’m not alone. Look around most coffeehouses, and you’ll see businesspeople and students toiling away on laptops.
Though I have a real office and a home office, I get a lot of writing done in a coffeehouse. Working at home can be isolating and working at the office can be distracting.
The trend of working in cafés is only accelerating as an ever-increasing portion of the workforce is freelancers.
More than a third of American workers are freelancing, and that number will rise to more than half of the working population by 2027, according to a large study conducted for Upwork and Freelancers Union.
Sure, with good Wi-Fi, good coffee and often good access to electricity, cafés become comfortable, easy (seemingly, basically), free places to work.
But as I look around at all those tables being hogged by one person for hours while nursing one $4 cup of coffee, I wonder: How can the coffee shop owner make a living this way?
In fact, it’s a huge problem. As a result, many café owners are starting to put time limits or even charge “rent” for the use of a table. Some are even starting to pull the plug on Wi-Fi altogether.
If you work regularly at your corner café, remember this: It’s a small business just like yours. And if you want it to stay around, let’s find ways to make this work for everyone: you, the owner, the baristas and workers, even the person who just wants to come to the café for lunch.
Rhonda’s eight rules for turning a café into your office:
❚ Go local. Find a “mom and pop café,” head there and be sure to follow the rest of these rules so both your company and theirs can thrive.
❚ Pay your “rent.” Spend! Buy something at least once an hour. Consider getting the largest-size coffee because profit margins are higher on largesize drinks, and you need to be caffeinated anyway. Buy food, too, especially if you stay through a mealtime.
❚ Sit at a small table. Don’t hog a large table. Don’t put your stuff on an extra chair. If you get up to move around or make a phone call outside, don’t leave your stuff hogging a table for a long time.
❚ Park on the street. Just like you shouldn’t squat for free at a table all day, don’t hog a prime parking spot, especially if your café has limited parking. Ideally, find a local café you can walk or bike to.
❚ Don’t bring your own monitor. Really? Do I even need to say this? C’mon.
❚ Turn off the volume. If you have to listen to something, wear headphones. No one wants to hear the cat videos you’re watching. And, of course, take phone calls outside.
❚ Keep it confidential. If you’re doing confidential work — you’re a lawyer, a consultant, your start-up is in “stealth” mode — find a more secure place to work. Otherwise, eavesdropping by strangers is fair game.
❚ Remember, this is not really your office. Be considerate of other patrons and of the small business owner who owns your favorite café. Get out of there at lunchtime. Don’t shush kids who come for meals with parents. Be nice.
Rhonda Abrams is the author of Six-Week Start Up, just released in its fourth edition. Connect with her on Facebook, and Twitter through the handle @RhondaAbrams. Register for her free business tips newsletter at PlanningShop.com.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.