The coffee shop conundrum

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Meeting clients in the coffee shop isn’t good for your business – here’s why

Coffee shops, cafés and anywhere that offers free Wi-Fi are like the mecca for the small business owner on the go. They’ve become like virtual offices. But meeting in them isn’t always a good thing. And the habit of holding your next meeting over a flat white, could well be hurting your professional image, your communication with clients and, as a result, your bottom line.

Here are just 5 of the biggest reasons to change your approach to meetings and skip the coffee shops in the future.

1. Space and Comfort

Let’s face it, coffee shops aren’t the most comfortable places to meet. And they get busy. You can control the time and place you decide to meet your clients, but you can’t control who else will be there when you get there, or who will sit next to your table. Can you conduct a fruitful client meeting, surrounded by the housewives of Cheshire, prams, toddlers, the retired and their broadsheet newspapers, all taking up valuable space?

2. Noisy Neighbours

Coffee shops are noisy. That’s fine. They are supposed to be like that. But trying to conduct a meeting in a crowded coffee shop is about as helpful as trying to have an enlightened conversation at a rave. It’s hard to discuss the business details amongst the scraping chairs, screaming toddlers and chattering of other people’s conversations. There’s a reason all those “writers” on their MacBook’s have their headphones in.

3. Coffee Shop Wifi

It’s never as good as it should be. Wi-Fi at the coffee shop can move at snail’s pace! Or even worse, just doesn’t work at all. Then when you think you’ve got a signal, your laptop refuses to connect for some reason. This can be particularly frustrating when you’ve prepared the most amazing presentation full of supporting research, genius ideas and killer visual aids. Now all you have to back up your offer are your own words and a great deal of hope.

4. Confidentiality

There are parts of any business that are best discussed with confidentiality, and that simply can’t happen in a public space. Even without your own office space, there are better alternatives that don’t have nosey neighbours listening in. On top of this, meetings are awkward enough, especially with new clients. The last think you need are the host of difficult and awkward extras that having a meeting in a public venue will bring.

5. Credibility

Despite your best intentions, people will pass judgment on being asked to meet in a coffee shop. Plenty of business people do it, and people do close deals over coffee. But that doesn’t mean it’s a plus to your credibility and sometimes it can just look downright unprofessional.

What should you do?

You have so many other options. To run your meeting successfully, you need to be in control, calm and collected without the distractions. If you don’t have an office you’re not stuck. It’s easy, low-cost, and totally worth it to rent a conference or meeting room with the right tools, such as a white board, projector, reliable Wi-Fi and the proper atmosphere to impress your client.

A professional meeting room, conference space, or office rental can set the stage for those important meetings. If you work from home, remotely or out of virtual offices – a conference or meeting room rental such as those found at Ourworx can be an excellent, low-cost option that carries a lot of perks. You can be sure that you and your business will both benefit and it doesn’t have to break the bank either.

Ourworx Offer the Solution

Ourworx offer office and meeting room package options include short term, long term and one-time use – as well as flexible packages that are designed to suit small business needs.

Whether you require a virtual office, private office, semi-private office, or prefer a co-working space with access to the buildings conference and meeting room rentals, there are always options at Ourworx that can suit you.

Working from Home vs Working from an Office?

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“Working from home will make my life complete!” – We’ve all thought it. Some of us have tried it. A few have made it work. Most have found it to be harder than they could have possibly imagined.

Work from home?

Who hasn’t had the dream of getting out of the daily grind? Of giving up work, starting a new business and being our own boss?

For small business owners who’ve done this, working from home is the preferred option in the early stages of the business. Saving money on commuting and renting is often touted as the main reason, but the idea of working from home seems very attractive, at least in the early stages of the business.

Time to rent office space

In practice, though, for many small business owners, working from home just doesn’t reap the rewards initially imagined. There are distractions, image issues and the ever present danger of isolation.

There comes a time when every business has to ponder the prospect of looking for office space. Is it the right thing to do? Is it the smart thing to do, and will it be more beneficial for your business than continuing to work from the home office?

Here’s three reasons why working from a small rented office, might be the smarter way for your small business to operate.

1. Improve your Productivity

One huge benefit of working in an office is that affects your efficiency. Beating the distractions at home can become a business task in itself: there’s the dog, the kids, that second cup of coffee before you start work. Distractions pop up everywhere, and the pressure to complete home tasks before business tasks looms daily.

In an office, your business gets your full attention. Most small business owners who move out of home and into an office admit that their own productivity levels soared as a result. The clear, clean working environment, and the presence of other businesses and working people has a profound effect upon us. It helps us focus on what’s important for our business when we are working in the business, and what’s important for our home, when we get home.

Investing time to each, in the right places, ensures a better work-life balance, which is something a lot of home workers struggle with.

2. Improve your Image

Skype calling someone in their pyjamas doesn’t provide you with the most positive image of their business acumen. Just as phone calls to clients interrupted by the doorbell, or the dog, or the kids, can leave you looking like a backroom amateur, rather than a serious business owner.

In the same way, there are only so many client meetings you can hold in the generically branded coffee house. As good and comfortable as they are, they don’t provide the image of activity, enthusiasm and forward momentum that small businesses need to project to their clients.

A high quality office location, such as OurWorx, can have a huge impact on your businesses identity. Rented office spaces like OurWorx have dedicated areas to host client meetings. Seeing your clients in a vibrant working office space, ensures you maintain the air of legitimacy and professionalism you need to succeed.

3. Improve your Enthusiasm

Whether you’re on your own, or working with others, working remotely can be lonely. We’re told regularly in the media that loneliness is a killer. But it’s a killer to businesses as well. Because it leads to distraction, loss of focus and apathy towards work, as well.

Even though you might only rent an office for you, or a small team, office spaces like OurWorx promote healthy interaction between all the small business within the building. There is the opportunity to talk, share practical advice, bounce ideas off others, and learn from their experience of running small business. All this can be invaluable to small business owners, and it comes free of charge.

Sharing spaces with other businesses, and learning from them, can lead to increased enthusiasm for your offering, and even collaborative opportunities in new areas of business.

Working Smart

The main reason small business owners decide to run their company from home is that it seems, initially, to be cheaper. But that isn’t always the case.

If we think about the improvements renting good quality office space, like the space on offer at OurWorx, could have on your business, it might start to feel that you can quickly earn the money back. Through smarter working, enhanced productivity and a greatly improved image to your clients.