It took me almost a year of freelancing full-time before I began working out of coffee shops semi-regularly.
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Then, during the past few months, I was transcribing some university classes for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and a couple of my classes were spaced a few hours apart. It seemed silly for me to walk home in between classes only to return to the university a couple hours later, especially when I was carting my laptop around with me, so I decided to start working out of Starbucks in between my two classes.
I didn’t think I’d like it very much at first.
One of the things that I enjoy about working out of a home office is that if I get an idea for something, or if I want to look something up, or if I want to switch quickly from one task to another, it’s really easy to do so. I have all of my resource materials and papers and client work and administration documents at hand when I work from home. When you work out of a coffee shop, you’re rooted to one spot.
But as it turned out, I really enjoyed working out of coffee shops.
Because it was just me and my computer (and occasionally a paper document or two), I was provided with an opportunity to focus much more. I sat down and started working, and while it’s fun to people-watch, I wasn’t distracted by thinking “oh, I’ll just go and do XYZ before resuming this project,” or “time for a break!”, as I occasionally am when I work from home.
Working from a coffee shop gave me the chance to focus on one specific task at a time, and to plan ahead: if I knew I’d be spending a couple hours at Starbucks, I could decide what project I’d work on during that time.
Moreover, working out of coffee shops enables you to connect with other people in a roundabout way. I adore working from home and I like working by myself, but sometimes it’s nice to get out and be around other people who are also working—especially when you aren’t used to working around people anymore.
While I still prefer to work from home the majority of the time, it’s nice to work from a coffee shop once each week or so and have a change of pace!
Do you like working out of coffee shops? What do you like the most (and the least) about it? If you could work anywhere you wanted, where would be your go-to location? Share in the comments section below!
Next week, I’ll provide you with some helpful, practical strategies for the next time you find yourself working out of a coffee shop!