I like ideas. Others might say I need focus. So, here are some old ones cluttering my head. Ideas are free. Execution isn’t. Take my idea, let it live long and prosper in your capable hands. Tell me when you’ve brought it to fruition. I’ll be the first to promote it.
There is a huge market for a new kind of place to work. No one wants to work in offices, which are formal and rarely conducive to teamwork or creativity, and few people – after the first few months of it, really – like working at home either. It’s lonely and it’s expensive to set up right. So-called “third places” are going to be the new place for work, and if you start building your franchise now you could be very rich. Particularly because coffee shops are extremely uncomfortable to work in and the co-working movement is desperately slow, disorganized and revolves too much on schedules, membership and other red tape.
Besides, being an entrepreneur, you’ll want to make money. So here is what I would include in this new kind of coffee shop – something of a combination college library, hip office, and the corner coffee shop:
- Large monitors, ergonomic keyboards, and all the right cords, so that customers can just bring in their laptops and begin.
- Plugs and outlets that hang from the ceiling or are built into the table desks.
- Real table desks that don’t make it precarious to place a french soda next to a laptop, and ergonomic chairs.
- Copiers, faxes, printers, staplers, tape, paper, pens, and all the latest technology.
- Baristas that double as the Geek Squad if customers have IT issues.
- Private conference areas for companies to hold meetings in to impress clients and employees.
- Sofas, warmth, books and other comforts of home.
- Exposed brick walls and a library wall
- Really good food, wine, beer and all the regular coffee accouterments
Freelancers, designers and others will naturally make their way to your coffee shop because of the superior design. But you should also be the advocate for a new way of work and encourage stodgy companies to build new policies. The kind of policies that allow their employees to work at their company’s offices or in your coffee shop office which is going to be strategically placed within walking distance of all the young and established companies. The kind of policies that believe results are more important than physical presence. Where politics are kept to a minimum, and challenging work is the encouraged maximum.
Your coffee shop office should be the physical manifestation of how work can and should change. It should be more than a place, but a lifestyle for modern workers. None of these ideas are particuarly new or ingenious. But no one has executed on them and done it well. And no one has franchised the heck out of it. Maybe that could be you?
8 replies on “Build a Good Place to Work”
I like your idea and wanted to share about a place in Houston, TX doing something similar – http://carolinecollective.cc/
@ Anna – Thanks! It looks like a co-working type place, which is awesome, but I really don’t think the membership/payment model is what’s going to be successful in changing work.
Have you seen the movie Inception? If so, have you visited this office in your dreams and did it meet your expectations?
I wish I had the money or the ability to take on the risk of starting such a business! It sounds like a great idea. There seems to be a resurgence in the desire of many people to start their own businesses and there’s a lot of growth in people trying to be location-independent and I think the need for these types of places that are actually useful and somewhere you’d want to be will grow.
When I read your opening paragraph it reminded me of more – a foood of ideas but no time, $$ or support to make them happen.
This is a super idea (please hurry up and create a few in Montreal) – I do however have a few not insignificant concerns:
how will you ensure that everyone who turns up gets somewhere to work – it would be frustrating and time wasting to go somewhere and find there was nowhere to work.
what about noise level – apart from the fact I hate Starbucks and similar coffee shops because they are cramped and not very clean, I find them to be full of students noisily working in groups and its impossible to get any work done
how will you make money – insist that someone buys a coffee every half hour or make people pay an entrance fee to go in or to access the internet ?
I look forward to hearing your views !
sorry for the typos in the first paragraph. I should have said it reminded me of me – a flood of ideas….
Now there’s a great idea – have a spell check facility for comments on blog posts !!
There are several places like this in Manhattan. I mean they are similar. http://www.hiveat55.com/
Sadly, my office has decided to go in the opposite direction returning to the days of the old regime where if you weren’t seen at your desk or if you were talking it was assumed you were not working.
@ Mike – Ha, not yet… but I’ve heard about it : )
@ Lindsey – I think you’re right. All the trends are headed in this direction, but no one has taken the jump! Hopefully one of us can soon. Thanks for the comment!
@ Gillian – Thanks for the comment. Would love the ability to edit comments, absolutely. Anyway, I think the informal aspect of the coffee shop office would solve most of your concerns. If there isn’t a place for everyone to work, that would be a very good problem to have. I also envision different areas where some are naturally quieter than others. With my design background, I think it’s easy to create spaces that help mold such behavior. Anyway, thanks again!
@ Vincent – Yeah, that link looks like another co-working space which I’m not a huge fan of (or someone should get on it and franchise such a membership model in work ala ZipCar). I agree it’s so aggravating to work in a certain location just to be seen – hope it gets better for you soon!