This job can be pretty interesting at times. Today I’m on a train back from London after a meeting. If all goes well, the results of this particular meeting should bear fruit on Coolsmartphone in the next couple of weeks.
The people I met down there were surprised that Coolsmartphone isn’t a London-based operation. Today I’ve traveled down from Birmingham International Airport. Get the right train and you can get to London Euston in 1 hour, 19 minutes.
Over the years I’ve got used to having meetings in some fairly non-standard places. I’ve had a chat with the CEO of EE on a couple of stools, I’ve had a discussion with the head of software house in a car park. Today, it was in a hotel room.
Now, before your mind sinks into the gutter, this is all very business-like. It’s also something you’ve probably seen on TV. Interviews with movie stars, TV personalities – they’re sometimes filmed in hotel rooms. You don’t always need that room for sleeping in. Sometimes you just need a room for a chat. It keeps costs down too, so instead of booking an entire meeting room (which could cost quite a bit), you just book a room instead. In my particular case there was no bed and it was just two chairs in the centre of the room, so you can – if you wish – use these rooms as a short-term office space.
Yes, I know this is a little tenuous, but I’m not based in London. I do, therefore, have to travel down often and I can’t always get work done whilst sat at the train station or hanging around a crowded coffee shop. So instead, it might be worth looking at solutions like Daybreakhotels.com. You can use sites like this to get into 3 to 5 star hotels as a “day use” customer without paying a full 24-hour rate. If you want somewhere to freshen up, or somewhere to prepare for an interview, or a bit of peace and quiet to write articles like this, it lets you pick time slots between 10:00 AM and 11:00 PM.
I’ll certainly be giving it a try the next time I’m down in London, and I’ve already found one that has a conference room from 1PM until 8PM with WiFi, lunch and coffee for just £30, so add that to the cheapy train tickets I tend to grab from the Virgin Fare Finder and I can have a London meeting without breaking the bank.