Upand$tarting

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Free Wi-Fi – where to work when you can work anywhere

I don’t know about you, but I tend to be able to focus much better at a coffee shop.  Crazy, huh?  My writing tends to come easier when I’m not in the office or at home.  I think it’s a combination of light, activity and strong coffee.  Where do you go if you want to get work done, but don’t want to sit the office?  Or, maybe your third place (see The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg) is your office.  There are a couple of places I go to , some of these are national chains, that you can visit too.

Everyone has a Starbucks someone where near them, right?  I remember reading a joke about the Starbucks that opened up in the bathroom of a Starbucks.  They are great places to find a table and do a little work.  Most even provide Wi-Fi for an extra fee.

Even better, in New England we have Panera Bread, a coffee and bakery chain that offers free Wi-Fi and unlimited coffee for in store patrons.  The stores are much larger than the other coffee chains and even gas fireplaces for those cold winter days!

Another place to find a table is at Barnes & Noble, not only do most have a coffee bar with tables, but there are usually a bunch of “workstations” spread throughout the store.  As an added bonus, there are plenty of books you can look through to help you develop ideas or understand a particular business issue.

Finally, one place that seems to get busier by the day, is my local library.  This used to be my “undiscovered gem” before the latest downturn in the economy.  For a number of years my library has been part of a local consortium of more than 40 town libraries, all of which have combined their catalogs online.
I can go online, search for a particular book, request it and have it delivered to my library.  It’s also a great place to focus as well as have a meeting in one of the numerous study rooms.

Those are my top third places, what are yours?