Renting a mobile office dirt cheap

September 29, 2008 · Filed Under General 

I spent some time talking with a professional and they told me that they tried a home office and it didn’t work. Considering I have a 1 year old and a pregnant wife, I am in the same boat. I tried to have a home office for a over a year. I tried different rooms and we even moved to a new house in that time, but I was forever getting interrupted. Now my family is important, but constantly talking with them disrupts my concentration and I lose focus, thus I am very unproductive. I recall reading an interview that Shoemoney did. The question was asked something like what was the worst mistake that you made. He said something to the tune of trying to run a business while taking care of his baby girl.

Thus I have come to the conclusion that I need an office. I have looked into office space here in phoenix, which is quite pricey. The best deal I found was a non retail office complex that would rent out a room with a desk and chair for 1-5 days per week. It starts at $250 per month for 1 day per week, and goes up by $100 for each additional day of the week that you add. So 2 days a week is $350 per month. Given the fact that I still have a 40 hour per week full time job that I work, 2 days is the most I would need it. So I am looking at $350 per month. I think it is worth $350 per month, but I don’t have that much extra cash to be spending on an office at this point.

I prefer to be creative and take advantage of the opportunities around me. Enter the mobile office. So I decided to just “rent” a mobile office for the time being. Here in Arizona many places have free WiFi internet access, since I have a laptop that is WiFi enabled (as almost all are) this works well for me. I have the spots that I like, such as Burger King -which is where I happen to be right now :D . I come to Burger King, order a small coke for $1.10 and I sit at a booth that has a power outlet. I get unlimited free refills on coke products and tea, I get a comfy booth, power, restrooms, windows and sunshine. If I get hungry I go get a side salad and a whopper jr for a buck each. I put on my Bose noise canceling headset and go to work. The Burger King I am at right now ( I have more then one I go to) always has birds outside the windows as well. They always hang out and eat french fries and such. They make a great distraction to watch for a minute when I just want to clear my mind. The pictures here are of my Burger King workstation as I write this post.

Other places I like to go include Barnes and Noble and Starbucks (starbucks has cheap refills on their tea), both of which are AT&T hot spots. With the AT&T hotspots you have to have an AT&T account which costs a few bucks a month. My dad has a AT&T hotspot account, so I just borrow his. I also like to work at a park near my house. There are picnic tables there and lots of houses, so several unsecured WiFi networks. There are many other places that offer completely free WiFi. I am ever keeping an eye out for such places.

Pros:

  • Dirt Cheap
  • Open when I need them
  • Free Internet
  • Free Electricity
  • Windows and Sunshine
  • Cheap or free refills on drinks
  • Generally comfortable for a reasonable period of time
  • Restrooms
  • Food if I get hungry

Cons:

  • Have to pack everything up each time I visit the restroom or else it might get stolen
  • Once in a while its tough to get a booth with a power outlet
  • Sometimes have distractions
  • Music that plays over the store speakers can be annoying
  • Chairs and booths can be uncomfortable over a period of time

As you can see the Pros well out weigh the cons, and I even had to spend some time trying to come up with the cons. I could see this also getting to be a challenge if you tried to have an office here 40-60 hours per week. I only am out 10-20 hours per week. I also break things up, I don’t really stay at one location for more then 2-4 hours on average. An advantage for me as well is the fact that I live in a city with 4 million people, so there are many many places with free WiFi. Moving from place to place helps me keep things fresh and focused. I would love to hear any thoughts or ideas anyone else has on improving “office renting”.

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