When you start your own business, or become a remote worker, your first instinct might be to find a good local coffee shop and settle in. For years now, this has become the norm around the United States. Coffee shops are basically forced to open up their wifi networks to their customers, since so many of their regulars use the shop as their makeshift office. While it’s understandable that you might consider working out of a cafe, we’d like to urge you to go in a different direction. There are many reasons why working out of a cafe can be debilitating for your work productivity. Here are the ones we hear most often.

Noise

In a coffee shop, there are tons of noises constantly going on throughout the day. From the coffee grinder, to the blender, to casual chats between friends, to the barista calling out orders. Since you’re a guest here, you can’t really complain about it or do anything to bring the volume down. It can be incredibly difficult to concentrate on projects that involve reading or writing (ie: every project) with all that noise around you.

Slow Wifi

As we mentioned before, it’s become pretty much standard for all coffee shops to have an open wifi network. However, just because it’s open and available, doesn’t mean it’s fast enough or has enough bandwidth. Since cafes have become a common place to work on a laptop, you’re most likely going to be sharing the network with many other people who are also working. As mentioned in the last section, since you’re just a guest here, you can’t really make any decisions or demands about making the internet faster. The cafe owner is likely going to spend their money on the things that keep the shop running every day, such as ingredients and food, rather than a lightning fast internet connection. All it takes is one person streaming a movie to slow down the internet speed for everyone else.

Unprofessional

While a cafe might work every once in a while, or for someone who can drown out the noise and doesn’t use the internet, there are times when this simply doesn’t cut it. One of those times is when you need to meet someone important for a discussion. Whether you’re meeting with a potential investor, employer, or client, meeting at a coffee shop just doesn’t give off the best first impression. Even if you put out great quality work and help highly successful people achieve their goals, the fact that you work from a cafe can put a damper on your reputation.

Coworking spaces are great alternatives for the types of people who tend to work out of cafes. If you’re a contract worker, business owner or remote employee, you should consider renting out a desk at a coworking space. Not only is there super fast internet and a designated area for quiet, concentrated work, but there are conference rooms available to rent by the hour, or by the day.