Running a small handmade business is a labour of love — but it can also be a pretty solitary one. Yesterday I wrote about working alone, the quiet of the studio, just me, my kits & supplies, and my thoughts. Today I decided to try something different.
I packed up my laptop, grabbed my bag, and headed to a local coffee shop to work.
Finding My Spot
This particular coffee shop has a slightly separated area from the main room — set apart almost specifically for this kind of thing. I headed straight for it. And immediately felt a bit funny.
No one looked up. No one acknowledged me. Just a roomful of people staring at their screens as I stood there for a moment, slightly awkward, deciding where to sit.
I chose my seat — one or two spaces away from the nearest person, just as everyone else had done, as if there were an unspoken rule about it — and settled in. And within minutes, something shifted. The awkwardness dissolved. I felt, oddly, completely comfortable.
The Scene
From the main coffee shop area, a warm bubble of noise drifted through — chatter, the clatter of cups, the hiss of the coffee machine. In here, there was music playing softly in the background, just enough to fill the silence without pulling your attention away. The perfect amount of sound.
And then there were the Zoom calls. I'd initially thought people were being quiet and discreet about them. They were not. One person in particular was talking away quite freely — you could hear every word. It made me smile. There's something very of-our-times about sitting in a room full of strangers while someone holds a meeting at full volume into their laptop.
Every now and again, someone would get up and wander off, presumably to order another coffee. Which made me wonder: how does the coffee shop feel about all of this? Some of these people must spend hours here, nursing a single drink. Is it good for business? A quiet stream of regulars, reliably filling seats or a frustration, taking up space that a paying lunch crowd might want?
I genuinely don't know the answer. But I made sure I wasn't just a one-drink wonder. I ordered a second coffee and treated myself to a lunchtime salmon and rocket bagel as well. Contribution to the local economy: secured.
Why Do We Do This?
It sounds a bit counterintuitive, doesn't it? If you want to work alone, why not just... stay at home alone?
There's actually a term for what we were all doing: body doubling. I looked that up! t's the simple but powerful effect of being around other people who are also working. You don't need to talk to them or even acknowledge them. Just their presence the sound of typing, the occasional Zoom call, the soft music signals to your brain that this is a place where work happens, and so you work.
For those of us who are self-employed, freelance, or running small businesses, it can be a game changer. Without colleagues, without office energy, without anyone else setting the pace, motivation can be hard to manufacture on your own. But sit down in a room full of quietly industrious strangers and something clicks.
Alone Together
There's something really nice about it, actually. A roomful of people who don't know each other, who may never speak, all showing up to the same place to do their own thing, and somehow making it easier for each other just by being there.
It made me think about the crafting community too. So many of us pick up your kits and make things alone, at the kitchen table, on the sofa, in a quiet corner of the house. But we're not really alone. There are thousands of people doing exactly the same thing, finding the same calm in the repetition of knotting, stitching, or coiling.
Maybe that's why craft communities online feel so warm. We're all in our own spaces, making our own things, but together.
Getting Out of the Studio
If you're a fellow small business owner reading this and you're feeling the walls closing in a little, try it! Pack your laptop, or the latest thing you are working on. Find a coffee shop with a quiet corner. Order something you'd never usually have. Sit with your fellow alone-togethers for a while.
You might be surprised how much you get done.
And if you need something to do with your hands while the ideas are brewing — well, you know where to find us.
Heidi x