A secret international community to which you may or may not belong

We’re all freelancers here. So I can write candidly. If you’re not one yet, but have plans to head in that direction, try to keep this post on the down-low. We don’t want everyone to know this secret we share. Or maybe we do.

The secret I’m talking about is an international phenomenon – a community that you may or may not be a member of. There’s no annual fee – except the cost of “consumption”. We won’t make you sign a pledge or subject you to ridiculous acts of embarrassment or hazing as they do in college and university fraternities.

There’s no secret handshake. Perhaps just a friendly knowing glance when you see another member, who likely took a similar route as you towards membership. Perhaps after some internal debate, followed by the ultimate decision, they were welcomed with open arms and warm mugs. And we always encourage you to help others exploring this community to feel welcomed in the same way.

Curious yet?

We are members of an international phenomenon known as The Coffice – and you, my co-freelancers, are Cofficers.

You are part of a community of professionals that is growing by leaps and bounds across the globe, but is largely misunderstood by the masses.

In case you’re hearing this for the first time, see if you can relate to this:

As a freelancer working from a home office, you’ve tried everything in your power to make a go of it. The problem is, it’s too quiet. Or it’s too loud. You’re generally pretty disciplined with your work – after all, you do have deadlines to meet. But that TV is too tempting, the fridge is full, the cat won’t stay off your keyboard and, more often than you probably notice, your flat mate (or spouse or kids or all of them), can’t seem to quietly wrap their heads around respecting the workspace nook you’ve roped off for yourself. You need to get out; you need to see people, maybe make some connections out there. Where do you go?

I’ll tell you:

You pack up your laptop and everything else you may need for work, and head out to the closest coffee shop, set yourself down at a table, plug in your laptop and get to work.

Non-Cofficer colleagues, family members and friends likely don’t know that we’re on a first-name basis with all the people who work there – they’re the Coffice staff – including the managers. They’d be shocked at the amount of networking we actually do at The Coffice – and the business opportunities that networking has brought us.

Veteran Cofficers have figured out their Coffice working arrangements. They’re entirely used to the sideways, bewildered glances from other caffeine-starved customers who are buying their coffees and heading downtown to their cubicles and glassed-in corner offices.

Those managers, VPs, Directors and C-suite key holders dubiously staring at you over your laptop screen have no idea what we’re all about. They’re clueless as to the level of strategy that goes into choosing a Coffice location. They’d be amazed at how much thought we put into packing our briefcases and laptop bags with our tools of the trade.

If we actually sat down with all of these people and explained how we’ve harnessed, to our working advantage, the infrastructure of each and every Coffice we set foot in, laptop sales would boom, wifi use would explode and maybe…just maybe…stress management programs, seminars and self-help books would become obsolete. Maybe.

In lieu of miracles happening, we Cofficers continue doing what we do happily from day to day. This is the near secret existence of the Cofficer.

Congratulations. Welcome to The Coffice!