Alone in a Crowded Room

by | Apr 17, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo

A few nights ago I decided to write about a habit of mine that is probably more common than I realize, but someone mentioned to me that they didn’t understand it.

In Fort Wayne, there are a number of coffee shops and depending on what side of town I am in, I will spend time in one of them between 3 and 5 days each week.

It’s not for the coffee, even though I will buy a cup.  That cup of coffee is more like my ticket to sit down and pull out my laptop and get some work done.  That cup of coffee is my payment of rent for the chair I am using. 0411150933a

Some coffee shops, like most food places don’t want you there all day.  Eat, drink and get on with your life.  Let someone else have your seat.

But there are a couple that either don’t care if I stay longer, or they value what I bring.

80% of the time, I am alone. Thus the title of this piece, Alone In A Crowded Room.  The other 20% of the time, I meet with someone at these coffee shops.  I introduce people to these local businesses and the coffee shop gains another new customer.

But the real reason I am here is the comfort level.  There are times when I simply need to get work done and focus on the tasks before me.  I could work in my home office but it is sometimes too quiet.  I could work at a cubical at one of the radio station offices, but that is too distracting at times.

The coffee shop has it’s own comfort level of noise, activity and familiarity.

Over the weekend, I visited a new shop on my side of town.  I was searching for an old friend who I had not seen for a few months and we sat and talked for about 3 hours.  No laptops, no work, just face to face conversation between two old friends with two cups of coffee.

I like this concept of Alone In A Crowded Room for myself.  It works for me as part of the balance of life activities.  If it was all I did, it would not work.  How about you?  Are there any particular life activity habits that you do that are not traditional?

The Social Side of Coffee

by | Apr 2, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, ScLoHo's Fort Wayne

For #ThrowbackThursday purposes, I’m starting with a story about my Dad in the 1990’s. Between 1995 and 1997, I was a divorced Dad living about an hour away from my parents.  If I came to town on a weekday, and it was about 11am, I knew exactly where to find my Dad.8FhLb0F1sYzDRs

A doughnut shop on North Anthony. He’d be there with our neighbor Bill and a few others that gathered there every single day for an endless cup of coffee and an occasional pastry.  My mom wasn’t there, this was my Dad’s time.  I’d always be greeted by the old retired folks, 4 or 5 of them sitting around talking about the latest news and telling the same old stories.  They’d greet me as, “Scotty”, since some of them knew me from when I was a little kid 30 years ago.

The doughnut shop is long gone from that location on North Anthony in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and several restaurants have come and gone from that spot including one that has caught on and is doing a brisk breakfast and lunch business.

It wasn’t the coffee that made the place special.  It was the social gathering that was going on.

Long before Facebook or it’s predecessor, MySpace made us think Social was something that occurred online, we were social face to face.

Monday I visited a coffee shop on the west side of Fort Wayne that I only visit once or twice a month.  The social scene was going on all around me.  Sure there were plenty of people like myself on a laptop but there were also others sitting around having conversations face to face.

Some were doing business, some were talking about their weekend.  I overheard more than one conversation where “word of mouth marketing” was occurring as a few women were talking about their dentists and at another table a real estate agent was given a glowing recommendation.

As a marketing and advertising guy, I had to mention that.  Mr/Ms Business person, people are talking about you whether you know it or not.  I can help you become more “talk-worthy”, just reach out to me and we’ll set up a time to meet.

There was also a bunch of retired folks perched on the high stools around the counter having the same conversations that my Dad and his friends had 20 years ago, except instead of  a cup of coffee and a doughnut for a buck, they spent 2 bucks for just a coffee.