Coffee Shops & Restaurants for South African Freelancers.
Freelancing means working from home but that has it’s own disadvantages. Indeed cites distractions, isolation and an imbalance between work and life as some of the cons of working from home. There are alternative working spaces available for freelancers besides working from home. One of the most popular spots for freelancers are coffee shops and restaurants. They offer hot beverages, food, free wifi and a space to meet fellow freelancers. They also have less admin and fees associated with rented shared working spaces. Some co-shared working spaces in South Africa range from R890 to R2890 per person per month. The only associated fees that come with coffee shops and restaurants is only paying for your beverage and food. Here are some of the features South African freelancers should look out for when picking a coffee shop or restaurant to work from : Stable Free Wifi : This kind of internet connectivity in coffee shops and restaurants allows freelancers to download and upload files quickly, attend team meetings and meet deadlines effectively. Therefore, if you are freelancing in South Africa you might want to watch for spots that have complementary stable wifi. Comfortable Seats : This promotes good posture, reduces fatigue, stiffness allowing freelancers to have optimal focus and concentrate better on their tasks. Spending long hours on chairs can lead to aches and pains which can be distracting so you might want to pick a place with comfortable seating. Quiet Atmosphere : Pay attention to the surroundings before picking your coffee or restaurant for the day. Avoid places with construction work happening around unless you have the noise cancelling headphones that will block out the noise. In a quiet environment, freelancers can enter a state of flow allowing maximum productivity and creativity for those who are in creative industries. Multiple Power Outlets : Spending a couple of hours at a coffee shop or restaurants means your devices are likely to run out of power at some point. The smartest decision would be to choose a place that does only have power outlets but multiple outlets. You want to avoid an awkward situation where you ask someone else to share. So multiple outlets would be a bonus! Backup Power : If you are in South Africa, you are familiar with the word ” load shedding”. While most coffee shops and restaurants have backup power, it is best not to assume and ask outright before you sit down and get interrupted during your work sessions. Therefore, backup power is another nice feature to add when looking out for spaces to work out from. Having said that, let’s tap into a few recommendations provided by some members of the Collaborahub community. This also includes spots that are not exclusively coffee shops and restaurants. Fair warning, these are Gauteng biased but most of the list mentions franchises with nation wide outlets. SEATTLE COFFEE CO – ROSEBANK ( Muphulusi Nefale, Founder) ” Seattle Coffee stood out for me out of all coffee shops that I go to. I liked the round table, the plugs and the fact that there seemed to be an active community of people working there. It seemed people do this regularly so Seattle is my recommendation” The Rosebank Branch also came highly recommended by Tshego and Tshimologo Leburu who provided us with a picture from her work session : 2. SEATTLE COFFEE CO – BRAAMFONTEIN ( Denzel Machaka, Social Media Manager and Copywriter) ” I loved the creative atmosphere. There was great lightning , seats and also plugs for charging devices. The coffee was also great! ” 3. Mamakashakanadfriends – BRAAMFONTEIN ( Tshego, Community Member) ” Best working day would be Friday” “ 4. EXCLUSIVE BOOKS – HYDE PARK ( Tshego, Community Member) ” Great place but may get noisy because of Olives & Plates” 5. BOOTLEGGER COFFEE ( Ntando Mdletshe, Community Member) 6. ABIZ RESTAURANT, LONGPOINT – ( Ntando Mdletshe, Community Member) That’s the end of our short and sweet list. We will accommodate more places outside Gauteng in our upcoming blogs. Seattle Coffee for example has nationwide outlets so any freelancer outside Gauteng can try Seattle Coffee as a working space. We will also encourage South African freelancers to join our Hive days, if you missed the last blog on Hive days post, check it out here If you want to join our WhatsApp community you can join using this link
A Guide to Collaborahub’s Hive Days.
Hello, we are Collaborahub! A community of South African freelancers. This is a guide to the ins and outs of our Hive Days. Hive Days are part of our activities to provide opportunities for South African Freelancers to connect and network ( in a more casual and relaxed setting) Here are some benefits of participating in Collaborahub’s Hive days. 1. Find community – Freelancing can be an isolating journey and sometimes virtual spaces like WhatsApp groups may not be enough to build community. There is value in meeting face to face as it creates stronger relationships. You are able to build more rapport and connect more via non verbal cues such as body language and facial expressions. This was the main reason behind Collaborahub creating Hive Days so that South African freelancers can connect more deeply. We strongly recommend safe and relaxed spaces like coffee shops and restaurants. 2. Sharing Knowledge & Resources – Our webinars were designed for this but they can be too formal and restricting for others. Hive Days is a channel for freelancers to casually share knowledge and resources with each other. People tend to share more information when they are in more casual and relaxed settings like coffee meet-ups. Our virtual webinars are more professional and people can be guarded about what they share. On the other hand, in restaurant or coffee set ups there is less evaluation leading to flowing conversations and openness. If comfortable freelancers can offer glimpses into some of the projects they are working on and get advice, support and motivation. 3. Partnerships – Hive Days can lead to potential collaborations and partnerships. This is the heart of our brand as we aim for people to connect and work together. There is a higher likelihood of meeting freelancers with complementary skillsets and this is fertile ground for collaborating on future projects and creating more income for yourself as a freelancer. Another benefit is getting client referrals as sometimes South African freelancers deal with clients that fall outside their expertise. If your skillset fits then you can be able to access more business opportunities for yourself. Ever heard of ” your network is your net worth” . In person-meetings are great for creating a strong network. However, meet ups can be challenging for some freelancers. Therefore, we are introducing Virtual Hive Days. At the time of the writing of this post ( 05/06/24) we have already hosted our first Virtual Hive Day which was a big success! Virtual Hive Days have appeal because of the current times we live in. Remote work has scattered freelancers across South Africa, even far away from the main metropolitan areas such as Johannesburg and Capetown. Therefore, Virtual Hive Days allow people scattered across the country to connect even if it’s virtual. These virtual meet-ups have also have potential to rival the benefits of in person meet-ups so we also encourage members to join as well. If you do not want to miss our Hive Days, join our WhatsApp here If you want to connect with us professionally we are also on LinkedIn , follow us here