Comfy shoes. A great mattress. And a home for your business

My whole life, I have always said there are a few things you should splurge on; Comfortable shoes and a great mattress were always at the top of my list.

Why? Because these are things that you truly rely on and use each and every day. Bad mattress = A bad night’s sleep. And a bad night’s sleep leads to irritability and ineffectiveness during your day. Same holds for shoes. Wear uncomfortable shoes and your only motivation will be to limit how many painful steps you take, so you’ll probably just sit in place.

I recently read an article that was talking about the shrinkage of the middle class; or at least the middle class mentality when making purchase decisions. One of the key points was that people have become smarter about where they spend their money. So instead of generally buying middle class type products, they are now becoming much more frugal on a majority of the items they buy but going super luxury on a few that are important to them. This makes so much sense to me and reinforces what I always believed about comfy shoes and a good mattress.

So where else should people splurge and spend a little more? This one's easy. It's their physical environment. I remember my sophomore year in college, one of my friends convinced me to move into a new house. Previously, we lived in a really nice place close to campus, but this “new” house (which was actually really old) was home to a big party hosted every Spring. We moved, although I never really liked anything about the house (except the party). It was big, it was old, and it wasn't comfortable. I didn't spend many nights at home that year, especially because my girlfriend had a much nicer place to stay. As I look back, moving was a really bad decision and a big waste of money. There is no worse feeling than not wanting to go home.

Today, most of us spend more waking hours at work than at home. So, what if we don’t love our environment at work (our second home)? Productivity drops. And it’s not just the physical space, it’s the vibe, activity, location and culture. I hear stories over and over of small businesses that are convinced they need to stay in a home office because they can’t afford it. What they might be saving in rent, is often trumped by what they are losing in lack of productivity. Not to mention, potential upsides like encounters with other businesses and collaboration opportunities.

I met with a friend of mine who left a large firm to start his own consulting business. He was working from home and told me that he couldn't afford to spend anything on rent until his business was more established. I told him, just try Kinglet. He was matched with a host based on his needs and I wasn't surprised when I checked in after the first month, but he was.

"Incredible. I love going to the office every day. A real office. There is a natural synergy between me and Chris (the host) and I have generated enough extra business to cover my rent and then some. Not only that, we've become good friends. Knowing what I know now, I would have spent 2 or 3 times what I'm paying now, but don't tell Chris that."

So in addition to your shoes and your mattress, make sure you are not stuck in the mindset that you can’t afford to put your company in the right environment. You need to. You should love where you work. You should be motivated by your environment. You might just run into that big opportunity. It might be the most important investment you make in your business.

Work small, dream big,

Team Kinglet