It is one of those funny facts in life that to make money it really helps to have money. Even the coolest ideas lead to contracts and offices and phones and things. There are home offices, but you hate to invite the head widget distributor over to sit on your couch next to your cat. There are coffee shops, but that grinding noise can interfere with the conference calls. My dad who went through several small business launches, sometimes made use of office sharing deals where for a fee you could set up a phone line, have access to a conference room even share a receptionist who would answer and forward calls. But of course, that still costs money. And that's not even taking into account things like rent.
One of the amazing things about moving from the life of a college student to a working professional was how many things there were that cost money. I knew about food and utilities and gas and car insurance. But then you add on cable and the fact that daily commuting uses more gas than you thought and then you still want to go to movies or out to dinner and sometimes people want to do those things on the first of the month even though that's also the day 90 percent of your bills are due and wow, that money disappears fast. As with anything you adjust. Or get a different job or a cheaper place to live or something.
But what if you didn't have to. What if you had a great idea for a company. And what if you could hang out somewhere where there was furniture, food, phones, internet and it was all free. Or, you know free to you at least. And no, I don't mean moving back home. What if you just moved into an office where they had computers, a gym and food. You know, like AOL for example. One guy did for about two months before being caught. Now he's gathered enough money for his startup to get a place to live.
Rants About New (and old) Things
