So, typically I try to stay off my soap box, but this morning as I was reading Advertising Age, I became compelled. Reporting that the coffee brewing giant, Starbucks, could be in real trouble. Really, no surprise to me. Why. Two words.....free internet!

Lets take a look, over the past several years, the general public has become coffee obsessed. The specialty coffee that once was a luxury, novelty, a treat, has become the standard entitlement. While expensive, it has been that morning boost to get you moving, get your mind churning again in preparation for a long day of work.

When the economy tanks, and filling our tanks has nearly doubled, where does that cash come from. Maybe the 3-4x week mocha has now become that one per week treat again. Ouch, that has to hurt. But then, the number of individuals working from home, remote offices, or flexible offices are on the rise as well. In booking your next meeting, were do you go? Working from an office in a city which isn't where I do the bulk of my business, I find myself meeting clients in a lot of coffee shops, or restaurants. But, when your business is so closely tied to the internet, or you need to be able to check your e-mail before and after, the requirements of our meeting space are going to be influenced by a couple of factors. Space and internet services.

I venture to say that 80% of my most recent meetings have been coffee shops. Coffee shops with free internet. Of them 0% have been Starbucks for that very reason. In trots Caribou, or welcome my friends the Dunn Brothers or the herds of local coffee shops, all providing free internet services. The bonus in this is that if it is a legit business meeting, you can write off the expense of the coffee or meal, and in a slow economy writing of that little coffee addiction is looking pretty good.

So, Starbucks, wake up and smell the flavor of the coffee of your new best friend, flexible business workers with an expense budget.