Coffee, tea or martini? Can’t entrepreneurs drink what they want when they want to?
February 5, 2008 by ShannonCherry
Filed under Business
I saw an amusing article the other day over at MSNBC on the question of drinking at meetings when you are an entrepreneur.
After all, as a solopreneur, you call the shots, right? So if you want to have a drink in the middle of the day, who’s to stop you?
I find this quite interesting, because I see this as a cultural issue. My husband is from Britain, and it’s very common for employees to have a pint during a business lunch. But here, in America, it’s frowned upon. According to a University of Buffalo study, 7 percent of American workers saying they drink during the workday.
I’ve been known to have a glass of wine at lunch once in a while. It doesn’t impede on my performance.
Look, we’re all adults here. You know your limits. I say do what works for you.
So, have you had a drink once and a while during your ‘working’ hours? Do you think we should abstain? Inquiring minds want to know.
I will absolutely have a glass of wine during lunch if I want one. There’s a huge difference between having a glass of wine with a nice meal and downing shots at a cocktail party.
As with most things, professionalism is relative. I think you do what you feel comfortable doing and you hope for the best. If I worried about what people thought of me every time I did something, I’d never get anything accomplished!
And I agree that it’s largely cultural – our German clients wouldn’t flinch at a beer during lunch. My mother would cry.
I used to, but found that it tended to take the “edge” off a bit too much and I’d start mentally drifting away more into “thinking” rather than “doing”. :-) I never meet clients face to face, so it’s always just me (and as such can do whatever I wish), but it definitely made the inner boss in me less of a hardass, if that makes any kind of sense.
It makes for a better day, but a less productive one, alas.
Well, it’s not like you’re going to go off chugging beer bottle after beer bottle during your lunch break. If a glass helps you have more control of yourself, then I don’t think it’s such a bad idea. Are British entrepreneurs built differently than American entrepreneurs when it comes to alcohol tolerance? I think it all depends on you as an individual. If you perform better with a glass, then I don’t think it’s anything to make a big deal of.
I don’t have a glass of wine for lunch if I’m working that day. It’s simple, I become drowsy, completely relaxed and that’s not good when I’m focused on earning money. So, my vote is no.