Many of us have been 'subjected to' the rationalisation of office space -- for the times we're NOT flying 'round to clients we call our headquarters and 'reserve' a cubicle for a short time (typically a few days).

Office 'hoteling.' It makes sense for big businesses who recognise the folly of keeping empty spaces vacant for workers who aren't there much of the time.

Hows-about doing something similar for freelancers?

Imagine this: You're a 30-something work-at-home mom (say...marketing research). Once or twice a week you need a *place* away from the chaos of the kitchen table where you can go and (1) retrieve your files [stored in a little roll-away file cabinet], (2) make phone calls without home interruptions, (3) bring clients into meeting rooms where you can do your PowerPoint Presentations and (4) - though far from least importantly, (re)establish business and professional contacts.

You buy a 'membership' at this kind of Flexible_Office space. Different levels of membership could exist. At a minimum, you get (say) 5 hours of week of cubicle time, access to a T1 line for your laptop computer, a roll-away file, 24/7 access, access to conference rooms, a concierge service, a voice-mail and e-mail system that gives your sole-proprietorship enterprise a mark of corporate respectability.

I figure here, in the Bay area, the cheapest/smallest/windowless generically-tony "Office Suites" go for 6- or 700$/month .. low-end memberships could be a fraction of that.

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