A few issues back I wrote about cutting your cloth appropriately - not overspending, watching for lifestyle creep, that sort of thing.

So yes, it might seem a bit off to now be encouraging a bit of extra spending. But this one’s not about life stuff. It’s about business.

And when it comes to spending on things that help you do better work, avoid chaos, or come across as someone who’s got it together, I see that a little differently.

Not luxury. Just good sense.

⸻

I had an early meeting up in London a while ago with a biggish client. A lovely Canadian company based near Bank. They're the sort of polite, prepared people who like a clear narrative and someone who doesn’t arrive out of breath.

I live in Brighton, which is only an hour and a bit by train... in theory.

So I thought I’d go up on the morning. Leave a buffer, have a coffee, and (most importantly) have time for a nervous wee at their office before the meeting started.

What actually happened was: delays.

Every ten minutes, a new notification. I was replanning the replans. By the time I was on the tube I was texting the client: “Might be a couple of minutes late! See if you can keep them talking.”

Which is not, historically, a strong first impression.

The session was fine. The work held up. But I arrived flustered, a bit sweaty, and with my brain rather scrambled. And it just took longer to get buy-in for our project than it should’ve done.

That was the last time I didn’t stay over at a hotel near a client's office the night before a an important morning meeting.

Not fancy hotels. Alan Partridge-spec stuff like a Travelodge, Premier Inn, or the occasional Ibis. The main criteria is being walking distance to the client's office.

After check-in I’ll scope out where I’m going the next morning. Then I'll grab some dinner, fall asleep to a repeat of 8 Out of 10 Cats, and wake up rested.

In the morning I'll have plenty of time to go and find the nearest Pret, although I’ll have obviously already scoped it out the night before like a proper nerd.

I'll turn up at the office nice and early and be the first person in the room.

Time to check the tech.

Have a bit of water.

I'm be full of energy to greet each person as they arrive and buy myself a few minutes of all-important small talk - enough to seem like a calm, safe pair of hands rather than someone who’s just legged it through Bank Station and seriously considered jumping the barrier just to save a few seconds.

And when I do it this way (when I stay over, walk in early, calm, fed, and already settled) those meetings have unsurprisingly always gone much, much better.

I’ve got enough data points now to know it’s not just about comfort, it’s about headspace. Even when a morning train’s on time, the low-level peril that it might not be is a real distraction.

You end up rehearsing alternate routes instead of your opening line. You arrive a bit tenser, a bit sweatier, a bit more rattled than you meant to for that big meeting.

It’s that slow drip of cortisol - not panic, just friction - and if you can avoid it, it’s totally worth it.

Sometimes I still travel up the same day, but it’ll be very early. And if I can, I’ll pay extra for a plug socket and a bit of peace. It’s hard to focus when you’re at a tiny table next to a teenager eating Monster Munch and watching TikToks at full volume.

The hotel option might cost a couple of hundred quid (at most). That feels like a lot, especially if there’s no clearly measurable return on that outlay.

A lot of freelancers I know think I'm bonkers for shelling out on this. "That's a big chunk of the day rate!". It feels indulgent, like something you have to justify.

I don’t do this for every meeting, just the ones that really matter.

If it’s the kind of session that could lead to more work, or where someone in the room might be signing off my day rate increase or whether to extend my contract.

If it’s a key moment in the project that’ll make the next few months go smoother, or one that’s taken six weeks to get everyone in the same room.

That’s when it’s worth it: when being late isn’t just awkward, it’s costly.

In these scenarios, if you can afford it, I think it can be a real investment worth making.

Not for every meeting. Not for every job.

Just a few times a year, when it makes sense.

— Tom