And yeah, I do see beers as another option. Though the conversation is usually a bit more muddled - not a problem if you guys are friends, but sometimes less good if you are trying to learn something important or discuss something complex in nature.
I start vibrating after my 3rd.
And yes, decaf, half-caf and tea are essential tools for this approach. :)
Everyone has been pestering me to setup a more managed hosting solution; it's a good idea, with enough bulk I could do it both profitably and cheaply. But it'd take just as much effort, if not more, than my current unmanaged ventures, so it's not happening without help (and a big customer to get started)
But yeah, I feel like just the meetings have been badly impacting my productivity on my unmanaged hosting business. It's a completely different mindset. I mean, it's kindof fun? but right now is a realy hot time; opportunity costs are very high.
More important than knowing they're important is keeping them from consuming your week. Although they only take an hour, they're more expensive than that because they totally disrupt your Maker's Schedule.
My solution to this is to only schedule coffee meetings on Thursdays. If there are too many in a week to cram into a Thursday, they need to bump to the next week or further. Being connected is important, but building your product is much more important.