Don’t scramble to find a place to make a business call
Last Tuesday, I had a sensitive call about a board role. Compensation, equity, the whole negotiation. My cleaner was scheduled for 10:30. I could have asked her to skip, but that wouldn't be fair, and I'd rather not explain why.
I drove to my usual coworking spot in Marbella. Fully booked. Drove to the backup. One meeting room left, but the guy before me ran over, and I ended up taking the call from my car in an underground garage. Professional as hell.
The issue isn't WiFi quality. The issue is that home isn't always suitable, and the suitable places are now competing with everyone else who has figured out the same thing. Tuesday's newsletter was about the disappearance of lunch tables. This is the same problem, different hour: reliable places to do the work you can't do at home are becoming scarce.
I'm going to show you how to solve this, and then you can stop thinking about it.
Why home doesn't always work for important calls
You know this already, but let's say it clearly:
Construction and noise
Your neighbor is renovating. The urbanización is doing pool maintenance. The garbage truck arrives during your 10 am. You can't control the timing, and muting yourself for five minutes during a negotiation makes you look unprofessional.
Household staff and privacy
Your cleaner has keys. Your nanny is home with the kids. You're discussing confidential numbers or strategy, and you either reschedule, whisper, or take the call from your car. None of these options is good.
Visual background fatigue
You've been on camera from your home office for two years. You're tired of explaining your bookshelf. Your client has seen your kitchen three times this month. Small thing, but it compounds.
The ask/reschedule tax
Every time you need to ask your cleaner to come later, or tell your kids to be quiet for an hour, or skip a call because timing doesn't work—you're trading time and goodwill for something that should... work.
The solution isn't "make your home a fortress." The solution is having one place you can book when home isn't viable.
What actually works (the boring solution that fixes this)
Here's what I do now, and what four other remote executives I know have copied:
One primary room, one backup, both bookable by the hour
I now use a meeting room at The HQ on Ricardo Soriano (Marbella). I book it the week before, usually on Tuesday or Thursday between 10:00 and 12:00. The cost is €15-20 per hour/hour depending on the space.
The room is quiet, the WiFi is solid, and nobody books it out from under me because I'm in their calendar. When I'm done, I walk three minutes to lunch.
Backup is a smaller coworking space in San Pedro. I've used it twice in three months when the primary was booked. It's there if I need it, which means I never panic.
The math that makes this obvious
If your hourly rate is €150 (conservative for remote executives), and you waste one hour monthly scrambling for a suitable place to take calls—sitting in your car, rescheduling, dealing with background noise—you're losing €1800/year.
Meeting room costs: €15-20/hour × maybe 4-6 times monthly = €60-120/month = €720-1,440/year.
You're either breakeven or ahead, and you've eliminated the stress of "where can I take this call?" entirely.
How to set this up this week
Call the spaces near where you already eat lunch or do errands.
Ask,"¿Tienen salas de reuniones disponibles por horas?" — Do you have meeting rooms available by the hour?
Book one room for this Thursday or Friday as a test. Take a call from there. If the WiFi holds and the space is quiet, book it recurring for the next month.
Keep a second space as backup. I'll send you two locations with direct numbers when you reply with your town and usual call hours.
The predictable lunch part (same principle)
Once you have a reliable call space, lock a recurring lunch table nearby.
I book Tuesdays at 13:30 at the same place. I call Monday morning and confirm. They know me now. I don't think about lunch on Tuesdays—it just happens.
Say, "Reserva a nombre de [your name], martes a las 13:30, cada semana si es posible" — Reservation under [your name], Tuesdays at 13:30, every week if possible
If they say yes, you're done. If they say no, they're not set up for regulars, and you need a different spot.
Reply “lunch” and your town, and I'll send you two places that offer recurring bookings with their direct numbers.
Why is this better than "flexible" or "spontaneous"
You moved to the Costa del Sol for quality of life, not to scramble for basic operational infrastructure every week.
Predictability isn't boring. Predictability means:
Your 10 am board call happens in a professional space, not your car
Your Tuesday lunch is handled, one less decision
You're not explaining to your cleaner why she needs to reschedule again
The executives I know who are happiest here aren't the ones "exploring new cafés" every week. They're the ones who solved logistics once and stopped thinking about it.
That's the quiet competence thing. You set it up, it works, you move on.
Spanish-lite
"¿Tienen salas de reuniones disponibles por horas?" — Do you have meeting rooms available by the hour?
"Reserva a nombre de [your name], martes a las 13:30, cada semana si es posible" — Reservation under [your name], Tuesdays at 13:30, every week if possible
Reply to get specific locations
Reply with: calls + [your town] or lunch + [your town]
For calls: I'll send you two coworking/meeting room options with direct numbers, hourly rates, and booking instructions, all within a short distance from you.
For lunch: Two localish places that take recurring weekly bookings, their phone numbers, and the exact phrase to use.
You'll have it by Friday. Then you can stop thinking about where you'll take your next important call.
You can always expect plain‑English guidance from us to land, settle, and thrive on Spain’s Costa del Sol.💛
Not bad for a Wednesday, see you on the paseo!
— A. & the slightly sober WaypointSur team
- The Slightly Sober WayPoint Sur Team
Made Mostly Under the Costa Del Sol Sun.
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