Borders - Your Office Away From Home The Small Business Approach To Dreaming, Planning, Scheming Most retail establishments would probably kick you out if you hung around their store for hours, using the furniture, sipping a bit of coffee, and buying very little. Borders Books and Music takes a different approach – they welcome it. What Borders has realized is that it is actually good for business, and not just their own.   Charles Seymour Jr. spends a few hours in his local Borders twice a week charting the future of his online business, PersonalSuccessMarketing.com  He calls it his Dreaming, Planning, Scheming time. He knows that too many people work toward deadlines, reply to emails, finish reports but “don’t spend enough time just thinking where they want to take their businesses.”   He recommends Borders as an oasis for the small business owner – a special place outside of the home office where one goes to think – away from the routine: to work on his business instead of in it.  “So often we spend time working inside our business and don't stop to think where we want our business to go – you really can't do this kind of work in the atmosphere that you work in most of the day. You really need to get away from the phone, email, people asking you to do things for them,” Seymour says as he grabs the tallest coffee-chocolate-raspberry drink on the way to his favorite work table.  “Borders offers many things: a great drink to sip to let my mind wander to new ideas, good work spaces, gourmet sandwiches and snacks, the Borders Rewards Card to keep me coming back (and save some money when I do), and all the books I could hope for. I can never leave the place without buying at least one drink and one book – there are so many ideas that can help my business grow.”  Charlie spends roughly two to three hours twice each week devising strategies to help mid-career, mid-life professionals who feel stuck on a plateau and don't know how to kick start their businesses. These men and women find that they are running faster and faster but not able to earn any additional income because they have put themselves in the center of their businesses and when they step away - well, they just stop earning. And truthfully, most want to buy BACK some of their hours, get out of the center of the mote they have dug for themselves (by running around in circles), and reach for that Summit they dreamed about when they went out into the forest, slew the dragon, earned their degree... and then life happened to them.    PersonalSuccessMarketing.com was largely created at Borders over many weeks of dreaming about where Charlie and his business partner, psychologist Dr. Marc Kossmann, wants to take it, planning how to get it there, and scheming about how to provide the best service for their members.  Charlie knows he can’t spend more than 2-3 hours each session because concentrating on new ideas is hard work AND he also needs to get back to working in his business too. He recommends taking two or three breaks during a session to walk around for five minutes, get something from the Borders café, or spend some time browsing through their huge selection of books.  In addition to being a great place for self-reflection, planning, or reading, the Borders in Springfield (Delaware County), PA USA is a stone's throw away from a number of useful services: FedEx Office for copying materials and sending packages, a bank, fine restaurants, and a grocery store for the little things one forgets to pick up. And with plenty of free parking, it’s easy to get to and inexpensive to do it.  Borders is also a WiFi hotspot for laptop computers with wireless connection and a great place to do research – all the books you need are right there.  But as General Manager, Chris Adams, points out, Borders is more than an office away from home housed inside a well-stocked music, video, and book destination. It also a resource to the community, a place for parents to instill the love of reading in their children, a place to meet friends and to get lost inside your favorite story in a relaxed atmosphere.  And as Charlie Seymour Jr knows, it’s a great place to create a new business and then keep the ideas growing.  “Dreaming, Planning, Scheming times are very important to me and Borders has become the perfect place to help me grow my business.”   Borders is not just for books, videos, and music any more. It's a place where creativity thrives, ideas come to fruition, and one's potential is realized!  -Dmitri Sled, Special to the Times