The Lonely Entrepreneur

Some folks like being by themselves.

The rest of us, those that work online, are cursed by the nature of our home-based business and that is; we usually have no staff, no people running in or out of the office, no face to face meetings and no talks over the water cooler.

We’re alone. It comes with the job.

And… if you’re not in some MLM or networking company it’s even worse because you don’t have a team to Skype. (Gmail chat or whatever… )

The very loneliest folks online are the writers. All your research can be done via computer. All your actual work on the latest piece you’re doing; the formatting and editing, can all be done by pushing a few buttons until the article or ebook or course is completed.

All without having to speak to anybody.

When I do get out, like to a grocery store, I find myself starting meaningless conversations with total strangers… just to hear another voice. In the past, I wouldn’t think about starting a conversation out of the blue like that.

That’s when I realized I needed some interaction with something or someone besides my thoughts. Interaction with others is vital, not just for our sanity, but it also stimulates your creativity.

Being with people, talking and laughing with them, is what we’re meant to do. It’s part of our DNA. It’s essential to our well-being. We need to get out from behind the computer and see someone that doesn’t have any pixels!

Once I realized my schedule of waking up, getting coffee, going up to my office and being online 12 to 15 hours a day; was actually killing me… I changed my schedule.

Now I get up, go walking (weather depending) or, once or twice weekly I go shoot pool at a local hall. Only for an hour or two. Even made a few friends there. It has lots of banter and camaraderie and is close by. I feel much better when I visit there.

By the time I’m back home, I can still get in 5 or 6 hours online; which is enough to maintain my business and do training for our new partners.

Because I revised my schedule to one that’s more ‘user friendly’; I find I am more alert, more involved, more energetic, more creative and more productive. What I used to do in 12 hours, now only takes 2 or 3!

Do yourself a favor and review your online activity. If your full-time as I am, you might want to rearrange a few things to give yourself time to be human again! It will help you.