Tweet

Staying Hooked In With Your Internet Based Business

Written by: Chris Simpson

Article Overview: As someone with a home based internet business, you know the siren lure of staying for an extra hour or two at the computer - just one more job, one more email. That next ping might be the big deal that boosts your business, big time. It's very easy to get wrapped around the spindle of your work and let your home life suffer.

Staying Hooked In With Your Internet Based Business

As someone with a home based internet business, you know the siren lure of staying for an extra hour or two at the computer - just one more job, one more email. That next ping might be the big deal that boosts your business, big time. It's very easy to get wrapped around the spindle of your work and let your home life suffer. Letting your home life suffer will cause your business to suffer. It's important to schedule some time away from the computer; it's even more important to do this for things relevant to your business. Networking is critical in any kind of field, and it's no less true in Internet derived businesses than it is in more traditional ones.

So, having resolved to do this, it's time to put resolution into action. First, make a list of old friends and colleagues, and make a point out of talking to them on the phone, or even better, over lunch, to keep up on developments with them, and within your field.

If your friends don't do the same sort of work you do, think about how you'd explain it to them - this is valuable practice for talking to potential clients. Your old colleagues may know people who need your services, or may be able to cover for you if you want to take a vacation...and if you don't keep the lines of communications open, you'll find them less willing to help you out.

While face to face is good, there are other ways to keep in touch, ranging from Instant Messenger programs like AIM or Yahoo Messenger (or even better, a multi-service package, like Pidgin) to social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn and MySpace. These are also ways to get client referrals and to promote your own products.

It's worth noting that internet connected time tends to go 'faster than expected' - when dealing with communications at the speed of text, people type at about 60 words per minute, and speak at about twice that rate (and read at about 400 words per minute, all told).

Budget it appropriately, and in spite of the need to keep in touch, keep yourself on a tight budget, including scheduled times when you're NOT going to be checking emails and instant messenger prompts. This is an important tool set for keeping in touch with your clients and colleagues, but it's also an incredible way to lose productive time.

Another venue to look into is a place called Meetup. This is a social marketing site that's geared around making face to face meetings of people with common or related interests happen. It's a great tool for organizing professional brunches and the like, and a great way to stay in touch with professional organizations dealing with your profession.

Finally, there's the issue of relating to clients over the internet. The first rule is being timely. The second rule is that typing in SMS "textese", even if it's faster, is going to come off as unprofessional. And it's very important that you maintain a strict discipline about office hours, if you don't want clients to pester you non-stop about the status of work you've got for them.

Related Articles
  How Important is Staying Power in your home based online business?
  Hooked On Selling
  Blogheads
  How to be Successful when Starting a Home Based Business on the Internet
  Staying Motivated When You're Internet Business Is Slow

Article Tags: big time, client referrals, colleagues, email, extra hour, facebook, home based internet business, instant messenger, linkedin, lunch, messenger programs, myspace, nbsp, old friends, pidgin, siren, spindle, words per minute, worth noting that, yahoo messenger



Related Forum Posts
Re: Who inspired you to start? - Hi Evan, I was inspired by Mr. Bill Gates ever since I was a student learning Computers. But I was motivated for Internet as my Business, when I read his book "The Road Ahead" in 1995. It was in this book that Gates laid out his vision of an interconnected world built around the Internet. Based on the premise that life will be transformed by the convergence of inexpensive computing and inexpensive communications, Gates drew from his experience at the center of the personal computer revolution to give insights on the growth, evolution and impact of technology. I had always looked up to Bill Gates as my idol. When I read this book, it made me more focussed on Microsoft and Internet, The Internet was one of the upcoming things in this time. So I took over to the Internet as my primary business. Regards,
Elevator Pitch in 10 Words - "Winning Business Design For Aspiring Entrepreneurs Based On Their Idea"
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Fill in the blank: The best decision I ever made with my bus - Focusing on my Internet Marketing Business
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - Staying healthy is important as I get very little done when I have the flu. I basically shut down for a week to recover properly and continue to work hard.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

What If You Had a 100% Success Rate?

What is Give Back Marketing?

A New Year in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.