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This Digital Business Life

It’s a dream come true for many: to realize we can navigate a rich business career online without flying across the country or even driving across town. This is the sort of business I’ve created. As a business coach and information publisher, I enjoy the freedom of “working in my pajamas.”

Knowing how important it is to long-term business and career success to develop a network of contacts, a friend who spends a lot of time participating in offline events and membership groups expressed concern over my apparent isolation. She pointed to the Rolodex packed with business contacts she’s developed over the years and suggested that I’m somehow missing out.

It is true that as an Internet-based business owner, I rarely meet the people with whom I rub digital shoulders on a daily basis. I exchange few business cards compared to my entrepreneurial sisters in the offline world, but does that mean I have a smaller rolodex? No, definitely not. My circle of influence is just as rich, and actually easier to tap into at a moment’s notice.

So how do I do it?

I’ve created a digital business card of sorts by registering my name as a domain. KellyMcCausey.com is a simple website that contains a pleasant greeting, my online and offline contact information, and links to the various Web projects I am involved in.

Anyone who searches for information about me can find me. They’ll have ready access to learn more about my business, quick links to send me an email, as well as my phone number if they want to give me a call. I’ve also built a personal mailing list that anyone interested in me and my business can subscribe to as a way of keeping up-to-date on my projects and activities. I blog. I podcast. I share ideas, opinions, and professional expertise on a regular basis in formats that welcome and facilitate interaction from others.

Last, but not least, I’m an avid social networker. I keep a presence updated on several busy networking websites, and I’ve been using Twitter® as a virtual water cooler since July 2007. I can’t imagine a business day without it. Following three hundred or so women who share my interests and target market is stimulating and profitable. Having over a thousand others following me is pretty awesome, too.

Compare this sort of daily connection with swapping business cards, and I hope you’ll agree I am not at all isolated. I have several rich business relationships with people I’ve never laid eyes on in person, and more importantly I’ve developed some incredible friendships.

Being this easy to find and contact is a necessity in today’s business climate. After all, if a potential client can’t find you, they might turn to your competitors. If you feel unsure that you’re as accessible as you should be, I’d recommend that you try doing some, or perhaps all, that I’ve described.

The truth is, I do like to travel and I enjoy face-to-face meetings. There are lots of options for in-person meetings among internet entrepreneurs. Large events like Blog World Expo, Blogher® and Big Seminar connect a world of home-office dwellers once or twice a year. Regional events provide more frequent opportunities, and now with the aid of social networking tools that can connect us by our geography, bloggers are organizing local meet-ups with increasing frequency.

And Web-based business owners who step out to participate in offline events can often be found Twittering and updating their Facebook® status in real time by laptop, iPhone® and BlackBerry®. First life meets second life, face-to-face and fingertip to keyboard, all at once.

Read more: Don’t Be Afraid to Be an Expert

Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc.
Blogher is a registered trademark of Blogher LLC.
iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc.
Blackberry is a registered trademark of Research in Motion, Corporation Canada.
Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.

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