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Dear Rain,
With the big push for online social networking, I could spend all my time online, posting and responding to a myriad of sites. Where is the balance of human interaction when promoting my services as a coach?
Dear Reader,
This is
a question close to home! It’s so easy
to get lost in the world of the internet.
Social networking reminds me of the gold rush of the 1900’s. Everyday more and more people join in hoping
to make a fortune. Everyone seems to be
doing it, writing a book about it and teaching a course about it. They say it is a wonderland of easy money, yet
there is something about it that makes me wonder....
What
really happened in the gold rush wasn’t a pretty picture.
Most
miners worked all day hoping to strike it rich and still left or died
broke. Historians say only 1% of those
who struck large amounts of gold were able to create ongoing wealth with
it. The rest used it within a few
years. The real long term winners of the
gold rush were the merchants. Store
owners and makers of tent canvas pants (Levi Strauss) made fortunes and continued
to do so for years afterwards.
This
may seem a little off topic, however there is an invaluable lesson to be
learned in this history. A golden
nugget, if you will.
There are 3 stages to a gold rush:
Stage
One: Make it rich with the gold.
Stage
Two: Make it rich teaching how to pan (with supplies, of course) for gold.
Stage
Three: Make it rich selling the story of hidden gold.
A lot
of folks doing really well with social networking are selling money-making
programs that teach you how to use these social networking sites, promising it will
make you rich. What stage do you think
we are in?
Once
the market is flooded, it becomes a challenge to recreate the first stage that
the experienced early miners are now trying to sell you. So the push is there, but by whom?
Personally
I love social networking. Since I spend
every work day on my computer, I truly enjoy the short interruptions that
remind me there is someone out there who I like and who is wanting to connect
with me. It wasn’t this way in the
beginning, however. In the beginning
there was so much to learn and so many people.
I started with 30 friends, thinking,
I have never had more than 30 friends in real life, how could more than that be
manageable? Over time as my friends are
now in the hundreds, I have found my balance through listening to my own energy
and staying with groups that support me as I support it. (Thank you AT friends!) It is
through that kind of energy exchange
that creates balance.
As a
coach, think about how you feel when you are interacting with your potential clients
in person. What do you LOVE about
it? Now think about your time when you do social
networking. How does that kind of
interaction feel? What do you LOVE about
it? Let’s use the Wow Factor Scale to
see where your energy is. On a scale
from 1- 10, 1 being, “I need this to stop this now.” and 10 being, “Yahoo! give
me more,” what is the number when you think about meeting people in person to
attract coaching clients? What is your
number when you think about internet social networking to attract coaching
clients? Focus more time on the networking
plan that gives you a bigger Wow.
Now ask
yourself, would you spend all day networking in person? Why not?
What is
it about the internet (with the exception of living in PJs) that creates a
feeling of networking longer? As I have
written before, I am…"learning
to live an authentic life, moment by moment; choice by choice." When you are looking for balance with the time
you spend on the computer connecting, and the time you spend with real people
connecting, what is your authentic choice?
What do you really want to do, in this moment?
Just as much as people
have made a ton of money through the internet so have many people have made a
ton with personal contact. There are people who still dig for gold today
because they absolutely love it, and there are those who decided to do
something else. Where do you want to be
when the gold rush is over?
smiles and inspiration!
Rain
You can find out more about Rain and life coaching at her website
Copyright 2008 by Rain Fordyce
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