Meet real-live people

Occasionally you grow weary of the same view, day in, day out. Even if it is a stunning view. Not complaining. But gang, let’s face it, when you start an online business, you tend to spend endless hours sitting in your room. The antidote? Get out and meet some new people. Real-live ones.

You never know what sort of connections you’ll make or what you’ll learn. People are founts of information.

The Programmer and I met two different new guys this week. The first guy was at a pot luck dinner. The second guy recently moved to our town, found us online, and asked if we’d like to meet for coffee.

The pot luck guy had recently moved from Seattle to our little town. He swirled his wine, leaned forward and asked:

“What do YOU do?”

He had just described his lust for Buenos Aires, where he’d splurged on dinner at a five-star restaurant for a fraction of what it would cost in the US. He confided that he was considering relocating there. We mentioned we worked online and his eyes lit up. I could tell he was envisioning himself slathered in suntan oil on an Argentinian beach, with piles of money popping out of his laptop.

A few days later, we were sitting across from new guy #2 at a local chocolate bar. (Don’t ask now, but I’ll tell you about the French Broad Chocolate Lounge in another post.)

“You don’t go into a smoking lounge and hand out brochures for non-smoking,” he was saying.

I loved it. The conversation was about qualifying your web site visitors, a subject near and dear to all of our hearts. We moved on to talk about the real reason we were meeting, which had nothing to do with business. This guy is into our favorite author, so we started sharing quotes and talking philosophy.

Between discussing our favorite books, the jasmine tea and the blueberry cognac truffle, it was a little slice of heaven. When he said his wife was into the local dance-class scene and the two of them go dancing every week, I made a mental note to follow through with another coffee date. Yay! New friends. Real people.

Who do you think we’re more likely to become long-term friends with?

It was so obvious that the pot luck guy’s primary motivation in life was saving a buck at any expense. I honestly cannot relate. Chocolate lust aside, I’m just not a natural hedonist. I love our internet business because it’s the best of all worlds. I get to do something I love, with someone I love, and really provide people a valuable service. Best of luck, pot luck guy. Adios, amigo.

Meeting another web entrepreneur who lives in our very town is a very cool connection. We’re really not bona fide geeks, the Programmer and I. We’re simply working online and having a lovely life. Guy #2 has a life outside the web, too.

And, the fact that he loves the same books we do? That’s the icing on the truffle.

From time to time, you’ve got to get out and shoot the breeze with real folk. If nothing else, it’ll remind you that your legs still work and that real-live people’s faces are still profoundly more interesting than pixelated pictures of peoples’ faces.