Working At Home Online -- Real People

Recently a friend asked me why I liked working "all alone" on the internet. I glibly replied that being "alone" was exactly what I liked about working at home.

"It's just me and my computer...and maybe a cat and a dog or two", I told her. "There are no people to interrupt or irritate me when i'm working at home online." She laughed and we moved on to other topics.

In the following days, my comments came back to me again and again. There was something wrong about what I had said, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Some time later, I received a routine question by email from an affiliate in my downline. I replied to her question and also told her that I was surprised to see she had not been working as diligently for the past few weeks. In my usual "all business" fashion, I included some tips on how to increase results, etc, hoping to motivate her to greater effort.

In her next email a couple of days later, my affiliate apologized for letting me down recently. She thanked me for my suggestions, etc and at the very end of the email she said again she was sorry she had not been working as much as usual on her home business......but that her husband was now home from the hospital and required constant care after his stroke so it had been difficult to find the time for her business.

Huh? What stroke? I didn't know anything about it!

"It's just me and my computer...." came back to me and I immediately knew why that phrase didn't seem quite "right".

It is NOT just me and my computer when I am working an online business. It is also all the people I touch with emails, with advertising....all those who visit my websites.

All of the affiliates in my downline knew they could email me any time with business questions. Yet after months of communicating with them I had never simply asked any of them...."How are YOU....How is YOUR life going?" I was too busy saying "Here is what you need to do next" or "Be sure to read this as it will be helpful to you", etc.

Over the next week I sent individual emails to some of my team members, asking them how things were going, how their families were doing. I told them that if they ever felt they needed to slow down or to take time off to deal with a problem or family issue, to let me know and I would be happy to fill in for them to keep their business going during a "rough spot".

I received many answers to those emails -- and my eyes were opened even more.

In building my work at home business, I had forgotten an important fact -- I am dealing with people. People who have families, who have hardships, accidents, illnesses, babies! I learned that a few of these people I thought I "knew" were dealing with major problems on a day to day basis.

This experience has made me a better person and also made me a better business person. Part of the joy of working at home is that your life and your work are intertwined. Every person who joins your program or buys your product is a REAL person -- even if you never communicate with them.

Inernet Marketing really is people helping people.

Remembering that one fact can help you build a successful work at home business that you are proud of...and that others are proud to be associated with.

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This article was written by Brenda K. King, owner of
Earn Extra Income at Home