How To Overcome The Disconnection of Working Alone

The allure of working for yourself and working from home are two of the main upsides to being an entrepreneur and especially a web/tech entrepreneur. However, despite the glowing praise for the flexibility and convenience of working from home, one topic that often gets disregarded is the disconnection many “at home entrepreneurs” feel. While it is nice to be able to roll out of bed into the office in the mornings skipping any sort of morning commute, after a while, working for yourself means working by yourself and this can lead to a sense of disconnection from others. Here are a few ways to avoid this.

Find a Partner

I have been told by countless successful entrepreneurs to never pursue a venture unless you can find one other person who believes in it and is willing to invest their time and money into the idea. While having a partner undoubtedly complicates matters and cuts your ownership of the company in half, having someone to work with you is extremely effective in avoiding any sense of disconnection.

Having a partner who complements your strengths and weaknesses will help your company grow in its earlier stages and increase its chances of thriving in the marketplace for years to come. Unfortunately, finding the right business partner is a complicated process and a subject that hundreds of entrepreneurs and experts have discussed at length in countless articles and books.

Attend Conferences and Network

Every industry has its own conferences. Attending these conferences is a great way to meet like minded individuals with whom you can discuss business issues. Often times, it is hard to connect with people in day to day life as they don’t understand what exactly online entrepreneurs do; however, at conferences you can meet people with similar issues who “get you”.

A simple Google search will get you a list of major conferences in your industry which you can attend. From attending these conferences, you can establish connections with professionals in your area and can organize more informal, yet more frequent, local meet-ups. John’s frequent “Dot Com Phos” is a perfect example.

Talk to your “Statistics”

Often times for web entrepreneurs it comes down to statistics. How many people bought my product? How many people came to my blog? How many new users registered today? While all these stats are just numbers, there are people behind these numbers and taking the time to reach out and interact with these people will not only help you feel more connected, but will also improve your business.

Talking to customers will show you what you are doing right and what can be fixed to increase sales. Talking to blog readers or users will allow you to see what people like and don’t like about your website and discuss any possible adjustments that can be made.

Take a Break

While all of us work under heavy deadlines (even if they are ones we make up for ourselves) it is important to stop every once in a while and take a break. If you have some errands to run, go out and get them done. Eat out at lunch every once in a while or take a 1 hour break to go to the gym. Anything you can do to get away from the computer for a little while will help you stay focused when you are actually working.

Here is more information on why right now is the right time to start a business and how to take advantage of the timing. This post was written by Aditya Mahesh, founder of AMBeat.com, one of the web’s most popular entrepreneurship blogs.