I have met people due to my home-based business that I am convinced I would NOT have met otherwise. This isn’t to say that there haven’t been plenty of interesting, great, and inspiring people that I have met in other venues (including working the more traditional job), but I think the flexibility, creativity, and autonomy of a home-based business lets us intersect and interact with interesting individuals we wouldn’t otherwise come in contact with.
Often, in a more traditional job, your “sphere of influence” or the people you meet at work might be confined to a specific sector of your work. You might be meeting only suppliers, or sales people, or other marketing people. BUT, in a small home business where you are wearing all the hats, you come in contact with a much wider array of people–from presidents and CEOs to secretaries and vendor suppliers. Even if my business is tiny, I feel like there is more diversity in the people I interact with because of it. And, with the increasing ease of working outside one’s town, state, or even country–we have an even better chance of meeting interesting people from all over the world because of our home-based businesses.
Additionally, having a home business usually means that we can get out and about more and move around in the world with more looseness and flexibility–instead of being chained to a desk or an office, so our social contacts often increase. For those of us who are somewhat extroverted, this can be energizing. Even for people who think of themselves as introverted, a home business can be a boost to one’s self-esteem and social confidence. We are just forced to have to learn how to get comfortable in more diverse social situations and this expands our contact radius. I think having a business is a great way to expand one’s social world, and meet some interesting and diverse individuals!
See Also: Admitting to Emotions in Business
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