Darina Loakman.com

There are many benefits to working from home, and we generally know most of them. Things like more flexible working hours, no commute and greater time with your family.

However there are down sides too and one of those is isolation. Particularly if you are running a one-woman show from home. It’s extremely important that you don’t lose contact with people and that you do make the effort to network and socialize outside of your work.

Online too there are ways to connect and build relationships with people. I know many people now that I would call friends that I’ve never actually met ! We’ve gotten to know each other over the last few years through business, using media such as message forums, instant messaging and skype. It takes time to build the relationship and most are never going to be the same as those you have with someone you physically see and talk to all the time but that doesn’t mean it can’t be as rewarding.

Today I’ve just finished connecting and chatting with people using another method. We’ve just finished our first live chat session with iamawahm.com and it was great ! I have to confess I was a bit nervous before it started, I was worried in case no-one turned up and then I was worried in case people did turn up but no-one participated or everyone left very quickly !

My fears were unfounded on all counts and those of you who were there I hope you’ll agree that while maybe a little haphazzard ! (it was the first one after all!)it went very well and the feedback I received was good.

We had a mixture of people who were already working from home and those who wanted to and I got some great ideas for future topics which I’ll share in a little while ! as soon as I organize a few things. One comment from one Mum who is still looking for the ideal opportunity was that it was great to meet people who thought the same way has her. Sometimes you really can feel on your own, but don’t believe it !! because there are many more just like you out there.. But you do need to make a bigger effort to connect with them.

So join me in the next iamawahm live chat session. If you register now you’ll be kept upto date with any new sessions that are coming, and while general chat will be once a month on the first tuesday of the month, we will be doing topic specific sessions more frequently than that. Both for wannabe WAHMs ! and those looking to grow their business.

Here’s the link to find out how to register http://www.iamawahm.com/chat.html

and I look forward to talking with you

Darina