Let's face it - maintaining relationships are difficult enough when you're in the same town, but throw in 8000+ miles, a 17-hour time difference, and busy schedules, including jobs, kids, and other responsibilities, and you're pretty much fighting a brick wall, right? Yeah, and then people like to get frustrated because they messaged you at 3:30 AM in your part of the world and wonder why you didn't respond - even though Facebook definitely said you're online! I have a love/hate view of the online status for instant messaging. It's good in that you've an idea of whether you might get a quick response, but there are times when that status is just completely wrong due to that little Messenger app on your phones and tablets. Even if you're not actively online, you're still signed in there, so it thinks you are and that, my friends, is where people get mad. See, it looks like you are in fact ignoring people when you're 'online' in their eyes and not responding. It's irritating....so a little advice from me to you - don't take the status as the end all, be all for online messaging. Give people a chance!And the other think that's kinda difficult to maintain while traveling - business. I've managed my online Chloe + Isabel boutique for the last 2.5 years - jeez, kinda can't believe it's been so long... I absolutely love it - I do - but life is hard and when you're not making full-time wages from something you're working as much as possible, it gets hard to keep it up. I'm ecstatic that we finally opened international shipping, but - again, back to the time difference - most of my clients are still in the USA. I've been travelling for about as long as I've had this business. I started as a way to fund my living expenses while pursuing my MSc, and now I use it as a way to pay my loans each month. However, I don't do nearly as well as I would like because an online party is a bit difficult to keep up when you're 17 hours ahead. And networking is even harder when you're not actively working to build your business. I'd LOVE any recommendations from my boss babes out there. I don't like to blow up my social media pages because people do get irritated at only seeing business posts, but, at the same time, THAT'S how I reach people! So, I'm working on building business posts that are more lifestyle posts. That's what I think I'd like to see more of, anyway. I feel that's more appealing.
I'd love if my friends would comment, share, and converse with me more about my boutique - even if they don't buy now or ever. It's about support of any kind, not about buying every month (not that I'd complain about that either ;) ).So, the moral of this post is PLEASE don't get irritated when I don't respond - even if I'm 'online'. And, PRETTY PLEASE don't get mad when you see my business posts. It's my creative passion and how I pay my loans. I need that to be successful so I don't get in trouble for not paying those back... Much love from Brisbane 💙💙💙
