When time wasted is time well-spent

One of the questions I get from old-school business people who are just coming online is how the hell I can justify spending so much time on pursuits that are non-monetizable (not a word, and if it was, it would be an icky one, but you get my point.)

Believe me, sometimes I wonder the same thing. I spend ridiculous chunks of any given day online. Some of it (news, industry-related blogs, LinkedIn) has more obvious value than others (Flickr, Facebook, Twitter), but one could make the argument that all of it should take a backseat to what I call "money work": endeavors in which you trade hours for dollars.

Here's where it gets tricky, though: you need to do a lot of being somewhere—hanging out, reading, commenting, creating content—to get somewhere. If you translate it into old-school terms, you could make a similar argument that the extensive traveling (5+ days/week sometimes) that my father did Back In The Day was largely wasted. Or to draw a finer analogy, that the time he spent on those airplanes or in those airport lounges talking to people who weren't prospects was time wasted—time that would have been better spent on higher-return activities like drafting articles, catching up with paperwork or dictating stuff for one of his three (yes, really) secretaries to type up.

What Dad would have said, though, is that some of those random conversations wound up delivering the richest rewards. One of his best friends and greatest business relationships grew out of a series of conversations he had with the man who regularly drove him around when he was in New York; one day Artie told him about another guy he drove around—a guy from L.A.—whom he thought my dad would enjoy meeting.

Stuff like this still happens in meatspace, of course, but what's great is that it can happen online now, too. Just recently I wound up with a consulting client who came to me because she found me online: posting about something completely non-work-related in a Yahoo! group that has nothing to do with my areas of work expertise; I just like the community and free-flowing advice on tap there.

I can't help but wonder if one of the reasons these "random" things work is because we don't feel like there's much at stake: we're just relaxed, being ourselves, and so we end up showing people what we're made of instead of telling them. As it turns out, one of the things she found appealing was the way I appoached answering questions, something you'd definitely want in a coach or consultant.

So now I'm curious: have you had experiences like this? Where you ended up getting work from some activity or gathering where work was the farthest thing from your mind?

What weird stuff has come over the transom for you, and how do you think it happened?

Comments

[Judy Dunn]

I love this post, Colleen. Online activities suck up great gobs of my time, too.

Coincidentally, I wrote on a related topic two weeks ago in a blog post, "Synchronicity and the Solopreneur: How Did Spontaneity Get Such a Bad Name?"

In this time-challenged world of ours, more and more, the advice from the experts seems to be: economize, plan better, cut back on your "random" behavior. But when I do that, I find that I am less creative, less open to new ideas.

I decided to try an experiment for one week with my online time. I told myself that I would not have a structure (I know, that's scary), but instead just explore, communicate, listen to my inner voice.

I am a fan of Julia Cameron and her book "The Artist's Way." She describes something she calls synchronicity, the experience of finding things that happen in the moment to fit what you are doing.

I found in that one week alone, I connected with six people online I might otherwise have not, small biz owners with whom I found great possibilities for partnerships, cross-promotion and blog links. In flowing my heart, the possibilities just opened up.

In the past, I might have shelved these names with the intention of "getting back to them later."

Of course, it probably helps that I am at my core spontaneous, random, yes, even impulsive.

I look forward to hearing other people's stories.

[Jake Scott]

It's funny how things work like that.

I recently found an opportunity online in what I thought would be the most unexpected place -Craigslist.

I was just toying around on the site one day when I came across a posting for a freelance opportunity which is quickly growing into one of my best yet. Kind of like being in the right place at the right time -even though I wasn't really looking for it.

[Jackson Foster / The ID Entity]

Colleen:
I wouldn't necessarily call my experience weird, but I have had very similar situations since I moved from Chicago to Central Virginia. (I know, don’t ask—why would you leave a great design town like Chicago?)

Anyway, I went to a book signing for a local preservation group at an antique store in downtown Fredericksburg (50 miles south of DC) where I met one of the authors. They were promoting a 120 page journal on local history (I’m a huge Civil War enthusiast). I got my autographed copy and also mentioned that I’m a designer. This author and I eventually had lunch, showed him my portfolio, and two years later I’m still doing all kinds of work that is very much related to my personal interests, including that journal. He was very interested in the branding work I have done and he had the vision to want that for their organization, which is involved with fundraising for historic properties.

Maybe I was more relaxed than normal, but I believe it was more of being in the right place at the right time, and answers to prayer for work after moving to a place where I didn’t know a soul!

[Colleen Wainwright]

Judy - I'm a big Julia Cameron fan, too. Forever recommending that book of hers, even for people who aren't "recovering artists," as she calls them.

That's a great story, and an inspiring one, too. How has follow-through been? Same as "real" life? Better? Worse?

Jake - Another good story. But hey, why no website? Are you trying to remain extra-exclusive? One of the most fun things is checking out the sites of people who post comments--don't deprive me of that pleasure!

Jackson - I won't ask why you left Chicago if you don't ask why I left NYC, Chicago and now want to leave L.A.! Central VA sounds quiet, which is a lot of what I'm looking for now. Or longing for, anyway.

Great story, too! I'm guessing your relaxation had something to do with it, but really, it's the same advice that people looking for love get: pursue the interests that really fascinate you, and the partnering will take care of itself.

Thanks for sharing!