(I’m posting late this week because I’ve been struggling with wordpress to get an image in – sometimes this system just locks things out. So frustrating.)
You heard it here first: the meteoric rise of social media is the best breakthrough for working people with chronic illness since … the internet. It saves you time and energy while giving you access to information.
Funny thing is that my kids (ages 21 & 24) laugh over the fact that their 57 year old mom is on Facebook.
But I’ve got the last laugh. People I’ve never met “friend” me.
If you’re a Networker or Connector (terms I used in my 3 Circles of Networking and now published in my Working With Chronic illness Workbook) you’re probably on Linked In. And people who are serious about marketing their web presence are on Facebook, too.
(If you’re one of those who get this blog in your email and don’t realize that you can click on a link to the internet, you better catch up fast! You’re missing important opportunities for easy information)
And, here’s why this is so important for you if you live with a chronic illness. For years as a career coach, I’d tell clients that the best way to get that next job is through relationship networking. Too often, people get complacent in their jobs and forget that few jobs are “forever” these days. This is especially true when you live with chronic illness.
But my clients with chronic illness or chronic condition (pain) found traditional networking difficult to impossible. It was just one more way to expend already ‘taxed to the max’ resources. That’s the beauty of using the social media.
When your body is exhausted or in pain, sitting in one space and letting the world “come to you” is much easier.
Using social media, you don’t have to get up at an ungodly hour to get to that 7:00 am breakfast meeting or after a long day at the office drag yourself to a dinner meeting so you’re part of the “networking loop”. Sure, plenty of people still do both — and you can, too. But if you’re like me and most of the people with whom I work, you’re weighing the options in terms of your energy.
Here’s one thing to think about. Disclosure can be tricky — just because it is so public. Affinity groups and recommendations can “tag” you in ways that might leave you uncomfortable. I offended a former client that I care about by including her in a list when I didn’t realize who would see it. So think before you leap. Many of my clients won’t post a recommendation for me because they don’t want to “come out”. (And, thank you to those who have because recommendations are a critical way for people to assess who you are and to getting new business!)
Read more about the getting and writing recommendations here at jibber jabber.
I’m on vacation this week so I’m only posting once. We’re in Gloucester, MA (don’t believe everything you read). At the ocean, by our pool (which is cold but getting warmer each day), reading the books I don’t usually have time for (I just finished The Nine which I loved and now I’m reading Neverland which is terrific) and cooking lots of fresh fish for my family (our girls are with us for a few days). We even got the kayacks out and went into the Atlantic yesterday. YES! 57, bad balance but still able to paddle!
As my husband, Jake, says each morning, “Today is the best day of my life.”
Rosalind aka cicoach.com
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