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Running a Business Without the Internet

Posted 09 Oct 2009 - 4 Gratefully received comments

Those of you that follow me on twitter (I realise that’s the minority), will know that I’ve been without an internet connection for about two weeks now. I don’t expect to be getting a connection for a further week, maybe two.
I have surprised myself so far by keeping my sanity, not killing the company representatives involved and continuing my self-promotion.

Admittedly, to begin with I did feel like someone had cut off a limb. I couldn’t check my emails, contribute to twitter or the various design blogs I frequent. Suddenly I didn’t have easy assess to a wealth of knowledge to aid me with research or when I got stuck on something.

The bottom line is that I didn’t know how dependent I had become on the internet.

After a few days cold turkey I crumbled and sorted out my phone so I could check my emails, this wasn’t through a mad craving for a fix, it was a necessity. I was in the final stages of a job and needed to keep quite close contact with a few people to make it all happen. I’m not all that impressed with the wonderful word of mobile internet, but it has served a purpose so far.

I endured about a week like this before returning to work properly, and of course, a beautifully functioning phone line!
Obviously, I can’t utilise it like I would at home, and I still consider it limited access. But it does give me a few snatches of the internet life I’ve been forced to abandon.
I’ve put a few tweets up explaining my predicament and I’ve managed to update my blog sporadically, but not how I planned. In fact this article is the result of relying on a friends connection and writing quickly!

At this point, I am coming to the conclusion that I can live without the internet, and it has actually encouraged my self-promotion in a totally new direction that I hadn’t thought about previously.

The last edition of my comic strip featured a new character, Kate the coffee lady (Xpresso). I spoke to Kate and got her permission to include her in one of my projects. I’ve known Kate for about 3 years and seen her most weekdays in that time. Our conversations and anecdotes range far and wide and seemed like perfect fodder for my comic.
Before I continue let me explain why Kate is different to other coffee vendors, she has a little van and can travel from place to place to spread the caffeine buzz. Her daily round includes a lot of the business centres in the local area. Between us we agreed that if I included Kate in my comic, she would ask me to give her some examples to display on the van as she did her rounds.
I agreed immediately, I artworked the comic, made sure Kate was happy with her likeness and the stories I had planned, then published it on my blog (see it here). I then followed it up with copies of the comic as a leaflet with my contact details on the bottom, and a few business cards for good measure.

By all accounts it’s been received rather well, and I’m planning a whole range of Xpresso Kate comics to include in my series, each of which will then be followed up with leaflets on her van.

This little development in my self-promotion might have happened eventually, but things were certainly expedited by my loss of internet. So I’m very grateful for that. I’d also like to say a big thank you to Kate for being a good sport, and giving me a great little marketing opportunity.

I guess I should get to the point of this article!

I’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t NEED the internet to run a design business. I honestly believe you can still run a successful design company without being plugged into an online community.
However, the internet is a resource so vast and helpful you’d be a fool not to utilise it.
What I’m trying to say is that as engrossing as the internet is, try to stick your head above the parapet once in a while to see what’s going on in the real world. While you’re living and working online you might well be missing some real world opportunities.

Having said that I can’t wait for my phone line to be installed on Tuesday!

I’d love to hear your comments on this one. Could you live or work without the internet?

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