Photo Credit: Michelle Brea @ Flickr

This is Jessica Schanberg’s 2nd blog installment about the adventures of freelancing. Here, she talks about the economics of traditional networking.

We often see people walking down the street mesmerized by their iphones texting or sitting by themselves on the internet in a coffee shop. I suggest that perhaps we need to connect with people face-to-face. Mano a mano, as they say.

I’ve just started freelancing again in September and while it’s been slow at times, it has also been tremendously rewarding. I have gotten all of my jobs through old-fashioned networking.

I’ve met people through: friends, my hairstylist (who wants to start her own cooking blog/herbal business), a  Moroccan rug shop owner who I met while looking for people to write about in my personal blog, a photographer who I hired in November (he needs a portfolio redesign now), and business networking events.

So, I’m starting to make a living through real relationships with small businesses, other designers, fellow bloggers and through collaboration with developers. I basically pass out my card wherever I go and to whomever I talk to.

So, for me the answer to the changes in technology is to get back to getting to know who is in my community whether it’s at a church, a community center, coffee shop or beauty parlor. That doesn’t mean we get rid of our phones or laptops, but maybe we turn off our “stuff” sometimes and check out who is around us.

Jessica Schanberg is a freelance graphic designer, writer and illustrator. Read musings at her blog, Lemons to Llamas. Or, you can be equally blown away by her design chops at Pixel Peony Design.