How do you deal with the loneliness of affiliate marketing and blogging?

I wrote about this six years ago, on a blog post entitled "Loneliness of Working at Home". And it's still true today.

I've managed to deal with it through motorcycling. I met other people who ride motorcycles, and interestingly enough, a few of them work in programming and website design, and work for themselves too.

After a day of pounding the keyboard, we like to hit the local tavern for a beer. Then on weekends we'll hit the pavement and do some riding. And even while we're working, we'll communicate via a website we built just for our group of folks.

When I used to work for another company, in a high-rise office building, I always had people to talk to. We'd gather at a cubicle and talk about the Laker game, and then we'd go out for lunch together. But after transitioning to working at home, for myself, I really miss that.

For me, the loneliness of being in solitude all day is probably the biggest challenge. I'm just the kind of guy who loves to be around people, and it doesn't take much arm-twisting to get me out and hang with some friends.

I do have my wife of course, and we do spend our moments together. But I also want the camaraderie of friends, especially if we share things in common.

Sometimes I take my laptop to a coffee shop or pub, and blog from there. But I find it's still rather lonely. People see me with my laptop, and figure they should not bother me. And the laptop itself needs to be babysat; I can't just leave it there and walk away unguarded.

One of the reasons I pursued affiliate marketing & blogging because it gives me so much freedom, and allows me to leave home at a moment's notice. And I still wouldn't trade this job for any other. But even then, the loneliness of pounding away at this keyboard, hidden from view in my little home office, just gets to me.  ✓