When I was at my friend’s wedding last weekend, I had the chance to meet some new people, including friends of my friend’s wife. I had met some of them before, but this was the first time we had a chance to chat, since there is a lot of down time for the bridal party while photos are being taken.
When friends or friends of friends ask what I do, I generally say “Internet stuff” or “Internet investments” because I learned long ago that my friends don’t really care about my business (nor do they want me to talk about it) much like they don’t discuss their work. It probably stemmed from the fact that I love what I do because it was a hobby turned job, and many of them work in corporate America and don’t necessarily love their jobs.
While waiting around for the wedding to begin (actually in line for the processional), one of the bridesmaids asked what I do, and I responded with the generic “Internet stuff” because there wasn’t exactly enough time to answer questions that typically follow the “Domain investor” response. She responded, “what kind of Internet stuff? I work for Yahoo.” As I removed the leather from my mouth, a friend of mine told her what I do, and she knew exactly what I did.
We didn’t have a chance to chat much about the business, but it’s important to never slack on introductions. You never know who does what, and an opportunity could have been wasted.
I didn’t waste the opportunity to tell her my thoughts on Jerry Yang and his failure to close the Microsoft deal though!
This is what I have been trying to tell many people for a long time we need to spread the word.
Also never a miss a good opportunity!
Just wanted to say thanks to you elliot for all you have done and continue to for the domaining industry.
Regards,
Robbie
righto Elliot…my niece in Las Vegas is friends with the woman that made the site for penthouse…I never knew until I was talking to my sister about my sites
A quick, but effective one liner might be …
“I recently bought Burbank.com and am developing it into a website.”
That’s bound to get an “Oh!” or a “wow!” plus follow up questions.
True… I usually say that I am a domain investor and own websites such as… etc. BUT, we were about to walk down the aisle so I was a brief 🙂
I agree it’s better not to tell people anything that you do in a technical realm, for one, they don’t understand and two, only other techies care.
But introductions are predominately an East Coast thing. Having been around the country, i have found that in New England introductions are almost a reflex when meeting people. Not that the mid-west or in the south or anywhere else folks are rude, just that it happens later on. Personally, i prefer an introduction initially, it’s more friendly and well manored.
Hello. I am Mr Borat Sagdiyev . I like bridesmaids too. They make for good loving after a wedding day. We hang the sheets out to see in my country. I do not like to where slacker pantss either Mr Silver
I usually go with, ” I sell advertising online.” If I say as E does, internet stuff, they automatically think porn. No. If I say, I own pigeonforge.com and develop it, they say, oh, you work for the city?No. If I say, I develop websites, they say, oh you are a web designer? I need a website for….. No.
Sometimes I just say I am a nurse. 🙂