Online Communities - Get Active and Solve Your Problems

In business and marketing we are always told that getting involved in communities (both online and offline) are vital to our business. There are dozens of articles scattered across the internet about how much our business can improve just by getting involved in business related communities.

For those not in business, however, there is no real push to get involved in communities. Even us business foke may be scratching our heads thinking "well if you are promoting anything in your signature line, what's the point?". Ah, but there IS a point. It's called "support".

No matter what your issue in life, there is a support community designed for it. Have puzzling dreams? There's groups to discuss them. Have a child you can't figure out? There's communities for that too. And yes, no matter how small the problem, you should be joining communities.

Why?

Regardless of how strong we think we are and how much we think we have things figured out, another source of input is always good. Friends and family can be excellent, but they aren't going through what you are. They can't fully understand why you feel the way you do, or how to work through it. Those that are dealing with it or have over come the problem DO know and CAN offer suggestions.

Take for example my son who has "challenging behavior". They school can't figure him out, and for a long time I couldn't either. It wasn't until I found a group of people who had children similar to mine that I found answers and help. My family, friends, and local school could only get us so far. They didn't understand him, but this group of people did. Actually in this situation there are two separate communities I belong to - one for the behavior issues, and one for homeschooling (which I've actually found tend to go hand in hand, since many homeschoolers pulled their kids for the exact same reason, and the behavior issue group does a lot of homeschooling).

Other issues like divorce, marriage problems, parenting issues, depression, and so on can't be completely understood by families and friends. You need to reach out to others that understand you to completely overcome the issue. Going to groups offline can be scary or inconvenient, which is why online communities are so wonderful.

Some online communities, like CafeMom for example, focus on groups for people who already share a common bond (members are all mothers, but each group is designed to focus on separate problems). These sites are excellent because you know you already have at least two things in common. They can help you relate better to those on groups. Finding communities within communities is always going to be your best bet.

Bottom line is, if you haven't gotten involved in online communities, now is the time to start. No matter who you are or what your background is, there are communities out there for you. Just do a quick search online and you may be amazed at what you find. You also might be amazed to find you aren't alone and there ARE others out there just like you with similar problems.