Do you blog in a different time zone?

Here in Arizona we don't play by the same rules that the rest of the Country adheres to when it comes to time zones. When everyone else is falling back or leaping forward we keep our feet on the ground and watch everyone else move around us. We are in the Mountain Standard time zone in which not very many people are familiar unless you're from around these parts or have relocated here at some point in your life. 

One of the greatest aspects of Active Rain is the diversity of members from all around the World, not just the United States. I've read and commented on blog posts from Active Rainers who reside in Canada, Australia, and even Europe. It's great to know that at any moment I can find out what's going on in regards to real estate around the globe by simply logging in to Active Rain and looking up registered members in an area I'm interested in learning about. 

Lately, as I went about my daily dancing in the rain I started to notice a disturbing trend. There are so many great bloggers that I follow who seem to be missing in action. I would see their profile picture in the comment section of other blog posts I was reading and thought to myself, "Hey, I remember them. They were great. Where have they been?" Realizing I hadn't seen the familiar faces in a while and curious to see what these bloggers have been up to I immediately clicked on their blogs to check the last time they actually put out a post. 

Much to my surprise most of these wonderfully talented bloggers have been posting almost daily the entire time! But why haven't I been seeing them? Where are their posts going? I clicked on the "follow" button when I first discovered them thinking I would enjoy their thought provoking or educational posts but I've been missing out! As I got caught up with a lot of these bloggers who I had assumed went the way of the dinosaur I took notice of the fact that most of them are in a different time zone than me.  

Now, I understand we all have our routines. Mine usually finds me logging in to Active Rain first thing in the morning while my Mr. Coffee brews up a pot of liquid gold. I read and comment on as many blogs as I can before putting the final touches on my own daily blog post which I've already mostly written the day before. I click the "publish" button and off I go to spend the rest of the day busy as a bee with appointments, clients, showings, phone calls, emails, and everything else real estate will throw at me. At times if I ever hit a slow time of the day I will log back in to Active Rain to read and comment on a few more blog posts. 

Once I came to the realization that most of the bloggers I re-discovered were not in the same time zone as me I quickly began to think, "I bet they have their own routine as well." Bloggers that are on Eastern time may get up early in the morning just like I do, however, I'm still fast asleep and by the time I log in to play in the Rain, their blog post is buried underneath a hundred other posts that have been added since then. Which also means that my blog posts published in the late mornings in Mountain Standard time won't even be on their radar to read or comment on because they've already moved on to their busy work lives before my head is even off of my pillow in the morning. 

So I decided to run a little social experiment the past week. I started logging in to Active Rain at different times of the day and I also started publishing my blog posts at different times as well. Do you know what happened? A completely different audience started viewing and commenting on my blogs and I started to see blog posts from people I hadn't come across in a long time. I learned two lessons about business and life from this Active Rain analysis:

1. Sometimes sticking to a routine can hinder the full scope of your experience

2. You could be missing out on potential clients who aren't on your same schedule

As bloggers and small business owners our focus is to grow our sphere of influence and our referral bases. How can we make new friends and influence people if we always show up to the playground at the same time everyday and play with the same people? Do you go to your local coffee shop at the same time in the morning so often that they've got your drink memorized and already prepared for you as you arrive? I would argue that's not necessarily a good thing. You see, you've already established that relationship. The morning crew already knows you and hopefully is aware of what you do for a living if you've had those conversations with them. So why don't you focus on getting to know the afternoon crew, or the night crew.

Chances are if you frequent an establishment often you might also see the same patrons sitting in the same seats they always sit in. If you've done your duty you've already had conversations with these nice folks, you wave to each other every morning, and you've perhaps even handed out your business card to a few of them. That's great! But what about the people who go there at a different time of day. Switching up your routine can bring you a whole, fresh set of individuals to meet in which to establish relationships. 

Blogging is no different. Have you tried logging in to Active Rain or publishing your blog posts at different times of the day to see what audience you capture? You'll be surprised the new and refreshing interactions you can get from individuals you may not have seen or heard from in a while. 

Routine and structure is good. We all need it. The problem is we can all get stuck driving the same way to work, visiting the same establishments, and talking to the same people so often that we miss many opportunities to grow ourselves and have new experiences with new people. So try your own social experiment. Force yourself to take a different path during a different time of day and discover all the benefits that come with it. Vary the times you log in to your blogs and social medias. You'll come upon a whole different dynamic to enlighten and entertain you.