I bet you think I have LOST it! THE INTERNET? What would YOU give up to stay connected to the internet? The internet has profoundly changed our daily lives – just think about how you did business or conducted your personal affairs just a short ten years ago?  Fast Company ran an article by Mark Wilson… What Americans would give up for the internet: Alcohol, Exercise, Showers, Sex. He discusses a study done by Boston Consulting Group on the internets importance in our daily lives. Mark asks…

How important is the internet to us, really?

Things get really interesting… when you start asking people what they would give up to keep the Internet in their lives. 73% of Americans say they’d give up alcohol. 43% would give up exercise. And 21% would give up sex. (Is that high or low? Depends, I guess, on your own answer.) Just 10% would give up a car, which hints that most Americans would rather have a car than be celibate. America!

However, the more interesting point (to me) is that our perceived value of the Internet is highly inflated. Americans see the services worth about $3,000 a year. (As a telecommuter for half a decade, I’d go even higher with that figure.) But what’s the Internet really worth, in terms of its cost? $472/year. So we’re all basically getting a 650% return on investment. 

What does this mean to lawyers and business development? No matter how you slice it… the internet drives a great deal of what we do and how we interact with our colleagues, as evidenced by what we would give up if we couldn’t.  So I ask you… are you just using it for email, research and keeping time? OR are you leveraging it for business development purposes? Are you blogging? Are your articles accessible via the internet? Are you in touch with clients on Linkedin? I must caution you that this DOES NOT include directories with name rank and serial number… these directories have little (if any) business development value.

Business development is a journey and every day you waste… you will be that much further behind. It’s time to fully embrace the power of the internet and leverage the visibility it can offer – what are you waiting for?