First Impressions Online

Do you have any suggestions at all about making the first impression when we're pretty much online now?

I mean, we've been talking about it in person. A lot of times people just aren't doing in-person stuff anymore. I'm one of them. I thought I would never be able to handle making friends and building relationships online.
I love it because you have to be present for all of that. When you're online, I think it's particularly important, that you've got your picture on. If you have your picture on, for the most part, it means you're really paying attention.
If you don't have your picture on, you are either doing something in the background. You might be having a bad hair day. You might not feel like getting out of your pajamas. But online pay attention. Look for people that you would like to meet, that you may not know, and send them a message.
I do that a lot. When I'm looking around a zoom room, I find someone who's just it's not that they just smile, but they've got smiling personality.
I actually send them a private message, and I just say, I love your smile,
I would love to get to know you more. Would you be open to that? I've never had anyone say no. So there are things that you could do. When, if you want to be noticed online, speak up. Say something. Be part of the conversation. Don't just sit back because people might just notice that you sit back. So there are some ways. I have several people that I've met online who have become really good friends. And one day, my now daughter, Tanya, was online, and she was speaking. We were at an event. And both my husband, Werner, and I reached out to her without knowing who she even was. We both just wanted to know more and see how we could help her. It was funny when we came down and said we had both reached out to Tanya, and we just developed this fabulous relationship. And it was from being online. I just wanted to help her. Werner wanted to help her. We just one day decided that we were going to adopt each other. And so it's an absolute joy. So if you look into people's faces and you watch their body language, and you think about what they're saying when they say it or what they're not saying because they don't think they have anything to say, reach out and extend your hand and be open to all kinds of possibilities.