I once had a boss who always had her phone on her and it drove me crazy when I would call her with a question and she was at the gym. She would talk to me between pants with her trainer talking in the background. I always wanted to tell her to put the phone down, work out and then get back to me.

Now, as a small business owner myself, I feel like such a hypocrite when I waltz into the gym with my phone in hand. The way I see it is that as a new and budding entrepreneur, I just can’t afford to miss a phone call or an email. I put my phone on silent and stare at the little LED light waiting to see if it lights up; I don’t want to disturb anyone’s workout, but I don’t want to miss a message either. Despite my chance of mind towards phone-toting gym goers, I’m embarrassed to have it with me.

On that note, I’m off to the gym… with my phone.

While the dogs are intimately getting to know each other, I take advantage of the close proximity to another person to chat them up and get to know them.

The plus side to this is that I get to meet new people, especially neighbors.

But there are two down sides: the first is that I tend to remember the dog’s name easier than the owners’ and the second is that I don’t recognize this person in the neighborhood unless they have their dog with them. Sad, I know.

Nikki is my latest networking tool.