I remember the circumstances around starting my first blog. A whole mess of fears flooded my mind about how I wasn’t the best at what I did, or even a big name in my field. I wondered if I had enough experience or good enough ideas to share with the world.
Because of those fears, I almost didn’t get started at all. I almost let them consume me and stop me from taking a chance and putting myself and my ideas out there for the world to see and judge and mock.
But I took a risk.
I bought my domain name and hosting. I made my first blog post. Then I made another. Over 600 posts and several years later, I look back fondly at that first blog and what it did for me and my career.
Here’s some of the benefits I reaped because I took a chance on blogging:
- I met a number of awesome people because of it – the number one reason to blog is because of the fabulous people you’ll encounter; some of the ones I met through it have become my best friends in the entire world
- I learned a lot - and most of it translated into a profitable freelance consulting business, and ultimately two full-fledged business ventures
- It opened many doors – because of my blog and the platform I built around it, I got asked to speak at seminars and conferences and was quoted and featured in our state’s largest newspaper
- It made me more marketable - I got name exposure with people in my field who didn’t otherwise know me – I got slightly famous in my career role
- It gave me more confidence in myself - there’s no doubt you’ll have naysayers, but the comments and feedback were affirmation that I had some talent and people liked who I was and what I did
So many people stop short because of fear. And their awesome potential and ideas are locked within themselves and their current sphere of influence.
That’s extremely disappointing to me!
I’ve said many, many times that there were better people out there, with bigger names and better experience and skill and ideas than me … but they choose not to take a risk.
Take a chance. Put your ideas out there. No regrets!
