What’s your reason for wanting to start writing online?
- Is it a desire to build an audience like some of your peers? Maybe you’ve seen people from your industry writing and creating online and you’ve thought, “Hey, I was just thinking about that same topic. If they can share their thoughts on it, why can’t I?”
- Is it a drive to drive attention to your product, service, or business? Maybe you’ve seen the power of writing online in action, and how people’s words can end up having a dramatic impact on their ability to attract clients, customers, and achieve a leadership position in their industry.
- Is it a passion for writing and sharing your ideas, stories, and insights with the world? Maybe you’ve spent years of your life thinking about certain things, accumulating unique stories and lived experiences, or assembling problem-solving frameworks in your career, and now you’re feeling ready to share them.
Whatever your reason for wanting to get started writing online, we can tell you (from firsthand experience) this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Here are the 5 other biggest benefits that come from writing and publishing consistently online, that most people don’t even realize are possible until they get started.
1. If you can build a daily writing habit, you can build a daily “anything” habit.
The simple act of assembling your thoughts, putting them down, and hitting *publish* is so much more than just an act of writing. It’s really a commitment to continuing to work on yourself, clarify the ways in which you see the world, and build the confidence to take a stance on what you believe. And this small but simple skill can have a profound effect on your entire life.
- Writing consistently leads to other habits being formed consistently.
- Writing consistently leads to self-confidence, which leads to other creative leaps in your life.
- Writing consistently leads to clarity around your “excuses” (keeping you from writing), which gives you an increased sense of self-awareness of other ways you’re getting “in your own way.”
- And so on.
Do not underestimate the power of committing to one simple practice, day after day, can have on the totality of your life.
2. The more you write, the more ideas you generate.
We have a saying in Ship 30 for 30: “The more you write, the more you write.
And so one of the biggest benefits of writing is that the more you write, the more ideas you uncover, the more you write, the more ideas you uncover, and on and on and on you go.
This is what so many writers underestimate when they first begin to commit to the daily practice of writing and publishing. They start the journey thinking they only have a handful of things to “say,” only to realize (once they get started and their ship sailing) that as they write, they discover new ideas. And as they write those ideas, they clarify their old ideas which gives them even more new ideas.
Before you start writing, you think, “I only have so much to say.”
But after you commit to writing, you will think, “I have too much I want to say!”
3. Writing online = “scaling yourself.”
This is usually a zero-to-one unlock for most people.
Think about how many times you repeat the same stories in your life. Think about all the coffee meetings you’ve ever had where you’ve shared the same handful of details from your life (“I’ve been working as a Project Manager for 10 years, I like going on hikes, and when I was in high school I was on the swim team.”). Think about how many times you’ve gotten on the phone with someone, introduced yourself, and had to give the person on the other line the same 30-second background on who you are and what you do.
Every one of these types of situations is you “scaling yourself,” manually.
You are repeating the same stories, insights, and details, over and over again.
When you write and publish online, however, what you’re doing is taking all those stories, insights, and personal details, and scaling them. Now, instead of repeating the same story over and over again manually, you can write it and publish it on the Internet — and anyone who reads it now “knows” that about you. What’s the benefit of doing this?
Well, instead of getting on the phone with someone and starting at ground zero, what’s going to start happening is people are going to do their homework before talking to you. They’re going to Google your name, look you up on Twitter or LinkedIn, and try to get some context. Which means, by the time you talk to them, they’re likely going to say, “Oh I was just reading that article of yours where you told that story of you being on the swim team in high school. Funny story, but I was on the swim team as well. Small world.”
Now you are starting the conversation from a completely different place — and you’re naturally attracting like-minded peers who share similar interests and experiences.
This is how you “scale yourself” on the Internet.
4. Instead of chasing down opportunities, opportunities will come to you.
A funny thing happens when you commit to writing and publishing online.
People reach out to you.
As you write about your thoughts on the future of marketing, companies and entrepreneurs and other marketers will reach out to you — because you’re the one who had the courage to put yourself out there. As you write about life coaching, other aspiring or current life coaches (as well as those interested in a life coach) will reach out to you, because you’re the one who spoke to their interests. As you write about the future of biotechnology, or real estate investing, readers with those interests will reach out to you. Why? Because you’re the one who started the conversation.
People drastically underestimate how the law of attraction works on the Internet.
The vast majority of people do not create anything. They consume. They read. They lurk. They listen. But they do not take it upon themselves to put their thoughts, insights, and stories into words and publish them online. Which means, the simple fact that you chose to PARTICIPATE means you’re already in the top 1%.
Think about that for a second.
You don’t have to be famous. You don’t have to be a genius. Quite literally the only thing that moves you out of the 99% and into the 1% is your choosing to take action.
And from there, the world is your oyster.
5. You will connect with industry peers you never otherwise would have had access to.
Here’s a secret:
Want to know how to connect with leaders in your industry?
Become a leader yourself.
Once you start writing and publishing online, you are immediately perceived differently by your peers. You have transformed from being a “consumer” to being a “creator,” and creators value spending time and connecting with other creators. So, if connecting with industry leaders and people you look up to is a priority for you, there’s only one way to do so effectively — and that’s to become a creator as well.
Writing and publishing consistently online is one of those things that can unlock life-changing outcomes.
All you have to do is go on the journey. (And if you want to learn more about what that journey looks like, I encourage you to grab a copy of my book, The Art & Business of Online Writing.)