One of the reasons you’re not blogging on your own personal website might be that you’re thinking: “Why would people listen to what I have to say? I’m not an industry expert, after all.”
I get that. You might not work for the Apples, Googles, or Microsofts out there. You might not speak at meetups or conferences or publish articles at one of the online magazines everyone is reading. You might even think that what you are struggling with every day isn’t worth sharing at all. Who wants to read about your boring day-to-day stuff, right?
Well, I do. Who said that only so-called “experts” or “thought leaders” are allowed to share their observations and opinions? Everyone of us brings their unique set of experiences to the table and has something valuable to contribute, even if it is the tiniest of thoughts. You might think it isn’t worth sharing, but maybe you also underestimate how much you actually know and overestimate how much others know? Maybe, your opinion is even more valuable than that of a well-known public figure because your experience paints an unfiltered, more accurate picture of the reality of building for the Web or creating something special?
So, write about what you know. Write about the questions you have. Write about your successes. Write about what you learned. Write about what didn’t work. Write about why you think others might be wrong about something. Write about why you do the work you love the way you do it. Or, write about how you would love to do your work.
Once you start writing about something, you will also realize that explaining an idea to others is one of the best ways to learn and grow your own expertise. You don’t have to consider yourself an expert to start writing, but you might well become one along the way.
You’ll never find out unless you try.
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