10 lessons from six months of writing online

<p>I started publishing content six months ago. I am by no means an influencer &mdash; I typically post 2&ndash;3 times per week &mdash; but I have learned a few things along the way.</p> <h1>My top 10 lessons from 6 months of writing online</h1> <ol> <li><strong>You just have to do it.&nbsp;</strong>There is no practice run, you just have to hit publish. And then months later you look back and cringe a little. It&rsquo;s all part of the process.</li> <li><strong>No one is paying attention at first.</strong>&nbsp;This feels protective and then frustrating because you want people to notice what you&rsquo;re doing!</li> <li><strong>Sometimes you say something wrong and people tell you.&nbsp;</strong>Get over the defensive reflex, be gracious, and do better next time.</li> <li><strong>Learn from people who have done it.</strong>&nbsp;There are plenty of systems and programs to follow. None are perfect, but it is better to start with a framework than a blank sheet of paper.</li> <li><strong>People will unsubscribe from you.&nbsp;</strong>It stings the first few times. I tell myself it&rsquo;s just a mismatch and not an indicator that I&rsquo;m doing something wrong.</li> <li><strong>You have secret fans.&nbsp;</strong>These are some of my favorites. They never interact digitally but when you speak they say &lsquo;that thing you published back in October really helped me&rsquo;. What?! Amazing.</li> <li><strong>People gravitate toward the &lsquo;real stuff&rsquo;.&nbsp;</strong>It&rsquo;s the hardest to write, and the hardest to publish. Sharing pieces of your own story (in addition to thought leadership) makes a big impact.</li> <li><strong>You need a schedule.&nbsp;</strong>If you want to publish regularly, you need a system that keeps you consistent. Maybe it&rsquo;s writing the content for an entire month in one day. Maybe it&rsquo;s writing one day, and publishing the next. Figure out your strategy.</li> <li><strong>You will guess wrong about what&rsquo;s going to be a hit.&nbsp;</strong>The things I think will be great end up flopping. The random thing I wrote quickly gets reposted dozens of times. I haven&rsquo;t built a predictive algorithm yet :)</li> <li><strong>It can be so gratifying.&nbsp;</strong>This past week, I published something that had people saying &lsquo;this is EXACTLY me&rsquo; and &lsquo;I feel so seen&rsquo;. That makes it all worth it.</li> </ol> <p>Thanks,&nbsp;</p> <p>Carlos Caro</p> <p>&nbsp;for inspiring me to get this down on paper!</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/@kmontbriand/10-lessons-from-six-months-of-writing-online-e774804c1993">Read More</a></p>