Writing Your First Post

A few quick tips on getting started with writing:

• Setup a blog — Don’t overthink the tools, hosting, or your process too much. You can always migrate your posts later. Start with something simple like a hosted Squarespace/Wordpress site. Pick a simple theme, add in some basic information and links about yourself, and push it live. If possible, try and get a nice custom domain for yourself and point it at your blog. If you’re looking to start a newsletter instead, I’d recommend Substack.
• Write your first post — Once you have a site setup, think of what you want to write for your first post. What is one thing you really want to say to the world? A good prompt for this can be to answer a Frequently Asked Question for yourself. What is something you can talk about that a lot of friends/peers have been curious to learn more about? Pick one prompt, answer it, and write the post. If you’re struggling with a blank page, start with some bullet points. Or use a service like Otter to simply talk it out and get a transcription.
• Publish! — Edit your post a bit, and publish it. It doesn’t have to be perfect! Don’t get caught up questions like, “Am I a writer now? What’s my brand? What’s my niche?” All that can come later. For now, just get a post out there. Share it with a few friends, family and peers. Don’t worry about feedback, just share it so they know it exists. The only goal for your first post is that it should exist.
• Start writing your next post — Congrats on publishing your first post! The most important thing to do now is to start writing the next one. Don’t get caught up into analyzing your first one, how it went, how it was received and so on. Once you start getting busy with your next post, you won’t have time to obsess about the last one.
• Be prolific — You don’t want your first post to be your last, so you’ll need to start building your writing muscles. The best way to do that is to keep writing. Try blocking out time every week, or setting yourself a deadline for each post. My writing completely transformed once I started publishing a monthly newsletter, and then it jumped to another level once I started a weekly cadence. Pick what works best for you, and stick to the schedule no matter what.