In 2013 or so, I met with a founder who blogged. I enjoyed his posts and wanted to learn more. The idea of blogging interested me, but there were two hurdles I wasn’t sure how to overcome. I was an early founder trying to get my company off the ground and didn’t think I would have the time. More importantly, I’m a naturally private person. I’ve been this way as long as I can remember. I was uncomfortable with the idea of sharing my thoughts openly.

I asked that founder how he handled privacy in his blogging. He told me he was very specific about what he shared. Nothing about his personal life. Only posts about things related to business. More importantly, he understood that he had significantly more to gain from sharing publicly than he had to lose. That last part really stuck with me—that he was playing the probabilities. The upside was significantly larger than the downside. I had focused on the downside and never considered the potential unintended benefits.

Fast forward to 2020, and I finally began blogging myself. I’ve been sharing my thoughts daily for over two years. It started it as a 60-day challenge to share what I’d learned, but I’ve gotten more than I ever would’ve thought from the experience. The founder was right. I haven’t lost anything (that I know of) from blogging, but I’ve gained a tremendous amount and hopefully helped others. The upside has far outweighed the downside. Sharing publicly has been a good bet, and I plan to keep doing it.