I was one of those guys who thought they needed a thesis when I started blogging. Why? Because people told me I did. After a few hearty sips of kool aid, I remember deciding to keep it tightly focused on entrepreneurship and tech.
A year later, the contents on this here tablet stray pretty far away from the theme I originally proposed….and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Here’s why I blog about more than tech and why you might also want to consider doing so:
Purpose:
The primary reason I publish things is that I believe others might derive value from it. Taking an introspective look at my own life and career, the greatest catalysts for growth weren’t lessons learned on product market fit or user acquisition. They were lessons about people, adversity, fear, and self-awareness learned through trial by fire. Thus, in light of my personal experience and motivation for blogging, it’s pretty limiting to only write about tech and entrepreneurship.
If I was solely in the business of propelling my career, focusing on tech would probably serve me well…audiences tend to stray from topics they’re disinterested in. But my motivations exceed solely building “startup social capital.” I’m far more interested in imparting thoughts that improve others’ lives.
People:
One of my favorite elements of blogging is that it creates opportunities to meet new people. Compelling content and the topics you focus on are touchpoints for connectivity. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a ton of people through my blog.
By focusing solely on technology, I limit the content touchpoints through which someone could reach out to me to these subjects. I love tech, but this is just one of many interests I have and talking about the same things over and over again gets boring. ”Did you hear gnarlystartup.com just raised a mill!”
I’d much rather surround myself with a divserse ecosystem of people spanning a variety of interests. It stretches my brain while subtlely combatting my proclivity to stray from balance.
If you talk about what you believe in and enjoy you’ll attract people who believe in and enjoy the same things.
Continuity:
There’s probably a lot people you know that started a blog, wrote 3 posts, then stopped. You might even be on of them…and that’s totally cool. This happens for a lot of reasons including not enjoying the process. When you don’t enjoy the process blogging feels like work. When it feels like work you find reasons not to do it. You write three posts and slink back into the shadows of the blogosphere.
If I wrote only about tech, I’d probably blog far less. Again, it’s not that I don’t like tech, it’s just that I’m not all tech, all the time. Writing about it when I’m teched out would feel like work. Conversely, when I limit writing to things I feel like writing about, I enjoy the process. I never feel like I’m working and happily churn out content.
For now, these are the main reasons why I blog about more than tech. As I continue this practice, I hope to encounter more experiences that strengthen my case for writing about things you enjoy, not what others tell you will further your career etc…
