What Blogging About My Startup Experiences is Teaching Me

Four weeks into my blogging journey, I find blogging is affecting me in ways I never anticipated. As I continue, I wanted to share what I am learning.

As I indicated in my kickoff blog post last month, my goal was to share my useful lessons learned as an entrepreneurial CEO over two decades. The isolation of working from home during COVID-19 was starting to wear on me as many of my usual entrepreneurial ecosystem connection points were curtailed. Ultimately, I was inspired to start a blog by several interactions earlier this year when others:

• Asked me to speak to several groups about lessons learned (fun!)
• Suggested I write a book (too monumental to consider!)
• Launched blogs (people I know are doing this, so maybe I can, too?)

On Saturday, May 2, 2020, I woke up in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep. I ended up sitting in the dark in the family room with my adult daughter, who also happened to be awake at 3 a.m., mulling over the idea of starting a blog. She thought it was a great idea and offered to help me figure out the logistics of pulling it off.

Before jumping in, I decided to test whether I had enough ideas for topics to justify starting, and to get feedback from my surgeon-friend (The Lonely Surgeon) on her experience launching a blog. Twenty-four hours later:

• Niki Kennedy, MD had convinced me the process was manageable and worthwhile
• I had generated over 100 topic ideas on my newly created Startup CEO Reflections Trello board (thanks for that organizing idea, Niki!)
• My preferred URL, StartupCEOreflections.com, was available

With my daughter’s help, in a week, we had built a WordPress website on a self-hosting platform, and I had drafted my first three posts.  With the encouragement of close friends and family, I took a deep breath and went live.

Now, a month into this adventure, I have generated many more topic ideas, written nine blogposts, and settled into a cadence of posting twice a week. But the impact on me of blogging has proven to be much more profound than I ever expected.  Here are four of the most important benefits so far:

1. New Awareness and Intention in My Day Job. Right now, I am actively engaged in building a venture-backed startup, which means I am continuing to learn and apply my skills as an entrepreneurial CEO every day. Becoming a blogger on the subject has caused me to bring a new self-awareness to my daily work on Fifth Eye Inc. As I progress through my day, I find myself noting what I am doing and reflecting on why, assessing the effectiveness of that approach, and considering if it is something I wish I had known earlier in my entrepreneurial journey.  Blogging has created this extra lens that I am applying to everything I do, and I think it is making me more intentional about my approach to my day job. 
2. Teaching is the Embodiment of Mastery. When my increased self-reflection highlights a learning or skill I am using, translating that into a sharable form requires thinking through its essence. Distilling what I have learned down to something accessible and actionable is a fun challenge.  I am also enjoying figuring out which stories will best illustrate the points I am seeking to make, and finding ways to write those stories crisply.
3. Blooming Connections. When I started, I hoped that blogging would help me reconnect with people during this isolating time. My expectations have been far exceeded! This blogging process has been a wonderful chance to be reminded of all the extraordinary people I have journeyed with over the last two decades. It has meant rekindling connections, sharing memories with those who can remember with me, and reflecting on the generalizable lessons I have learned across multiple teams, companies, and opportunities.
4. Blessing Others.  I have especially appreciated the positive feedback on my blog from my mentors, who helped me as I learned. That, in turn, is inspiring and motivating me to continue to invest in capturing stories and learnings to help others on their journeys. My guide for what to write about is what I wish I could have told myself earlier in my learning process.  It feels good to try to pay it forward.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out with comments, questions, affirmations, and reminders.  Thank you to everyone who has subscribed to my blog. Your thoughts, interest, and feedback are so motivating, and make this whole process exciting and worthwhile!