When people ask me how I got started as a writer and a speaker, I can see a direct line between the way I used email very early in my HR career to the way that I’m writing my book today. I tell stories mostly about myself for illustrative purposes so people can learn.

This actually has a name, it is called “lifecasting.”

There’s an excellent book, Influencer by Brittany Hennessy, about building a brand and figuring out how to monetize your efforts in the age of social media. According to her book, by definition, I’m a content creator who’s an expert and uses a blog and other social media tools to share my knowledge, and most notably, I’m a lifecaster.

Some stories can get rather personal, am I right?  My question to you is, “Is it always okay to just go ahead and share them?” I mean, they’re your stories, right? Well, there are several things to consider when it comes to lifecasting:

  1. You have to be brave and willing to boldly share the truth about something interesting going on in your life.
  2. What you share needs to be meaningful – maybe the story will be able to impact someone else, touching their life or helping them get through a situation of their own.
  3. Do you have the time and patience? It takes a while to create a following. Lifecasting can be very lucrative and a wonderful experience, but are you up to the challenge?

You also need to take a look at the flipside. There are several reasons not to get involved in lifecasting, such as:

  1. If you are insecure and solely want to share stories to get back at others who have wronged you in some way. This is a toxic way of acting and not a reason to get into lifecasting.
  2. If you shame easily and don’t like negative feedback, skip lifecasting. Just skip it.

I have some thoughts on these elements as well as other considerations that I share in a recent episode of my podcast that you can hear right here. In the episode, I’ll go over some of my ideas on how to get started by testing out the waters before jumping all the way into the waters of lifecasting!