Why I'm building in public (and why most people won't)

Most people won’t build in public. The numbers are embarrassing early on. The mistakes are visible. The progress is slow. That’s exactly why it works.

What does building in public mean?

It means sharing the real process. Not just the wins. The decisions you’re unsure about. The posts that flopped. The subscriber count that sat at 12 for three months. The revenue line that’s still zero.

It means you don’t wait until you have results to start talking. You talk about the work before the results exist.

Why most people won’t do it

Three reasons.

First, ego. Nobody wants to show zero subscribers. Nobody wants to admit they’re figuring it out. We’re trained to present the polished version. Show the result, not the mess. Building in public flips that.

Second, comparison. If you’re sharing your real numbers and someone else has 10x your audience, it feels like you’re losing in public. The fear of being seen as small keeps most people quiet until they feel “big enough.” That day never comes.

Third, vulnerability fatigue. Showing the real stuff is tiring. You’re exposing decisions before you know if they’re right. You’re sharing failures while they still sting. It takes a kind of emotional stamina that most content advice doesn’t prepare you for.

Those three reasons are why most personal brands wait until they’ve made it to start sharing. By then, they’ve skipped the most relatable part of the journey.

Why I’m doing it anyway

Because the content that helped me most was from people who were a few steps ahead, not a few miles. When I quit my corporate job in 2013, I didn’t learn from people who already had massive audiences. I learned from people who were building alongside me. They showed their numbers. They showed their process. They showed their mistakes. That made it feel possible.

I’m in the early stage right now. That’s the content I want to make. Not “here’s how I built a huge audience.” I haven’t done that yet. “Here’s what I’m trying, what’s working, and what’s not.” That’s honest. And honesty is rare in this space.

The counter-argument

Some people will say building in public is just a content strategy. A way to create content without results to show for it. And honestly, that’s a fair point. If building in public becomes all process and no progress, it’s just noise.

The guardrail is this: the public part serves the audience, not the ego. Every post about my process should include a lesson someone else can use. “I tried this and here’s what I learned” is useful. “Look at me doing the thing” is not.

I check every build-in-public post against the same filter I use for everything else. Does this help the reader save time, save money, make money, or make things easier? If the honest answer is no, it doesn’t ship.

Why it works when done right

Three things happen when you build in public.

Trust compounds. People who watch you figure it out in real time trust you more than someone who shows up polished. They saw the work. They know it’s real.

Content creates itself. The journey generates the content. I don’t need to brainstorm topics. The decisions I make each week are the posts. The mistakes become lessons. The wins become proof.

The right audience finds you. People who resonate with the messy, honest version of building are the people who will stick around. They filter themselves in. The people looking for shortcuts filter themselves out.

What this looks like for me

I’m sharing my process for picking a niche, writing an origin story, choosing a visual identity, building a website, selecting tools, setting up content systems. All of it using AI. All of it documented.

When the numbers are small, I’ll share them. When something fails, I’ll say so. When I change my mind about a decision I made three months ago, I’ll explain why.

The first time I built a personal brand, I only showed the highlight reel. It looked impressive. It wasn’t sustainable. This time the whole thing is out in the open.

If you want to follow the journey from the beginning, start with the manifesto. Or read about the Me vs Them Trap if you’re wondering how to keep your content about the audience while building in public.

There’s a newsletter if you want updates. If not, come back when you feel like it.

Come build with me,

Anthony