This is Raganwald, (http://raganwald.com http://raganwald.com). I'm glad you mentioned both a blog AND a brand. They can go together (as they have done for me)

This is Raganwald, (http://raganwald.com http://raganwald.com). I'm glad you mentioned both a blog AND a brand. They can go together (as they have done for me), but I honestly get different things out of them. Blogging helped me work out my thoughts on many subjects, not all of which were useful for "building my brand." The brand, on the other hand, helped me build enough personal security to feel safe taking chances like quitting my job long enough to write a book or three (e.g. https://leanpub.com/javascriptallongesix/read https://leanpub.com/javascriptallongesix/read). So, each one contributed to the other, but I feel they delivered different benefits to me personally. Now as to whether the blog or the brand have been worth it to me... I'd say blogging was worth it to me independently of the brand, and I'd do it again exactly the same even if I knew I wouldn't build a brand again. In fact, if I started today under an alias, I probably wouldn't build the same brand. I think a lot of my minor, b-list success was my work, but a lot of it was timing as well, my first modern blog-post was published in 2004, and that was a time when it was much easier to stand out.