Sharing Information Online: How Personal Is Too Personal?

You know that you need to show up online if you want to grow your business. But then comes the tricky part: how much should you share? It’s a fine line: you want to connect with your audience — not overshare or make things awkward.

Should you talk about your bad client experiences?
Your struggles with burnout?
How you juggle parenting while running a solo business?

I’ve wrestled with this exact question. Over many years of writing online and posting on social media, I’ve found a balance that builds trust, keeps my boundaries intact, and strengthens my personal brand.

Why personal brand matters for business

People hire people — not faceless service providers. And when you’re a solopreneur, you are the business.

The more your audience understands who you are, the more they understand what it’s like to work with you. Authentic stories build trust, credibility, and relatability. They show that you’re a real person with real experiences, not just someone repeating generic advice.

Stories matter. Stories are remembered 22 times more than facts alone. So you have a huge incentive to share personal stories online.

At the same time, sharing for the wrong reasons can be really off-putting. Some people share for the sole purpose of getting attention or engagement. (Like the infamous guy on LinkedIn who wrote a post, "I proposed to my girlfriend. Here's what it taught me about B2B sales.")

What personal posts solopreneurs should (and shouldn’t) share

These posts are fairly safe to share:

• Lessons you've learned
• Mistakes you've made
• Problems you've solved

These posts can build a sense of connection:

• Challenges you've faced in your life

These posts can cross a line into oversharing:

• Calling out specific people or companies
• Sharing stories about other people without their consent
• Sharing for the sole purpose of boosting engagement

4 things to consider when sharing information online

Before you hit "publish" on a personal post, ask yourself: Why am I sharing this? What do I hope to accomplish?

Here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Sharing scars vs. scabs

One approach you can take is a simple rule: share your scars not your scabs.

When you share a scar, you're sharing an experience you've already processed. You've had the benefit of time, so you can share with some clarity and distance.

When you share a scab, you're sharing raw, unfiltered moments — the ones that still hurt. The wound is still healing. Sharing can feel messy or like emotional dumping.

For example, I was unceremoniously let go from my full-time job. I wrote about the story twice. The first time was mere days later, and I announced that I was pivoting to full-time freelance work. The second time was a year later, when I had processed what had happened and was ready to talk about it.

Make no mistake: I think there's a place online to share scabs. It's just not in the same place where you're sharing for the purpose of growing a professional brand. For a professional brand, your audience doesn't need real-time breakdowns. They need to know what you've learned or how they can apply it to their own work or life.

2. Vulnerability vs. oversharing

The line between useful vulnerability and oversharing is thinner than it looks.

Vulnerability is when you share a story because it has a purpose: your audience will benefit from the takeaway.

Oversharing is when you share because you need something: validation, sympathy, a place to vent. It can create a rift with your audience. In fact, a survey found that 89% of Americans think people overshare on social media.

Personal branding expert Christine Gritmon has the following advice:

"A lot of people assume a false correlation between oversharing and being "real" (or, for some, oversharing and being fake⏤they can't fathom that someone who shares so much wouldn't be just for show!). The truth is, just as in our regular lives, we have different comfort levels with sharing things about ourselves, so too must we with regard to our personal brands.

Sharing more⏤in terms of either detail or volume⏤shouldn't feel like a requirement of having a personal brand, and it needn't compromise your relatability if you prefer to keep non-business elements of your life close to the vest."

You can read my interview with Christine in this article: Embarking on a new adventure: Personal brand, moving across the globe, and rediscovering inertia.

3. Privacy vs. discretion

You are entitled to privacy online. You don't have to share details about your personal life if you don't want to. It's not being dishonest; it's discretion.

Author Jen Hatmaker was recently on the Culture Study podcast talking about her new book and her divorce. She said:

"There is so much that I have kept behind the firewall because discretion, because privacy, because those details do not serve the story, nor do they change it. This is our real life, and it deserves care. And I have the right to privacy and discretion."

This is especially true when you're sharing about other people, such as your children. When I first started blogging more than 15 years ago, I wrote a lot about my kids. I did that for years. Later, I decided to make the blog private because my kids aren't able to consent to online sharing. I'm also more careful about sharing photos of them online.

You have to make your own choices about what you're willing to share and how you're willing to protect your privacy.

4. A platform-by-platform sharing strategy

I have this blog, my personal blog, and Substack — along with multiple social profiles. It seems like a lot to manage (and it is!), but it also gives me the freedom to choose different stories across different platforms.

Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I shared:

• Practical tips on this blog
• Personal updates on my personal blog
• A work-related perspective on my Subtack
• Occasional updates on LinkedIn
• Frequent updates on Threads

I was selective about what I shared across each platform, knowing that each audience is unique.

Positioning your personal brand as a leader in your industry

Most people build personal brands because they want to stand out. They want to be known as a thought leader in their industry.

I firmly believe that leadership is rooted in transparency. Sharing your mistakes (paired with what you've learned) positions you as a trusted expert — not someone who pretends to have everything figured out from the get-go.

Your imperfections make you relatable.
Your lessons make you vulnerable.

When you blend the two, you become someone people want to follow and learn from. Gritmon adds:

"COMFORT is the thing that makes a personal brand magnetic: if you're comfortable with yourself, and comfortable with the boundaries you've set (which can always change!), that is what matters most in developing trust. Discomfort is the thing that creates distance, not a dearth of overly-personal information on your feed."

Learn from personal branding leaders

If you’re unsure how much to share, look at the leaders and creators you admire. Notice what they talk about. Notice what they don’t talk about.

Some people share openly about their mental health or past failures. Mental health, in particular, is something that isn't talked about openly enough, yet it's something that many people struggle with. If you share that you've struggled with depression, burnout, or ADHD/AuDHD, you let other people know they're not alone.

Others keep their personal life separate and stick to professional lessons. There’s no right or wrong approach — only what feels right for you. You don’t have to spill your entire life story to build a strong personal brand.

Keep in mind that while you may look to other people for personal brand strategies and sharing online, your audience looks to you. You are the person who is "a few steps ahead" of where they are in their own careers or online journeys. Whatever you share, you're setting an example.

Check out my free guide for creators looking to better manage their time and content across multiple platforms.

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