The hardest part for professionals writing online is often just getting started.

Over the years I’ve evolved a tactic that might help.

I anchor my story on a photo.

I collect pictures on my phone of places I’ve been, people I’ve met, screenshots from the pages of books or social media posts I’ve read. Just about anything.

The pictures serve as “prompts.” A prompt is something creative writers use to practice their craft. You start with a simple idea and then bang away on the keyboard for an hour.

The best photos are evocative, suggestive, and at the same time incomplete. They cry out for more details and some explanation of the story behind the image.

Often, the simpler the better, as the photo attached to this post illustrates.

It’s a snippet from a LinkedIn bio of a friend of mine. We had coffee recently and I noticed his first job after college in 2001 was with Lehman Brothers. He worked there until December 2008.

As most of the world knows, that is when Lehman Brothers collapsed, practically overnight, the largest casualty of a global economic crisis caused by the meltdown of the U.S. mortgage market.

It’s a terrific prompt.

Anyone in finance would read that bio and smile, knowingly. They would have questions.

What happened that incredible day?

What lessons were learned?

What happened next?

Writing online offers an incredible opportunity for professionals to tell their story. It is the best way to build a personal brand and extend your network.

LinkedIn, in particular, is the place to focus at the moment. The platform is approaching one billion users and still growing rapidly. High-quality content is in demand.

Anyone hiring anyone checks a candidate’s LinkedIn profile.

And increasingly that includes what they have posted. Not writing is a missed opportunity.

Writing online is the modern CV.

I write online regularly to share stories about my own previous career experience, my thoughts on fintech and media, and tales of wit and wisdom from my parents.

The engagement I have attracted prompted me to open a writing agency, Principals Media, designed to help other business leaders do the same. We have assembled a team of professionals with decades of experience.

People established in their careers may view building a personal brand as unnecessary.

But you never know if you are working at the next Lehman Brothers, there one day and gone the next.