Profiting By Your Passion

It has been said that we live in the Information Age. With web hosting for under $10 per month and blogging for free, virtually anyone can have web presence. But how can you profit by it?

Just start. Then keep at it. Remember the movie, Field of Dreams? "If you build it, they will come." Ideally you would have something to sell, and the products with the lowest wholesale cost are ideas. I would suggest starting with something you are passionate about. Even if you are not the world's foremost expert on it, you have a unique perspective, and others may value that perspective.

Many of us have advice for friends. Instead of trying to get your friends to listen, write up your advice. If you don't have enough time to write a book, write a blog. Learn as you go. Here are a few examples:

Tantric Arts Institute began as an idea in early 2006. Little by little it has grown to the point where the Google Adsense pulls in an ever-increasing revenue stream.

My Vagabond Musician blog chronicles the musical journey that my life has been with links to examples. I love writing it and would do it even if it made no money, but by putting Google Adsense, relevant Amazon links and an option to donate to my PayPal account, I stand to make money as my blog becomes more popular. The great thing is that the more I write, the more likely it is that people will find me. Anyone can do this. All you need to do is write a few paragraphs twice a week. Heck, that's no harder than high school.

Ultimately, you may find yourself in possession of some valuable information. Recently deceased car buff Corey Rudl started in 1994 with a book called "Car Secrets Revealed" about how not to get ripped off at a used car lot. He had bought several space ads and gotten nowhere. Then he put together a basic website and started experimenting. Quite a few of his experiments failed, but the ones that worked, worked very well. By 2004 he had a company worth 7.6 million.

Corey said to decide on a market first, then figure out what you want to sell. Once you know what your market is, the steps are fairly straightforward, but the trick is to be a pioneer. You can enter a new field, or bring new information to an established field.

I would say, learn by doing. There is a lot to learn, and it is a good idea to get a feel for things before throwing a lot of money into what you are unsure of. Once you have been playing in the internet playground for a little while, you are in a position to competently research and reap profit from niche markets related to your passion.

Next Installment: Pretty Sites Lose Money, Ugly Sites Make Money