On Monday, I spent some time exploring the idea of “lifecasting” and the ways that the young women who run NonSociety take advantage of it as a medium. Today, NonSociety contributor Meghan wrote a post about making money as a blogger.
Meghan wrote: “I’ve had it up to my ears trying to get some form of decent compensation for the free work I do. The only people making money off of these efforts are big corporations and the few people (like me) fortunate enough to have an agency behind them to pitch deals.
(Pictured at left: See-through love, by suchitra prints)
Even with that sort of support, I find it difficult to really see an end to this work-for-pennies future…If anyone has an answer to this ongoing quest of how to monetize doing what you love for a living, please chime in.”
Dear Meghan:
If you really loved what you do, you wouldn’t be complaining about not making money. Not everyone can make money doing what they love, but it’s not supposed to matter. These people do something else to make money and then continue to do what they love because that’s what they love.
I can tell you’re frustrated because you don’t truly love what you do. You need money to motivate you, to help you blog. If you loved blogging, you would have no problem creating content.
And you think you’re unique? Have you seen all the blogs out there? I can promise you that the majority of bloggers on the great Interwebz don’t ever dream about monetary rewards. Most probably don’t even know how to set up Google AdSense.
Seth Godin, the marketing genius who I sometimes mention on this blog, once wrote: “…it’s far easier than ever before to surface your ideas. Far easier to have someone notice your art or your writing or your photography. Which means that people who might have hidden their talents are now finding them noticed…That blog you’ve built, the one with a lot of traffic… perhaps it can’t be monetized.”
Mermaid agrees. The Internet gives everyone a sense of entitlement, making a lot of people believe that they deserve money for their talents and creativity when, in the past, people did these things in private for a small audience of friends (sometimes for no audience at all).
Stop complaining and start being passionate. If someone thinks you deserve money for what you do, the money will come.
Love,
Laryssa