Grab hold of your passion [and monetize it]

This post is largely a follow-up to yesterday’s synopsis of Gary Vaynerchuck’s interview with CNN.

“If you [don't have a web presence] you’re not living in the society we’re living in anymore.”

I thought of heading up to the Big Omaha conference — dealing mainly with the internet — last month but ultimately decided against it. Today I caught up on some of what what I missed by listening to Gary Vaynerchuck’s keynote (be warned, he curses like a sailor in this speech).

The crux of the keynote is to grab your passion and monetize that passion using the internet. If you love dogs, talk about dogs and solicit advertisers. If baseball cards are your thing, set up a blog and dish out your two cents. He cites one such instance where Upper Deck approached such a blogger with a $40,000/year contract.

I write about what I love on The Aesthetic Elevator, and what I love generally has a pretty keen focus. However, I’m skeptical that I can turn the content on this particular website into beaucoup advertising dollars, as much as I’d love to. The ideas that I write about on this blog — becoming an artist, founding a faith-based artist colony — aren’t money-makers in this respect. Then again, I haven’t really ever entertained the idea of selling ads on this website. A certain amount of professionalism flourishes, in my opinion, on an ad-free website.

Garyvee might reply that I could make some money, and that I should still pursue what I love and attempt to monetize it. Would Dick Blick want to advertise on The Aesthetic Elevator? Or maybe a company selling sustainable goods such as solar panels. Although, according to Quantcast, this website attracts a “less affluent” audience in general (artists, perhaps!); maybe solar panels aren’t the ticket.

I’ve made a few new posts this year about my interest in an artist colony, and those posts have garnered some responses. In truth, that’s what I hope happens as a result of my Web presence. Like I said yesterday, “I believe in the Web as a tool — and have for a few years now — that connects people with like interests. It allows communities to be created, that formerly didn’t have a chance, as we’re able to find people with similar niche interests.” The Aesthetic Elevator exists to connect and mobilize.

Gary’s underlying desire is for people to be happy. This, he says in the the aforementioned keynote, is why he urges people to pursue what they love. Are some things easier to monetize online than others?