Before someone says, "You can make money off your passion" or "Do what you love and money will follow", I'd like to see their own personal evidence. I'm walking that road and I know how hard it is. Possible? Yes. But definitely not easy, and it takes waaay more than just passion. It takes late nights, hard work, thick skin, and a good bit of luck. Oh, and forget about "fail fast." If you do what you love, be prepared for a long, hard slog up the mountain to profitability. I love my community and my chosen subject matter, but it's still work and it's still hard.
I apologize if my post was irritating to you, and you're right that I didn't elaborate on how difficult this can be, but my point wasn't that it's easy, just that it's almost certainly possible if you're willing to put in the work. And if you're passionate about it and you enjoy it overall, what do you have to lose? Your story is a pretty good illustration of what I'm talking about.
And no, I'm not quite to the "making a living" point with the niches I'm monetizing (though I know others who are), though I think I will be in the next 12-18 months, assuming growth continues as it has been. I also don't put as much time and effort into them as I could/should, primarily because of my startup.
If you're passionate about something, it hardly ever feels like work. I absolutely love what I do and it feels like i'm just playing every single day. If money comes, then perfect. And if it doesn't, i'd probably be enjoying too much to notice.
Congrats on your success, then. 18 months away from making a living is a great place to be. Assuming it's web based, do you have links to the sites/projects/whatever? I'm curious to see, and I always try to pick up ideas from others.
I apologize if my post was irritating to you, and you're right that I didn't elaborate on how difficult this can be, but my point wasn't that it's easy, just that it's almost certainly possible if you're willing to put in the work. And if you're passionate about it and you enjoy it overall, what do you have to lose? Your story is a pretty good illustration of what I'm talking about.
And no, I'm not quite to the "making a living" point with the niches I'm monetizing (though I know others who are), though I think I will be in the next 12-18 months, assuming growth continues as it has been. I also don't put as much time and effort into them as I could/should, primarily because of my startup.