Forum Moderators: phranque
However I feel absolutely nothing for my niche. I couldn't care less about it. Writing for it is like writing about long term refinancing... it is dull and I loath writing about it.
My fiance (who is an idealist) keeps wanting me to start a new site. This new site would be about a topic I am VERY passionate about, it is infact what my PHD and probably life's work will be about. But this topic is low profit, very low profit. However building this site has side benefits, like I will be very motivated to work on the site, I will be PROUD of my site (now I just don't tell people that I make a site), I will be very knowledgable in my topic (much more so than now), and my application for PHD programs could be much more impressive.
So the question is: Do I stick with the successful topic I could really care less about, or do I go and try to make a successful site in this new topic I am very passionate about even though it might be much harder to monetize.
Any stories, suggestions, advice would be most helpful.
You say "fiance" and "probably life's work". That means you're still not married, and haven't really committed to a life work.
No one can, very few do. Based on the average, you will change careers three times. Who can know what their life's work will be? Julia Child didn't show an interest in professional cooking until she was in her 40s. Condoleeza Rice was going to be a concert pianist.
You can't predict the future, you may grow an interest in the site you are making money from. (and BTW you can't support yourself and a family on $100/day - I used to make that waiting tables). At one time you must have been interested in it, because you spent a great deal of time doing it to make it a profitable site. Maybe you just grew tired of it.
I've been there, we all have. We grow out of things and into new ones. That's what makes life great - the ability to always try new things and never feel "stuck" or "trapped". Animals in cages are trapped, we humans never are, unless we build cages for ourselves.
Go For it - learn something new.
BUT it's not enough for your site to be "about" something. It has to have a reason to exist. It has to solve a problem or provide some uniquely great benefit. If you can build such a site you'll really have accomplished something, and I'd wager you can build a career on that no matter what the niche is.
I advise you do a survey of everything that's relevant to this subject area on the Internet (since you're passionate about it, the research should be a pleasure). If you find you don't have anything distinctively new to add, then you've saved yourself months or years of effort; if find you you do, then you should end up with a much clearer idea where you are headed with your project.
My fiance (who is an idealist) keeps wanting me to start a new site. This new site would be about a topic I am VERY passionate about, it is infact what my PHD and probably life's work will be about.
Keep her, and try to do both sites. Let the older site slack a little if you need to. Unless they are both really labor intensive, you don't need to pick one or the other. If they are both labor intensive, I'd do two other sites instead, but maybe that's just me.
Then at some point in my life, I realized that I love marketing. It didn't come overnight, but today, I don't see any real difference between a janitor and a computer programmer. Both are needed to accompish a task, that's all.
Today, I read the register and slashdot just as much as I read clickz and the internet retailer.
I love coding for myself as a hobby, but if I were dependent on coding as means of making a living -- I would be the most unhappy person in the world.
The point of my story is that you might discover something else you are passionate about -- much more passionate -- something you might even despise at the moment. So either run both sites, or stick with whatever makes you more money.
added:
One day, you might realize that it's easier to pay some passionate student to produce your content for whatever niche you are in at the moment...
.... I feel absolutely nothing for my niche. ... Writing for it is like writing about long term refinancing... This new site would be about a topic I am VERY passionate about, ... But this topic is low profit, very low profit. ..Do I stick with the successful topic or do I go and try to make a successful site in this new topic I am very passionate about?
Last night I came to an epiphany. If I had all the money I ever needed, all things were taken care of, and I were making significant contributions to reduce starvation and strife in third world countries, my life would consist almost entirely of three things: gardening, fishing, and painting.
But that's not how life works. The real question here is do you want to sacrifice financial stability to persue an ideal? No one can help you answer that one! :-)
I hear what you are saying, but unfortunately you have to supply what the market demands if you want to get paid. If that is not important to you then supply whatever you want and be happy with whatever you get.
I have heard that if you do what you are passionate about that the money will come, I tried that and I am still looking in the mailbox for the check :)
Now to get the best of both worlds try being really creative and figuring out how to earn money with the content you do develop and love to write. Can you sell advertising, can you sell a newsletter, reports, a membership to special content?
There are multiple way to earn money with information, you just need to find what that way is.
Fortune Hunter
If the idealistic site is really just something you enjoy and you're not looking for profit, surely you can take it slowly and build it up over a few years?
Then once you've built up a big site full of good content (which I'm sure you would, especially if you're constantly writing new potential content as part of your PHD course), you could start to make some profit off of that one too.
If you simply don't have enough time to work on both, even if you take the 2nd one slowly, I'd concentrate on the one that's making you money now.
It's not as if you'll never get to work on the subject you're passionate about if you don't!
Regards :-)
I too thought Id be a programmer in my early teens acheieved much in that field before leaving school, became an accountant as it seemed more stable a way to earn a living. hated it.
Blah blah ive now had 3 diffrent fields in which Ive worked all totally diffrent, butyou what?
Youd be surprised at how often ive fallen back on one or the other in an awkward moment.
Like drawing up a budget, hardly any middle managers know how do this in my current field, my accountancy training makes it a piece of cake for me.
but today, I don't see any real difference between a janitor and a computer programmer. Both are needed to accompish a task, that's all
Well, that's not all. One makes between 60 and 150 dollars an hour, the other makes between 10 and 15. I'd say that's a fairly significant, not to mention real, difference.
In a similar vein, there is a real difference between a profitable site and a money-pit site.
If there really isn't any profit in the second site that is your passion, and market research can easily ferret this out, then consider it a "hobby" site. There's nothing wrong with this, since money isn't the only benefit you can get from running a web site.
Consider this site's benefits to you: (a) that it will help you toward your doctorate, in both getting into a doctorate program and helping to compile and refine your thinking for the eventual dissertation, and (b) that it will bring a facet of joy to your life that is currently missing.
I have a site that centers around my day job. It's not overly profitable - pays for itself and a small percentage of my postgraduate work - but there are other benefits. One, I am able to use the content for the site directly in my daily work. Two, it has opened up opportunities to participate in focus groups and research teams because the site is a resource used by my peers. And third, it has actually helped to sustain some level of interest in the JOB, which is not always an easy job to love.
Point being, monetary gain is not the only litmus test of a site's success in the eyes of it's creator. It may be an important one, yes, but not the only.
cEM
I have made many, many choices that a great deal many people would have said were wrong, if looked at on an individual basis.
I took jobs that paid less becuase they sounded more fun. I followed my heart when my head said no. I did things that by all good advice were stupid and not worthwhile. Except when all was said and done, they were exactly the right choices for me. I marvel at how many "wrong" turns gave me the chance to have and be more than I could have ever imagined.
There is an old saying "Follow your heart and the money will follow after" I am living proof of that. Do what makes you happy, and I think in a few years you will be too.
Besides, you may find that after a good long break, your money making site suddenly becomes interesting again. ;)
Except when all was said and done, they were exactly the right choices for me.
My wife would agree with you 100%. She is fond of saying that ALL of our choices are right for us, since they are ultimately responsible for defining us in the first place. In other words, it would be impossible to make a wrong decision for you, since making any decision other than the one you make wouldn't even be possible. Who you are defines how you make choices and, ultimately, what choice you make. You might look BACK and think it was the wrong thing, but that's something else, entirely.
Sadly, her logic is unassailable.
Of course, she reads a lot, and you know how those people are...;)
cEM
Everyone is right in telling me to keep my profitable site. I realized I would much rather live off a profitable website than have a non-profitable site and a job at Best Buy.
My new plan is to work hard to expand my current site until I graduate (1 year), hopefully building its revenue to $150-$200 a day. Then I will be in a more comfortable position to decide if I want turn my attention to another site or not. This way, if I do start a new site I won't do broke while I am building it!
But my dream for a new site is not dead. During this next year I hope to do a lot of research into my new niche (read books, articles, and journals) and start a blog to help me gather my thoughts and organize research sources (good articles, news stories, quotes, etc...).
Then, later if I decide to make a new site, I will be confident and ready to write on the topic.
