Matt Haughey of Metafilter fame has just launched fortuitous, a site about everything he’s learned setting up and running a business around his blogging empire. I’m biased in favor of Matt since he’s a friend and a great guy, but he’s also incredibly thoughtful and forthright — his 2003 essay Blogging for Dollars, for instance, was so good it became part of the Google AdSense sales material for quite a while (maybe it still is). I think he’s a great source of advice for people looking to support themselves with an online business, particularly those who use systems like AdSense to do it. Here’s his description of the new site:
Eight years later almost to the day, I called up my boss at work and gave notice that I was leaving my job because I no longer needed it. I had freelanced before but it was a stressful binge-or-starve existence. This time was different; I surpassed my revenue goals on my sites and I was ready to make the jump for good, building my own sites and answering to no one else. To “live the dream” as everyone called it. Thus began my new career in professionally screwing around on the web….
I’m going to be sharing the things I’ve picked up along the way here, with a new essay posted every Monday about some aspect of doing business online. If you’re a freelancer hoping to someday ditch your clients, just starting out with a web business, or already have an established blogging empire, I hope you’ll subscribe to the feed and enjoy the ride.
Congrats, Matt, and I look forward to seeing more from the site.