Recent Blog Entries
Do It For The Passion
Written by Mike Rundle on June 7, 2006
9rules Members don’t blog for the money, they blog because they have a fiery passion for their favorite topic. They’re entrepreneurial, industrious, adventurous, and are excited by the prospect that they control their site’s destiny. They’ve worked hard, built something from scratch, and jump at the chance to see it grow and blossom. The 9rules Network offers these types of people the opportunity to reach out to a large community of other people just like them — people that strive to improve and love the risks associated with building something by themselves.
Over the past year, we’ve received thousands of emails and submissions from people who want to join 9rules, not because we’re paying them two digits per month to write for us, but because we offer them the chance to grow their entrepreneurial spirit and build something of their own.
9rules Members don’t blog because it’s their job, they do it for the passion.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:35 am
Now the question is are you on top of a mountain screaming this?
June 7th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Only if it’s Char’s mountain
June 7th, 2006 at 11:37 am
He lives in Tampa. We got no mountains.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:38 am
No basements either.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:40 am
Fair enough. The second question that comes to mind then is if you were getting paid two digits, which two digits would you want?
June 7th, 2006 at 11:42 am
This a bi-monthly payment, or every week?
June 7th, 2006 at 11:42 am
And if you say 6 and 9 I will slap you with the proverbial bad joke cliche trout.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:43 am
You have the choice of bi-monthly or every two weeks.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:44 am
Hmm…. gotta go with 1 & 0, because those seem like the two most commonly offered payment amounts from what I’ve heard.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:46 am
So then the next two questions are in what order do those digits come in and on what side of the decimal?
June 7th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Or maybe it was 0 & 0, can’t remember exactly.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Haha I like my dimes…
June 7th, 2006 at 11:47 am
Kind of like Tony Delk wearing Double 0. Amazing how 00 is a number.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:53 am
Well I consider 00 a number, but not a payment for services rendered.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:53 am
So then are you actively promoting getting paid in dimebags and not coins? I don’t know if I can condone that.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:54 am
*Insert joke about you and your ex.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:54 am
Nah man, getting paid a dimebag would actually make more financial sense, since it’s worth more.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:55 am
Good point so then we are back to 1 & 0. Which side of the decimal and in which order?
June 7th, 2006 at 11:56 am
Alright, gotta be 1, and then 0, both on the left side of the decimal. But that’s the quarterly payment, the monthly one is about a macchiato.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:58 am
So then does that change your digits and are you now saying you would rather get paid in macchiatos? That could be bad for the health. Of course the dimebags weren’t that much better.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:59 am
And I noticed you say THOUSANDS, could you please provide me with some proof on that.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Alright well we had 700 submit this round, 509 submit the round before that, a couple hundred on Round 2, that puts us to over 1400 right there. Not to mention the hundred or so emails we both get every week, multiplied by the past 6 months, etc. Okay, I’d say exactly 5,324.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Marijuana smoking has not been linked to lung cancer, at least that’s what my friends have told me while they were high. Small blog payment amounts, however, have been linked to neurosyphilis.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
And by hundred or so emails, I mean at least 85 all coming from Colin trying to get his new cdevroe.com baby in the network.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
Which won’t be happening, sorry Colin. That submission was just a test like you said. Next time, try signing online before 11:52pm on the night of Round 4 and we’ll let you in.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
Yeah he was heartbroken, but a standard must be set. Thank god I removed him from my buddy list.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
Nah you didn’t remove him, it was just his power going off exactly three minutes prior to a client meeting.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
One day we should tell the story of how submission rounds begin. Like a damn horror movie.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
You know what they say…You mess with Storey, you mess with…
June 7th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
How we asked all our designer friends at SXSW to join us, or when we were beatboxing during the lame ass Wired magazine party SXSW 2005?
June 7th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Yeah I think Storey pulled out his power. That’s what happens when money 50x greater than macchiatos is at stake.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Beatboxing? Do I smell another network challenge coming?
June 7th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Who needs power when you got wireless?
June 7th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
What network challenge? We should have called our dance contest “the dance no-contest” since nobody stepped up. Damn, why is it that 9rules always has all the fun?
June 7th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Do they have wireless in Pennsylvania? Every time I drive through I can’t even get a cellphone signal, let alone a macchiato.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Or a dime….
June 7th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Surprised you can even drive through Penn. Dirt roads are a bitch on the tires.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
I think the other networks should pay their writers in dime macchiatos, beats two digits.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
And yes we must encourage more fun in the world.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
The dirt roads are lousy because they were funded with macchiato payments.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
But is it okay to have fun at the risk of professionalism? Not that we would ever do that.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
June 7th is now dubbed Macchiato day.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
No, it’s not okay. In fact, clean your damn room and get some professional lighting in there. This is a serious blog network, we don’t tolerate any fun.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Nah, we should dub the 1st and the 15th Macchiato days, since their payments are closer.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
The “office” is clean chief and the lighting hides my nostrils. They are ginormous.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
1st and 15th, only two days a gangsta worries about.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Frank Thomas has bigger ones. And what happened to your cleaning crew?
June 7th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Need to find a new cleaning crew. The old ones kept on expecting me to take them to dinner.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
What if your payments didn’t come, could we call you Brokey?
June 7th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
And by dinner, I mean we be havin’ sex….. and by movie, I mean we be TAPING it. Love that show.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
So, ummm, like, does 9rules have a rule about the number of ads you can put on your page then? You know, to kind of “encourage” the whole “do it for the passion” thing?
Or am I to assume that the 9rules sites that look like they belong to NASCAR because of all the ads are just doing it for the passion too?
C’mon guys… one minute it’s “Work from home! Make money with your blog!” then it’s “We do it for the passion”… which is it?
June 7th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
Both. Some people have a passion for writing and getting paid for it. Nothing wrong with that. Usually though if money is your only drive it reflects on your blog. Wouldn’t you agree?
June 7th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
is there a 9rules passionate chant that goes with the long anticipated but not here yet confirmation email?
June 7th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Got to agree with this post.
Blogging should be something that you do because you are passionate about. Being accepted to 9rules should just be affirmation that you have made it to an elite plateau. It should be just a step on the ladder of building a successful blog.
If you have the passion for it and work hard enough you will make it into 9rules, because the passion will shine through every part of your blog and the 9rules will see it. 9rules is more of a reward, something you get for your commitment; it shouldn’t change anything about your site, your writing or anything else. The only thing that should or could change is maybe the amount of hits you get on your site.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
We are tweaking the member agreement some and that’s causing the hangup. And we just happen to work really really slow, but comment crazy fast.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
Soemthing that i think some people don’t realize is that if you are passionate about something and work hard enough at it, money follows.
Same goes for blogging. You might start out small, just hoping to influence a small audience. You work hard put out the effort, and your blog becomes well known. When you are well known and have traffic, dead presidents begin showing up on your door-step.
So the answer to your question is your blog should be or could be both a money making entity, but either way it should be your passion.
Thats my two cents anyway.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Scrivs: Definitely. In particular: meta bloggers–people who blog about other blog posts just to generate content. Rehashing stuff is an obvious giveaway.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Hey not going to complain about the commenting fast - cheering up my slumping wednesday as I pear out from a pile of code… keep the distractions coming
I agree with Kyle, one of the basic rules of good business is to do something you love. It’s one thing that shows if someone is just doing it for the money.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
… and thank the crew for graciously dealing with those members and their passion *cough*
9rules is incredible, to say the least.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Oh man, my whole plan was to publish a blog all about frozen foods, convince my coworkers to write silly reviews, and make a bundle when my book deal hit. Well, two out of three isn’t bad.
Too bad there aren’t tags for sarcasm. I’m taking a web accessibility class right now and the screen readers would be a million times more fun if designers could tag for emotion. Darn robotic voices.
June 7th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
I have absolutely nothing to say to you two asshats save this: When the new 9rules features drop - everyone will know who was working on them using their battery power, while the two of you were on here commenting as fast as WordPress would allow. Kudos to the two of you for having an instant comment conversation.
Everyone say it with me. Scrivens and Rundle need to get OUTSIDE!
June 7th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Yeah, I hear those new features are dropping…SOON.
*horns blow
*confetti drops
This marks the 1000th time this year we have said something will drop soon. Can’t stop till we see 10k.
June 7th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Oh and Colin, the hate is strong in you young Jedi. Instant comment conversations are the new Myspace.
June 7th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
I firmly believe what you’ve said here and have full trust in you. For I, myself have this burning passion, in which you speak and you were able to recognize this and see it through my poetry blog. I am impressed, and looking forward to finalizing the membership process. Thank you.
June 7th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
I just posted something about that on my blog, but taking it from a different point of view (web applications). The post you did a couple of weeks ago, or a month, don’t recall, made me think. I’m doing a free web application because you made me think.
It’s weird how some ideas come to you. This was the weirds way of all of them.
Javier Cabrera
June 7th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
So, do you guys ever “clean house” when it comes to your members? I understand that the whole network is pretty much younger than, well, me… but what happens when a site goes from daily posting to once-a-month posting? Or no posting at all?
Hmmm… after asking that I think I may have made it seem like you need to do more work than you’re already doing.
Please only throw light stones.
Oh! And no more dissing on Pennsylvania. Our crappy roads are nothing. Take, for example, (…) our crappy weather…
June 7th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
No, it’s all about the money, now send out those welcome emails ‘cuz i’m losing valuable cash >:o!
Haha, seriously though, I love writing my own content and it’s going to be great writing as part of 9rules now, because I’ll always have to make sure my articles stay accurate and informative.
June 7th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Is it too early to ask about a round 5?
June 7th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I do it for the hot chicks.
June 7th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
I gotta blog where you blog Joe, cus I haven’t seen any hot chicks near my place.
I second this post!
June 8th, 2006 at 3:57 am
OMG… after I read this post on my feed reader I came here to post a comment, but after I read all these comments and discussions, I felt like reading a chat transcript and forgot what I wanted to say..
I believe all 9rules members, current and new, do it for passion, blogging in particular, writing in general are made for the public to read, if we don’t give something interesting to readers it’s very easy on them to throw the book or the magazine or even easier to close the browser window.. to encourage the readers to read the post till the end, they should sense the passion of the writer, or else why there are too many blogs with no readers, or losing readers after they had too many..
Believe me it’s not about money or traffic, in blogging it’s about how interesting your posts are, when a blogger don’t write with passion he will lose the traffic and the money, this thing can’t be done for money otherwise everybody will write a book and be a millionaire.
Now with my name in the 111 list I feel that my passion will see the light and my blog will find more readers that normally come to 9rules to find the best in the blogging community, and what an honer I’ve got to be part of this best.. Thanks guys, I can’t wait to get the agreement..
June 8th, 2006 at 7:39 am
Rachel: Yes we clean house. Last time we cleaned house some people outside of the Network threw a hissy fit.
Jackosh: Yes.
June 8th, 2006 at 10:42 am
Passion and money.
June 9th, 2006 at 4:49 am
Earning money from a blog is not why anyone blogs : earning money from your blog is a side-effect of you carrying out that passion.
June 9th, 2006 at 7:40 am
I’ve never been involved in a Blog Network so to speak but I completely agree with your statement that passion for blogging and for what you do has to be the motivation as to why anyone would want to join.
June 9th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Doing it for the community
As a recent entrant to the 9Rules community, I couldn’t agree more with a statement made by them on a recent blog post.
9rules Members don’t blog because it’s their job, they do it for the passion.
Yes, I like to write. TJ and I make $0.00 fr…
June 9th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
[...] ising revenue. And local wikis will be the next big thing. (tags: article business wiki) 9rules Network » Blog Archive » Do It For The Passion 9rules Members don’t blog because [...]
June 17th, 2006 at 1:25 am
I completely agree that blogging has to be done for the passion and nothing more. I recently posted a blog about this at my site and how not being accepted to 9rules in round 4 actually helped my blog.
I think that not being accepted helped me realize who, what, and why I was blogging.
July 14th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
Hopefully, the idea of having a blog just to make money will vanish as far too many people will be involved in the struggle for visits. Then, only those whose blogging has nothing to do with the money will stand.
Hail to those who blog for passion!