How to Turn Your Passion Into a Profitable Business

Russell Roberds brushed aside a vine on Georgia’s Cheatham Hill Trail… and stopped dead in his tracks. Not three feet in front of him, coiled and rattling ominously, was a Pigmy Rattlesnake.

“In that instant, I know I should have been fearing for my life,” he told me, “but I couldn’t help but think about what a cool post this was going to be on my website.”

Luckily, Russell knew how to handle himself around poisonous snakes – and the brown-striped reptile slithered away.

Russell’s an authority on hiking, and wanted to share what he knew with other outdoor adventurers. That’s why he came to our Five Days in July Conference just three months ago – to build his website, www.hikingrevealed.com.

“I’d been reading ETR for over two years,” he said. “There’s a lot of ‘junk’ on the Internet that we readers have to sift through. But I believe one of the real golden nuggets out there is ETR. When I get the e-mail in my inbox each morning, I know what I’m about to read is going to be good.”

So Russell took the plunge and signed up for Five Days in July.

At the conference, one of the things he learned from Brian Edmondson, our Internet Money Club Director, was that the number one way to get readers to your website is to post content consistently.

Russell took Brian’s words to heart, and committed himself to writing 700 words every day. He had a wealth of knowledge to begin with – having been an avid hiker for more than 30 years – so coming up with topics to write about was easy.

“I wanted to present myself as an authority on hiking,” Russell said. “To share as much as I knew in a detailed, thoroughly researched manner.”

One day he’ll write about the best snack foods to take on a hike, the next it’ll be a review of hiking backpacks. And Russell wisely taps into affiliate sales by featuring links to the products he recommends.

“I can’t believe I’m actually making money doing this!” he said.

It means a long day for Russell, with family and work at an electrical engineering company coming first, but he looks forward to writing each day’s post when he comes home at night.

“I’m really trying to follow the ETR model. I want to give people as much accurate information as possible so they can make their best informed decisions.”

Our hats are off to you, Russell!