No.

Whoa, I know people will be unhappy. So, let’s put it another way. Is blogging a profitable business? Yes, it can be. Now, see the difference? A good business should be rightly profitable, but, a profitable business may not be good business in a business sense. Am I confusing you? Hang on.

Can somebody running a number of blogs call their blogs their business? Yes, if they are making money out of it. No doubt. Bloggers who make money out of their blogs are running a business. They are self-employed. They dictate their own working schedule and are the masters of their own earnings. The principal is easy. Self-employed folks get what they worked for. Put in the hardwork and hours, they will earn more. Slack, they know they will get penalized. Their earnings are in direct proportion to their hours and effort. But then there are of course bloggers who do it because they relish the sense of independence and the respect from peers they commanded in the blogosphere which is reward in itself. Monetary profit may or may not be the only motivating factor for all. Either way, successful self-employed people, bloggers included, prided themselves on the fact they are in-control of their earnings. Of course by my definition of self-employed person, I’m not limiting it to bloggers alone. Doctors, plumbers, mechanics, insurance agents and other well-educated professionals are bundled in.

With me so far?

Back to good business. What is defined as good business? Yeah, profit is a must. But then good profit does not necessarily meant it is good business. Why? Realistically, a good business does not stand alone on the strength of an individual. It should rightly be consisted of a set of system. A group of people which enable the business to run smoothly at all time. Now, say Mr.X is a successful surgeon. Mr X is constantly upgrading his skills and kept up-to-date with the latest surgical tactics. Naturally, Mr. X can command a better price compared to his peers. But what happens to Mr X if his hands are not as steady with age and has to retire? Can Mr X’s practice continue to generate income should he retire?

The fact is, self-employed people owns a job. A good business should own a set of system. A system that will continue to generate income without relying on the volatility of any one individual.

Hey, wise guy, I can always buildup my blogs and sell it to the highest bidder!

Can you? Blogs are personal. The value of a blog is not in the blog itself (not the design or even if it’s tuned for SEO by big guns), but the interaction between a blogger and his/her readers. There is a certain ‘personal’ element there. Any change of hands, the connection is lost. But then I won’t disregard there are indeed suckers out there who think they can buy over a blog and call it their own.

Why should I care? I’m making money….

Yeah right. If it doesn’t bother you, why should anyone care. While some may disregard the distinction between a profitable business and good business, that doesn’t mean it’s not there. You might not care, that is fair enough. But let’s not get upset when someone calls an orange an orange and an apple an apple. There is no malice in distinction.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 6:45 pm and is filed under Bloggings, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.