Great Read: "279 Days to Overnight Success" by Chris Guillebeau

Chris Guillebeau has declared his goal to visit every country in the world by April 7, 2013. He is financing this effort via his blog. He has developed quite a following and I suspect that he just doubled it by putting out this free manifesto.

You can get the manifesto by going to his web site and downloading it. I read it cover to cover immediately - couldn't put it down. He has given away a step by step plan for creating a microbusiness based on blogging about your passion, then selling a high value series of e-books about that topic. Even if you don't plan to create a blog or e-book, I think this is well worth reading. A few key points:

• You don't need to monitize your blog via ads. You can do so by selling an e-book, or something else that would be of value to your readers.
• Find out what your readers need by continually asking them.
• Don't do a hard sell. Rather, develop a community around your interest and then sell only to those who are asking for the item. Marketing is replaced by community building - working with a core group of like minded people who can benefit from what you have to offer.
• He even gives the details on exactly what he makes and where the dollars come from.
  

There are great concepts for any web based business in this book, even if your effort isn't centered around a blog.

The rest of the blog is great fun as well, as Chris chronicles his travels.