Pajama Entrepreneur

By May 2004, I was writing twice as many articles as in January 2004 and better yet, people were sending news reports directly to me. Muniwireless.com was generating a lot of interest not just among city and county officials, but also among equipment vendors.

By the time I released my first anniversary report, I realized there was a way to make money from Muniwireless: advertising. I know that it seems so obvious to anyone who has been in the publishing industry. But to me, it was a surprise.

What on earth is a media kit?

Vendors began emailing and asking for a media kit. I had no idea what a media kit was. So I asked around and discovered that this is the document that one sends to potential advertisers laying out the costs of various types of advertising, such as banner ads. Fine, but how much do I charge them? (now revealing my complete ignorance of publishing)

I visited the websites of online publications that covered Wi-Fi and the wireless networking industry and downloaded their media kits, but in all cases, there was nothing comparable. Most of them had bundled deals: the advertiser pays X amount for a platinum sponsorship that includes a large ad on the home page plus three webinars plus a booth at one of their conferences. I had no webinars or conferences to offer.

So I was left with one option: just invent prices. They could not be outrageous, but on the other hand, I needed some income to live on. So here’s how I calculated what I would charge my advertisers that year — I picked out a yearly gross income that would be sufficient for me, then divided it by the number of advertisers (five at that time) who had approached me.

For two advertisers who wanted exclusive placements on certain category pages, I charged more. I also charged for placements in the weekly newsletter, but I limited the number to four because I hate newsletters that have too many ads.

I also created a Company Profiles page for vendors that wanted to include a description of their business, products and services and latest press releases. I charged extra for that too.

I had no idea if this was the right thing to do because I had no experience in the publishing industry but no one complained, so I went on with it. I copied the style and layout of one wireless website’s media kit and my business model was born.

By 2005, Muniwireless.com was a real business, making as much money as I did in my earlier profession. Out of my Amsterdam home office, I became an expert on the municipal wireless broadband market in the United States.

Lesson 4: Location means very little in online publishing. You can be an expert in a segment in another country. But you need to build a network (easy to do with email and Skype) and have patience.

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