I moved to Southern California about 10 years ago.  It was kind of an odd thing, no one in my family had just packed up and moved.  I left the family behind to experience something new.  As I was driving down,  I felt so good, I thought, “heck, while I am down here I should try to get into acting.”

Well, I didn’t quite make it as an actor and the next big thing.  However, it was always in the back of my mind.  Someone said, “You can either get hired or hire yourself.”  Eventually I did just hire myself.  I worked for a small TV station, began to understand how advertising worked and how programs were put together.

Apparently there are two ways to get a program up and running. Get advertisers to pay for commercial spots or get advertisers to pay to be on the program as a featured guest.  At that time the concept of “cable” was still growing. Which allows the viewers to pay.  Satellite and XM radio were the breakthroughs for that.  Now there is a lot of that type of programming going on, like the internet, the content is more driven by the consumers.

Well it didn’t take too long being there that I thought of a program (the concept wasn’t totally new, just really new to me) I organized a bunch of people to appear on my program.  They paid for the time on the program and got the benefits of status and additional marketing tools. They got a copy of their appearance and additional promotional materials.

Here is how I did it:

1. I found a small team who could video and edit
2. I got a “sales sheet together” the TV station had their Media Kit so I just used theirs
3. I talked to a few people to appear on the show
4. I used that money as an investment to buy a block of time on TV (it was paid advertising space)
5. I used the 30 min paid “commercial” time on Saturday and made my “commercial time” look more like a TV program.
6. As it was Real Estate related we used community functions as a theme for the show and showcased homes in 3 minute segments.

Since it was Real Estate related and unfortunately  just before the meltdown, needless to say, we ended the program.  The best part was finding something interesting and working it into the program.  I felt that just being myself added a lot to it and it did.  The experience though has led to a new passion, generating content for the internet, and understanding how people are able to create a new life with this powerful medium.

The coolest part though is being able to help people create strategies for what they do and how to share it with others on the internet.  There are so many cool things on the internet, it’s becomes overwhelming just deciding what to do and how to do it.

The important thing is to just get involved and be yourself.  Once involved you can begin to see the best way to utilize the resources and work what works for you best.

What methods do you use on the internet and why?

Please comment.