I recently put out the word that I wanted to interview small business owners for an upcoming project, the Empire Building Kit . These were the criteria: you had to net at least $50,000 a year with two or fewer employees, you had to be willing to talk about money in specific terms, you had to share your biggest mistakes as well as your greatest successes, and you couldn’t be a professional blogger. (Obviously there’s nothing wrong with professional blogging — I just figure that bloggers get enough attention already. Besides, if you want to create a business , there are much easier models.) I heard back from 300 people with all kinds of different backgrounds, but Lisa’s email stood out from the rest. I have a dog-walking business in Minnesota. Can I contribute my story? I’ll be honest: I didn’t think much of it at first. A dog-walker? Shouldn’t we be talking about affiliate marketing, information products, and Facebook ads? Walking dogs around the park for cash isn’t really my thing, so I assumed I’d say no. But then Lisa told me how much money she makes: $88,342 in 2009, and now on track for $105,000 in 2010. That got my attention. She makes six figures as a dog-walker? Wow. Now that’s a story. And in marketing, of course, story is everything. If you can build a real business around something you’re passionate about — in this case, Lisa loves dogs — I think that’s worth some attention. Follow your passion? Yes . . . sort of The thing about following your passion to the bank isn’t so much overrated as it is incomplete. Finding a way to get paid for doing what you love is both feasible and sustainable. The trick is to construct a lifestyle business around something you’re passionate about that other people are willing to spend money on . The difference is crucial: I can be passionate about eating pizza and playing video games, but so far I haven’t found anyone willing to pay me for it. Therefore, I have to orient my business not only around my own interests, but also around what other people are willing to pay for. I built the rest of the Empire Building Kit around conversations and insights from people like Lisa. The photographer, the triathlon coach, the translator, the guy who makes baseball art, the murder mystery host, and so on. You’ve probably never heard of most of them, but they’re doing very well doing something they love. Last month I released the product on board a 44-hour Empire Builder train from Chicago to Portland. It was a huge success, with rave reviews from our inaugural group of emperors — and a freaked out merchant account that wanted to know why so many sales were rolling in. Long story short, today I’m doing it again. It’s for 24-hours only, before I get on a plane and head overseas as part of my quest to visit every country in the world. If you’re interested in joining the inaugural group of new emperors, I’d love to have you on board . All the details The goal of the Empire Building Kit is to help people build a business in one year by doing one thing every day. To that end, I’ve compiled a truckload of resources and hand-holding to make sure that happens. The Kit includes: 15+ Case Studies. From 300 initial respondents, I narrowed it down to more than 15 thriving emperors from at least as many different backgrounds. I asked for their stories, their secrets, what they wish they had known before they started. The case studies come in a variety of formats: video interviews, MP3 files, PDFs, with complete transcripts. So you can get the most out of them no matter what your learning style. 365-step Email Series. You get one mini-lesson today, one tomorrow, and 363 more over the rest of the next year. According to the folks at Aweber, it’s officially the longest follow-up series in their history. The key is: if you do one thing a day, it will be much easier than trying to do everything at once. But you also have to make sure you’re doing the right things, so we help with that too. A 52-step Product Launch checklist. Even if you’re not launching from the “bloggers’ lounge” onboard an Amtrak train, something always goes wrong with a product launch. Use this checklist to avoid big mistakes, and dramatically increase revenue. One step produces an average revenue increase of 30% every launch, no matter the price of the product. Another step ensures you can sleep at night by not screwing up the confirmation emails. And so on. “Show Me the Money” module. All the details from behind the scenes of my own Unconventional Guides business. You’ll learn how much money each product brings in, where I’ve screwed up, where I hit it big, and so on. Ok, so I could go on about all of that for a while. But what you really get is insight and context from people who have successfully cracked the code of following your passion. They all talk about money, they are all extremely candid, and they’re all real people doing fun things while getting paid. Care to join Lisa and the rest of us? You can find out all about it right here , but it’s only available for 24 hours, ending Wednesday morning at 9am Pacific Time . And if it’s not a good fit for you, of course, that’s fine too. Most importantly, I hope your business is as enjoyable as Lisa’s — and as enjoyable as mine. About the Author: Chris Guillebeau travels the world and writes for a small army of remarkable people at chrisguillebeau.com . Follow his live updates from every country in the world at twitter.com/chrisguillebeau .

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Walk Dogs for $105,000 a Year (Or Make a Living Doing What *You* Love)