I had no idea I'd be doing this for 10 years, but here we are.
The site started very casually a week or so after I was told by my wife that she was pregnant. I was off of work because of an injury and spending most of my day leveling up my Druid in World of Warcraft. While I contend vanilla WoW was hard work, my wife working two jobs at the time was probably harder work.
I had made some money in the late 90's before the bubble burst on a desktop icon site called Icon City, it was a lot of fun and was even featured on Screensavers (I loved that show). Then the bubble burst and the site went away for various reasons. However, in the back of my mind, I always figured that I'd end up earning a living online, I just didn't know how for a long time.
Fast forward 10 years…
I had always liked reading the camera and lens rumor section at Northlight Images, and figured I could do the same thing, but brand it as a rumor site. About $30 later, canonrumors.com was online.
The site was never started to make “real” money, though I figured I'd see some revenue to put towards camera stuff and maybe some rent. Then the EOS 5D Mark II came and traffic exploded and I started to see I might be able to do this for a living. It wasn't too long after the EOS 5D Mark II that I quit my camera store job and focused 100% on Canon Rumors.
I get asked two questions a lot about Canon Rumors.
The best part of doing Canon Rumors for a living?
- I've met a small circle of people that I consider some of my best friends through this site.
- I was never a 9 to 5 person, I enjoy working whenever I feel inspired.
- I love to travel and always wanted to be able to earn a living with a laptop.
- You continue to meet exciting new people.
Advice for others who want to do the same thing?
- Follow through, it took about 3 years of 5-10 posts a week before Canon Rumors showed any sort of “real” revenue that I could potentially live off of. I know some people have blown up on YouTube a lot faster, but I don't know anything about that world. One common thing between a blog and YouTube, you must always be adding content.
- Grow some thick skin as soon as you can. Living on the internet does expose you to people that can ruin your day.
- Don't take yourself too seriously. Be human. I realized from the start that I wasn't a “journalist”.
Will I be doing this 10 years from now? Who knows, maybe I'll retire a KodakCoin millionaire in the not-too-distant-future, or maybe I'll continue to love doing this site indefinitely.
Thank-you's (I'm sorry if I missed anyone).
- My wife Theresa
- My son Caellum
- Every single person that has read and contributed to the site and forum
- Keith Cooper at Northlight Images
- Peter at Nikon Rumors
- Geoff at gwellstaylor.com
- Ethan at EthanMeleg.com
- Peter at Foto Art
- Joe at CameraCanada
- Jim (You know who you are)
- Mitch at Planet5D
- Barry at BarryAndersson.com
- Glenn at GlennBartley.com
- Dan at ShutterMuse.com
- Are at f32.no
- B&H Photo
- Midwest Photo Exchange
- Sam at Hostduplex
- Sebastien at Impeka
- Andy at Andy Biggs Photo Safaris
- Roger & Drew at Lensrentals.com
- Jeff at Pier55
- Justin at JVLPhoto
- Dustin Abbott
- Bryan at The-Digital-Picture
- Graham at Breakthrough Photography
- Chris Weeks
- Adorama
- All of the Canon Rumors forum moderators, they have a tough job.
- Everyone at Canon that likes this site.
- Everyone at Canon that doesn't like this site. ;)
- A big thanks to the Canon crew that filled me full of beef and malbec at Photokina
- PetaPixel
- DPReview
- FredMiranda
- 5DayDeal
Thank-you for 10 years,
Craig