My blog landed me multiple book deals: I wrote the very first book in history about Ubuntu because a publisher found my blog. I published my first novel because

My blog landed me multiple book deals: I wrote the very first book in history about Ubuntu because a publisher found my blog. I published my first novel because the editor found it published as a serie on my blog. I’ve never asked for it. Hosting my own webservices for fun for years transformed to a side-business during a couple of years, where I was hosting paying customers. My involvement with GNOME landed me a job with a GNOME-related company (but I sent them my resume, so this was not unexpected) My life-long investment in free software landed me a teaching job at my university, totally unexpected. I built a whole career doing side projects. Do more side projects. (many of my side projects didn’t pay me but, for some, it was a choice because you cannot do everything. Also, side-projects have different taste once you are paid for it. You don’t want that for every side project)