If I charged a nickel to everyone that asked me how to make money from podcasting and blogging, I’d have model for recurring revenue in new media and social media. I may even be rich by now.

My answer to the question has been consistent: develop your skills as a content creator, audio producer and community developer (or be part of team that has those skills) and then maybe you’ll have something to build on. In fact, I blogged about this nearly a year ago using a garden as a metaphor for building skills and engaging in sustainable growth — neither of which you can rush.

Robert Safuto put up yet another brilliant post (he’s good at that, really) on the subject of business models for new social networks. Rob suggests that if you start with a business model you’re doomed to failure. I agree. As a bonus, Robert used a garden as the metaphor.

I once saw a sign that said “Farmers feed cities”. Remember, they don’t necessarily get paid based on the value of that reality.

I’m flattered that I was nominated by the Never Was blog for a Thinking Blogger Award. The idea appears to be to promote blogs that are interesting, informative, and provide value. What a compliment!

I have decided to make my nominations based on people who are bloggers first and may (or may not) podcast as a way to further spread their message. Here are my nominations for a Thinking Blogger Award:

1. Michael Geist - I realize that this is seconding the nomination that appears on the Never Was blog. Michael blogs about copyright, licensing, net neutrality and many other issues that relate to technology and Canadian law. Besides being well written, well spoken and prolific, Michael is an incredibly nice guy and that has to be worth some points.
2. Tod Maffin - While Tod does publish the odd satirical and off-beat post, he predominantly blogs with a critical view on many topics including technology, broadcasting and social media. Another well written, well spoken, prolific and all-round nice guy. What is it with these people?
3. Chris Brogan - Chris is a champion of the community aspect of social media, both online and in-person. His blog offers insight into the application of social media to build communities and it regularly examines the relationship of social media to traditional modes of communication. On top of everything else, Chris gives free hugs.
4. Robert Safuto - Awakened Voice is a fantastic blog that examines the tools of social media and offers great thoughts on the social media phenomenon. Robert publishes video tutorials on how to setup and use the tools. I’ve never met Robert, though I’m sure he’s as nice as everyone else on this list. I wonder if he’ll come to Podcasters Across Borders.
5. Dale Arseneault - Dale’s blog specializes in knowledge management and organizational innovation, though his expertise stretches further to include areas such as transformation, facilitation and collaboration (and many other “ations” I’ve overlooked). If you can think beyond the professional/business centric focus of his blog, you will find that there is a lot in there that can be applied to everyday living. Oh… and Dale’s incredibly nice, too.

Here are the rules of participation in the Thinking Blogger Awards:

1. If you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think;
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme; and,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.