Digital Farming

I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. Farm living is rigorous, to say the least. You live or die at the whim of Mother Nature. On top of that, farming is like the ultimate entrepreneurial existence. You have some land, plant some crops, raise some animals and hope you made the decisions that allows your family to survive — perhaps even thrive — for the coming year. If your decisions are poor or Mother Nature is particularly cruel, it can make for a tough existence.

I was quite young when I decided I would go to college and learn something that made life a little safer, more predictable and easier than feeding all of those animals in sub-zero temperatures. At the University of Wisconsin, I tried a lot of majors but ended up in broadcasting and digital media. And I fell in love with personal computers.

My first computer was an IBM-PC that cost $3000 with a processor that topped at a blinding 3MHz. I played HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and a text-based version of DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS. I wrote screenplays on my PC. For the most part, it was a very expensive typewriter.But then, something amazing happened. I met a politician who wanted someone to database the names and addresses of all of the citizens in his city. And he was willing to pay well for it. So, evenings and weekends, my partner and I entered the 35,000 names into the computer. It was my first job as a “digital farmer.” My computer became my open field and I looked for the most profitable way to make money with it.

I moved from databasing and word processing to graphic design and then website design and now digital filmmaking and 3D animation. In much the same way one can choose to plant any number of things in the field, one can make money a lot of ways with a computer. It’s simply a matter of finding the people who need what you already know how to do.If you’re reading this blog, you either have a computer or access to one. The key to increasing your income is (literally) at your fingertips. The goal of this blog is to support you in finding how to get the most out of your digital farm.