Way back in high school, nearly 35 years ago now, I lost my first newspaper job. (The illustration is from a Buddhist temple. Cute, huh? Keep reading for enlightenment.)

Well it wasn't a job, actually. I was canned from the school newspaper, along with the rest of the staff, after some editorials appeared against the Vietnam War.

Most of the "old" staff did what you expect. They went to their parents and got the money to distribute their own paper, one that was just as slick as the regular paper.

I took a different route. I went to the market. I sold ads. I kept my costs down and generally broke even. Kept it up for nearly three years.

The lesson stuck with me. Begging isn't a business model.

I associate this lesson with conservatism, but in our time it's often ignored. Young conservatives have an easy time getting money -- from parents, from foundations, and from publishers more interested in propaganda than truth.

Anyone else is left to beg.

Here's a note to the beggars. Get off your knees.

What you boys need is a business model that will give you the money you need to keep going.

Here's how:

• Form a ring. Incorporate it. Everyone gets a share based on their current circulation. These must all be high-quality blogs with a fairly defined point of view.
  
• Choose a single audit standard, so potential advertisers can know what they're buying, and evaluate results across the network.
  
• Get shared accounts with Blogads and Google AdSense. Let both organizations know you'll go exclusive with whichever delivers the best results.
  
• Create another space for sponsorships, ads that will run across the network, and for "skins" that can surround all blogs that are members of the group.
  
• Create a shared logo, and start selling merchandise around it.
  
• Take on a PR agent who can solicit money-making opportunities for the whole lot -- speaking, writing, books, TV,. whatever.
  
• Create legal and financial arrangements that let your stars leave, and a process by which new blogs can be added to the ring.
  
• Remember: Protect The Brand.
  

Don't beg. Build.