I've got 12 years of credibility building information systems for others. In this time, I've been able to get the majority of my jobs through friends or friends of friends. However, unless I wait another eight more years or so working other company's agendas, I won't have the "street credibility" to profess my own ideas of how things IT should be in a book. That get "noticed" faster, you need to build something that takes off, has some sort of fan base.

Who would the fan base be for an information system? It could start with IT colleagues you interact with daily. If you read Cathedral and the Bazaar, one you have a well thought out working version of your idea, you can get people to look at it and even contribute. It's the if you build it they will come syndrome. You can carry this street cred on into your work life. It may give others confidence to raise you up in the ranks if you happen to work for someone. If the system really takes off, it could lift you out of the need for a job.

I decided a while back that I knew nothing about real estate or stocks. I've had to learn the hard way on a few investments. My money is best spent on education plans for my kids and a retirement plan for myself and my wife. I need to focus on my IT talents if I am to be any more than an average person trying to make it to retirement, put your kids through school, and try to live comfortably til you die. I need to continue to let my ideas come together in this journal and through my "blueprint" project, Nostalgia. I need to shave the rough edgings off those ideas until they are well put, elegant, powerful. Then, these ideas take on a life of their own in the open source community and the IT community.

You must have faith that if you put your ideas out there in formats people can consume, you will be taken care of. You may not receive money directly in all cases for people buying books, consulting, etc. For me, following this path has led me to a higher than average salary, most of my jobs coming from people I know, ability to help other friends find jobs in organizations I worked for. If you don't directly angle/target for making money on your ideas, the money will still come. Just not in direct ways. In this way, think of money as an affirmation that you are following the right path in following your dreams of building better IT systems.