Recently, a thought struck me. Why are so many journalists in danger of making millions of pounds from the net? Look at Tim Jackson, the ex-Financial Times and Independent foreign correspondent. He runs QXL, the online auction business.
He is now 111th in the Sunday Times Rich List, and "worth" £272m. Then there's Danny Kelly, former editor of Q and NME. He's the chief executive of the 365 corporation, which provides content for websites, Wap phones and digital TV. The company's current stock market value is a somewhat piffling £550m. I ask this question only because there is a small, but nevertheless real, chance, that a small fortune might be coming my way. And the fact that I'm a journalist has a lot to do with it. Let me explain.
In January, I was commissioned by Hodder and Stoughton to write a book, to be published in January 2001, called How To Make Your Million from the Internet (and what to do if you don't). It will be a diary of my attempts to turn £50,000 into £1m by using the internet to trade shares. I raised the money by mortgaging my house. Month one went well. Through a mixture of judgment, instinct and luck (and not trading every day, but going for long-term bets), I made a real cash profit of more than £30,000.
I have already received a five-figure advance for the book, and two national newspapers are inquiring about serialisation rights. Hodder tell me that several foreign publishers are interested too. But - and this is where the serious money comes in - I have started up my own website, so interested punters can track my progress. And if that works, the title of my book might - just might - become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I have an email, sent last week, from the chief executive of a stock market listed dot.com company, enquiring about buying a sizeable stake in my project.
The thing is, my experience is illuminating to all those journalists out there (yes, you) who say: "My God, shouldn't I be making lots of money out of all of this stuff?" How many people like that do you know? Lots and lots, all feeling a little bit of envy about their former colleagues making lots and lots of money. Two weeks ago Martin Dunn announced that he was leaving his post as head of new media at Associated Newspapers. Now Danny Meadow Klue has said he is leaving a similar position at the Telegraph. Both are going into the start-up business.
What's struck me is the speed, and the relative ease, with which things happen: I keep expecting someone to say "No you can't do that mate, not possible." But so far, no one has. However - and I don't want to sound disingenuous here - this project is primarily about journalism, not making money. I want to see how the stockmarket and the internet work, from the sharp end. I want to see how easy it is for someone like me, a complete cyberdunce until two months ago, to make - or lose - vast amounts of money. What I've now realised is that it's journalists who are in a much better position than most to take advantage of the net. Why? Because we have the two things that the net is crying out for. Ideas and communication skills. "As journalists, when we have a great idea, we write about it. Now, thanks to the net, we can turn it into something a lot more interesting," says David Thomas, a freelance writer currently raising funding for his Shobiz.com internet venture.
"The net is overflowing with computer wizards and moneymen, but there's a real shortage of people who can get good ideas over simply and effectively. A lot of sites out there are, quite frankly, filled with crap."
The basic journalistic skills are invaluable, all the way along the line. Take writing a business plan: the key first step to securing the all-important interest of the Men with the Wallets. "A business plan is to an internet start-up what a film script is to a movie," Thomas says. "It's the first and most important thing you need to attract investment. You can still make a bad movie from a good script: but it's impossible to make a good movie from a bad script. And the same applies to business.
"To write a good plan you have to take an idea and develop it - tell a story in fact - which is, let's face it, what journalists do every day of the week. I've lost count of the number of venture capitalists who've told me how rare it is to see a well-written document."
Crucially, journalists are also pretty good at getting publicity. Because of the incestuous nature of our business, we know plenty of other people who make it too, be they in papers, radio or television.
The key point here is that if there's one thing a young dot.com venture needs more than anything, in a hopelessly overcrowded marketplace, it's publicity. In fact you only need the slightest whiff to get your bandwagon rolling: within minutes of a small paragraph appearing in the Media Guardian diary about my project last week, I had the BBC on the phone asking to make a documentary about me. And the Mail on Sunday, asking for an interview. Net entrepreneurs also need the ability to become expert (or at least appear to be) in several different fields at once: technical, financial and logistical. They should be able to cope with vast amounts of complex information, extract the key points, and then act on them quickly. That, of course, is what journalists do with varying degrees of success. The other thing is contacts."I've spent a long time in the media. I know how things work," says Danny Kelly. "I knew good content providers, for example, because I'd met them through work. And because I'm a journalist, they took me seriously." Guardian readers will of course be familiar with the classic Marxist principle that real power stems from owning the means of production. A decade ago that was way out of reach for most of us. Now, for journalists, it's never been easier. More importantly, the net offers real excitement: even if my project goes pear-shaped and I lose a packet I'll have learned skills I never knew existed and I'll have had a great time doing it. So, what are you waiting for?
Jonathon Maitland is a reporter on ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald. You can visit his website on howtomakeyourmillion.com
