All work and no play? Blogging can save the day.

Blogging? It's just a hobby for people with too much time on their hands.

That's what I thought prior to taking Independent Media and exploring the various outlets through blogs. Then my thoughts changed; blogging definitely has it's place in the world. Bloggers have even been able to change election results.

Up until this week, though, I was convinced that blogging is not for me. It seemed like such a big effort for such little reward. It seemed like something, that while important, would take away from my other commitments like my career.

It turns out that blogging can actually be a career. According to a slideshow on Bloomberg.com, bloggers can actually make a living just by posting pictures and videos of cats, like Eric Nakagawa did with his blog, I Can Has Cheezburger. Nakagawa's site was doing so well that he made blogging his full time job.

Another blogger, Michael Arrington, created TechCrunch.com in 2005, which turned into his full time job in 2006. The site brings in about $200,000 a month. That means the site makes more than $2 million a year. Within a year of starting the site, Arrington was making more than double what the average print journalist makes.

Though not the ground breaking journalism I hope to write, the Perez Hilton blog can serve as a bloggers inspiration as it brings in a revenue of more than $100,000 a month by making fun of the stars in show biz.

These three examples are just a few of the hundreds of successful blogs. By looking at the Bloomberg slideshow, it's clear that blogs on any subject, whether it be cats or politics or technology, can become popular enough to create a living.

What's so astonishing about this is that these writers started these blogs most likely not knowing they would become a career.

These blogs are proof that you can do what you love and not have to compromise your lifestyle; that you can independently reach the minds of millions of people.

Blogging is the perfect platform to do the type of ground breaking journalism I want to do, and have it make a difference.