Long time web guy Jason Kottke's announcement that he quit his web design job to work on his personal website fulltime seemed curious. Of course, a (big) part of me is jealous because I have long wished I could focus entirely on my web projects and not work for other people, so to speak. Getting paid by Marqui to link/mention them the past three months has certainly helped.

It's interesting that he's calling donors "micro patrons." Micro? What's so micro about contribting the (suggested) $30? A few years ago when people were sending each other fifty cents through PayPal -- that seemed to be about micro payments. If I give someone $30 to help them out, I'd rather just be called a patron -- leave out micro.

I wonder how taxes factor into this. Does he have a corporation or is he self-employed? If it's the latter, he'll have to say goodbye to about 37% of the donations. Unless there's some sort of loophole I'm not familiar with.

I'm curious who else is testing out new ways to make a living without a typical 9-5 job. A few I know about include:

Update: These people aren't necessarily doing their creative projects fulltime. That's what I get for writing an entry while still half asleep.

• Heather Powazek Champ : print club
• Derek Powazek : photography
• Noah Grey's photography

Who else?