I wanted to entertain this idea, and see if it leads to anything...

Let's suppose you decided to make a directory about "Fashion". You could find some forums in this area and then you could start participating in those forums and post a link to your directory. Additionally, you will probably find some webmasters who have sites about fashion that are participating on the forums, and you can get be friends with them. Maybe they will even link to your directory as well. Over time, you will have a very nice directory of fashion related links, and hopefully some articles too. You will have interacted with many people in the fashion industry, and many will at least have heard of your site. Most likely at that point you are having no trouble getting at least some paid advertising, and making some regular income that will probably continue for many months.

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