Professional writers make a living by being geeks.

Folks who’ve known me for a long time know I’m a geek. I dig science fiction, pay attention to comic books, appreciate the inherent math in good heavy metal. I run a D&D game twice a month.

I’m a dyed-in-the-wool, hard-core, unapologetic geek.

But I’ll tell you a secret.

Everybody’s a geek. In their own way.

Have you ever gotten a jock talking sports statistics? What a geek! How about the hot chick at the bar who hasn’t read anything since middle school? Listen to her tell you about what’s going on with her favorite celebrities. Total geek! Even Mad Men lead Don Draper is a geek when he’s talking about what he does best.

We’re all geeks, and that’s a good thing. Last week, I got three job offers just because I’m a geek.

• While talking about SEO and web writing with a professional I met at a conference, the two of us geeked out about how awesome publishing is in the 21st century. I dropped a couple of knowledge bombs and now I’m writing a lot of his web copy.
• My buddy mark runs a small company that manufactures awesome motorcycle masks. He’s looking to grow his business so I started talking about web marketing while we were riding stationary bikes at the gym. After a couple minutes, he interrupted me with “Jason. Do you want a job?”
• I was at my insurance agent’s office, minding my own business and setting up some changes to my retirement savings. He started talking about a sideline he’s doing with some new agricultural technologies and I, once again, started to geek out about web marketing. So now his partners want me to do their website.

Here’s your takeaway from this as a writer. I didn’t go into any of those conversations looking for work. I was just talking about stuff I find fascinating. My energy and passion, and the knowledge that came from them, made the sale without me ever having to put on my sales hat.

What can you sell just because you’re passionate about it? Are you writing on that topic right now?

If not….why not?