According to Inside Facebook – the unauthorized blog on all things Facebook – the social network made around $635 million in revenues in 2009 (up from the estimated $280-300 million in 2008) and could make $1-1.1 billion in 2010.

Indeed, Inside Facebook expects Facebook’s tendency to double sales each year will continue over the next few years.

Where is the money coming from? According to Inside Facebook, Facebook’s 2009 revenues break down as follows:

How do entrepreneurial ventures start out? In my experience they come often come from a simple idea or ‘a-ha’ moment. The idea itself may be huge, but because it’s just a thought in someone’s head, it’s still highly fragile – subject to being destroyed by even the slightest criticism or negativity.

For this reason I urge you never to dismiss anything when it’s at the idea stage – wait until you have fleshed it out, built it up, made it as strong as possible, and then, and only then, open it up to attack (i.e. constructive criticism).

The story of how Picnik – the online photo editing service recently bought by Google – came into being provides an inspiring insight into how entrepreneurs see and seize opportunities.

Picnik started with an email exchange between the company’s co-founders, Mike Harrington and Darrin Massena. According to Mike Harrington, the idea of starting a Flash based online photo editing service began “by having a brilliant friend I love working with, some free time and an active imagination.”

One of the best ways to keep up with the latest thinking on entrepreneurship, marketing and business in general… is not to read all the latest books, it’s to LISTEN to them (i.e. listen to the corresponding audiobooks)!

I love reading books, but the reality is that I’ve been able to consume many more books – and the invaluable information they contain – than I otherwise would by downloading the audiobook versions to my MP3 player. So much so, that on top of the various podcasts and audio interviews I listen to, I now devour about 1-2 audiobooks per week.

If you enjoyed the 2009 season of This Week In Startups with Jason Calacanis you’ll love this: “This Week In Startups – The 2009 Highlights Show”.

This Week In Startups – The 2009 Highlights Show is a 2:15 hour compilation of my favorite clips from the guest interviews Jason conducted on This Week in Startups during 2009.

Show me a person who asks lots of questions, and I’ll show you someone who is continuing to learn and grow as a person. This applies to the entrepreneur who is constantly looking for ways to improve their business, and it certainly applies to the individual seeking greater knowledge, understanding and self-actualization in their lives.

It’s no surprise that kids are constantly asking questions: they’re eager to know about the world and themselves. What’s sad is when adults stop asking questions. In my mind, when you start saying to yourself or anyone else, “I don’t want to know” you’re virtually saying, “I don’t want to grow.”

It seems unlikely doesn’t it? The idea that success should come from LOSING more often than you win. But it’s not only possible, it may well be probable. It’s certainly how many successful people and companies – from futures traders to movie studios to pharmaceutical companies – make their money.

There are two core principles behind this idea – or should I say, reality:

1. The more things you try, the more results you’ll get – good and bad.

Unless you can predict the future, you can never really know that something – e.g. a business – is going to pay off. Therefore, you have to try a lot of things. The more things you try, the more ‘results’ you’ll get. For many business owners a pattern starts emerging where, out of 10 projects, a few will fail miserably, a few will return mediocre results, and a few will succeed spectacularly.

You may believe that when it comes to embarking on a mammoth task, project or mission – such as a new Internet marketing business – the hardest part is getting started.

I agree that getting started can be a big challenge. Indeed, it may be the most formidable roadblock for many – perhaps most – people.

For others, however, finishing something is actually more difficult than starting it. If you agree with this, you probably find it relatively easy to start numerous different projects… but since you’re so busy starting more and more things, it’s virtually impossible for you to see any one of these projects through to the end!

Given the plethora of ‘question and answer’ websites on the Internet, JustAnswer is seeking to stand out from the crowd by verifying the experts – doctors, lawyers and others – who answer questions on its site.

In order to provide ‘100 percent verified Experts’ JustAnswer proclaims to vet the answer-givers on its site by requiring them to undergo such a rigorous screening process that only 5.3 percent of applicants are approved and become experts on JustAnswer.

Over the last couple of years some people have asked me why we began publishing our Internet marketing blog and newsletter, Kikabink News. After all, it’s a big task to write, publish and send out so many Internet marketing news stories from Monday to Friday, with a weekly summary on Saturday.

So why do we do it? Hint: it’s NOT because of ‘the money’.